Konami Code turns ESPN.com into a Lisa Frank wonderland [update]

by Griffin McElroy { Apr 27th 2009 at 7:30PM }

Update: ESPN got wise, and removed the mysterious Unicornification ability reported below. It was fun while it lasted!

You need to stop what you're doing right now, and go to ESPN's Web site, because something magical is going on, and we don't know how long it will last. Once the front page loads, enter in the Konami Code (which we shouldn't have to tell you by now, but just in case -- Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A). Then start pressing Enter on your keyboard. Something will happen that isn't even remotely sports related. Is it an Easter egg? A well-executed hack? A hilarious practical joke from a disgruntled ESPN web programmer? We don't know, but we offer an enthusiastic Kudos to whoever pulled this one off.

[Via FourZeroTwo's Twitter]

Tags: easter-egg, espn, hack, konami-code, lisa-frank, practical-joke, unicorns

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Deebs @ Apr 27th 2009 7:33PM

i can't get it to work.

SoulBlade @ Apr 27th 2009 7:35PM

ditto :(

Sneakz @ Apr 27th 2009 7:36PM

Same, doesn't work for me.

Deebs @ Apr 27th 2009 7:39PM

doesn't work for me in firefox or IE.

xandeR- @ Apr 27th 2009 7:36PM

Joystiq was a little late to the party. Kotaku had this posted like an hour ago and since then, I assume ESPN was puzzled by the vast number of people doing it, discovered it and nixed it.

It doesn't work anymore.

Clinton @ Apr 27th 2009 7:37PM

awww kinda sad i missed it

Roto13 @ Apr 27th 2009 7:37PM

Yeah, I'm not getting anything either.

Roto13 @ Apr 27th 2009 7:37PM

Aww, lame. :(

Manly Mcbeefigan (Mr. ESC) @ Apr 27th 2009 7:39PM

Ze code do nothing! Hail Kaiba!

Trevsweb @ Apr 27th 2009 7:39PM

yes i couldnt get it to work but saw a similar code on jquery posted under the konami code which i guess does a easteregg notice once done. no doubt someone at espn found it funny too. now they have been fired.... lol
sucks to be them :) nah they prolly took it down before it was noticed properly.

btw who would ever check that the konami code works everywhere...? id hate to be behind them at a cashpoint/atm machine lol

Blank-Mage @ Apr 27th 2009 7:40PM

Same, you'd think they'd keep it, considering this is the first time ANY of us has likely visited the site. "Oh NOES! Our hit count is skyrocketing! WHAT DO WE DO?!?!"

Reuben @ Apr 27th 2009 10:26PM

This is true!

Cannon @ Apr 27th 2009 11:25PM

Hey buddy, I like ESPN and if you don't like it you don't have to go there.

Michelobius @ Apr 28th 2009 12:00AM

I think you're seriously underestimating the traffic that ESPN.com gets. I visit there daily, and there are thousands if not millions who visit far more often. It's the go-to site for sports information these days, a veritable one-stop-shop. It would be like if Gamefaqs, Gamespot, Joystiq, Kotaku, Gametrailers, all became one site. There would be no reason to go anywhere else.

Deebs @ Apr 27th 2009 7:40PM

although im sure they want to appear on top of things, joystiq might as well delete this post. no sense in wasting people's time when they were too late on the jump anyway.

Jeffrey @ Apr 27th 2009 7:43PM

ESPN fixed it faster than you guys reported it.

Too bad though.

Looked funny.

http://gameium.blogspot.com/

rohan @ Apr 27th 2009 7:44PM

They are entering the Basketball and American Ruby (i refuse to call it Football since the foot and ball are never in contact for 99% of the game) ring?

DBuck_Eye @ Apr 27th 2009 9:15PM

Well why would you call soccer football, because no one who plays it or watches it has any balls.

filbertish @ Apr 28th 2009 2:15AM

By your logic baseball should be called batball since the bases and ball rarely come into contact. Perhaps American Football is called such because a ball is the center-point, it's played on foot, and nobody thought it was worth the effort to change the name just because another sport took to it as well.

vidGuy @ Apr 28th 2009 9:11AM

Actually, American football is so named because it derived from the same game as soccer, both called football at the time. All of the English villages played their own version, some with passing and running, some with kicking. The first type was more dominant in the groups that settled the US, so we got to keep that version.

Obie (XBL: Obienator) @ Apr 27th 2009 7:45PM

I saw that and this popped in my head:

Rainbow Brite
See the shining light
Yes I'm gonna take ya to Rainbow Brite
Starlite flies
Right before your eyes
And rainbow colors will cheer you up
Magic Light
Gonna take you for a ride...

Get it outta my heaaaad!!! :(

Zac @ Apr 27th 2009 7:50PM

Can't see it

I Al2x I @ Apr 27th 2009 7:49PM

Guys it still works!

Go to Google, search ESPN, and the first link (espn.go.com) click "cached" towards the bottom of the description of the website.

Unbelievable, this is pretty awesome.

I Al2x I @ Apr 27th 2009 7:53PM

And also, Firefox is reading "http://www.cornify.com," which is a website that adds these ponies to any website by adding in a string of HTML. Could have been a dev of the website just attached this into ESPN's website, without his super knowing =D

THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ Apr 27th 2009 8:16PM

thanks! i got it to work and got a screenshot!

giantenemycrab @ Apr 27th 2009 7:52PM

Uh, it's still working for me as of right now.

giantenemycrab @ Apr 27th 2009 7:56PM

I don't know what they did to "fix" it, but I went to ESPN.com from reddit, and it still worked.

giantenemycrab @ Apr 27th 2009 8:15PM

now it's gone. It was fun while it lasted.

Jeffrey @ Apr 27th 2009 7:54PM

Might not work for me as I'm on a mac...

Running firefox.

Quiggy @ Apr 27th 2009 8:04PM

Internet stuff will work fine on a Mac. The cached version is working fine for me after all.

marcod @ Apr 27th 2009 7:55PM

wow... who finds this stuff, anyways? I mean, who would go to the ESPN website and type in the konami code?

vidGuy @ Apr 27th 2009 7:56PM

I got it to work on the cached page:

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4792/espnunicorn.jpg

Manly Mcbeefigan (Mr. ESC) @ Apr 27th 2009 9:31PM

Yo Dawg we heard you like unicorns so we put an unicorn in your unicorn so you can be all wtf while you are like wtf.

why not the LS2LS7? @ Apr 27th 2009 7:56PM

It was probably pulled for copyright infringement. At least one of the unicorns has Hello Kitty riding on it.

Steve @ Apr 27th 2009 7:56PM

Try using Google's cached page. Just worked perfectly for me going through that way.

SoulBlade @ Apr 27th 2009 8:01PM

GENIUS!

Matt @ Apr 27th 2009 7:59PM

Video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo1Pbl1l_Ns

mr mobius @ Apr 27th 2009 8:02PM

Who would try the Konami code to find this out unless they were a contact of the coder.

Kamizar @ Apr 27th 2009 8:05PM

Now I wonder what picking up the spreader would do to espn.com.

Saria the Cat @ Apr 27th 2009 8:07PM

Awwww...I missed it. :( Why would they remove such an amazing thing?

THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ Apr 27th 2009 8:17PM

go to this and do the code. it's google's cached version.

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:ssdn4F46EEYJ:espn.go.com/+espn&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Saria the Cat @ Apr 27th 2009 8:22PM

:D You're my hero! I got so much satisfaction out of that!

THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ Apr 28th 2009 12:19AM

that's what saria said?

rokobungi @ Apr 27th 2009 8:16PM

argh! I read that as unifornication. like unicorns fornicating

Von Dozier @ Apr 27th 2009 8:42PM

The stranger thing is, why was someone doing the Konami code on their keyboard while on the ESPN home page to find this out?

Saria the Cat @ Apr 27th 2009 8:44PM

That's what I was wondering. I figured maybe one of the chief web design people purposely put this in there, then let the information "leak" to some people. Maybe anonymously, maybe to friends via Facebook or Twitter. And then the fire spread...