Konami and the Sega Genesis

Like many third parties, Genesis was where Konami z's relationship with Sega really began. There were quite a few Konami x games on the sg-1000, but most, if not all, were unlicensed ports made by other developers and regions like Taiwan, even Konami's Master System games were also unlicensed. The MSX code was ported by South Korean developers for gam boy or its Sega Mark 3 version which was released by Samsung; It wouldn't be until 1992 that Konami would develop a home game for Sega hardware, while it was clear that Nintendo was still their priority in the 16-bit era, Konami did some notable work for Sega that I'd like to see here.

This episode will go over all the games Konami developed and/or published for the Sega Genesis, including a very special Sega CD port worth mentioning. I hope you enjoy Konami and Sega Genesis in December 1992. Konami would bring a successful portable arcade game Sunset Riders to the Genesis, they must have been very cautious going into development. Sega, because they decided to use a small format cart for this, making one-to-one matching with arcade content almost impossible, instead of even trying, they made a sort of Redux of the original content by changing the assets and lengths of the level design to accommodate the small storage space the result was still a very engaging and fun game and it even sounds pretty good you get colorful sprites excellent multi-layered parallax scrolling and even a bit of speech the gameplay is pure run and gun platform with various powers I don't mind the remixed stages, but it's the extremely abrupt gameplay that really sucks.

What Konami tried To mitigate this a bit by making the few boss fights brutally difficult, but even these don't help in the long run once you master the patterns, the two player co-op helps and the content here is extremely funny, I just wish there was more of this, it didn't receive any Japanese version of the Mega Drive, also in December 1992 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released, the hyperstone heist, it was known in Japan as the return of the crusher and in Europe as the Teenage Mutant Heroic Turtles, Hyperstone Heist, Konami. Fortunately, I made this game using eight megs of rom, which means we get a lot of great animations, sound effects, music and a good amount of content, this is based on Turtles in Time, which was released in the room of games the year before, like the sunset riders.

Seeing a remix of the original content here, the story drops the Turtles' time travel theme in time and goes with a shredder shrinking New York City with an alien weapon. It's your job to undo the damage. She has fewer levels than the turtles. time, but they are designed differently here and each one lasts much longer with many more enemies to clear out The visuals and sound are top quality stuff, the color and animation are excellent even when compared directly to the source and I consider that its soundtrack is some of the best work Konami has produced for two-player hardware co-op is here, there are four different Turtles to choose from and it's all wrapped up in a presentation that does the comic and the TV show proud that it is one of the best beat'em ups in the world. the platform and something essential if you even remotely enjoy the genre.

Konami kept the ball rolling and in March 1993 they released Tiny Toon Adventures Busters Hidden Treasure, a platform game based on the then popular children's game that proved that so many people sleep with this title that it just explodes. To me this is a straight up sonic rip-off in almost every way, but its levels are varied, it looks spectacular for the cart format and even sounds good, you're basically trying to find your way out while collecting stuff and each level has corners, nooks and hidden areas. here for you to explore and discover. If I made a Genesis hidden gems video, this would be there.

Rarely will you find a retro game of this quality so cheap for the platform. I've seen entire inbox listings for under $20 for this gem, an absolute steal. You'll have tons of fun running, jumping and collecting in this one, everything else is just the icing on the cake. It's another Konami Genesis release. They didn't see a Japanese version in June 1993. Konami made an adaptation of their popular lethal arcade title. The makers of the Genesis were dissatisfied with the offerings available, even designing and releasing their own light weapon known as the Justifier just for this game, as the arcade original used digitized 2D graphics for its entire presentation.

You can probably guess that the Genesis version has major differences in its attempt to replicate that look, this game is horrible across the board, the environments, the enemies, the hostages, it's all a teetering mess of ugliness that rivals games with worse appearance on the platform. The thing is, it's an incredibly fun gun game if you have a justifier on a CRT it's more or less a 2D version of Virtua the enemy cops jump out and you have to appease them before they shoot you the hostages get in the way there are car chases and of course there's a big villain at the end of the stage who has some super weapon trying to kill you, the only thing that really hurts the actual gameplay here is the lack of any sensible two player co-op mode, although the game does Admittedly, you have to have a special pink slip that connects to the regular blue model to access it is exceptionally rare these days, which means the vast majority of us won't be shooting it with a two-gun firing buddy.

Other than that, it may be ugly as sin, but you'll have a ton of fun doing it. enjoy the genre, there is also a mega CD version with much better sound and music. In August 1993, Genesis got Rocket Night Adventures, a new Konami creation just for the Sega platformer. OMG this comes completely out of nowhere! For me, I didn't know what it was when I first saw it in the store, but it had the Konami name on it, so I had to try it. Boom, stunning visuals, spectacular music and unique gameplay made this an instant classic that you can play.

An armor-clad sword-swinging possum with a rocket on its back in this mixed-genre action game. Many stages allow you to play on platforms and use your rocket pack to move around the stage, while other places are sort of horizontal shooters that can blast all over the stage is pretty fun, but the sheer amount of variety and the way each stage is thrown at you is equally great. Some stages are loaded with environmental hazards while others throw tons of enemies at you. There are even some cool boss encounters here. keep you entertained rarely could a third party be said to keep up with Sega and when it comes to software quality on the Genesis, but Rocket Knight's adventures here do just that and deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as classics like shinobi 3 , it's that good.

Kaname joined forces with LucasArts and in November 1993 Genesis received Zombies Ate My Neighbors or simply Zombies in Europe, this was an aerial adventure game themed around various bad guys from classic horror movies, the objective as simple as can be. rescue your neighbors. certain doom if a monster touches them, they are dead and you will have to search for keys and other items to find your way around the scenes, sometimes it is a simple neighborhood, sometimes shops and sometimes a sports stadium, keep your eyes peeled for items because Sometimes the simplest thing can be the most useful depending on the enemy.

This was ported from the Super Nintendo assets and some things are different, mainly the item and the radar on the right side of the screen. It uses the Jem sound driver and I have to admit. It doesn't sound bad at all and the images are loaded with little animations that really add a comedic appeal. Its two-player cooperative mode also Konami again skipped the Japanese release for this Konami surprised us in December 1993 with a one-on-one fighting game called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournaments or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Heroes Tournaments in Europe. I was so excited to play this game when I found out that it was a street fight or two fighting game inspired using Teenage Mutant Ninja.

Turtles, what the hell could be bad here, unfortunately, almost everything, the character selection is horrible instead of shredding the bebop of Foot Clan and Rocksteady, you have a small class of turtles, April O'Neil, Casey Jones and a bunch of nobody, you won't care. about there is even a character that Konami just invented, this means that here you will mainly fight against your friends or against what the game calls clones, that fight is extremely unbalanced and with a computer AI that just spams the same moves . a real shame because the presentation here is quite nice, the visuals are solid and the music is quite well done, but I can't play this stinker for long.

Konami made three fighting games based on the IP around the same time and this was by far the worst of all the games that a game can look and sound on par with the best but if it plays like garbage There's just not much else that matters at the end of 1993, just before the Konami New Year's turnaround. The Castlevania lineage was unleashed on the North American Sega Genesis. This entry in the much-revered series had a big task ahead of it, it wasn't enough for it to stand out on its own, it's a great game, but it would immediately be compared to the other one. games in the same series, luckily for us, Konami didn't disappoint and Bloodlines here ended up being a fantastic entry that did the series proud.

Follow two new heroes who play similarly but have very different weapons and abilities so you can master the visuals. The more classic styles of NES games, but now they have fantastic special effects, giant multi-jointed sprites, and locations that break free from the usual evil Castle motif. Castlevania can't be great without a spectacular soundtrack and we have that too. The music here is a mix of old and new tunes that have a unique feel thanks to the Genesis' FM-generated synth. Some of these are my favorite versions of these songs on any platform. They were released in Japan as Vampire Killer and in Europe as Castlevania the New Generation.

Simply one of the best action platform games of that generation, don't underestimate the experience by playing on easy mode or avoiding the second character, it's all part of this epic journey. In March 1994, Konami resurrected its popular NES franchise at its

genesis

for a double release. dribbling playoff edition known as Hyper Duncan to most of the world, many of us grew up making threes and performing killer dunks on the NES original and I had similar dreams for this one, unfortunately Konami delivered shit here in both a soccer game As in basketball, the game is marred by terrible collision detection, terrible speed, and shots that just feel broken.

I like big sprites and it's one of the few games that supports up to eight players at a time, but the game just cripples any possibility of realness. It's fun, I advise you to try it, but with so many other games in the genre that play better and have an actual NBA license, this will probably be a big mistake for many of you. Castlevania wasn't Konami's only classic Genesis series. would receive and in August 1994 we would get the absolutely amazing two player co-op versus hardcore mode, giant bad guys, giant bad guys, multiple characters to choose from, incredible graphics and sound, this is the complete package of everything a run and gun shooting game.

It should rival the best this series has to offer in terms of content presentation and fun factor. It's really hard to make you invest a lot of time to see everything he has up his sleeve. Parallax galore and monster-sized enemies are everywhere you do things most people will do. tell you that Genesis can't do it there yet, it's on the screen and tells you otherwise, you need to master its sliding mechanics to survive and there are different weapons and tactics to master from there, in Japan it's known as counter hardcore and it uses points of life. instead of one hit and you're dead and the European launches known as probotector and use robots instead of people.

September 1994 saw one of Konami's most exclusive releases for Genesis stars Tiny Toon Adventures Acme. This is a compilation of sports titles that have been simplified to quick and easy to access arcade style games, you have access to football which is four on four, basketball which is three on three, a crazy obstacle course, bowling and a whack-a-mole style game where you must beat Montana Max's,It features four player simultaneous play and is one of the best games on the platform for kids, it looks and sounds way above what you would expect from a game like this and the variety and options definitely help the fun factor that you can Lose hours with kids daring and running around and the controls are set to be as easy as possible, including simplified rules for the other sports games.

It's another really cheap game on eBay and is exclusive to the platform. Konami would skip a Japanese version of this. one too, in October 1994, Konami released a sequel to their previous hit Sparkster Rocket Night Adventures for our rocket-powered sore possum who is back and ready to save the kingdom once again. I didn't like this game when I first found it. I thought the graphics looked noticeably less impressive and Sparkster loses his main projectile-based attack in favor of just the basic short-range melee ability of swords. Fortunately, there are changes here to consider once you play it for a while, rocket energy charging is now faster and more automatic. giving you many more opportunities to use it and making it your de facto ranged attack now that the sword has been changed, although I think the first one is still a more attractive game, this is not an eyesore by any means, there are still plenty of Backgrounds of various layers so you can ogle and sparkle as they are incredibly well animated.

The first game had a great soundtrack, and this one does too so much that I prefer some here over some in the original. The jetpack was a cool mechanic from the first title, but it's a star here and I totally appreciate that it changed things up enough to make them feel new and different. It was known simply as Sparkster in the US and Europe. Also in October 1994, Lethal Enforcers to Gunfighters was released for the Sega Genesis. This was a sequel to the original lethal enforcers and was again an adaptation of an arcade game that featured heavy use of 2d.

Digitized graphs and again those graphs are shaky to the point of causing eye pain. OMG, will you be surprised how bad this game looks? This time it's set in the Old West and instead of car chases and machine guns, they throw cars, arrows and cannons at you. Unlike the original, this was sold without the weapon in most regions, meaning if you didn't buy the first one you were a bit Sol, they didn't work with other weapons you liked, meaning again two players with two Guns were lost to most owners there. It's also a Sega CD version of this game and again it has much better sounding music than the cartridge version, despite all that it's still a fun shooter if you can get past the horrible visuals and requirements unrealistic for two players.

Konami took over Animaniacs. It licensed and released its Genesis version in November 1994. This platform game has puzzle elements similar to games like The Lost Vikings. You control the show's three main cast members, each with their own abilities. You must use these skills to overcome obstacles and enemies in different movie settings in one studio or another, like most of the games Konami made on Genesis, the visuals and sound here are solid and well done, everything on the screen is animated impressively and everything is colorful and well detailed, the music is again head and shoulders above the normal Garbage you heard from other third parties and perfectly captures the feel of the show.

This was another one that Konami skipped in Japan, although it was ported to the Gameboy a few years later. The last game released for the platform arrived on the Mega Drive in late 1996. deluxe international superstar soccer, this 8-player soccer game would not be released in the US or Japan and I would not play it until many years later, I must say though, this is an amazing football game, large well animated sprites adorn a large looking field full of touches like cameramen on a Jumbotron, the fantastic presentation just blew me away and I realized why a Once I saw that Konami had outsourced this to expert developer Factor 5 of Turrican Fame, those guys knew what the hell they were doing and this.

It was definitely worth acquiring a sports title of the last age, even then it arrived in Brazil at the end of 1997 and Konami also published Nigel Mansell's World Racing Championship in 1993 for the European territory. It was originally owned by Game Tech and Gremlin Software, but Konami. I chose it exclusively for release in the UK, France and Denmark. It's not a bad version of the sport, but it's a little tame, with few details on the track and tracks that all look the same. There are much better racing games on the Genesis, although I can't. Let's just say I hated it, this was never released in Japan.

Konami was also set to publish Mega Turrican in mid-1993, but something happened and Konami abandoned the title entirely. It languished in limbo for almost a year before Data II stepped up to publish the title in Japan. US and Sony handle it in Europe, most of you are probably well aware of the charms of this game. Excellent music. Top-notch graphics and run-and-gun gameplay with a healthy dose of platforming. Everything defines this excellent experience. It's another one that was never released in Japan. In my Capcom Sega Genesis video, many of you lamented the fact that I left out the final fight from the list since you talked.

I won't skip Snatcher for the Sega CD developed in-house by Konami and released in the US and Europe in late 1994. In early 1995, this is a graphic adventure game created by industry legend, today Okajima , uses CD storage to deliver a high-end cinematic presentation and a cinema-caliber soundtrack. The story focuses on thief robot-like creatures who steal people's skin so they can. Hiding in plain sight, your job is to hunt down these thieves and eliminate them, of course nothing is easy and you have all kinds of personal problems including amnesia. The world is still recovering from a biological attack that wiped out Asia and the effect it has had. about the world economy has completely changed society as we know it the game is based on conversations and searching for clues in the immediate area to advance the story the only action that takes place are shooting sections that occur here and there is the The story unfolds, that story treats you like an adult and I'm not just talking about the violence and blood, it weaves a story with people who have personal problems, demons and everything is wrapped up in a world where nothing is sunshine and rainbows , tried to be serious fiction.

In a time when people thought that growing up meant ripping someone's mouth off, this is the only official English version of this game that Konami has ever made, which of course means that it's highly sought after and costs a fortune, I don't mind. you will hear this said. often, but it's one of those games that can be worth the price. It's an unavailable gem and you definitely need to find a way to play it. Sorry, I wish I had done more. your duties quite satisfactorily, that's right, it's not your fault Gillian, don't worry about the way the boss is waiting for you, so how did Kaname fare with Sega's old 16-bit workhorse?

Not bad, not bad at all, while they took a few shortcuts here and there with titles like Sunset Riders and Tournament Fighters, their overall efforts were generally an advantage. They completely nailed the Castlevania and Contra team and the exclusive stuff like Rocket Knight Adventures and Tiny Toon Adventures were pleasant surprises that you rarely left behind. a game with Konami on the title screen disappointed and that says a lot when many third parties just put out their Super Nintendo products with improved graphics and completely neutered sound and music, this company gets a lot of flak these days for their questionable decisions. and business practices, but for us Sega fans, they were hugely successful during the 4th generation, you could argue that their efforts here easily surpassed those of the Saturn and Dreamcast and you wouldn't get much pushback from me, many of these titles They are excellent.

Easily ranking among some of the best of the 16-bit era, I'm Sigil Lord x, thanks everyone for watching and I'll see you next time.