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:
- Action Deka
- The Adventures of Bayou Billy
- Air Force Delta
- Amidar
- Antarctic Adventure
- Axelay
- Azure Dreams
- Badlands
- The BEMANI games:
- Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa
- Birds of Steel
- Bishi Bashi
- Blade of Honor
- Blades Of Steel
- Blades of Time
- Bombergirl (a spin-off of the Bomberman series)
- Boktai
- Brooktown High
- Busou Shinki and the Battle Rondo online tie-in game
- Castlevania series
- Circus Charlie
- Coded Arms
- Contra
- Coopers 9
- Crime Fighters
- Crimesight
- Crisis Force
- Crypt Killer
- Dancing Blade: Katte ni Momotenshi!
- Dankira!!! -Boys, be DANCING!-
- Dark Adventure
- Deadly Arts
- Dewy's Adventure
- Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights
- Dragon Scroll
- Elebits
- Ephemeral Fantasia
- Evil Night
- Firefighter F.D.18
- Fighting Bujutsu
- Frogger
- Frontier Brain
- Fu-un Shinsengumi (collaborated with Genki. The latter published it.)
- Fu-un Bakumatsuden (collaborated with Genki. The latter published it.)
- Gaiapolis
- Galactic Warriors
- Ganbare Goemon
- Getsu Fuma Den
- Gradius
- Gungage
- Gyruss
- Hell Night (Published by Atlus in Japan/Developer)
- Hybrid Heaven
- Jackal
- Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Series
- Kensei: Sacred Fist
- Kinniku Banzuke: Kongou-Kun no Daibouken!
- Knightmare
- Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious
- Knightmare III: Shalom
- Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious
- Konami Krazy Racers
- Lagrange Point
- Laser Invasion
- Lethal Enforcers
- Lightning Legend: Daigo no Daibouken
- Lost in Blue (known as Survival Kids in Japan)
- Love Plus
- Magicial Halloween
- Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times
- Martial Champion
- Meine Liebe
- Metal Gear
- Metamorphic Force
- Mitsumete Knight (made in cooperation with RED Company, the creators of Sakura Taisen)
- Monster Maulers
- Mystic Warriors
- NanoBreaker
- Ninety-Nine Nights II
- Noah's Ark
- Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven
- Project Overkill
- Quiz Magic Academy
- Rakugakids
- Rengoku
- Rock n' Rage
- Rocket Knight Adventures (Genesis)
- Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (Genesis)
- Sparkster (SNES)
- Rocket Knight (Xbox 360 (XBLA), PlayStation 3 (PSN), Windows (Steam))
- Ring of Red
- Road Fighter
- Rumble Roses
- Rush'n Attack
- Scramble
- Sengoku Kakumei Gaiden
- Shadow of Destiny
- Silent Hill
- Silent Scope
- Snatcher
- Soul of the Samurai
- Space School (developed with NHK)
- Special Project Y
- Suikoden
- Sunset Riders
- Surprise Attack
- The Sword of Etheria
- Taisen Puzzle Dama
- Teraburst
- Terror Of The Stratus
- Thrill Drive
- Thunder Cross
- Time Hollow
- Time Pilot
- Tokimeki Memorial
- Total Vice
- Track & Field
- Tutankham
- Twinbee
- Vandal Hearts
- Vendetta (1991)
- Violent Storm
- Wai Wai World
- Warzaid
- Yie Ar Kung-Fu
- Zone of the Enders
Published games by Western Developers
- Broken Helix
- Crime Life Gang Wars
- King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (NES version only)
- Lure of the Temptress
- Metal Warriors
- Nightmare Creatures II (developed by Kalisto Entertainment)
- Never Dead
- Prince of Persia (SNES version only)
- The Regiment/Terror Strike
- Super Crazy Rhythm Castle (developed by Second Impact Games)
- Target Terror (For the Wii)
- Zombies Ate My Neighbors (developed by LucasArts)
Published games by Ultra/Palcom:
- Defender of the Crown
- Nightshade (1992) (developed by Beam Software)
- Skate or Die (NES port)
- Snake's Revenge
- Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (Gameboy version)
Licensed Games:
- Aliens (arcade game)
- Animaniacs (Sega Genesis and Super NES game, the Genesis version was ported to the Game Boy by Factor 5)
- Asterix (arcade game)
- Batman Returns (DOS)
- Batman Returns (NES)
- Batman Returns (SNES)
- Batman Returns (Amiga) (Licensed out to Gametek)
- Batman: The Animated Series (Game Boy)
- The Adventures of Batman and Robin (SNES game)
- Ben 10: Alien Force: The Rise of Hex
- Biker Mice from Mars
- Bucky O'Hare
- Cabbage Patch Kids: Adventures In The Park
- The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- Cyborg Kuro-chan
- Cy Girls 2004
- Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix
- Dragon Booster
- EDENS ZERO Pocket Galaxy
- Get Backers Dakkanoku
- G.I. Joe (arcade version)
- The Goonies
- The Goonies II
- The Grinch
- Hellboy: The Science of Evil
- Jurassic Park III, Island Attack, The DNA Factor, and Park Builder.
- King Kong 2 (Famicom and MSX games)
- King Arthur
- The Lone Ranger (NES)
- Mc Farlane's Evil Prophecy
- Mirumo de Pon! (Publisher only, the games were made by Jupiter Corporation)
- Mission Impossible (1990) (NES game)
- Mission Impossible (1991) (DOS game)
- Monster in My Pocket (NES game)
- The Mummy
- Phoenix (1954) (Famicom and MSX games)
- Plan 9 From Outer Space 1992
- Rollergames
- Sunday VS Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen
- Twilight Scene It? (Wii, DS and PC) (developed by Screen Life LLC)
- The Simpsons (The 1991 arcade game and The Simpsons Bowling)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) (NES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game (Arcade and NES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade and SNES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Project (NES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES, Genesis and SNES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) (PC, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and GBA)
- The Thing (2002) (Only for PS2)
- Tiny Toon Adventures (NES)
- Top Gun (NES and Game Boy games) (lost the license to 505 Games)
- Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa
- Winx Club (Game Boy Advance and DS; aimed at tween girls; contains lots of girls)
- X-Men (1992 arcade game)
- The Yu-Gi-Oh! video games and Trading Card Game
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule Breed and Battle
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monster Coliseum
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule GB
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Spirit Caller
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Wheelie Breakers
- Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist
- Yu-Gi-Oh! RUSH DUEL: Dawn of the Battle Royale!!
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Dungeon Dice Monsters
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force Series
- Zen: Intergalactic Ninja
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
- Age of Empires II (Only via PS2)
- Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
- Crash Nitro Kart (Except Nokia N-Gage and mobile phone versions)
- Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
- Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
- Darksiders
- FlatOut
- The Hobbit (2003)
- Jersey Devil
- Pit-Fighter (Only via arcade)
- Rampart (Only via Famicom)
- Red Johnson's Chronicles
North America
- Street Supremacy
- Operator's Sidenote
Europe
- Age of Empires II (Only via PS2)
- Kartia: The Word of Fate
- Kaido Racer
- Kaido Racer 2note
- Lost in Shadow
- Street Supremacy
- Trap Gunner
Oceania
- Kartia: The Word of Fate
- Kaido Racer
- Kaido Racer 2note
- Trap Gunner
Series produced/sponsored by Konami:
Produced:- Best Student Council (Co-Production with Media Works and J.C. Staff)
- Chou Sei Shin Series (Co-Production with Toho)
- Fairy Musketeers (Co-Production with Madhouse)
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades (Opening Animation; Co-Production with J.C. Staff)
- Saint October (Co-Production with Studio Comet)
- Salamander (3 OVAs; Based on the game of the same name, Animation leading outsourced to Studio Pierrot)
- Sky Girls (Co-Production with J.C. Staff)
- Twinbee Paradise (Outsourced to AIC)
- TwinBee and WinBee's 1/8 Panic (Was made before the Twinbee Paradise OVAs were made; Animating leading outsourced to AIC; With Spectrum Animation and DR Movie)
- Twinbee: The Tulip Coast Story (Was made shortly before the Twinbee Paradise OVAs were made; Animating leading outsourced to AIC; With DR Movie)
- Tokimeki Memorial ~ Only Love (Outsourced to AIC A.S.T.A)
Sponsored:
- Bomberman Jetters (Hudson Soft/Studio DEEN)
- Dragonaut: The Resonance (GONZO)
- Mirumo de Pon! (Shogakukan/Studio Hibari)
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Studio Gainax)
- Tiny Toon Adventures (Warner Bros./TMS Entertainment) (Sponsored/funded seasons 1 & 2 when the show was under syndication; Season 3 is 100% funded by Fox)
- Castlevania (Netflix)
Names associated with Konami:
- Masato Maegawa (founder of Treasure, started off at Konami in the mid 80s working on WEC Le Mans 24, Penguin Adventure, Kitten Kaboodle, Axelay and Space Manbow. In addition to working on original titles, he was also tasked with ports (the NES versions of Skate Or Die) sequels (Gradius III, Super Castlevania IV) and licensed games (The Simpsons, Bucky O'Hare and Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break). He eventually left Konami to establish Treasure, and the rest is history.)
- Shigeharu Umezaki (was responsible for porting Contra to the NES and was one of the heads of the former Kobe unit, he is now the president of Good Feel)
- Etsunobu Ebisu (Was once one of the heads of the Kobe unit and the real life inspiration for Ebisumaru, he now works for Good Feel)
- Koji "IGA" Igarashi (co-designer of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and former producer of the Castlevania series from 2001's Castlevania Chronicles to Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, as well as Tokimeki Memorial 1's scenario writer, and programmer of the PC-Engine ports of Gradius II and Detana!! Twinbee). IGA left Konami in March 2014 to become a freelance developer; his first post-Konami game is Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a Spiritual Successor to his Castlevania games.
- Ayami Kojima (artist of various Castlevania artwork, though she's done some non-Castlevania stuff as well. No relation to...)
- Hideo Kojima (lead designer for the Metal Gear series, as well as Snatcher and Policenauts. Also the producer of the Zone of the Enders series and the Boktai series, and the drama director of Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series 1 : Nijiiro no Seishun). After a series of events driving a rift between him and the studio, Kojima has left Konami and established his own studio, Kojima Productions.
- Yoshiki Okamoto (designer of the classic arcade games Time Pilot and Gyruss, before his firing; he would later join Capcom)
- Naoki Maeda (sound director for the DanceDance Revolution series and the producer of a majority of Konami original songs that debuted in DDR)
- Takayuki Ishikawa (aka dj Taka; he is to beatmania IIDX as Naoki is to DDR)
- Mikio Saito (aka Metal Yuhki ; composer of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, and composer and music producer of the Tokimeki Memorial series)
- Shingo Takatsuka (nickname "Seabass"; head designer and producer for the Pro Evolution Soccer series)
- Michiru Yamane (composer for many Castlevania soundtracks)
- Akira Yamaoka (the composer/sound designer of Silent Hill)
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.
- Similarly, the now-famous ! sound from Metal Gear Solid has become widely used outside of the Metal Gear franchise, despite this sound being copyrighted by Konami.
- 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.