The creator of the legendary'Konami Code' cheat, Kazuhisa Hashimoto, has died. The Japanese video game developer, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 61, created the legendary cheat code that is still used by game developers today. The Konami Code – up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start – gives gamers benefits such as extra lives or power-ups when entered on the keypad. Hashimoto's passing was confirmed by his former employer and gaming giant Konami on Wednesday night. The cause of his death was undisclosed.

Kazuhisa Hashimoto, the video game maker who created the most famous cheat code in video games – the "Konami Code" – has died. The series of button pushes on a controller – Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A – made its way into many video games over the years as a tribute to Hashimoto and a way for players to explore games and find Easter eggs. "Programmer Kazuhisa Hashimoto, the creator of the Konami command "Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Left, and Right BA", died last night. We pray for the souls," Takenouchi's translated tweet read. Konami's statement read, "We are saddened to hear about the passing of Kazuhisa Hashimoto, a deeply talented producer who first introduced the world to the'Konami Code.' Our thoughts are with Hashimoto-san's family and friends at this time. The "Konami Code" arose out of the Konami arcade game "Gradius," released in 1985 in Japan and a year later in the USA. Hashimoto, who programmed a version of the arcade game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, said the game was too tough for him to finish, so he inserted a special code to allow him to cheat when needed. "The arcade version of Gradius is really difficult, right?