Unlock an Easter egg on your home devices with this old-fashioned cheat code

Easter eggs are synonymous with video games. Go off the beaten path, turn right at the dead tree, and 2 miles in you’ll find an NPC named after the protagonist of one of the best sci-fi shows of 2025, “Severance.” Sometimes video games reference other video games, and many of those references are so downright immortal that they escape their medium and become Easter eggs in unexpected places, like smart home devices.

If you have a Google Home or Amazon Alexa speaker, you can find plenty of fun Easter eggs, all accessible via voice commands. For example, simply say “Alexa” or “Hey, Google” and then verbally enter the Konami code: “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start.” Results vary depending on device.

When you use the Easter egg with Google Home, the device will indicate that you have unlocked “cheat mode”, accompanied by a drum roll and celebration sounds. Meanwhile, entering the “code” on an Alexa device activates “Super Alexa”, which will either cause “power-ups” or force Alexa to start certain reactors and dongles before ultimately canceling the process. Unlike genuinely useful Alexa features that help you solve common problems, this Easter egg doesn’t unlock anything or offer any real benefits – it’s just a big joke that rewards people for knowing their video game history.

For those who have never heard of the Konami Code, the entry comes from the classic NES game “Contra” – hence its alternate name, the “Contra Code”. The game was so difficult that even testers had difficulty completing all the levels. So the code was added to help them complete the title, but it wasn’t removed from the main copy used for the retail releases.

Since many people couldn’t beat “Contra” without using the Konami code, and the code itself spread by word of mouth, it became arguably the most famous cheat code of all time. Referencing the Konami Code might as well be a rite of passage in game development circles, especially for Konami Turtles: game designers frequently hid secrets and extra modes that players could only access by entering the code. If we listed every game that uses Konami Code in some form, we’d be here for quite a while – but even then, Konami Code isn’t limited to digital formats.

As Google Home and Alexa smart speakers have demonstrated, even seemingly random electronic devices accept Konami Code. While the Steam Controller isn’t one of these gadgets (although it does contain its own fun Easter egg), the code works with Fisher Price Laugh and Learn controllers – we’re totally not kidding. Enter the Konami code into one of these toddler toys (minus the “Start” input since controllers don’t have “Start” buttons) and enjoy the unique sound clips. Keep testing your devices – you never know which ones might hide a Konami code Easter egg.