We all know Alexa as Amazon’s handy virtual assistant who can turn on your living room lights, amp up the music while you’re having a dance party and remind you to do your laundry at 2pm every Wednesday. But super Alexa mode isn’t some fancy new update. Instead, it’s one of the many Easter eggs programmed by Amazon’s developers.
To activate Super Alexa Mode, just say, “Alexa, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.”
Alexa will reply with, “Super Alexa mode, activated. Starting reactors, online. Enabling advanced systems, online. Raising dongers. Error. Dongers missing. Aborting.”
If you are using an Echo Show, the screen will also change to reflect this.
As some of you gamers out there may know, this voice command refers to the famous Konami Code, a cheat sequence created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto in the 1980s, which can be used to unlock secret features to help you win, such as power-ups, infinite ammo, and extra lives. To activate it, you would press pause, then hit up, up, down, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start on your controller.
An Interesting bit of History…
According to urban legend, Hashimoto wrote this code to help his team overcome certain obstacles during the testing phase of Nintendo’s Gradius in 1986, but forgot to delete it before the game was released. Later, this Easter egg was met with so much positive feedback that developers decided to leave it where it was. In fact, the Konami code gained so much popularity over the 80s and 90s that a wide variety of video games decided to integrate it into their systems, including Contra, Nintendo’s legendary run and gun franchise. TV shows and websites also began to reference the Konami code, solidifying its status in pop culture.
Today, you can still use the Konami code to access hidden features in more than 150 games.
So what does Super Alexa Mode do, exactly?
Unfortunately, super Alexa mode doesn’t unlock any new skills or change any settings. It’s just there to give people laughs.
Keep in mind though, you have to say the words in precisely the right order. If you make a mistake, Alexa will tell you you’re “so close,” but won’t activate until you get say the exact command.
Another cool trick you can do with Alexa is the self-destruct command.
If you say, “Alexa, self-destruct,” Alexa will respond with, “Ok. Here we go. Three, two, one, Kaboom! Phew! We made it.” Nothing more.
Pretty neat, huh?
It’s these tidbits and interesting answers that make Alexa such an entertaining assistant.
For more Alexa jokes and gaming Easter eggs, check out this link: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/weird-things-to-ask-alexa/