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Creator / Konami

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/konami_logo_1.png

UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, Select, Start
—The Konami Code – specifically, the code as used to start a 2-player game of Contra where both players start with 30 lives

Konami Group Corporation is a popular Tokyo-based maker of video games, toys, slot machines and trading cards, founded by Kagemasa Kozuki on March 21, 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair business in Osaka, Japan. Konami transitioned to arcade development in the '70s, and was responsible for arcade hits throughout the '80s such as Frogger, Gradius, Contra, and Track & Field. It became one of the leading third-party developers during the NES era, thanks to best-selling ports of many of its arcade hits, as well as console-exclusive titles such as Castlevania, and Metal Gear. It is currently the fourth-largest game company in Japan, behind Nintendo, Sega Sammy and Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Due to Nintendo's restrictions on third-party licensing during that era, Konami could release only five games per year for the NES. Konami found a way around this by creating a quasi-independent subsidiary known as "Ultra Games", which published the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, Skate or Die, Metal Gear, and an expanded version of Gyruss, among others. (They made a similar move in Europe with Palcom Software Ltd.) After Nintendo relaxed its standards, Konami closed Ultra in 1992 and absorbed its remaining employees into its American branch. Palcom was later closed in 1994 with its employees placed in Konami's various European branches. Some of the other Konami staff left that same year to create Treasure Co. Ltd. Konami also owned a majority stake in Hudson Soft until making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

In the mid-80s, Konami became famous by one of their Classic Cheat Codes, dubbed the "Konami Code". First appearing to US players in the 1986 NES port of Gradius and made popular in the 1988 NES port of Contra, it provided the players of the notoriously-diffiicult game with 30 lives, rather than the original 3. Due to the game's popularity, the Konami Code now enjoys a pop-culture status on par with the famous 'XYZZY' keyword from Colossal Cave Adventure — mention the 'Konami Code', and it's a sure bet than any console gamer worth his eyeteeth will know exactly which code you mean.

In 1999, the company inked an agreement with Universal Interactive Studios, which allowed Konami to publish, distribute and market several UIS titles in all territories. By 2004, both companies parted ways as Vivendi Universal set up their own Japanese division.

Konami came under fire in 2015 when, for a number of reasons, they canned Silent Hills and Hideo Kojima, along with quite a few of his long time collaborators, left Konami due to intolerable working conditions, which shone a spotlight on the terrible morale at the company. Following that, Konami announced their departure from console gaming to focus on mobile gaming and a larger focus on its non-video gaming domestic efforts, namely pachinko and slot machines — a move that has left a sour taste in many fans' mouths, especially Western fans. While Konami still produces arcade games, most notably the BEMANI franchise, many Westerners find no relevance in such games due to a combination of No Export for You and an overall decline in arcade games in the West. There were reports that the rumors of departing from console gaming were false and Konami was hiring for a "new Metal Gear" project — but this turned out to be the critically and commercially panned spin-off Metal Gear Survive as well as yet another pachinslot machine.

In spite of their claimed mobile gaming market focus, Konami entered the PC gaming and e-sports market with their own brand Arespear (similar to Dell's Alienware and HP's Omen) in 2020, after seeing the resurgence of PC as a gaming platform in Japan after decades. Since then, Konami has been running and expanding their e-sports services there as well as releasing some of their recent games on PCs both in Japan and overseas. In 2021, Konami expanded their e-sports activities to include the BEMANI franchise with BEMANI Pro League, with players competing in teams based on and sponsored by Japanese arcades.

In 2022, Konami announced that they are heading back to consoles, starting with announcement of remakes and new games for the Metal Gear and Silent Hill franchises.

In 2024, Konami announced the formation of its own animation studio, KONAMI animation, with the release of its debut original work, "Yu-Gi-Oh! CARD GAME THE CHRONICLES".

In no way related to the Konata/Kagami pairing of Lucky Star, or to any character with the name, or to any kind of "economy". Nor is it the Norwegian person's wife.

Developed and published games and franchises:

Published games by Western Developers

Published games by Ultra/Palcom:

Licensed Games:

Konami games that were cancelled:

  • Battle Choice
  • Battle Jungler
  • Castlevania Resurrection
  • Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night (Game.com variant)
  • Castlevania: The Bloodletting
  • Coded Arms Assault
  • Contra Online
  • Contra Spirits 64
  • Dear Blue
  • Green Beret (Game Boy Color variant)
  • Guy Savage
  • Konami Rally
  • Metal Gear Solid (Game.com variant)
  • Metalocalypse: Dethgame
  • Moto-X
  • Silent Scope Reboot
  • Survivor Day One
  • Six Days in Fallujah (planned to be published by Victura since 2016)
  • Twin Bee Miracle
  • Zone of the Enders 3

Outside games/franchises published by Konami in a set region:

Japan

North America

Europe

Oceania

Series produced/sponsored by Konami:

Produced:

Sponsored:

Names associated with Konami:

Tropes associated with Konami:

  • The Cameo: Pretty much in all of the games that are created by the company prior to 2016, there is a Moai head. Konami discontinued the Moai head joke since and has never put them into their recent (predominantly e-Sports) titles.
  • Classic Cheat Code: The famous Konami Code, which even has its own page.
  • Easter Egg: A lot of Konami's games have these, usually referencing a different game.
  • Easy-Mode Mockery: Most of their games would refuse to let the player see the true or full ending unless he or she was playing on the hardest difficulty, which makes it even harder to play since most Konami games are Nintendo Hard. While this trope is generally averted as Konami ventures more into e-Sports, their e-Sports titles are even harder with their multiplayer focus.
  • Flip-Flop of God: It's been claimed that Kojima Productions was disbanded but they're still intact with the trademark continue to fall under Konami. Considering that Kojima's new company is also named Kojima Productions but has a different Mascot/Logo (Ludens) instead of the FOX logo that is most likely what they hold the trademark on, not the name.
  • Goroawase Number: The number 573 appears in many of Konami's games in some way.
  • Konami Code
  • Lying Creator: They stated that mobile is "where the future of gaming lies" and would focus on mobile platforms only, but they continue to produce non-mobile products.
  • Logo Joke: The Infinity Pro Sports logo looks like the old Konami logo.
  • Nintendo Hard: Most of their games fall under this. And to top it all off, they won't even let you see the full game on the easiest difficulty. While the Easy-Mode Mockery was averted in their recent E-Sports titles, this trope still applies.
  • No Export for You: Everything pertaining to PASELI in Konami arcade games is unavailable in the U.S. (and any country with strict gambling laws for that matter) due to tax and business laws.
  • No Problem with Licensed Games: Their licensed titles were, for the most part, fairly decent and faithful to their source material. Even with Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven games which still have stellar support and have become Konami's flagship titles in the e-Sports front.
  • Stock Sound Effects: Konami's pause jingle that plays in most of the company's 8- and 16-bit games.
  • Tournament Play:
    • The Konami Arcade Championship series, an annual multi-game tournament showcasing many of their arcade games like Quiz Magical Academy and the BEMANI franchise.
    • As of 2020s, Konami is one of the organizers of e-sports scenes in Japan, and also helped in e-sports tournaments with their eFootball games there as well as overseas.

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