Today’s entries are all about Konami games. Weirdly, I’m headed down to L.A. for an office call to Konami, as well. It’s a zany coincidence that means… well, nothing, I guess. Except that it’s neat to see a company that was so vital during the 8-bit era is still kicking as we mosey in 2010.
- The Belmont Clan (Castlevania series) by Kat Bailey;
- Bill Rizer and Lance Bean (Contra series) by Nicola Nomali
Is it my imagination or does the blond guy up there look less like Arnold Schwarzenegger than he does one of George H.W. Bush’s kids? I guess one Republican was the same as any other to the Japanese airbrush artists of the late ’80s.
Even for ’80s airbrush work, the shine on those muscles is hard core.
Love the Belmont bio. Hilarious but I oh-so-agree with the travesty of writing Sonia out. What with it hinted in some circles of her and Alucard’s union spawning the Belmonts. Would make sense that only Dracula-Spawn could slay Dracula! :F
Is Konami really “kicking”? They’ve been doing rather badly in this generation specifically (contrary to the four previous), and there’s no sign that they will be picking up very soon. Don’t know how strong they are financially, but it seems that the previously prolific and quality-driven company has been reduced to only a few good games as of late.
Well, Nintendo is working on a new demographic, Sega fell out of the hardware game and was snatched up by a pinball company, Capcom lost like all of their vibrant young talent types to Sega, and Square-Enix is losing ground on the RPG dominance front, so… Konami should be doing pretty great just by default, no?
Wow. The Contra article was probably the most enjoyable thing I’ve read all week. (This isn’t lessened at all by the fact that I just got out of finals.)
man, that contra article is probably my favorite of the bunch. great job, kishi.
The Contra piece was beautiful.
Excellent job on both articles, folks! That woman-faced alien is way creepier in a still screen for some reason.
Konami has had this problem since the ps1 days. Seems they can only make 1 or 2 top-tier game at a time (usually Metal Gear), and the rest appear rushed or low-budget (or portable 2d games). This is due to either a lack of funds or human resources, or both. This is impacting all Japanese developers to varying degrees, as team sizes keep getting bigger. That is why they are being overtaken by western developers. No disrespect, I love Konami and Capcom.
The guy on the left (Lance) looks more like Chevy Chase than Stallone.