Amazon Alexa owners are just realising little-known ‘super mode’ voice command that requires a secret code
ALEXA users may not realise that their smart speaker has a hidden "super" mode.
And you need a secret code to unlock it.
To use it, you need to start by saying: "Alexa, turn on Super Mode."
Alexa will respond: "Access to Super Alexa Mode is highly restricted.
";I can only enable it if you give me the right code."
The code in question is: Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.
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The feature is actually just a special playful Easter egg and doesn't actually make your Alexa device do anything extraordinary.
But it's still good fun.
It's all a nod to the famous Konami Code, a cheat code that was used in many of the game maker's early titles.
Alexa will come back with some nostalgic arcade game sounds.
And it'll respond with something like, "Super Alexa mode activated. Startup of reactors, online; enablement of advanced systems, online; breeding dongers, bug; missing dongers, miscarrying".
What is the Konami Code?
The Konami Code was first used in 1986 on scrolling shooter Gradius.
Japanese video game developer Kazuhisa Hashimoto created it when he was working on a port of the game from arcade to the NES.
The Konami Code rose to prominence with the release of Contra on the NES in 1988, which gave players 30 extra lives.
It was also called the "Contra Code" and "30 Lives Code".
What is Alexa?
If you've never heard of Alexa, here's what you need to know...
- Alexa is an "intelligent" personal assistant built by Amazon.
- You can find it on several different devices, including Amazon's Echo speakers.
- Alexa responds to voice commands, and can talk back to you.
- It can perform thousands of different tasks, including telling you about the news or weather.
- But it can do more complex things too, like ordering a pizza or arranging an Uber taxi pick-up.
- To activate Alexa, you need to say "Alexa" to an Amazon Echo speaker.
- Because it's powered by artificial intelligence, Alexa is constantly getting smarter.
- Alexa will also get more used to your voice, and better understand what you want it to do over time.
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