Viewing Company : Konami

Konami is an entertainment company based in Japan with business interests including video and arcade games, slot machines, trading cards, anime and wellness clubs. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan Konami has produced and published hundreds of titles across franchises including Castlevania, Metal Gear, Yu-Gi-Oh, Contra, Silent Hill, BEMANI and more. In November 2015 the company changed its name to Konami Holdings Corp. with a renewed focus on mobile gaming.


Ninja Turtle arcade titles return from Arcade1Up
Ninja Turtle arcade titles return from Arcade1Up

I sure wasn’t expecting any delisted news to come out of E3, especially not the return of one of our most often-lamented losses: the 1989 arcade brawler Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Of course, it isn’t coming back in the most affordable package ever but later this year you will technically and legally be able to buy the fan-favorite beat ’em up from Arcade1Up.

The tiny cabinet makers announced two new offerings at E3; their first-ever four-player cabinet featuring both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) and TMNT: Turtles in Time for $349, and a Marvel X Capcom triple-pack with Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men: Children of the Atom, and The Punisher for $299.

Keen eyes will notice that the Konami logo on the TMNT cabinet has been replaced by Nickelodeon’s. While the artwork may not be final and there’s a chance Konami is credited somewhere in the game, it might suggest that more affordable home versions of these titles are on the way from Nickelodeon. Say, in collaboration with a publisher who is also bringing their past Nickelodeon titles back from the dead?

Hopefully these arcade cabinets are just the beginning. We’ll be back with more from E3 if details surface.

Puddle

Digital Release:PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
January 25, 2012 (AU, EU, US)

PC
October 18, 2012 - Online
November 09, 2012 - Steam

PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
May 28, 2014 (AU, EU, US)
Delisting (approx):Between February 22, 2016
and December 17, 2017
Developer:Neko Entertainment
Publisher:Konami (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
Neko Entertainment (PC, PlayStation 4, Vita)
Available On:PC (Steam)
PlayStation 4
PlayStation Vita
Links:SteamDB page
Xbox.com page
PlayStation.com page

The creator of Unreal PT is pulling the game offline next week

The creator of Unreal PT is pulling the game offline next week

P.T., the much-loved, Playable Teaser for what would’ve been a fresh start to Konami’s Silent Hill franchise, might as well be as cursed as the characters in the game. After Silent Hills was abandoned, Konami announced that P.T. would be removed from the PlayStation Store and fans have been fighting to keep it alive ever since.

Previous attempts to recreate the game on PC have either petered out of existence or been forcibly removed by Konami. But just as the latest offering — Unreal PT — is blowing fans away with its accuracy and rekindling the community’s passion for the mysterious project, its creator has chosen to take it down himself.

In the latest update to the game’s itch.io page, creator RadiusGordello finishes out the changelog of bug fixes with the following announcement:

I’ve got school starting up again soon. With the work-load that’ll give me, as well as another project I’d like to start working on, I’ll have a lot of other stuff to keep me occupied. With that said, I’ll be officially taking down Unreal PT next week. This has blown up far more than I expected, but now that it’s finished, I would like to move on and start work on something original.

Thank you all for playing!

Given the game’s cursed history and Konami’s tenacity at protecting its IP, it’s not hard to read into this announcement and dream up some clandestine conspiracy. Whatever you choose to believe, there isn’t much time left for Unreal PT though. Go ahead and grab the free download this weekend because “next week” starts awfully soon!

1989 TMNT Arcade Game is (technically) still out there

1989 TMNT Arcade Game is (technically) still out there

After posting about some clearance priced copies of TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan that I spotted last week, someone pointed out that the long-delisted (and much loved) 1989 arcade game is technically still available out in the wild. Tracking down a copy of 2004’s TMNT: Battle Nexus 2 and finding a hidden collectible in that game’s 9th stage isn’t the easiest way to play the arcade original at home but it is the most legal.

While it’s leaps and bounds above the other home versions of the game — released on early 90’s computers and the NES — Wikipedia points out that the copy tucked into Battle Nexus 2 is missing almost all of the original voice samples and that the music has also been altered. It’s a shame to hear that it isn’t a totally faithful conversion but it’s great to know there’s a legal way to get at the game, and that it’s on a format that can’t be delisted.

I missed this detail when I wrote the game page in 2016 so I’ve updated the page on the site with links and details on the Battle Nexus 2 incarnation.