Retro Wrap-Up: Konami Edition

If you’ve been following the news for the past year or so, it appears that Konami is turning into the biggest trainwreck gaming has ever seen. While things have been bad for years now, one of the first major signs that something was terribly wrong appeared last year when they were a no-show for their own E3 press conference. Things become more foreboding when Hideo Kojima, who was going to leave Konami after Metal Gear Solid V, ended up leaving (or was fired, depending on who you ask) during the game’s development. They cancelled the planned Silent Hills, and permanently removed the playable demo from digital outlets. On the business side of things, they removed themselves from the New York Stock Exchange. But the weirdest story of all was the revelations of how they treated their employees, relegating people as highly-ranked as Producer to janitorial work.

Konami Corporation as a business entity, however, is not in trouble. The majority of their money comes from making Pachinko machines, particularly those based upon their own IPs. Combining this with the recent success they’ve had in the mobile market, it appears that Konami is content to all but drop out of the mainstream video game market.

Rather than be upset and angry at the business decisions of an entertainment company, the oprainfall Retro Commercial Research Team–in other words, me–prefers to look back at the video game giant Konami once was. If you think back to the great games of the any of the early console generations, a number of them were developed or published by Konami. Starting with arcade games in the late-’70s, their mark on video games runs deep. Any retro gamer’s childhood features memories of playing any of the tons of Konami classics, such as Castlevania, Contra, Gradius, and Suikoden to name just a few.

So, here are some special classic TV moments from the myriad of Konami titles. Let’s remember them for what they were, and not what they’ve become.

Here are the highlights from the past week.

REVIEWS & IMPRESSIONS

ORIGINAL CONTENT

NEWS

Also, don’t forget to check out Operation Recap on our YouTube channel for an alternate take on this week’s news.

And, as always, if you have any ideas or suggestions for retro commercials, let us know either through Facebook, Twitter, or just leave a good old-fashioned comment below.