shmup studio focus no. 3: konami
The third in an occasional series, Forenoon Filings will be looking at the Japanese developer: Konami.
Unlike the previous studios that have been covered, Konami is one of the few studios that has grown considerably larger since its inception and it has managed to do so by broadening its franchise portfolio. Although it now develops and publishes many well known titles (of many different genre) today, the period we are interested really spans the 8-16bit console eras during the late 1980s to mid 1990s. It was during these years that many of their well known shmups were made.
After Irem released R-Type, this really threw down the gauntlet to many other developers at the time challenging them in the method and designs they used for their similar titles. However Konami’s titles of the similar period had a very different response.
Initially they proved that they could run with Irem and make a serious shmup to challenge the might of R-Type – which seen in the release of Gradius – which added a new level of gameplay customisation with its option power up system. This continues to be a greatly popular game today and it is one that spawned many sequels. This was similarly followed by the equally challenging Salamander.
But at this time, it was noticed that many shmups of this time were very serious – both from the players who honed their skills to master them; the developers who were determined to gain market dominance and critical acclaim. But Konami’s next move was one that was not expected. They say it necessary to lighten the mood of these games somewhat.
Parodius, took the finely honed gameplay mechanics of Gradius (or Nemesis as it was known in the West), the gloomy alien design of Salamander and overlay it with myriads of cartoon characters, giant cat bosses, bird pirates – even a flying octopus! Konami’s aim in this game was to take all the best known elements of its serious titles and create a fun tongue-in-cheek version that shamelessly parodied its previous shmup achievements as well as some of its other adventure titles. Such a level of self-effacement is something that videogame developers rarely showed (let alone even admitted to) and this is a sense of fun that has hardly been captured since.
Detana! Twin Bee (pictured above), was an original IP that followed on in the vein of Taito's Rainbow Island series - which had a deliciously colourful cutesy design (sometimes dubbed a cute ‘em up). This was a game that fitted the 16-bit era wonderfully. Developers were now in charge of emerging consoles such as the PC Engine and SNES which were able to display rich ranges of colours on-screen simultaneously and even handle a greater number sprites than ever before. The vibrancy and animation evident in this game really did take the shmup genre out of the dark – and it was a game that could be seen as more of a friendly face.
Between these three games, Konami’s influence was one that would continue to inform and affect the path of the shmup well into the present era of consoles:
Gradius for its pure skill; Parodius for its sense of fun and Twin Bee for its art direction.
This entry was posted
on Friday, September 23, 2005 at 12:42 pm.
