Summary
Though video games are a relatively young art form, some companies have been at it for a long time, likeKonami, which is over 50 years old and has no signs of stopping. Though in recent history, they’ve made some controversial decisions with their IPs (Silent Hill Pachinko?!) and staff, it’s undeniable that they’ve shaped the gaming landscape.
Their publishing catalog includes titles that are no less than cultural touchstones, like Silent Hill, Dance Dance Revolution, and Yu-Gi-Oh. However, their long history in the game means that some of their titles have fallen into obscurity despite their quality. Lest they be completely forgotten, here are some hidden gems from Konami.
8Nightmare Creatures 2
No Ending
In a strange case, only the second and last game of the Nightmare Creatures is actually published by Konami. The series as a whole was arguably ahead of its time, pioneering the action horror genre years before games like Onimusha or even Bloodborne, which shares a thematic similarity with Nightmare Creatures 2.
The second game tilted the scale towards horror, with a more claustrophobic feel with its narrow hallways and close-range fights. It also played up the ‘badass’ element of its protagonist with slickly choreographed action scenes scored by Rob Zombie.
The game received middling reviews, and while the gameplay wasn’t always the best, it still deserved better than it got for its atmosphere alone. The worst part is that the game ends on a cliffhanger, and unless we get a remake or a reboot (unlikely), that’s where the story ends.
7Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
A Missed Opportunity
It might seem odd to call this game “underrated” since it recently hada bit of a resurgencein the pop-culture zeitgeist thanks to its meme-worthy characters and an album and score that goes hard from scene one. However, keep in mind that this is a relatively recent trend for a game that came out in 2013.
At its release, it was generally well-received by critics, getting high scores in many publications. However, it was heavily criticized by fans. If the game got the reception it deserved, we might have gotten a sequel by now since Hideo Kojima said in 2012 that if the game was popular, the team might have made it into a franchise.
6Drummania And GuitarFreaks
Big In Japan
You might remember the rock band game trend, piloted by Guitar Hero and perfected by Rock Band 3, from the 00s into the New Tens. With its plastic instruments and rockin’ music, those games were a uniquely good time. That is, at least in the U.S.
Across the Pacific, GuitarFreaks and Drummania walked so that the genre could run in the West, even having inspired the original Guitar Hero. You might see these machines at conventions, arcades, or places like Round One, but these games, which simulate guitars and drums, respectively, were never localized in English. That’s a shame because they had some genuinely catchy tunes.
Konami got the last laugh, at least, since there are still new GuitarFreak and Drummania (AKA Gitadora) games being made for the Asian market, while Western rock games are now seen as a passing fad.
5ParaParaParadise
Too Specific An Audience
GuitarFreaks and Drummania persist to this day, if not (officially) in Western markets. But ParaParaParadise, another music game, sprung up and disappeared with little fanfare. The game plays a little like DDR, but instead of your feet, the sensors pick up your hands.
Perhaps this game was always doomed to failure since it’s based on a synchronized dance (think line dancing) trend that really only took off in Japan and with fans of Eurobeat music. In fact, at the higher difficulty levels, you pretty much need to know the Para Para moves to be able to do the songs. The music was great, and this arcade oddity deserved more than the two games it got.
4Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Three Years Too Early
This is a gem from the N64 era that, while fun, was far too ahead of its time to be appreciated in its 1998 North American release. A mix of its contemporaries, Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the game starred the titular Goemon, named after a Japanese historical figure, and his friends Ebisumaru, Yae, and Sasuke.
The game was unapologetically Japanese, taking place in an anachronistic feudal Japan and chock full of unexplained Japanese jokes and cultural references. All the sung music was subtitled in Japanese. This was in a time before anime would make its big cultural boom in the U.S.
The game had varied gameplay, even just with the characters that you could switch between freely. But it also had first-person mech fighting sequences where you’d fight in the pipe-wielding, blue-afro’d mech Impact, who had his own incredibly catchy theme tune.
3Policenauts
Gaming For Grown-Ups
Known only by the most cultured of gamers or big fans of Hideo Kojima, Policenauts was a game for adult gamers, a relative rarity in a time when video games were largely seen as kid’s stuff and the M rating didn’t yet exist.
For the most part, this game’s adult nature doesn’t stem from anything crass but because of its dark subject matter and methodical pacing. The gameplay is somewhere between a visual novel and an interactive movie, a buddy cop film in the near future, and in space, filled with Kojima’s signature style and philosophy.
The production value of the game was high for the time, containing crisp art and being fully voice-acted by greats like Kikuko Inoue and Hideyuki Tanaka. Policenauts is a Japan-only release but has a cult fandom in the West, who also released a fan translation of the game in 2009.
2Shadow Of Memories
Too Slow For 2001
This game flew under a lot of people’s radars, to the point that you’d have to be a video game historian or into quirky games in the early 00s to even know about it. This is a time-traveling tale with a focus on story that was admittedly light on gameplay, something that was noted by several reviewers. Reviewers also praised its compelling plot and gorgeous FMV sequences, resulting in mid-low scores.
Largely, the game has you walking around and talking to people to alter the past and stop the protagonist Eike’s death. There are no enemies to fight, and you’re able to only die in the scripted scenes. The later popularity of walking sims and games where you’re helpless (like the Amnesia series) prove that it would have been more appreciated today.
1Metal Gear Acid Series
Trapped On The PSP
This tactical card-battling take on Metal Gear was actually pretty well-received, with their Metacritic scores at 75 and 80 for the first and second games, respectively. But still, it deserved better.
Both games were released on the PSP, another underappreciated thing, and were largely missed by all but the Sony faithful. Unfortunately, the handheld didn’t hold a candle to its competition, the Nintendo DS.
The Acid games were some of the best titles on the console, featuring some genuinely innovative gameplay that hasn’t been matched in modern day, with the closest being John Wick Hex. They don’t deserve to languish on a dead system, especially at a time when everything is getting remade and remastered. At the very least, they should be playable on the PS4 and PS5.
