Gradius is a side-scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami. The first game in the Gradius series, it was originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1985. The player maneuvers a spacecraft known as the Vic Viper that must defend itself from the various alien enemies. The game uses a power-up system called the "power meter", based upon collecting capsules to purchase additional weapons.
TwinBee (ツインビー) is a video game series composed primarily of cartoon-themed vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up games produced by Konami that were released primarily in Japan. The series originated as a coin-operated video game simply titled TwinBee in 1985, which was followed by several home versions and sequels. The character designs of almost every game in the series since Detana!! TwinBee in 1991 were provided by Japanese animator Shuzilow HA, who also planned and supervised most of the subsequent installments in the TwinBee series. The series also inspired a radio drama adaptation that lasted three seasons in Japan, as well as an anime adaptation.
In video game parlance, a multicart is a cartridge that contains more than one game. Typically, the separate games are available individually for purchase or were previously available individually. For this reason, collections, anthologies, and compilations are considered multicarts. The desirability of the multicart to consumers is that it provides better value, greater convenience, and more portability than the separate games would provide. The advantage to developers is that it allows two or more smaller games to be sold together for the price of one larger game, and provides an opportunity to repackage and sell older games one more time, often with little or no changes.
Salamander, retitled Life Force in North America and in the Japanese arcade re-release, is a scrolling shooter arcade video game by Konami. Released in 1986 as a spin-off of Gradius, Salamander introduced a simplified power-up system, two-player cooperative gameplay and both horizontally and vertically scrolling stages. Some of these later became normal for future Gradius games. In Japanese, the title is written using ateji, which are kanji used for spelling foreign words that has been supplanted in everyday use by katakana. Contra, another game by Konami was also given this treatment, with its title written in Japanese as 魂斗羅.
1985 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Super Mario Bros. and Kung Fu, along with new titles such as Commando, Duck Hunt, Gauntlet, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gradius, Hang-On, Space Harrier, Tetris and The Way of the Exploding Fist. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were Hang-On and Karate Champ in the United States, and Commando in the United Kingdom. The year's best‑selling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the second year in a row, while the year's best‑selling home video game was Super Mario Bros.
Miki Higashino is a Japanese video game composer best known for her works in the Suikoden series.
Yie Ar Kung-Fu is an arcade fighting game developed and published by Konami. It first had a limited Japanese release in October 1984, before having a wide release nationwide in January 1985 and then internationally in March. Along with Karate Champ (1984), which influenced Yie-Ar Kung Fu, it is one of the games that established the basis for modern fighting games.
Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced, known in Europe as Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Classics, is a compilation video game created by Konami. It was first released on March 22, 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. A version was also released as a plug & play by Majesco Entertainment.
Konami 80's AC Special (known in Japan as Konami 80's Arcade Gallery is a compilation of arcade video games, originally released in arcades in 1998. It was later ported to the PlayStation in 1999, where it was renamed to Konami Arcade Classics for its North American release. It was supposed to be released in September 1999, before the game was delayed to its release date of December 9, 1999. Unlike most of Konami's PlayStation games, the PlayStation version was not released in PAL regions.
Gradius is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper.
Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth, also known as Parodius, is a scrolling shooter video game developed by Konami for the MSX computer and was released in Japan. The game is notable for being the first title in the Parodius series, although it is often confused with its sequel Parodius! From Myth to Laughter. The name itself is a portmanteau of "Gradius" and "Parody" and, eponymously, the game is a parody of the Gradius series of space-based horizontally scrolling shooters. Many of the characters and enemies are derived from that famous shooter series, while other elements are extracted from other Konami titles, such as Antarctic Adventure and TwinBee. This game is of particular note in the series as being heavily infused with Japanese culture and folklore.
Martial Champion (マーシャルチャンピオン) is a 1993 fighting game released for the arcades by Konami. It was Konami's third fighting game after the 1985 releases Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Galactic Warriors and the 1986 release Yie Ar Kung-Fu II, and their first release that came after the success of Capcom's 1991 arcade hit Street Fighter II.
Yie Ar Kung-Fu II: The Emperor Yie-Gah is a video game developed and released by Konami in 1986 as a sequel to 1985's Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Rather than a pure fighting game as the original, it is a beat 'em up. It was released for the Commodore 64, MSX, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron home computer systems and featured a different approach to the game. In France, the video game was also released for the Thomson computers.
Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits, released as Konami Arcade Collection in Japan and Konami Arcade Classics in Europe and Oceania, is a collection of 15 classic arcade games by Konami for the Nintendo DS.
Konami GB Collection is a series of video game compilations composed of four volumes released in Japan for the Game Boy and re-released in Euro regions for the Game Boy Color. The compilations were originally released from 1997 to 1998 in Japan, and were later released in Europe in 2000.
M2 Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer and publisher, best known for handling emulation of re-released games, such as some Sega Ages titles, Virtual Console titles for Nintendo systems, the 3D Classics series for the Nintendo 3DS and their ShotTriggers range of classic STG games. M2 has also created entirely new titles such as WiiWare games for Konami under the ReBirth moniker and more recently a new GG Aleste game. In addition, M2 currently holds the rights of Aleste series and all NEC Avenue and NEC Interchannel games on TurboGrafx-16 and variants, previously owned by Lightweight.
Konami Classics Vol. 1 and Konami Classics Vol. 2 are retail packages of three Xbox Live Arcade games developed and published by Konami. The disc works by inserting it into the console just like any other game. However, rather than directly launching any of the titles, it adds three items to the Xbox Live Arcade menu with a small disc icon next to each name.
Nemesis 2 is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game released for the MSX computer in 1987 by Konami. The game is a sequel to Nemesis, the MSX version of Gradius, but is unrelated to the arcade game Gradius II. This version was ported to the X68000 computer under the name Nemesis '90 Kai, with some graphical and aural enhancements.
