With emulators, remasters, and adaptations flooding the market, it seems as though retro gaming is in the midst of a retail boom. While you may be struggling to get your hands on this year’s Nintendo NES reboot console, you won’t to try as hard to experience a taste of one of its classic titles. Originally launched as a home release way back in 1988, Contra became a genre-defining classic. The run-and-gun adventure provided endless hours of entertainment, and while it did prove challenging at points, there were some secret cheats in the arsenal to help you progress further. One of these memorable codes provided gamers with 30 lives, making the player practically unstoppable. If you happen to have the cheat memorized, you can utilize it today for a completely different purpose.
In celebration of the nation’s 150th anniversary, the Bank of Canada has made the infamous Konami Contra code usable on its homepage. The unlikely surprise for typing out the series of keys is an 8-bit version of the Canadian national anthem. We’re not sure how the two properties are related, other than the obvious fact that you'll always need money to buy video games. Regardless, we dig the strange and obscure reference. To hear “Oh Canada” on the BoC’s official website, simply input the following: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a. Have you done it yet? It’s kind of pleasant, right? Anyways, happy gaming and happy 150th to this beautiful country and its weird Easter eggs!
