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Most Famous Cheat Codes in Gaming History: Konami, Contra, GTA & More

There's No Single "Most Common" Code — But These Are Iconic

The Konami Code (Universal Meme)

↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A (or Start/Select)

Origin: Gradius (NES, 1986) — full power-ups.
Famous in: Contra (30 lives), Metal Gear, Castlevania, Dance Dance Revolution, Fortnite (emote), Discord (easter egg), Google (voice search), Twitch (chat).

Per-Game Classics

Game	Code / Input	Effect
Contra (NES)	Konami code	30 lives
Super Mario Bros.	`A B B A Start`	Continue from World 1-1 after game over
GTA: San Andreas	`HESOYAM`	Health, armor, $250k, repair car
GTA: Vice City	`THUGSTOOLS`	Weapon set 1
Sonic the Hedgehog 2	`Up, Up, Down, Down, Up, Up, Up, Up` (level select)	Level select + debug
Mortal Kombat (Genesis)	`A, B, A, C, A, B, B`	Blood mode
StarCraft	`there is no cow level`	Instant win mission
Doom (1993)	`IDDQD` / `IDKFA`	God mode / all keys weapons ammo

Modern Context

Achievements/trophies often disable with cheats active.
Online games: cheats = permanent bans (VAC, BattlEye, Ricochet).
Dev consoles (Source, Unreal) replaced classic codes for testing.

The Konami code remains the cultural touchstone — appearing in 100+ games as an easter egg.

Game Cheats & Cheat Codes

Game Cheats & Cheat Codes

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