Konami announced an impressive 88% surge in profits for the six months ending this September, driven by strong sales for PlayStation 3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots as well as arcade and card games.
88 Games (known as Hyper Sports Special in Japan) is an Olympic sporting event game which challenges its player’s button bashing skills to compete successfully in eight events: 100 meters dash, long jump, 400 meters relay race, 110 meter hurdles race, skeet shooting and javelin throwing.
Arcade shooter
Fantastic WWII horizontal shooter featuring bombs. An innovative WW2 horizontal shooter featuring bombs. Great gameplay mechanics, fantastic mech-fish bosses and stunning graphics made this game one of the greatest titles of its type ever produced. Very good sequel with enhanced graphics and slightly improved gameplay available on Saturn and Playstation as well. Also enjoyable side scrolling shooter where players can turn backwards as they destroy ground targets to unlock powerups that aid their journey; great graphics and gameplay but not much substance in it either!
Konami’s Olympic Games series includes eight events: 100m dash, long jump, 400 m relay, ski jumping, 110m hurdles hurdles archery javelin throw. To complete each event successfully the player must press two fire buttons rapidly in alternating sequence to finish an event.
The graphics in the game are thoughtfully designed and detailed enough to evoke an Olympic atmosphere. In addition to event stages, special touches add character and detail for each sport; for example, when competing in long jump, athletes switch between side view and perspective views in order to create the illusion that they are jumping towards the camera. Digitized voices introduce each event while subdued fanfare tunes provide musical support.
MSX shooter
MSX games that use the MSX2 upgrade standard (rather than the original MSX) generally boast superior graphics and sound. Many were also released for release on MSX Turbo R and its successors with upgraded CPUs that feature improved video and audio chips.
When Metal Gear was released for MSX back in 1987, it became an instant classic and deserves to be on any list of best MSX games. With unforgettable characters like Snake and complex themes such as nuclear proliferation at its heart, as well as revolutionary stealth mechanics and gadgets which encouraged creative thought rather than simply blasting enemies away, the game quickly established its place as one of the must-play titles on any list of top MSX titles.
Aleste 2 by Compile was one of the MSX2’s classic shoot ’em ups, and one of its finest examples of what the MSX2 could achieve. A fast-paced shooter with lots of enemies and powerups, its graphics were vibrant yet smooth; AI was smart enough to adjust difficulty depending on player style; difficulty levels varied depending on how you played!
Taito created this high-quality Dragon Slayer clone featuring a pirate theme, making for an entertaining yet lighthearted take on the series. It boasts incredible charm, with fantastic music that really showcases what MSX2 could achieve when it came to graphics and gameplay.
MSX arcade game
Konami’s third Track & Field game, Hyper Sports Special is out in North America now! Players compete against each other to become Olympic gold medalists across a series of Olympic events like 100m dash, long jump, 400m relay race, 110m hurdles race, skateboard shooting archery or javelin throwing – requiring them to complete one round per event to move forward to the next. To advance from round to round.
Play Meter magazine published an initial review that praised the game for its smooth animations, excellent player control and variety, with particular praise given for being more original than other sports games based on baseball, football or basketball. Unfortunately, however, their controls could lead to cramped fingers.
Track & Field was released as an arcade version for Nintendo DS and Super Game Boy emulator in Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits by Konami in 2004. The Game Boy version features an alternate remixed soundtrack as well as a bonus track not found in its original arcade release. Namco’s Yoshihiro Kishimoto noted Track & Field as his primary inspiration when creating Pac-Land in 1984, which utilizes similar controls that allow the player to increase speed by repeatedly tapping buttons on screen; its music also appeared in PlayStation Classics title Super Mario Bros in 2005.
MSX game
MSX was a widely popular standardized home computer architecture of the 80s, particularly among Japanese game studios like Konami and Hudson Soft who created their most beloved titles such as Metal Gear and Castlevania series on it. Fans of its genre can now take pleasure in its back catalogue thanks to emulators available for both Windows and Linux systems; CocoaMSX and OpenMSX are excellent options available as alternatives.
Konami’s 88 Games (known in Japan as Hyper Sports Special) puts your Olympic button-bashing skills through an intense series of eight events, beginning with the 100 meter dash against an artificial voice which requires precise timing to beat. Once you master that event, other less demanding but equally enjoyable events follow such as high jump and javelin throw.
Vampire Killer, the MSX version of Castlevania series, challenges you to fight demonic forces in various gothic environments. Similar to its NES counterpart, gameplay here is slower paced with you upgrading weapons along the way such as traditional Belmont clan whip or an axe or cross – though what this game lacks is boss battles at each level!
