Konami on the NES | CGQ+ 

Without question, both Capcom and Konami were responsible for catapulting the NES (along with Nintendo's own games) to gaming dominance. There were a few others that had some stand out titles starting in 89/90 like Sunsoft, Tecmo and Rare. However, the one constant theme about Konami games that always hit us as kids was their soundtracks, without question, both them and Capcom delivered excellent game songs consistently. I only found out rather recently that Konami's logo are stylized squarewaves and that Konami literally means "wave". Pretty clever , eh? In the Castlevania Collection released for the Switch and PS4 you can play the Japanese versions of Castlevania with the sound intact. In my opinion, Lifeforce is the best shoot em up on the NES, excellent graphics, sound and best of all 2 player co-op.

Blades of Steel is still my favourite game on the platform. That game got so much mileage in my friend circle when it came out. Everyone had it. And when we couldn't play road hockey, we played Blades of Steel. Ultimately, we moved on to EA's offerings but still came back for a fight or two every once and a while. Great memories.

konami on the NES was a powerhouse. Fell in love with their games pretty quickly, especially contra, Castlevania, the TMNT trilogy.

I beat Zelda without a guide when I was a kid, but I had lots of friends who were also playing and we would all talk about secrets at school. That was how we did it before the internet.

I don't know how I missed this channel and your main channel for this many years. So well made. I just did a random search of ppl with an asto city cab at home (because I'm planning on doing the same) and now I'm addicted to your channel.

im a young gamer in my 20s and i watch a lot of retrogame videos and its crazy on what they considered 2 violent back in the 80s and 90s vs whats considered 2 violent now.

The one that comes to mind for me that was not mentioned was Bucky O'Hare. Fantastic platform shooter, which is incredibly difficult, but an absolute blast to play.

Another great video ...I never get tired of Chris' radio voice. He always takes me back to my childhood with that nostalgic high !!!

I remember walking 2 miles each way in a blizzard to got get a copy of Simons Quest the day it came out. It took me forever to figure the game out. I was stuck at the tornado part for a week. I figured it out by accident. I was holding down on the control while talking to my buddy. I was satisfied when I beat it. I had a harder time beating the first Castlevania. I never did beat the 3rd one.

I put on the CGQ+ Flashback play list, cook up some macaroni & cheese, add just a dab of cool ketchup like a cherry on top, pop open a root beer... turn on the Nintendo! Let the last 33 years melt away and pretend its 1989 forever!!! Nothing else comes close. Chris, you are a God damned national treasure!!!! lol

Yet another outstanding fireside chat with CGQ+ It almost feels like I’m right there in the room with Chris, just chatting about NES games and scoping out cow pictures together.

Your take on Castlevania 2 rings so true to me. I had the exact experience. My guess is most people who dislike it just didn't play it back in the day. I have the same Tupperware cup since I was a kid. My wife tried to throw it away because it's not marked BPA-free.

Chris, For all the absolutely wonderful content, thank you! :) I had just finished Flashback Ep. 29, for the second time. The only thing better than watching the content that you release, is watching it again.

Good to see you back! Love your videos!

What is this channel? I thought you were AWOL for a long time but discovered this channel and more CGQ content!

You hit the nail right on the head with the James Rolfe stuff. People consistently regurgitate the AVGN opinions without ever having played those games themselves.

Just came out and I know it will be fire. Love the hard work and content

Another great CGQ episode! Loved the memories and games shared. I too had similar experiences growing up. I spent waaaaaay to much time trying to find "Goonies 1" after I received Goonies II for Christmas one year. lol I appreciate the footage your included as well. A great compliment to your discussion and coverage of these classic Konami games. You really have a great perspective that is one of the most grounded I've seen on RU-vid. Keep up the excellent work!!!

Castlevania is easily my favorite video game franchise... I'm a team "Castlevania 2 was great" guy. Loved it back then, and love it still. I wouldn't be sad if they gave it the remake treatment same as the GB game on Wii. Would I say its better than 1 or 3? No, but its different and I don't like comparing them. I don't remember using a guide on this one, but me and my best friend Harry beat it together, and we would have had access to that Nintendo Power... so maybe there was something in there we used. I think the clues are insufficient, but I do remember we figured out the Debora's Cliff thing on our own.

This was a great overview of these games, thanks! I agree with Simon's Quest. Back when I was 11 or so, my older brother had a friend over to stay the night. He brought the game and let me play it, and I was so absorbed into it. To me, it was veey immersive, and I don't know how but my bro's friend memorized how to beat the game. So he helped me beat the game that night, and I'll never forget how awesome it felt.

I was a Mega Drive kid but my cousin had a NES and everytime we visited that thing would get played to death. Iconic console! Love your videos, anymore mixtape videos coming up?

Great video! So many Konami games are among the carts I’ll randomly pop into my NES to this day.

Every time I hear the NES chip tune sound I get a sense of happiness.

Konami was such a force on the NES. Only Capcom came close when it came to 3rd party developers. When They finally made games for the Genesis the system was long in the tooth, but they were great games.

Great video as always. Thanks for continuing to make great content after all of these years. I kind of lost touch with your videos once Covid hit, but I'm back and so happy to be. Nothing like going back to my childhood. Thanks Chris!

I played Castlevania II dozens of times as a kid. I absolutely loved it. It was my very first exposure to Castlevania. I know people hate it, but I don't.

The music really takes me back. Good memories 😊😊😊

Gradius and Lifeforce are my two favorite Konami games on NES. I used to love playing Track & Field in the arcades not long after the 84 summer Olympics in LA.

I finally put a genuine effort into Simon's Quest in 2020 and I agree, it's great and honestly pretty easy. Get a strategy guide, commit to about 30 minutes of grinding at the start, and it's lots of fun and has great atmosphere.

Right after you mentioned Gradius I grabbed my Switch and played through the whole game by the time you finished the video. I always Lifeforce a little more myself but just wanted to say thanks giving me the idea man.

One of my favorite videos you have done, and like you Konami means a lot to me and my childhood growing up playing the NES. I’m from Detroit and hockey is huge, as you know, both being Redwings fans, so Blades of Steel was a staple in my collection. When you hit us with the deadpan “AHHH” I laughed so hard my beer got caught in between my throat and the floor. That was one of the funniest things I have ever heard man. Great job!

Thank you for still making videos Chris. You have such a specific way of sharing information that is very intriguing, relatable & enjoyable. Now please make another PS1 video, PS1 in 1996 preferably :) Thank you in advance. Hope all is well with you and yours.

I remember when all of these games were new. I loved The Goonies 2 and played through it multiple times. I am so old.

Awesome video, felt like talking with an old friend about the glory days of the NES. Perfect way to start my day off. Subscribed!

I love these videos! The more things change the more they stay the same indeed. I remember Contra being more of a myth than reality growing up in the Kansas City area. Never saw a copy of it until I want to say around '89? Not that it mattered for me. Growing up I wasn't allowed to play Contra or Castlevania or Rush 'N Attack due to their content. I did play the crap out of Top Gun and Track and Field. I enjoyed those games a lot growing up. Later on obviously as I grew older I was able to go back and experience those other games from Konami and they still are fun to play today.

"GET THE PASS!" ...thanks for solving the 30 year mystery!! We thought it was "Hit the pass!" Or "Hit to pass!" I totally forgot how incomprehensible that was.

A new vid!! Sweet!!! I was checking out your shop and saw the "obey" postcard. I want that on a black T. Lol. That would be awesome! Nice to see you again good sir!!!

Double Dribble was not only the best Basketball game on the NES, it is one of the most popular games on the NES period. The slam dunk shots were what really sold the game. Top Gun was also really popular. I loved everything about it except landing, I would always have my brother land for me.

Thank god, my subscription feed is completely dead and some gold finally pops up.

Shout-out to Monster-in-My-Pocket for the NES. It was the last game I got for the console as a kid...hidden gem!! P.S. Suprised you don't have any of the TMNT games.

Super C is like the ignored middle child, it's older and younger siblings get all the attention. Super C is a fine game but the original Contra was my introduction to the series and the run n' gun genre. Contra 3 is the shiny 16-bit Contra that blew me away as a kid and the one I played co-op more then all other Contra games combined. Because of nostalgia I play Contra and Contra 3 multiple times a year because it takes me back to my youth, Super C doesn't do that so I play it every few years. No one seemed to talk about it back in the day and that still holds true today.

The stories are as important as the games. Nostalgia is a powerful drug and I can relate to a many of these.

Konami was firing all cylinders in the mid to early 90's, probably my first Konami game memory was from Goonies 2 and I also found it weird but enjoyable but I was also just watching others play since I was still a little kid in 1988.

This was a great episode! Thank You for the road trip down memory lane! Keep it up Chris! I miss the Live Feeds with nintendo games

NBA Live 95 for the Genesis is also one of my favorite basketball games of all-time! It was actually the first basketball game I ever owned for a console.

Gradius was probably the first rental game I remember my cousin picking up at his house. I remember always getting nervous at the twin volcanoes. But certainly had a blast with it. I had never played Track-n-Field, and only Track-n-Field II which is where my nostalgia was centered around. I remember the crazy high dive event, and its funny you mentioned the NES Advantage. That was absolutely essential for some events in Track-n-Field II, especially the Hammer Throw. I remember playing Castlevania, but only after I had played Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. I had a great time with both games, even if I needed a strategy guide to finish Simon's Quest. The Adventures of Bayou Billy was fun, but damn tough. The common enemies just keep weeding away life no matter how adept you are and extra energy is hard to come by in that one. You're right. The silver box art of the Konami games really made them stand out. This was a fantastic trip down memory lane! Thanks so much for making this video!

My brother and I used the Power Pad for World Class Trackmeet and it helped hone our future percussion skills!

I agree about the AVGN, and he does too! His producing partner actually made a whole video explaining why his TMNT video was supposed to be comedy, and all the ways in that it is stiill the best TMNT gamne on the NES. I also grew up loving Simon's Quest, and in my memory, everybody else did too at the time. I think some of his fans got carried away for sure. For me, SQ and Metroid are the reason we have the term Metroidvania, and as awesome as Symphony of the Night was, I'm not sure we would have had that either if SQ hadn't given us the first taste of open world Castlevania.

18:49 it doesn't matter who reviews top gun as soon as i see this cutscene i can hear AVGN swearing in my head haha

18:49 Way to go Maverick, you just killed yourself and Goose.Growing up with Atari 2600 junior, I was blown away by Super Mario Bros for the first time at a friend's house, from a system I had never of heard of.Some time later, I saw Contra and it was the most popular game among my friends with its 2 player capability.But being an Airwolf fan, it was that title on the Famicom that captured my imagination the most.A little trivia, I remember seeing Delta Force label on Contra cartridge, though it had no connection to that Chuck Norris movie. Is that cow Norman from City Slickers?

Great episode. I had a few Konami games, Contra, Super C, Double Dribble, and Track & Field II. My friend owned Blades of Steel, and I can still remember him getting it for his birthday, so fun! As you mentioned, some of these games could be $20-$30. Also, like you mentioned, Nintendo games were usually $50, which probably explains why I never owned Mario 2 or 3. The only other Nintendo games I had were the pack in Mario Bro., Duck Hunt, and whatever the game for the running pad is and Pro Wrestling.

Great video. I appreciate the effort you put into. At an hour that's got to be a lot of shooting and editing.

Konami and Capcom are definite Heavy Hitters on the NES. Tecmo NBA Basketball has to be the best basketball game for the NES though.

Lone Ranger, TMNT, Bayou Billy, and Top Gun the 2nd Mission (for the dog fight portion) get my approval as well. Awesome vid keep up the awesomeness😁👍

What’s interesting is that I only played Castlevania 2 Simon’s Quest back in the day (with pen and paper as a whole family trying to figure what to do next) and when years later I played the original for the first time, I was so disappointed as I felt it was so bland, with no real story, no towns, no night/day cycle, etc.

Your audio is always so 🤌🏼 crispy. Are you using a shotgun mic? I'm going to cheat and say Metal Gear (being an Ultra game) but we all know it was really a Konami title. I agree with you about guides for some games. I would never have guessed the pattern for the lost woods in Zelda. On the other hand I did manage to stumble my way through Shadow gate with the help of two of my friends. (we sat for hours brainstorming ideas and taking turns at making further progress.

this cracked me up with the blades of steal "get the pass", we streamed this live a couple years ago, and since I couldn't understand what he was saying I kept saying "chris Kattan" and I tell you what, everyone was in tears during that stream lol

This has probably been brought up by somebody already, but James (Rolfe) has a very similar opinion to yours on Simon's Quest, in real life

It's great that these games still hold up do this day. I also enjoy they don't require a lot of time commitment to enjoy , just a quick play is nice

Bill Paxton, Bill Pullman Dylan McDermott, Dermot Mulroney Konami, Capcom

Great video! Love all these games! I just want to say you can fight in Ice Hockey. It’s pretty comical. You hit the other player with your stick and then the whole team joins in and the Ref comes over and calls a penalty. And puts you in the penalty box. Did that all lot in my day. 😂

Actually, James Rolfe likes Simon's Quest. It was his first video as Angry Video Game Nerd. I don't think he could have made the video, if he didn't have a love for the game.

From what I've read, Rush n' Attack is a botched home port of an arcade classic. It's the anti-Contra in that way, and kind of a learning experience for Konami. They nailed it the next time.

Contra Force is the best Contra for me. Music from the first level is the most nostalgic track, as well as the atmosphere (backgrounds and such).

That silver border on the game cart was a guaranteed train back in the day

Thx for the ride....always appreciated💎

Finished my workout to find this upload. Hell yeah.

Although i had mad love for Konami, there were tons of other games by plenty of developers that i played quite often. Chip-N-Dale Rescue Rangers was classic to me. Burai Fighter, Abadox, Deja-Vu, Swords and Serpents, and the Megaman series on the NES was just a beast!!

Very good video about a bunch of very good games. Living in Europe I was used to play Konami games with slow music. Some songs work neat slowed down, but most rock when they are played in 60Hz as they were meant to. I´ve got the impression that Nintendo´s and Capcom´s games usually compensated for the slower European standard, but I think Castlevania III is the only konami game that sounds correct.

Simon's quest just like the Adventures of Link is a sequel that is near and dear to my heart. I think that it gets a bad rap for sure.

Great video as usual. Agree about the Paxman/Pullman thing with these two companies. Konami was that seal of quality as a kid (with Capcom) where you knew you wouldn’t be wasting a rental or even more important that rare game purchase. I loved the next ten poster that used to come with the games. They also did something Nintendo/Mattel failed to do over here and that’s shift a good number of NES consoles in the U.K. The new distributor after Mattel decided against Nintendo’s wishes to pack in the 1st Turtles game with the console. It sold a lot and helped Nintendo have a bit of a base for when the SNES officially turned up in 92. It was annoying for young me tho as I had to wait for the Turtles to be sold separate.

Those of us who lived during this era know how great a force Konami was, you wouldn’t know it now which is sad, add in the Ultra titles-Banger games!

I never got Konami and Capcom mixed up. While they both represented the pinnacle of third-party NES developers/publishers, they had very distinctive styles and logos. For one, Konami graphics tended to try to emulate realism more, while Capcom graphics tended to be more cartoonish.

Gradius humbled my child self. Then again, I grew up with the Atari 2600 and even the Odyssey 2 before that-all early childhood stuff. I was very accustomed to the idea of games that were designed to be too difficult for most people to actually beat. Or I guess "beat" is a subjective term when talking about pre-NES consoles since the complexity of games tended to level off at "play forever". So I was frustrated but not altogether surprised that I couldn't get further than maybe halfway into Gradius at best. Obviously hindsight tells me I was simply running into the limits of my skillset at that age.

When you made Castlevania, Contra, and Gradius, you could smear poop in cartridge shells for the rest of your output and still be one of the best NES developers. The fact that they made so many other awesome games not called Mission Impossible just shows how incredible they were. Even a lot of what stayed in Japan is amazing. I still play Wai Wai World from time to time.

Great episode! Maybe a Capcom one later? Ultra?

I just played through a Simons Quest hack that has dialogue fixes, clue fixes, quicker day/night transition, improved controls where you can control your jump, and it has a map. Ill never play it any other way.

Castlevania II was the first episode and it’s pretty funny

Capcom and Konami we're like The Stallone and Schwarzenagger of video game publishers in the 80s and 90s

My son and I played rush'n attack

I remember my dad got me Double Dribble for a yard sale. My aunt had a lot of NES games. I remember being at her house and playing Contra and Rush 'N Attack. Fun games. I know it's under the Ultra label, but I used to love playing TMNT 2 The Arcade Game. One that I think is better is TMNT 3 The Manhattan Project. Fun games.

Definitely some beautiful, great memories. Even though I have a Xbox One, I was able to get the Contra and Castlevania Anniversary compilations in the Microsoft store. So much challenge but I enjoy the fun of it. I was able to use the Konami code to beat Contra 1 and that made me glad. Now my next goal is to beat Castlevania. Thanks for sharing your memories which made me think of mine. And I do love Castlevania 2 as well.

I beat Castlevania II back in 1989, but I had a lot of help from my siblings, friends and Nintendo Power. Great game that deserves a proper remaster with in-game "metroidvania" style maps. I'd pay full price for that.

Totally agree. Konami/Ultra and Capcom were top shelf 3rd party devs on the NES. For my money Goonies II is definitely underrated. For sure a quirky title for its time, but I loved it as a kid. I eventually beat it and had it memorized for awhile. I loved the blend of action/adventure almost like a mario platformer with Shadowgate-like "stages" that served as transitions between levels where you collected items and I think if I remember right found some of the captured Goonies? I'm with you as well on the undue flack sequels like Castlevania II and Zelda II take. Personally I loved the combo of traditional action with puzzle solving and some RPG elements mixed in. For as much as I loved the original Zelda, I have stronger memories of Zelda II where I feel like I waited for an eternity for it to come out (I vividly remember those mentions of the chip shortage delays in The Funclub Newsletter and early Nintendo Power) and when it finally did I had a blast. Metal Gear was a big title for me growing up. My neighbor had it and I remember he and I working together to get to the end. TMNT as well, but mostly for the hype and the mild disappointment when I got it. I would mow lawns for my spending money back then and I saved up, bought it at Toys R' Us, but got it home and it just wasn't that great. Maybe it was the difficulty that turned me off of it. Not horrible but I felt let down that I had burned all my hard earned cash on it at the time.

This was a really cool episode, I had Goonies 2 and loved the game even though I played for hours and would get lost and never beat the game. The opening song of Goonies are good enough is arguably one of the coolest NES tracks ever. Very true that Konami had great music. And Jackal is so awesome it has a perfect difficulty for being an NES game.

Oh I played Castlevania 2. Hated it. Love the other two. Loz 2 was ok but it was just too different. SMB2 is my favorite classic Mario.

To this day my vhs copy of Top Gun is still shrink-wrapped. So I bought it on Blu-ray quite some years ago. It's still in the shrinkwrap too.

Thank you for your story . I bought the nes together whith topgun , in those days i had a portable Black White tv . In the netherlands i had the probotector version of contra , later in emulation i learned your version was different . Lol My favoryte Konami game was and stil is castelvania 2 , simons quest , i love the extra story part of the Game , it gives the story of Simon belmont extra dimension I had all 3 castelvanias on the nes but 2 is for me by far the verry best because of more story line.

Worth noting, Castlevania 3 is also the basis for the equally awesome Castlevania show. Very high recommendation for anyone who hasn't watched it.

My cousin had half these games years before we got NES. I never knew anyone that had Rush'n Attack but I remember playing it on Commodore 64 as Green Beret and it being tough. Goonies II I loved because of the movie mostly, and also had played a different C64 Goonies than the Japanese release.

Crisis Force is my favorite Konami shooter. Too bad it was never released outside of Japan. Highly recommended.

I don’t ever remember having a negative experience with Konami back in the day. And I really like the Famicom games that were only released in Japan which some became available in collections and digital download. The greatest 3rd party developer. A very large portion of games that I go back and play often are Konami. Technōs my second favorite and maybe feels like my very favorite or just is since I would easily rank my very favorites from them over my favorites from Konami. Double Dragon 1 & 2, Renegade, River City Ransom, I put countless hours into. The sports games with beat em up elements were compelling. Many of my greatest gaming memories and greatest moments in gaming. Natsume is another favorite despite a lack of titles. The few games they did make were great! Shatterhand being the most well known. What could have been remains a mystery. I would love to see a collection released of these games. Especially considering how expensive they are in cartridge form. Capcom had its moments but has plenty of bad games too. I hated Disney games except I really liked Ducktales and Darkwing Duck is just ok at best. Megaman games got better but didn’t do anything to improve the formula or revolutionize the franchise at least in the 8-bit era. Little Nemo is an absolute gem and didn’t get the recognition it deserved. Mighty Final Fight is one of the more extraordinary fighting games on the NES. Taito comes really close to Capcom. Maybe more consistent but not as great of titles when it comes to cream of the crop. Still absolutely worth mentioning as their contributions are extremely valuable.

When I saw there was The Goonies II I assumed there was a second movie that I did not know about. I looked for that nonexistent movie for a while. Never did play the game though. I actually did not have any Konami games as a kid. Although I had some Ultra games: the first two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games, Silent Service, and Snake's Revenge. My step-brother had Metal Gear and Mission: Impossible and I played some more through friends or through renting including some actual Konami published games.

Really enjoy your channel. Thanks

I definitely agree about Castlevania 2, I was young when I first got it maybe 6 or 7 and I just did not get it and couldn't get far at all, but revisiting it 30+ years later, I absolutely love it and was able to finish it. It's a great game, but to be fair the English translation is pretty brutal and some of the npc's just flat out give you bad hints.

I played a TON of NBA Live 95. Loved making an all 99 player team and turning fouls off lol.

konami rocket knight 2 mega drive version my best game all time. 2nd 1999 nocturne pc game. not so many play even knew these two.

This is great! Will there be more flashback videos?

When you played that CV2 music track I thought "NES Mixtape when?"

Great video, as usual! I will always contend, though, that Tecmo NBA Basketball is by far the absolute best basketball game on the NES and it's not even close. The slam dunk animations in it are way better than Double Dribble's, too!