The back of Parodius Da!'s box promises 1991's idea of gaming perfection - the arcade experience at home. This was always an eye-catching boast thirty years ago (if not necessarily as accurate as the excitable text implied), but it was even more so here as this particular release appeared on computer shop selves only about a … Continue reading A non-sense fantasy
There are just a few weeks of school left before the main cast of this Tokimeki Memorial spinoff graduate, and no doubt more than a few of them hope the classmate they've spent the past few years awkwardly blushing at will be waiting for them under the school's very special tree - the one that promises … Continue reading Rewriting the romantic rulebook
TwinBee RPG is the straightforward name of a straightforward game; one where you, the player, are sucked through your TV during the intro sequence to help out the cast of your favourite show (spoilers: It's TwinBee) after things suddenly take a turn for the worse for Light, Pastel, and Mint. As with any other playable self-insert experience your … Continue reading Pop’n RPG!
Gradius V's staff roll reads like a fan's happy daydream, bringing Treasure, G.rev, and Konami (with none other than Hitoshi Sakimoto on soundtrack duties to boot) together to work on an all-new entry in the legendary shmup series. As far as the genre's concerned this melting pot of talent is easily on a par with Sega's sublime … Continue reading Shoot the core!
Tokimeki Memorial 2 is a lavish PlayStation exclusive experience, one where every event and cutscene has been crafted to the highest standards using vast quantities of spoken dialogue and premium quality artwork - no wonder it spans a frankly absurd five CDs. That's more than any of Squaresoft's chart-topping RPGs released around the same time, and … Continue reading Konami’s second go at first love
I know I've definitely played Konami's groundbreaking dating sim Tokimeki Memorial before, although that happened so long ago I honestly can't tell you which version of the game that involved other than that it was definitely on a disc (I went through the Saturn port this time around). I can't recall the details but I think it's … Continue reading Happy days at Kirameki High
Konami's Cave Noire is a wonderful Game Boy-sized roguelite, just the sort of thing for those moments when you're short on time but would still like to do something other than play another round of Tetris or whatever game the entire internet's fixated with this week. Much like the equally brilliant Shiren this is a turn-based adventure; every enemy movement, every … Continue reading Cart-sized caving
Thanks to the incredible influence of a certain blue hedgehog every company - every company - that wasn't Nintendo back in the Nineties was desperate to have a platforming mascot animal-ish character of their very own, usually a [Something] the [Something]. With attitude. And Konami's was Sparkster, the armour plated, rocket powered, tail swinging, opossum star of Rocket Knight Adventures. … Continue reading Rocket-powered platforming
PlayStation cutscene 'em up Metal Gear Solid was a legend in its own lifetime, selling millions of copies worldwide and responsible for a huge shift in mainstream gaming's attitude towards how games could play and the sort of weighty subjects their plots could tackle. It made "stealth action" mainstream in a way Tenchu, released the … Continue reading Change is bad. And good. And necessary.
All early signs point to this 1987 Konami title being at best yet another The Legend of Zelda clone made with good intentions and inevitably poor execution: The lone hero, the overworld littered with some suspiciously deliberate rock formations, the black holes in south facing walls leading to monster-filled dungeons or new areas entirely - … Continue reading Everything’s better with dragons
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster 