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.
MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-president at Microsoft and director at ASCII Corporation. Microsoft and Nishi conceived the project as an attempt to create unified standards among various home computing system manufacturers of the period, in the same fashion as the VHS standard for home video tape machines. The first MSX computer sold to the public was a Mitsubishi ML-8000, released on October 21, 1983, thus marking its official release date.
Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo.
Contra is a run-and-gun shooter video game developed and published by Konami, originally developed as a coin-operated arcade game in 1986 and released on February 20, 1987. A home version was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, along with ports for various home computer formats, including the MSX2. The arcade and computer versions were localized as Gryzor in Europe, and the NES version as Probotector in PAL regions.
In the history of video games, the third generation of game consoles, commonly referred to as the 8-bit era, began on July 15, 1983 with the Japanese release of two systems: Nintendo's Family Computer and Sega's SG-1000. When the Famicom was not released outside of Japan it was remodelled and marketed as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This generation marked the end of the video game crash of 1983, and a shift in the dominance of home video game manufacturers from the United States to Japan. Handheld consoles were not a major part of this generation; the Game & Watch line from Nintendo and the Milton Bradley Microvision that were sold at the time are both considered part of the previous generation due to hardware typical of the second generation.
A Famiclone is any clone console of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), known in Japan as the Family Computer or Famicom. They are electronic hardware devices designed to replicate the workings of, and play games designed for, the NES and Famicom. Hundreds of unauthorized clones and unlicensed copies have been made available since the height of the NES popularity in the late 1980s. The technology employed in such clones has evolved over the years: while the earliest clones feature a printed circuit board containing custom or third party integrated circuits (ICs), more recent (post-1996) clones utilize single chip designs, with a custom ASIC which simulates the functionality of the original hardware, and often includes one or more on-board games. Most devices originate in China and Taiwan, and less commonly South Korea.
Penguin Adventure is an action-adventure platform video game released by Konami in 1986, and a sequel to 1983's Antarctic Adventure. The game marks the professional debut of game designer Hideo Kojima, who was assistant designer on the project.
Yie Ar Kung-Fu is an arcade fighting game developed 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 1985. 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.
Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa is a Konami video game that was first released for a Japan-exclusive market in 1988 for the Family Computer Disk System. It was later released as a cartridge in 1993 for the Family Computer itself.
Zemmix, trade mark and brand name of South Korean electronics company Daewoo Electronics Co., Ltd., is an MSX-based video game console brand. The brand name Zemmix is no longer in use.
Konami's Ping Pong is a sports arcade game created in 1985 by Konami. It is the first video game to accurately reflect the gameplay of table tennis, as opposed to earlier simplifications like Pong. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Famicom Disk System, MSX, and ZX Spectrum.
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.
Family Stadium, also known as Pro Yakyū: Family Stadium and Famista, is a series of baseball sports video games initially developed and released by Namco in Japan, and later developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The first entry in the series, Pro Baseball: Family Stadium, was released for the Nintendo Family Computer in 1986 and later in North America as R.B.I. Baseball, with the series being released on numerous home consoles, the latest being Pro Yakyuu Famista 2020 in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch. The series is considered a precursor to Namco's own World Stadium series of baseball games, released for arcades, PlayStation and GameCube. The series has been a commercial success since, with over 15 million copies being sold as of 2016.
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the Family Computer (FC), commonly known as the Famicom. The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American test markets on October 18, 1985, before becoming widely available in North America and other countries.
King Kong 2: Yomigaeru Densetsu is a 1986 MSX2 role-playing video game by Konami. It was released only in Japan and based on the movie of the same year, King Kong Lives. Similar to Konami's later Hi no Tori games, two separate games were developed together and released for the MSX and Famicom respectively. While the Famicom King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch has players playing as King Kong in a more action-oriented format similar to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda, Yomigaeru Densetsu has players playing as Mitchell in a role-playing style.
Castlevania, known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula, is a platform game developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer Disk System video game console in Japan in September 1986. It was ported to cartridge format and released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in May 1987 and in Europe in 1988. It was also re-issued for the Family Computer in cartridge format in 1993. It is the first game in Konami's Castlevania video game series.
Metal Gear is an overhead military action-adventure video game originally released in 1987 by Konami for the MSX2 computer in Japan and parts of Europe. Considered the game to popularize the stealth game genre, it was the first video game to be fully developed by Hideo Kojima, who would go on to direct most of the games in the Metal Gear series. A reworked port of the game was released for the Famicom a few months later, which later saw release in international markets for the NES over the following two years; this version was developed without Kojima's involvement and features drastically altered level designs, among other changes. An emulated Famicom version came with the special edition of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on GameCube. A more faithful port of the MSX2 version was later included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence for the PlayStation 2, as well as in the HD Edition of the same game released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Vita, with these newer ports featuring a revised translation and additional gameplay features. The MSX version was also released for Wii Virtual Console and PC.
F-1 Spirit is a series of Formula One-based racing video games developed and published by Konami starting on the MSX in 1987.
Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction is a 1988 computer game, developed and published by Konami exclusively for the MSX platform in 1988. It was only released in Japan and Europe. The game is part of the long running Gradius series of side-scrolling shooters and is a spin-off of Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou. It is the second game of the series to be released exclusively for the MSX after Nemesis 2. In terms of the story; the game is a sequel to Gradius II, Nemesis 2, and the MSX conversion of Salamander. The game takes place almost 200 years after the crisis with Dr. Venom and James Burton has died in the year 6718. The Vic Viper is replaced by a new ship called the Vixen ; piloted by David Burton, a direct descendant of James who is assisted by his AI Gaudie.
