Oh Konami...Once a behemoth of a company, and the godfather of some of the most iconic gaming franchises in history. Silent Hill, PES, Metal Gear, Castlevania and Yu-Gi-Oh are some of the few under their name. But alongside these juggernauts are countless other franchises, ones that haven't seen the light of day in decades...Today we'll be discussing and going through all of them, as we find out once and for all...the current state of every Konami Franchise.
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All Music is used for entertainment purposes with all rights going to the copyright owners.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:24 - Brief History
2:33 - Scramble
3:38 - Frogger
5:14 - Time Pilot
6:08 - Bomberman
7:53 - Track & Field
9:16 - Antarctic Adventure
10:25 - Yie Ar Kung Fu
11:30 - Road Fighter
12:26 - Gradius
13:41 - Salamander
14:35 - Parodius
15:28 - Otomedius
16:27 - TwinBee
17:29 - King's Valley
18:25 - Knightmare
19:45 - Ganbare Goemon
20:40 - Star Soldier
21:20 - Adventure Island
22:23 - Castlevania
24:50 - Double Dribble
25:39 - Contra
27:03 - Metal Gear
29:16 - F1 Spirit
30:25 - Crush Pinball
31:11 - Thunder Cross
32:01 - Milon's Secret Castle
32:54 - Nectaris Military Madness
33:53 - Dungeon Explorer
34:45 - Crime Fighters
35:43 - Tengai Makyou
36:54 - TMNT
38:47 - Motocross Maniacs
39:35 - Neutopia
41:06 - Bonk
42:26 - Lethal Enforcers
43:35 - Rocket Knight Adventures
44:43 - International SuperStar Soccer
45:29 - PES/Efootball
47:38 - NBA in the Zone 2
48:26 - Suikoden
49:49 - GTI Club
50:36 - Vandal Hearts
51:29 - Poy Poy
52:05 - Bloody Roar
53:12 - Bermani Rhythm Games
56:19 - Yu-Gi-Oh
58:20 - Robopon
59:43 - Silent Hill
1:02:43 - Lost in Blue
1:03:59 - Airforce Delta
1:04:43 - Silent Scope
1:05:40 - Police 911
1:06:47 - Zone of the Enders
1:08:02 - Rave Master
1:08:53 - Disney Sports Games
1:09:24 - Boktai
1:10:44 - Shaman King
1:12:03 - In the Groove
1:12:50 - Rumble Roses
1:13:49 - Coded Arms
1:15:11 - Death Jr.
1:16:06 - Elebits
1:17:05 - Kororinpa
1:18:03 - MLB Power Pros
1:19:15 - Deca Sports/Sports Island
1:20:05 - Saw
Some of the game footage taken from:
Nintendocomplete
World of Longplays
hirudov2d
old classic retro gaming
happy gaming channel
replay ceptors
10 min gameplay
arronmunroe
30-30 club
long n play
xtimeless gaming
Konami is a different breed of video game developers. If they aren’t killing off their franchises, they will turn them into pachinkos, no matter how popular. At least my two favorite of them, Castlevania and Yugioh, have some awesome animated series. Thank you, Kai. This is a brilliant episode.
castlevania animated i pretty bad and the yu gi oh anime is a downgrade of the manga
I think Sega's met their match... Also please drop a like if you enjoyed, helps with the algo thingy =)
Good job, I'm excited for Square Enix next, if you want more content you can also do Koei Tecmo, SNK, Sony, Ubisoft, and Microsoft now with Activision
Who said he was doing square enix next? Shouldn't it be another console maker like sony?
@@TheStupidRaptor sounds like dude needs his own KZhead channel so he can do so... 🤷🏾♂️😂
Also ea, take two and finally embracer group.
Don’t forget taito
@TheStupidRaptor I think he should do sony but remember is not just playstation they own Ghostbusters and those games aren't just on playstation
Maybe we should state the current state of Konami as a videogame company.
Dying.
@@NetBattler Metal Gear Master Collection, Metal Gear Solid Delta, Castlevania Anniversary Collection, Castlevania Advance Collection, Contra Anniversary Collection, Contra Project Galuga, Suikoden I & II HD, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill F, Silent Hill Townfall... We can joke all we want, but gradually they're coming back. Now Castlevania is still waiting on its proper turn, but the collections bode well.
I’m someone who never even grew up with Konami, I only really learned about them through other peoples love of their games. But even so, it pains me to see the low effort path they have gone down, sabotaging the metal gear/silent hill devs while milking the franchise for everything they can. It sucks to be someone that just got into castlevania or metal gear knowing that nothing else will ever come out
You know It’s depressingly bad when even so many of their flagship franchises haven’t had a new entry in years 🤣 Although hopefully that will change very soon like you said. Things are definitely looking up with recent pushes in certain franchises like Castlevania, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear. But with so many of the original creators gone from them I worry how they’ll fair going in drastically different creative directions. We’ll definitely find out 😅
I am definitely sceptical and not building up any hype. While Konami is reviving some of their big franchises the development teams that they are getting to work on them aren't great and I don't think are up to the task of doing these great games justice.
@@Gatorade69 Just in case, we have alternative options.
I just want a policenauts sequel 😢
@@orangeslash1667 Not really for Metal Gear Solid but Bloodstained is a good stand in for Castlevania. Not sure about Silent Hill.
@@Gatorade69 I recommend 9 years of Shadow, It's like Castlevania. It even has Michiru Yamane as the composer. The creator of Silent Hill is making a Horror game called Slitterhead. There's also Volume, It's based on classic Metal Gear.
I haven't seen anyone suggest ArcSys yet. Im curios to see what their backlog is like
I believe they don't have a lot of publishing games, aside from Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, the other games are all developed but published by other companies such as Bandai Namco and Atlus (SEGA)
Eiyuden Chronicles is a Rabbit & Bear game, not Konami. the 2012 game is not called Genso Suikoden, it’s called Gensō Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki. Genso Suikoden is the Japanese name of the franchise.
Came here to say this.
Here's hoping that Castlevania gets something new soon to keep it in flagship🤞
I recommend 9 Years of Shadow as a successor.
I know the "English releases only" rule makes sense for a video in English, but Tokimeki Memorial is so significant to game history (for better or for worse), it's a shame not to see it mentioned.
If not part 2 then I do wonder. Wondering the same for Love Plus (DS, 3DS, arcade pretty sure and DS is eng translatsd 3DS and arcade aren't 3DS started but stopped if remember correctly) as well. Besides no DDR here so Part 2 would have that the biggest dancing game of the time. You'd assume they can't forget it. Besides Lunar Knights and others I just searched up now for something else before returning to this video.
"HELL-oh."
Yeah, and not seeing Power Pros not being in mainline just feels wrong with how big the series is for Konami. It would be like leaving Castlevania out. And I haven't played Tokimeki memorial 1, but TM 2 was pretty interesting that the game would demand from you a whole memory card so that your 2 closest romantic interests could pronounce your name. I went with someone else though, lol. The puyo puyo-like puzzle games were also pretty nice.
This Japanese only series could be as significant to the history of a sub genre as Sweet Home.
The inclusion of Western-only franchises also is hypocritical with that in mind.
Goemon on the dead tier is so depressing
The refresh of Boktai IP maybe was because for the Megaman BN Legacy Collection games where, since BN4, there are a lot of cameos of Boktai characters, to the point when in BN6, one of the bosses was from Boktai instead of only use battle chips.
Could be that, after all, last time I checked, the Collection restored accessibility to said crossovers in the American version of the games.
I love MMBN.
Babe wake up Kai posted a new video
I give you props for researching BEMANI games but I lol'ed when you showed Pump it Up and Stepmaniax as they're not Konami and DDR games.
I would love for you to do a western publisher at one point. EA would give Konami a run for its money when it comes to great dead franchises. Ultima, Dungeon Keeper, Wing Commander, Populous, Sim City,...
I feel like a revision of the prior companies is way more urgent.
So much love and work in this video. You really earned that subscribed button.
Been loving this series of videos. Great job!
And you forgot about Konami's dating sim that was popular in Japan, Tokimeki Memorial. I believe this series is going to be either in Flagship or Mainstays, since the last game in 2021.
I would really like if you tried to check upon Nippon-Ichi franchises next.
I enjoyed the part where you talk about DDR but never showed a DDR cabinet, only Pump it Up and StepmaniaX, both of which are 5 panel
i still miss the yugioh games that just let you run around and duel characters in a overworld as you collect cards. just imagine being able to explore all the cool locations in yugioh in 3d
Weird how not a single new Konami IP has been created since the 2000s, nor even any notable licensed IP. (I still think licensed stuff and Western-only IP should be listed separately to avoid confusion and for the sake of fairness) Show how much work Konami has to do to redeem themselves. Hyped for SNK, Squeenix, and the revised version of Nintendo.
Regarding Salamander, you forgot to mention an important thing. Salamander in Japan and Europe are the same but in America, Konami changed it to Life Force. Not only the name is different but the gameplay is different too. Life Force plays very similarly to the classic Gradius where you would pick powerups to cycle through the one you wanted in the bar. For Famicom, Konami still retained the Salamander name but the gameplay used the style from Life Force. For Life Force, it remains the same as its arcade counterpart. Btw, you forgot to mention Racing Jam and Thrill Drive.
Uhhh that’s not entirely true Life Force in NA is the same as Salamander but the background is different and that’s it and later Konami Released the Japanese version of Life Force which does retain the Gradius Power Up Bar and doubling down on the organic theme and redrew the bosses. as for the Famicom it was released as Salamander and Life Force to their native regions and only difference is the title screen, ending and able to have 3 options on screen instead of 2 but yes the Famicom port is a mix of Salamander and Life Force using the same power up bar and being original as well.
You really should have counted power pro and momotaro dentetsu. They are some of the biggest series they have but weren't counted
If there's gonna be the "current state of every Square-Enix franchise", are Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Hitman going to be included even though they aren't the company's ips anymore?
Probably. He's covered IPs that changed ownership before.
I really do miss some of Konami's franchises like Twinbee or Parodius. I really loved Twinbee, but I'm glad Bomberman is still going storng.
You deserve way more views,keep up the good work!
fantastic video!
This great current state of every konami franchise video is so interesting to watch and enjoy today :]
Great video man keep it up.
one interesting thing about neutopia is that a lot of its elements are in Bomberman; One game even sharing a lot of map elements with it
Been waiting for this one
The best part of these videos is the insane amount of history in them. It's awesome inspiring how much Japan has contributed to the industry.
Konami has nothing to do with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, it's a spiritual successor to Suikoden as it's being made by people who worked on the Suikoden games, even Yoshitaka Murayama and Junko Kawano are on the team. It was Kickstarter a campaign.
1:12:47 "And to this day, [In The Groove] has been remembered as an inferior B-grade ripoff series." ITG and ITG2 in particular still has one of the most sought-after cabinets of any place-foot-on-arrow-style game. In good condition ITG2 cabs can go for around $10k now. Additionally, it's _sorta_ not dead. StepmaniaX is its replacement. Both ITG/ITG2 and SMX are based off of the open-source Stepmania game. The gameplay is mildly changed - the arrows are now bars kinda like Pop'n or Rock Band, and I think they add in the center panel as well, but the SMX cabs are leaps and bounds better than anything Konami has ever had manufactured. And it's also pretty common to find old DDR cabs converted to run ITG2 or Stepmania (non-X - the base one.) If you ever see a "Simply Love" title screen in an arcade or at a convention, that's running the open-source knockoff of ITG2. And currently, the most up-to-date version of Stepmania is a fork called ITGmania. So much for it being inferior :)
Incredible video 👍
Not the biggest konami fan but I really glad you covered konami. By the way i think you need to do a video on snk or tecmo or arc system works. Edit: i just watch the rumble roses part i think it’s on zombie than death. It’s in the same situation with bloody roar. Also reiko the main character from this franchise was in super bomerman r games.
I believe you forgot to mention the blades of steel franchise, which lasted from October 1987-April 2001.
You missed Momotaro Densetsu ftanchise, a board game made by Hudsonsoft, is about to get a new game in the next months.
Hopefully, now that Contra is making a comeback with a new game and Rocket Knight Adventures is getting a remaster, Konami can finally start to become a respectful company once again.
Crazy that Konami hasn’t created a new franchise in over a decade!
I opened this specifically to see Ganbare Goemon mentioned. I loved the N64 games as a kid, they seemed so bizarre. When I was older I obtained all the Super Fami games (and system to play them on) as well as the DS game, which I managed to play through most of with little to no understanding of the story due to language. But that one kills me the most, I never understood why they let Goemon slip. The horrible tease is how they had released things on virtual console from NES & SNES, and the GB game but skipped 64, and they continuously release Mr Goemon arcade game. A handful of years ago Goemon was featured in pachislot games in Japan as well. I would suggest it’s maybe a zombie or purgatory type thing rather than flat out dead… but no new entries and I’d be steamrolled flat if they ever did again.
As an MSX and later Turbo-grafx/PC Engine player, these games represent a huge part of my childhood and teenage years... So many many great franchises...
what is that green symbol next to “airforce delta” that just randomly popped up on the elebits part? 1:17:03
Can you just answer it real quick
Bro you are doing all the gamers a favour. Keep doing🎉
I really hope that Konami collaborated with ArtPlay/Inti Creates to finish off where they started with a 1897 and 1999 game. I have a feeling that we will be getting them just due to the success and popularity of Castlevania and Bloodstained. After that, I don’t need more Castlevania. Also love that you mentioned Tengai Makyo, because it is very unknown in the west due to difficulties in localizing cutscenes. Although it was the first JRPG to have voice acting.
If you do EA, then tons of franchises EA produced could be on dead tier.
Just the idea of this video is great. Konami deserves so much love and respect. I really hope they revive, the world needs them.
This is such a great series. I just got into Castlevania. Also I might be wrong but was Bayonetta absent from the SEGA franchise? It's newer and still current so it's understandable but she is a big SEGA character
Iirc Bayonetta is a Nintendo owned IP now
He sayed he didn’t put bayonetta in the Sega vid because he already put it in the Nintendo vid also Nintendo makes bayonetta games nowadays not sega
Bayoneta Is a SEGA character but Sega had nothing to do with Bayoneta 2 and 3 Nintendo published those games, with Platinum Games developing all three games, Bayoneta begin to be relevant again because of Nintendo, so is safe to say is a Nintendo IP somewhat
@@monke1340Nintendo doesn't make Bayonetta. Platinum Games does. Nintendo just publishes.
@@piranhaplant8483 Sega still owns both characters and IP(you still see Sega's name on all Bayonetta related things). Nintendo publishes the games only Nintendo platforms, like they did with Fatal Frame.
16:14 Are those penguins a callback to Antarctic Adventure/Penguin Adventure?
I would argue that Suikoden is more likely on Life Support, given that the compilation is likely to be delayed, and it's spiritual successor, Eiyuden, isn't even being developed by Konami, but by 505 Games.
The GBA Frogger games seem so unpopular or obscure that I managed to get one of them for less than a dollar
Hopefully some of these franchises can come back. Some of these are interesting IPs. Edit: Did you forget about Esper Dream. It was like two games for the Famicom Disk System. Edit 2: Forgot to mention Rengoku as well. And I think one more Hudson Soft IP like Galaxy Fraulein Yuna. I hope this gets noticed. Edit 3 (I wonder when I'm going to run out when it comes to these edits): HOLD UP, YOU FORGOT TOKIMEKI MEMORIAL AND BISHI BASHI. Edit 4: Nvm… only titles released in the west. My bad bro.
Would love to see you cover Sony at some point
capsule monsters was the first konami Yu-Gi-Oh game? huh
They were _really_ pushing Capsule Monsters as a companion game to Duel Monsters (the card game) early in the franchise, both even began as games in the Season 0 menagerie of different Yu-Gi-Oh! games before the TCG took off as the winning formula that defined the rest of the franchise.
The first Yu-Gi-Oh video game is something from the manga. It's the game Mokuba Kaiba is an expert in and Yugi is challeneged by him twice. The second time being a part of the Death-T arc.
Damn I had no idea about Motocross Mania before this video but by the looks of it, it's the direct predecessor to games like Free Rider.
Time Pilot had a game on DS which was the last new release for the series if you don't count ports.
if they make a fast paced old school styled rocket knight game (pizza tower hype) or a true yugioh rpg or something theyd def have something to continue their growth
Dude how tf do you make these videos so fast?
Idk if a month is fast LOL I do pull a few all nighters when I'm close to completion though
Every few entries I'd be hit by the thought "omg this was just the West-adjacent; imagine the FULL LIST". It'd be so upsetting to see my life work end up being shelved by executives instead of being allowed to exist, let alone be preserved.
I thought Yume Penguin Monogatari on Famicom was maybe part of the Konami Penguin series. The penguin was in the title/options screen Konami Krazy Racers on GBA
As a Suikoden fan, I'd be surprised if we ever see anything tangible from the series again. Yes, they announced the HD Remaster for 1 and 2, but the only information they've given for that in the last 8 months was, "yeah, it's not coming out this year". I wholly expect it to be canceled and they never speak of it again.
I feel the only reason the boktai ip was renewed in 2022 is due to the soon to be released megaman battle network legacy collection in 2023. I highly doubt they are doing anything with it and only renewed the ip to ensure that negotiations with capcom for use of boktai elements within the battle network games went smoothly. I wish at the very least they can see what capcom is doing with their megaman games and release a compilation of the 4 boktai games, but that's extremely unlikely due to the bad blood with hideo kojima, considering he is technically a character in at least 2 of the games.
Some of these need a comeback, like Gradius, we need a Gradius VI already, Contra, I don’t count Rogue Corps, Lethal Enforcers, the third game needs a console port, a new Star Soldier title we so need as well, R didn’t feel like a good game to go out on…
Good job Kai. I would love to see a Current State Tier Lier for Namco Bandai, Sega, Capcom, Nintendo first party games, Rockstar, and maybe Naughty Dog.
He already did the first four before.
@@danielclemente1253 Revised editions would be nice though. * Move Western-only IPs to an “honorable mentions” list, where Japan-only IP are also included alongside franchises that only have one game aside from ports, crossovers, adaptations, etc. (such as ARMS) * Include newer and missing IP. * Revise some positions.
I wonder how many entries escaped the Dead Tier exclusively because of Pachinko Machines
Seeing how well the recent *R-Type Final 2* has performed and certainly how damn excited people were, as well as how quickly that its Kickstarter succeeded, I gives a me hope this didn't go unnoticed by Konami. Not to mentioned them recently getting back into major installments like Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, and even more recently announcing a new actual Contra game by WayForward coming in 2024. If R-Type can come back after being dormant nearly as long as its rival space shooter series, I'm pretty sure Konami can revive the Gradius games with a new installment or even a collection to test the waters. If such a thing does happen soon, I hope Konami outsources the game to *Treasure* again and they give us that long overdue "Gradius VI". A game that was planned for the PlayStation 3 waaaaaay back but canceled sadly... 😗
Well not only R-Type came back Darius (well Taito re-released Ray’z Arcade Chronology) and Cotton did got some activity as well and speaking of Cotton she did got a solid remake that warrant getting a brand new entry, getting 4 emulated re-releases with some various qualities I think the Saturn one is the worst cuz the input delay problems. Rainbow cotton is getting a remake that will try to fix the game as much as possible later this year and this is a bad game we are talking about they are remaking. Do wish Sega could do something with the Thunder Force Series and be more original than what VI was
Wow, Konami has enough dead franchises to fill an entire graveyard... Twice!
I just want a remaster of Help Wanted (Job Island in Europe) man…. It’s just such an underrated gem…
You forgot to mention Rush'n'Attack (aka Green Berets) it had 2 somewhat sequels/spiritual successors. It is dead category 🤣
And also Thrill Drive, Racing Jam
Who remembers Sparkster??
After watching this, I realized that Konami made lots of really unique games and had some real interesting ideas. Crazy how they've pretty much fallen away from it.
a heads up, Eiyuden Chronicle isn't a Konami games, all the devs who worked on Suikoden had enough of Konami and left and built their own studio, that game is now being called Eiyuden Chronicle as they don't have the rights to the Suikoden name.
I can't imagine how big of a nightmare it would be to be to analyze the state of all Microsoft IPs considering how much stuff they have bought, it would have to be like 4 videos in one.
Part 2? No Love Plus (DS, 3DS, Arcade), Thrilldrive (many versions), GTI Club also ma U entries arcade, PS3, PSP, Wii, otherwise or Coded Arms (1, Contagion, Assault ccancelled)
And also Tokimeki Memorial, the Mocap series (Mocap Boxing, Mocap Golf, Mocap Sports), Steel Chronicle (Vanilla, Be, Be Xross Arms, Victroopers), Mahjong Fight Club series, Quiz Magic Academy series, Baseball Heroes series, and finally the World Combat duology (World Combat/Warzaid, Wartran Troopers)
Konami is so depressing, but on the bright side, they seem to be eyeing a major comeback... I hope it all works out and isn't just a fad for them. As crazy as a suggestion as this is too, you should do Take Two Interactive. Them owning Rockstar alone makes it quite fun to cover, and Rockstar's history extends past just being Rockstar... Back when they were DMA Design, and some of their older franchises. Not sure what you think of that idea. Also the interesting fact Nintendo was considering acquiring them... Pretty cool.
yooo I fucking love Antarctic adventure - it was on a 42-in-1 cart that I gre up with, and played the shit out of it
I think Goemon is not totally dead yet. There is a goemon mii fighter costume in smash bros ultimate, it even appeared in a Nintendo direct.
We Definitely need one of the Original Devs to Come back and come up with a spiritual Successor to Bloody Roar! Hudson Soft died for all the Wrong Reasons!
Such an enigma of a company
I'd love a return of: Castlevania Metal Gear (aside from Delta) Lethal enforcers And the beat em ups
Can we include the Silent Hill Pachinko and the Castlevania Pachinko on this list.
FUCKING LEGEND for making this
Rengoku was a duology of PSP roguelite style action games developed by Hudson and published by Konami. Thoroughly dead.
Can you do natsumi next? pretty please not that me asking would work.
Yu gi oh its in its peak, both duel links and master duels are very well done games, not to mention rush duels exploded in japan but for some reason they ignored the western audience until now when it finally arrived at duel links
I hope that it's safe to say that this company still has a good side to it.
What about Quiz magic academy and Sound Voltex and Princess tomato in salad kingdom
2 series i wish every day would come back from konami is Rumble Roses. And Bloody Roar.
I would like to see the current state of every Sony franchise in the future. It would be interesting to see the number of inactive and even dead franchises
It’s his newest video, it’s definitely a good watch despite missing some franchises like Modnation Racers.
"Hot take: Yu-Gi-Oh! has a better trading card game than Pokémon." Cold take. It's objective fact. 😎
I would have put International Superstar Soccer with Pro Evolution Soccer/ e-football in the same category because from the Japanese name Winning 11 is that they changed. It is very confusing. 53:22 That's not DDR That's Pump it up from Andamiro a Korean company. DDR is 4 arrows and Pump it Up is 5.
no way you showed PIU in the bemani part
I bet there not one on dance rush stardom or the slot machines
Bonk is called BC Kid in Europe not PC Kid
49:32 Eiyuden chronicles isn't devlopp or published by konami
It always makes me sad to be reminded that the second best Konami franchise, Rumble Roses, has been all but completely abandoned. And that their best franchise, Castlevania, has been relegated to retro collections and the occasional mobile game that may or may not even make it to America.
Absolutely insane how many IPs they buried overtime.
That feel when 2 of your favorite franchises (yugioh and castlevania) are being held hostage by pachinko incorporated