Click Here to Start by Denis Markell

Author:Denis Markell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2016-07-19T04:00:00+00:00

KONAMI

I pick up an old controller from the box and push the buttons. I then begin pressing them in a certain sequence, again and again.

“Of course.” I feel like a world-class moron for not realizing it sooner.

Caleb meets my gaze, and the thunderbolt hits him as well. “You think?” he says in amazement.

We continue to stare at each other in shock.

“Mom,” I say as casually as I can, “you said Great-Uncle Ted was sick of watching Peter play his video games?”

“It wasn’t that, really. It was more his not paying attention to the store that caused all the trouble. Actually, if I remember, when Peter first brought the games in, Uncle Ted was quite interested in learning about them. Peter said he used to ask him all sorts of questions.”

“So it was just—Uncle Peter was playing them too much….” The words are tumbling out of my mouth. I can feel my body tensing up as I push the same sequence of buttons on the keypad again and again.

“Yes, dear. Everything in moderation, right?” Mom glances at Isabel with a smile.

“Um, Mom…don’t you have to get to the hospital?” I ask without looking at her.

My mom glances at her watch and gives a start. “Oh my gosh! With all this reminiscing, I completely lost track of the time!” She leaps up, gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, and heads out.

“See? He can be so thoughtful when he wants to be!” she calls over her shoulder to Isabel.

As soon as the door closes, I exchange high fives with Caleb.

“The Konami Code!” I whoop.

“The Konami Code! That has to be it!” Caleb says, excitement rising in his voice.

Isabel has had enough. “Could someone enlighten me as to what the Konami Code is?”

“To anyone who plays games, the Konami code is, well, the worst-kept secret there ever was,” I explain. “Game developers always need to be able to play through the levels to do bug fixes and smooth out the playability. Early on, the Konami company used a series of button pushes to give unlimited lives and power to the player. It got leaked and became legendary in the gaming world.”

I reach in and began to line up the various game controllers that are in the box.

“Ever since then,” Caleb continues, “it’s been used on over three hundred games. Sometimes it gives you eternal life in the game, or unlimited power. Stuff like that.”

“Up up, down down, left right, left right, B, A,” we chant in unison.

“That’s the Konami Code,” Caleb says excitedly as I begin entering the code into a small red controller. “You enter it into almost any game controller over the last twenty years and it will unlock extra powers or levels.”

“So you think—” Isabel starts to say.

But we aren’t listening. We’re busy pressing the buttons on all the controllers.

“It has to be here,” I say. But I enter the sequence into the last controller with no obvious effect.

“Maybe you have to put the code into the controllers in a certain order,” suggests Caleb.

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