It's the final 2 days for Arcade Decades! Pledge here to get your name in the book: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tabletop-book/arcade-decades-80s-edition -- thanks so much for watching, and thank you for all the support. Hopefully this vid brings back some great 90's Konami arcade memories.
I think this was Konami's best period, ever in their history. I'm kinda torn about getting the book, 52 UKP for shipping to Japan just seems a bit crazy, that's slightly more than it cost for the book (The other Kickstarter book I backed was the GamesMaster history one a year or two ago and that was a "slightly" more sensible but more reasonable 20 UKP shipping costs)
I always read Sunset Riders as the adventures of Comano and his partner, who has three split personalities. This is due to Steve, Billy and Bob all looking like the same bloke in different wigs.
Thanks for giving Violent Storm the praise it deserves. I still don't know why it has never been released in Hamster Arcade Archives or something similar. It shouldn't be buried in Mame.
I think it's mainly because 1993 is on the edge of what Hamster is focusing on. I'm not too familiar with what the hardware is for Violent Storm but, if it's on different level of board than say Mystic Warriors, Hamster is probably not prioritizing it yet. Taito is still funding the Milestones series and most of the rest of the lineup since 2021 has been 80s Namco games.
The difference between Kim and Konami? Well they’re both from the 80s so not that… and they’ve both made some great gaming content over the years, so not that either …. Hmmmmmm…. Got it! Kim didn’t fall off and try to sell me a Fight Palace Pachinko machine and tell me it was the new Metal Gear.
Fun fact about Simpsons arcade- Marge's hair can come off revealing rabbit ears. Yet I found that game nightmare fuel as a kid before I knew that anyway ha
The thing is, that was a reference to Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic. He toyed with the idea of making Marge a rabbit in disguise, with Homer not knowing, but that ultimately never came to pass.
I remember the late 80s and early 90s where cabs were EVERYWHERE in the UK, from newsagents to launderettes, pubs, cafes and sport centres. And especially video shops, for some reason. (This is where my brother played the uncensored version of Crime Fighters 2/Vendetta. And yes, he reacted to THAT LEVEL with all the maturity and dignity you'd expect from a tween of that era.) In one case, there was even a cab in a car dealership! (It sold Fiats.) I always see this as the Golden Age of the Arcade Game, if not the Arcade itself. By the time I was old enough to play them, they were, as mentioned, far more accessible, while arcades themselves, outside of the seaside, were stigmatised as dangerous, seedy places where strange men would try to sell you drugs or worse. Cabs became, for a brief time, mundane and part of everyday life, at least until the Playstation came along. On a final note, Asterix was also very rare, but I really enjoyed playing it on Brighton Pier in the year it came out, alongside Turtles in Time.
I think Xexex is really good, the problem is Konami sabotage themselves cause they change the mechanics for the western version (for awesome shmup action play Japanese version). Same goes for thunder cross 2, if you like the western version, you’ll probably will love the Japanese one. In TC2 Japanese instead of the bombs (little babies) you’ll get amazing power ups (the way the game was meant to be played).
It is strange how Konami did this to so many games; I was kinda surprised when Kim mentioned that Trigon went the other way, with the Japanese version being significantly more difficult in that case. As a general rule though, yeah, if it's a Konami arcade, play the Japanese version. Monster Maulers is another good example, the export version strips out even the intro/attract tune, which is one of the most quirky and amusing things about the game. Gaiapolis did get export releases btw, there are European and USA sets of it in MAME, probably just didn't end up being very popular. Also Vs. Net Soccer and Rushing Heroes are the same hardware as Soccer Superstars, so not really 3D games at all, just 2D graphics with rotating ground planes like SNES mode-7.
Mystic Warriors is easily one of my favorite arcade games of all time. Just absolutely lovely on all fronts. Violent Storm is up there too. It always frustrates me how weird people treat that game. Almost every time I've heard people talk about it, it's weirdly negative. Even downplaying the music as if it's awful. The first time I saw it, it was through a RUclipsr playing it solely to show how bad it was so he could mock the game and just seeing it, I knew I had to play the game for myself because it legitimately looked like a great time. Never got why people get that way with that game. Maybe people just hate games being fun.
Hello Kim. You did cover the RollerDerby game in a previous vid. I know, as i downloaded it for MaME! Its a great little game. "Streets of Rage on Rollerskates". I take it RollerDerby was very popular in the 1970s - a kayfabe'd, trash TV enjoyed at large, by folks who dug Wrestling. I used to watch a LOT of Sanford and Son, and The Dad LOVES the Rollerderby of a Friday evening. There is also a nice, feelgood film I can recommended, named "Whip It!", which is a coming-of-age Teen drama, set against a backdrop of Pro RollerDerby. Directed by and Starring Drew Barrymore - itll give you a nice warm glow inside, akin to the Ready-Brek of yore. 7/10. Cheers for another great vid Kim. Ive been thru 4 times now :)
You did miss one Konami racing game that actually is somewhat notable: 1998's Thrill Drive. In a way, the game is like a prototype Burnout with a much darker theme. If you wreck, your driver gets ejected from the car. Only, rather than it being cartoonish like FlatOut, they land unconscious on the hood of the car while the text *FATAL ACCIDENT!!* appears in bold letters. When you respawn, the music changes from the high energy rock/dance tracks you'd think of for a street racing game to a more ominous, horror-like soundtrack and the sunny skies suddenly become overcast, and then raining if you crash again! Thrill Drive was a pretty obscure title, and cabinets are hard to find in the wild, yet it did manage to get 3 sequels! (Though most don't like to talk about TD4.) Also, it was one of the inspirations of the aforementioned Burnout series, so if there was no Thrill Drive, we'd probably not have Burnout!
Ones not on Arcade Archives: Parodius Punk Shot Over Drive Escape Kids Lethal Enforcers Gaiapolis Martial Champion Megamorphic Force Monster Maulers Premier Soccer (should fill the void left by the Super Sidekicks games) Run and Gun Violent Storm Crazy Cross Soccer Superstars Dragoon Might Magical Twinbee Salamander 2
Its a good thing that some of those games are and remain obscure. Konami did get it right a lot but when they missed the game is bad in every way possible. Talk about ugly graphics.
My understanding of stuff like Mogura Dese is that they weren't so much test games as a legal requirement. Japanese law said cabs had to be shipped with a game, so companies that made universal cabinets would have tiny, basic little games that they'd put in there that the arcade operators could just rip out and replace with the PCB of the game they actually wanted.
I just backed the book yesterday and I'm very excited now for when the book releases. Your work is always amazing Kim, and I hope your work continues to shine!
I still think it's hilarious that Konami's Contra is an Aliens ripoff (especially with the later stages) and then when Konami actually gets the official Aliens licence, they technically just make another Contra game, which just happens to use the Aliens licence lol.
Very thrilled to watch this as your arcade coverage is always excellent and puts me on a nostalgia binge in the best way. A few years back my girlfriend got me one of the 1-Up arcade cabinets of The Simpsons and as a kid who was super obsessed with the game and show when they were both new it was an incredible gift.
When I was a kid we used to regularly take holidays by ferry to Norway, Germany and Netherlands. Those ships all had an arcade game we played to death and only watching this video today do I learn that it was Sunset Riders!
An interesting fact about the Northern Ireland flag faux-pas in Premier Soccer... Northern Ireland doesnt actually have an official flag. The flag that is often used to represent Northern Ireland is the 'Government of Northern Ireland, 1924' flag which isn't official. Another soccer related flag faux-pas, although arguably not as egregious, is FIFA International Soccer on 3DO using the St.Patrick's Cross flag for Northern Ireland which isnt recognised as official either. Northern Ireland is a mess regarding 'flegs'.
I think you missed Racin' Force, which is improperly emulated in MAME. I played it once at an arcade. The thing that's throwing off Emulation, I'd suppose, is it's the only Konami game that seemingly uses Voxel Graphices for the turrain. So in essence it's like a Mode 7 SNES game with Super Scaler Sprites and voxel stages.
Yeah, I tried Racin' Force but unfortunately it just isn't playable -- it's totally black where the track should be. Same applies to a few others like Golfing Greats 2.
I can imagine that sorting licensing for the licensed games - Simpson's/Turtles/Asterix/etc., could be long and fruitless. These are some of the most attractive titles.
@@Kim_Justice Seriously. Sunset Riders was such a bummer on the Genesis that there's currently a team of hackers working on a proper port. Still eagerly waiting for the finished product!
It's the final 2 days for Arcade Decades! Pledge here to get your name in the book: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tabletop-book/arcade-decades-80s-edition -- thanks so much for watching, and thank you for all the support. Hopefully this vid brings back some great 90's Konami arcade memories.
I think this was Konami's best period, ever in their history.
I'm kinda torn about getting the book, 52 UKP for shipping to Japan just seems a bit crazy, that's slightly more than it cost for the book (The other Kickstarter book I backed was the GamesMaster history one a year or two ago and that was a "slightly" more sensible but more reasonable 20 UKP shipping costs)
Kim Justice videos and books are good. More. More!!!
I always read Sunset Riders as the adventures of Comano and his partner, who has three split personalities. This is due to Steve, Billy and Bob all looking like the same bloke in different wigs.
Thanks for giving Violent Storm the praise it deserves. I still don't know why it has never been released in Hamster Arcade Archives or something similar. It shouldn't be buried in Mame.
I think it's mainly because 1993 is on the edge of what Hamster is focusing on. I'm not too familiar with what the hardware is for Violent Storm but, if it's on different level of board than say Mystic Warriors, Hamster is probably not prioritizing it yet. Taito is still funding the Milestones series and most of the rest of the lineup since 2021 has been 80s Namco games.
@@martiankeichan6887 WHO BE THE HERO!
OOOOOOHHHH WOOOOW!
The difference between Kim and Konami? Well they’re both from the 80s so not that… and they’ve both made some great gaming content over the years, so not that either …. Hmmmmmm….
Got it!
Kim didn’t fall off and try to sell me a Fight Palace Pachinko machine and tell me it was the new Metal Gear.
Fun fact about Simpsons arcade- Marge's hair can come off revealing rabbit ears. Yet I found that game nightmare fuel as a kid before I knew that anyway ha
The thing is, that was a reference to Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic. He toyed with the idea of making Marge a rabbit in disguise, with Homer not knowing, but that ultimately never came to pass.
@@jessragan6714 I know but it's still remarkable it was only canon in the arcade ha
Excellent stuff, Kim. I'm just on holiday by the pool, and then this lands well thats me sorted. Happy days. You are the best.
Currently on a flight from San Diego to Atlanta and this pops up. The best in-flight entertainment is here. Thank you 😊
Lethal Enforcers 1 to me is a "forgotten" gem
Imagine a childhood without arcades
@@markveganism5003 It's honestly a sad thought
I remember the late 80s and early 90s where cabs were EVERYWHERE in the UK, from newsagents to launderettes, pubs, cafes and sport centres. And especially video shops, for some reason. (This is where my brother played the uncensored version of Crime Fighters 2/Vendetta. And yes, he reacted to THAT LEVEL with all the maturity and dignity you'd expect from a tween of that era.) In one case, there was even a cab in a car dealership! (It sold Fiats.)
I always see this as the Golden Age of the Arcade Game, if not the Arcade itself. By the time I was old enough to play them, they were, as mentioned, far more accessible, while arcades themselves, outside of the seaside, were stigmatised as dangerous, seedy places where strange men would try to sell you drugs or worse. Cabs became, for a brief time, mundane and part of everyday life, at least until the Playstation came along.
On a final note, Asterix was also very rare, but I really enjoyed playing it on Brighton Pier in the year it came out, alongside Turtles in Time.
well If youre young enough you dont have to, unfortunatly.
It's a nightmare lived by members of Generation Z.
no way!
I think Xexex is really good, the problem is Konami sabotage themselves cause they change the mechanics for the western version (for awesome shmup action play Japanese version). Same goes for thunder cross 2, if you like the western version, you’ll probably will love the Japanese one. In TC2 Japanese instead of the bombs (little babies) you’ll get amazing power ups (the way the game was meant to be played).
It is strange how Konami did this to so many games; I was kinda surprised when Kim mentioned that Trigon went the other way, with the Japanese version being significantly more difficult in that case. As a general rule though, yeah, if it's a Konami arcade, play the Japanese version. Monster Maulers is another good example, the export version strips out even the intro/attract tune, which is one of the most quirky and amusing things about the game.
Gaiapolis did get export releases btw, there are European and USA sets of it in MAME, probably just didn't end up being very popular. Also Vs. Net Soccer and Rushing Heroes are the same hardware as Soccer Superstars, so not really 3D games at all, just 2D graphics with rotating ground planes like SNES mode-7.
Mystic Warriors is easily one of my favorite arcade games of all time. Just absolutely lovely on all fronts.
Violent Storm is up there too. It always frustrates me how weird people treat that game. Almost every time I've heard people talk about it, it's weirdly negative. Even downplaying the music as if it's awful. The first time I saw it, it was through a RUclipsr playing it solely to show how bad it was so he could mock the game and just seeing it, I knew I had to play the game for myself because it legitimately looked like a great time. Never got why people get that way with that game. Maybe people just hate games being fun.
Hello Kim.
You did cover the RollerDerby game in a previous vid. I know, as i downloaded it for MaME! Its a great little game. "Streets of Rage on Rollerskates".
I take it RollerDerby was very popular in the 1970s - a kayfabe'd, trash TV enjoyed at large, by folks who dug Wrestling. I used to watch a LOT of Sanford and Son, and The Dad LOVES the Rollerderby of a Friday evening.
There is also a nice, feelgood film I can recommended, named "Whip It!", which is a coming-of-age Teen drama, set against a backdrop of Pro RollerDerby. Directed by and Starring Drew Barrymore - itll give you a nice warm glow inside, akin to the Ready-Brek of yore. 7/10.
Cheers for another great vid Kim. Ive been thru 4 times now :)
You did miss one Konami racing game that actually is somewhat notable: 1998's Thrill Drive. In a way, the game is like a prototype Burnout with a much darker theme. If you wreck, your driver gets ejected from the car. Only, rather than it being cartoonish like FlatOut, they land unconscious on the hood of the car while the text *FATAL ACCIDENT!!* appears in bold letters. When you respawn, the music changes from the high energy rock/dance tracks you'd think of for a street racing game to a more ominous, horror-like soundtrack and the sunny skies suddenly become overcast, and then raining if you crash again!
Thrill Drive was a pretty obscure title, and cabinets are hard to find in the wild, yet it did manage to get 3 sequels! (Though most don't like to talk about TD4.) Also, it was one of the inspirations of the aforementioned Burnout series, so if there was no Thrill Drive, we'd probably not have Burnout!
Ones not on Arcade Archives:
Parodius
Punk Shot
Over Drive
Escape Kids
Lethal Enforcers
Gaiapolis
Martial Champion
Megamorphic Force
Monster Maulers
Premier Soccer (should fill the void left by the Super Sidekicks games)
Run and Gun
Violent Storm
Crazy Cross
Soccer Superstars
Dragoon Might
Magical Twinbee
Salamander 2
Its a good thing that some of those games are and remain obscure. Konami did get it right a lot but when they missed the game is bad in every way possible. Talk about ugly graphics.
"Will she mention Asterix?" She sure did!
Doing great work as always. Now I've got to see how Gradius 4 looked in the PSP collection.
My understanding of stuff like Mogura Dese is that they weren't so much test games as a legal requirement. Japanese law said cabs had to be shipped with a game, so companies that made universal cabinets would have tiny, basic little games that they'd put in there that the arcade operators could just rip out and replace with the PCB of the game they actually wanted.
I just backed the book yesterday and I'm very excited now for when the book releases. Your work is always amazing Kim, and I hope your work continues to shine!
I still think it's hilarious that Konami's Contra is an Aliens ripoff (especially with the later stages) and then when Konami actually gets the official Aliens licence, they technically just make another Contra game, which just happens to use the Aliens licence lol.
Can never get enough Konami !
Very thrilled to watch this as your arcade coverage is always excellent and puts me on a nostalgia binge in the best way. A few years back my girlfriend got me one of the 1-Up arcade cabinets of The Simpsons and as a kid who was super obsessed with the game and show when they were both new it was an incredible gift.
When I was a kid we used to regularly take holidays by ferry to Norway, Germany and Netherlands. Those ships all had an arcade game we played to death and only watching this video today do I learn that it was Sunset Riders!
Wild West COW Boys of Moo Mesa!.. that's the name! You just solved a huge mystery for me trying to figure out the name of this game. 😆
The Super Nintendo version of Parodius Da/2 was also known as (Super) Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy.
Man this is an amazing video. Lots of great memories playing those games. Thank you!
Love those old Konami arcade posters where they used cheesy models to promote the game. Would be great if Bitmap books released a collection of them
I have great memories of Sunset Riders on holiday in the South of france years ago! Great game would definitely recommend playing it!
Great video, I do remember a lot of these games, as my parents used to have a take away with an arcade machine, 10p a game 😃😄😆😉😊
I was going to the arcades in the early ‘90s and I missed out on Rollergames. Too bad it looks really cool!
My friends and I pumped a lot of coin into the X-MEN game, what a blast we had!
That was such an excellent two-part essay. As always.
With that being said, pleaaaaase do the same with Capcom some time soon!
In the words of the krankies "which unlucky bastard got my keys" sorry fandabidozee
Let's Go Awesome Video @Kimjustice keep up the Great day/week stay Awesome
There's a lot of crap here, with a few passable ones and only 2-3 that can be considered gems.
I like 1981 to 1990, 80's decade. One more time, amazing content, thx Kim.
Just played Thunder Cross 2 on your recommendation, Thank you, its a fantastic game.
I loved Surprise Attack! It's great how the enemies wear their helmets when in outer space.
Another great vid kim
These are so good to watch takes us old ones back to teenage days excellent
Excellent
Aw what ? They didn't call it Lifeforce 2.... lol 🫢
Seems like Bishi-Bashi and other games were the forerunners of Wario Ware.
Sunday evening viewing sorted out immediately, thanks Kim
Nice one, Kim. Another great trip down memory lane. 👍🏻
That isn't even the Ireland flag, let alone the Northern Ireland flag...
I played the absolute fudge out of Sunset Riders.
Was so looking forward to this video, thank you!!!
An interesting fact about the Northern Ireland flag faux-pas in Premier Soccer...
Northern Ireland doesnt actually have an official flag. The flag that is often used to represent Northern Ireland is the 'Government of Northern Ireland, 1924' flag which isn't official.
Another soccer related flag faux-pas, although arguably not as egregious, is FIFA International Soccer on 3DO using the St.Patrick's Cross flag for Northern Ireland which isnt recognised as official either.
Northern Ireland is a mess regarding 'flegs'.
Interesting stuff. Cheers.
I think you missed Racin' Force, which is improperly emulated in MAME. I played it once at an arcade. The thing that's throwing off Emulation, I'd suppose, is it's the only Konami game that seemingly uses Voxel Graphices for the turrain. So in essence it's like a Mode 7 SNES game with Super Scaler Sprites and voxel stages.
Yeah, I tried Racin' Force but unfortunately it just isn't playable -- it's totally black where the track should be. Same applies to a few others like Golfing Greats 2.
oh hey a huge list of iconic games that NEED a home port.
Oh I know I'm going to enjoy this video so much, thanks a lot Kim for your ever brilliant work.
And I wasn't wrong. 👏👏❤
I would buy a Konami arcade collection on steam.
I can imagine that sorting licensing for the licensed games - Simpson's/Turtles/Asterix/etc., could be long and fruitless. These are some of the most attractive titles.
Cheers Kim 😊
Spot on....again
Cheers Kim
Ooooooh yeah, that's the stuff!
Parodius switch port when?!?!
First
Hot Take: Out of all 3 versions of Sunset Riders...I prefer the Genesis version 😱
Shite
That's a hot take!
@@Kim_Justice Nostalgia Glasses lolz
@@Kim_Justice Seriously. Sunset Riders was such a bummer on the Genesis that there's currently a team of hackers working on a proper port. Still eagerly waiting for the finished product!
Kim, your channel and content is amazing thank you so much for all the videos you're a legend 🖤🤍🖤🤍