6 Franchises We Can All Thank Konami For

Castlevania

If you’ve ever played a game in the long-running Castlevania series, watched the (amazing) animated Netflix series, or enjoyed playing as Simon or Richter in Smash Bros. Ultimate, then you have one company to thank, and that company is Konami.

The gothic sidescrolling adventure series is regarded as one of the best franchises of all time, specifically Symphony of the Night, which would go on to inspire other developers to create titles that now fall into the category of “Metroidvania.”

This term mixes together Metroid and Castlevania, two series that excelled in backtracking, 2D exploration, and even boasted fantastic soundtracks.

Konami hasn’t been pushing out new Castlevania game as of late, but with the series now having a spot in Super Smash Bros. and a popular animated television series, now would be the perfect time to bring the Belmonts back for a new adventure.

Metal Gear Solid

Ever since Metal Gear Solid dropped onto the scene as a tactical espionage action game, it made waves and went on to inspire a ton of other games thanks to its use of stealth.

Metal Gear Solid back on the PlayStation gave us unique bosses that actually had character development, and introduced us to Solid Snake for the first time, a character that would go on to become one of the most well-known in video game history.

Ever since Hideo Kojima departed from Konami, the company seems to be a standstill with the series, not sure where to take it next.

Metal Gear Survive was not the Metal Gear game that fans wanted after MGSV, but hopefully, we will see the return of that awesome stealth action sometime soon.

I’m itching for another experience like MGS1, but maybe we can see a full-fledged HD remake one day, who knows.

Whenever you see stealth mechanics implemented in any video game, just remember that it’s all thanks to Konami and Kojima’s Metal Gear franchise.

Silent Hill

The Silent Hill series is known for telling gruesome and mind-bending tales that revolve around the spooky town of Silent Hill.

The game messes with your head and makes you question the events that happen around you while you explore the gray and eerie locales.

The series has seen multiple spin-offs and even a few live-action adaptations, but it’s been pretty dormant for a while now, especially since the cancellation of Silent Hills.

The game was in production at Konami with Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro acting as co-directors, but unfortunately, we will most likely never see it again.

But still, we have Konami to thank for bringing this survival horror series into existence, and because of them, I don’t think I could ever get Pyramid Head out of my own mind.

Contra

It’s hard to think about modern run and gun shoot ’em up games without going back to the old school series that is Contra. The high-octane multiplayer action game first came to arcade cabinets in the late 80s and gave us a super difficult sidescroller.

Playing as a guy who’s basically Rambo, you have to fight against aliens and extraterrestrial creatures to save the world or something of that nature. You can grab upgrades for your weapons that can put out massive damage but it comes at a risk.

The last Contra game put out by Konami was Hard Corps: Uprising back in 2011, but since then the company has been keeping quiet on a new release. But still, even though it’s been a while since we’ve seen Contra in the spotlight, we still have Konami to thank for the franchise.

Dance Dance Revolution

If you’ve ever been to an arcade or a place that has dance machines, then you’ve probably either played or seen someone rapidly moving their feet while they were playing Dance Dance Revolution.

The experts will have a cup full of quarters so they can practice their hardcore dance moves while jamming out to some Japanese pop or something of that sort.

Konami continues to update its arcade machines with yearly releases that come packed with original music from Konami’s in-house musicians and even several licensed tracks.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

The Yu-Gi-Oh! card battling series was almost as big as Pokemon at one point, with the series getting adaptations of all kinds. There was a manga, a long-running television series, tons of video games, physical trading cards, and even feature-length films.

The card battling game brought players together and went on to make it a super-competitive game, with Konami updating the game even after 20 years. The game is not the same as it used to be, thanks to the multiple changes and improvements.

There’s no question that Yu-Gi-Oh is huge, and we can thank Konami for the dozens of video game adaptations starring the famous duel monsters like Dark Magician and Blue Eyes White Dragon.