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Konami Code Unlocks Extra Votes in the French Presidential Campaign

Posted by Thomas Whitehead

Politics and gaming team up at last

It may seem unlikely, but French Presidential candidate François Bayrou, who is undoubtedly an underdog in the upcoming election, has embedded the famous Konami code into his campaign website.

As reported by The Telegraph, all you need to do is visit www.bayrou.fr and enter the famous code with your keyboard — Up up, down down, left right, left right, B, A. If you get the code right a video will pop up with an 8-bit style, delivering the candidate's election message.

It may be the first time that a politician has referenced retro gaming in this way, and shows an effort from Bayrou to show both a sense of humour and, perhaps, engage with younger voters. If any of you have experienced politicians using gaming to spread their message in a similar, we'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

[via blogs.telegraph.co.uk]

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User Comments (28)

SonyFACE

#3

SonyFACE said:

That's cool, but what does it mean for anyone outside of France? Nothing, really.

pixelman

#4

pixelman said:

Oh I thought this was a cheat code that let you vote multiple times. Darn. :(

edhe

#5

edhe said:

"If any of you have experienced politicians using gaming to spread their message in a similar [way], we'd love to hear about it in the comments below."

Well, in Britain, we have Keith Vaz, but he just wanted to prohibit games.

Morphtorok

#6

Morphtorok said:

He has my vote!

Also, politicians here in Mexico tend to add juvenile flash games to their sites. I remember one where you had to defeat the other candidates in a fight.

ThomasBW84Admin

#7

ThomasBW84 said:

@pixelman I'm pretty sure that would undermine the basics of democracy :)

It was just a play on words, extra votes instead of lives. I'm sure the candidate is hoping that the stunt will win him a few votes, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered paying to have it produced.

Vava

#10

Vava said:

I'm french, but all I can say is WTF
I don't think that was planned initially, maybe it's a joke from web designers which finally has been kept...

TrueWiiMaster

#12

TrueWiiMaster said:

That's pretty awesome. I doubt any American presidential candidates would do the same thing. If they did they would probably end up under fire for using a code from a video game that includes violence and guns...

SMW

#18

SMW said:

I don't give a hoot about politics, but this is pretty cool.

DraculaX

#19

DraculaX said:

And I thought all politicians were old guys that didn't care for video games. Shows how wrong I was.

Knuckles

#21

Knuckles said:

↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A
Darn does absolutely nothing on Nintendo Life. You guys should make an excuse for us to use it on this site!

ImDiggerDan

#25

ImDiggerDan said:

I put the Konami code into Digger Dan as a way to unlock all the levels quickly during development. Pretty sure it was removed for release, though.

OldBoy

#26

OldBoy said:

So cool. If it was his idea he gets my vote.
I love the French, there so hip. :)

Henmii

#27

Henmii said:

"If any of you have experienced politicians using gaming to spread their message in a similar, we'd love to hear about it in the comments below"

Well, in Holland we had a online game called Super Wouter Bos. Wouter Bos did lead one of our parties back then!

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