Konami has seen massive gains thanks to mobile and casino games despite losing Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and moving away from high-budget console videogames, with their latest financial results showing massive expansion thanks to mobile gambling apps.
Konami’s MSX games were notoriously challenging; only hard-core gamers may disagree about this fact due to careful balancing of difficulty levels.
The Simpsons Arcade Game
The Simpsons Arcade Game is an enjoyable side-scrolling beat-’em up that offers surprising fun to play. Unlike some older beat-’em ups that felt clunky or slow, this one moves smoothly with just the right amount of “umph”. Additionally, its music and sound effects take you back to an era when quarters dropped into machines brought back memories of Chuck E Cheese!
Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa can be played as playable characters, destroying waves of hired goons around Springfield while Homer attempts to kidnap Maggie Smithers from Smithers. Unfortunately though, no storyline remains.
Players use an eight-way joystick and two buttons to control their character using attacks and jumps, with enemies attacking in waves via punches, kicks, grabs, weapons or throws. Items can be collected during bonus stages for additional points.
The game can be great fun when played with friends. It features some of the humor from The Simpsons for years; seeing Bleeding Gums Murphy, Saxophone Player, and Exotic Dancer again will surely delight many nostalgic gamers. Other jokes include rabbits from Matt Groening’s Life in Hell appearing as enemies (well actually mooks dressed up like them), Marge showing her rabbit ears when electrocuted similarly to when her body collapsed from being electrocuted etc.
The Goonies
The Goonies was more than just its special effects; it captured an important time and place for children of the 80’s as they moved beyond Dungeons & Dragons and into video gaming – providing many kids a rekindle in their youth through this engaging adventure story.
There are various Goonies games available, from one for MSX home computers and another developed by Datasoft that was released for Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 computers in 1985, along with ports to ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC computers. All three versions feature similar controls allowing players to control two Goonies simultaneously with turn-based gameplay – simply use up-down/left/right to climb/jump, left/right for running left/right respectively and top diagonals for jumping diagonally.
Mikey Walsh must rescue all of his Goonies (plus Annie), from being captured by Fratellis, from their vile grasp. Each level combines action gameplay with questing and exploration elements; along with diamonds, power-ups, enemies (such as rats or skeletons) which you must defeat while finding bombs from enemies which you can use to blow open safes hidden throughout each level.
Gradius II
Konami took full advantage of the twin 16 chip available in their MSX1 cabinet to unleash this sequel to their classic first space shooter. As a result, we witness 8-bit spectacularity like never before; levels which test hardware limits and an energetic soundtrack featuring hard rock themes.
Gradius II’s plot echoes its predecessor: an invasion by Bacteria threatens the tranquil planet Gradius and only its hyperspace fighter, Vic Viper can save it. Experienced players will recognize many of the same level concepts and enemy patterns as seen in its predecessor, yet with even greater intensity and audiovisual polish than before.
As in its predecessor, players can collect power-ups to increase the firepower of their ship. But this time around, these power-ups go beyond missiles (type A) and lasers (type B). Furthermore, players can collect options which act similarly but increase shots fired or can even reload Vic Viper itself.
The PC Engine version of Life Force retains all of its levels from the arcade game, though a few are exclusive to this home conversion. Most notably is an additional stage which combines elements from both temple level and Gradius III’s first stage into one cohesive experience.
Metal Gear
The Phantom Pain stands as one of the crowning achievements in Metal Gear history, providing players with a sublime gaming experience through open world missions and tactical stealth gameplay. Beginning a year after Ground Zeroes took place, The Phantom Pain follows supersoldier Snake as he seeks revenge against those responsible for the destruction of Mother Base – his military offshore haven.
Unlike previous numbered Metal Gear games that featured narrative at the forefront, The Phantom Pain shifts its focus away from narrative to focus on its impressive and highly refined gameplay systems. This approach makes the game more accessible for newcomers while simultaneously underscoring its unique ambition in exploring mature themes related to war psychology and atrocities that may result.
Kojima’s love of cinema can be seen throughout his production and each scene, when not creepily lingering over Quiet’s breasts, is shot with grand spectacle – making MGS one of the premier examples of sci fi espionage video game storytelling. While not without flaws – such as difficulty maintaining its tone over its extensive length – MGS remains a triumphant conclusion to an otherwise troubled production that ended tragically with its director’s passing away.
