Gradius announcement tweeted by Konami of Japan

[Dylan1CC]

Sorry if this has already been posted but haven't found a thread yet. Yesterday this was posted by KCEJ on their twitter feed, obviously Gradius related, shows some concept art (maybe a compilation or something for the 30th anniversary?) and mentions something about PS4, maybe someone could translate:

http://www.konami.jp/573ch/content.php?serial=359

[Satan]

Something about Gradius being released on PS4 as an Arcade Archive?

[Kollision]

[iconoclast]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kar0yRFAo8c

If this is it, it looks awful.

[CloudyMusic]

Yeah, Gradius is the next game in Hamster's "Arcade Archives" series of arcade game ports to PS4. They're all really low-effort ports and don't have any extra features except online leaderboards. A-JAX is supposed to be coming in February, too.

[Cagar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kar0yRFAo8c

If this is it, it looks awful.

Nope, that's saidaioujou right there

[Elixir]

SDOJ isn't nearly that bad. What Mihara posted looks borderline unplayable.

[Dylan1CC]

Yeah, Gradius is the next game in Hamster's "Arcade Archives" series of arcade game ports to PS4. They're all really low-effort ports and don't have any extra features except online leaderboards. A-JAX is supposed to be coming in February, too.

Well, that's disappointing. Too bad it's not M2, was really hoping we'd get a definitive, proper Gradius collection for the 30th anniversary, so much for that. Is the PSN/PS store region free?

[Strikers1945guy]

Yeah, Gradius is the next game in Hamster's "Arcade Archives" series of arcade game ports to PS4. They're all really low-effort ports and don't have any extra features except online leaderboards. A-JAX is supposed to be coming in February, too.

Well, that's disappointing. Too bad it's not M2, was really hoping we'd get a definitive, proper collection for the 30th anniversary. Is the PSN/PS store region free?

And the super limited edition came in a huge box bundled with the complete Gradius series OST box set.
One can dream.

[Dylan1CC]

Yeah, Gradius is the next game in Hamster's "Arcade Archives" series of arcade game ports to PS4. They're all really low-effort ports and don't have any extra features except online leaderboards. A-JAX is supposed to be coming in February, too.

Well, that's disappointing. Too bad it's not M2, was really hoping we'd get a definitive, proper collection for the 30th anniversary. Is the PSN/PS store region free?

And the super limited edition came in a huge box bundled with the complete Gradius series OST box set.
One can dream.

Using Hamster to just churn out a quick, cheap, no-frills port on PSN really shows how little value Konami places on their classics these days. They have one of the most amazing libraries and an incredible wealth of IPs (not to mention Bomberman and Hudson Soft and also a good number of TG-16/PC Engine properties), you'd think they'd want to exploit their properties more in some manner. Seriously, what on earth does Konami even DO anymore outside of Metal Gear and Pro Evo? And don't forget Iga leaving last year apparently due to not being treated well which was another foot in the grave for their heritage and relevance.

[MathU]

To be fair, Igarashi was the Cancer Killing Castlevania long before those Mercury Steam hacks stepped onto the scene. The real crisis at Konami began a bit longer ago than all this more recent business, when the bunch of talent responsible for most of the Goemon games, various Contra and Gradius games, and a host of others in different franchises up and left to form their own studio. I don't know exactly why they left, but that was a major blow to Konami's ability to create quality games internally.

Nowadays Konami has been drinking Inafune and Capcom's koolaid about "Westernization" and seem obsessed with the AAA business model and Kojima's cinematic garbage to the exclusion of anything else. I've been hoping one day they might just commission M2 to make a (2D!) Gradius VI, but don't seem to care much at all about lower-budget games at the moment. The last games Konami made/outsourced that I really respect are the Rebirth series, and that was quite a few years ago now.

[Sinful]

To be fair, Igarashi was the Cancer Killing Castlevania long before those Mercury Steam hacks stepped onto the scene. The real crisis at Konami began a bit longer ago than all this more recent business, when the bunch of talent responsible for most of the Goemon games, various Contra and Gradius games, and a host of others in different franchises up and left to form their own studio. I don't know exactly why they left, but that was a major blow to Konami's ability to create quality games internally.

Nowadays Konami has been drinking Inafune and Capcom's koolaid about "Westernization" and seem obsessed with the AAA business model and Kojima's cinematic garbage to the exclusion of anything else. I've been hoping one day they might just commission M2 to make a (2D!) Gradius VI, but don't seem to care much at all about lower-budget games at the moment. The last games Konami made/outsourced that I really respect are the Rebirth series, and that was quite a few years ago now.

Yeah, well said about IGA. But you saying Mercury Steam did good with them vania games? I have them, but haven't touched them yet.

And really, that much talent left Konami?! Man that sucks... wait, what company they form?

I agree. The Rebirth series were surprisingly very good (well, I'm not to sure about the Contra one, as I barely played that one, but the other two were very close to the classic source). Salamander Rebirth name was trademarked, but nothing ever came of that, sadly. Guess the Rebirth games didn't make enough cash.

What about the outsourced recent Contra Hard Corps game? Heard some folks say it's a great Contra game, I just shed a tear each time a see the terrible art style chosen. Why is crappy art like this so popular these days?

[Pretas]

Using Hamster to just churn out a quick, cheap, no-frills port on PSN really shows how little value Konami places on their classics these days.

Konami never "used" Hamster; Hamster approached them first with their own offer. Starting with the infamously terrible Oretachi Game Center PS2 ports (AKA MAME-on-a-disc), Hamster has been paying Konami for temporary licenses to use their legacy games. They're not branded as Konami releases outside of the required copyright text, and the suits at Konami would probably want to distance themselves from them as much as possible.

Still, it says a lot about Konami's apathy towards their classic franchises (besides Metal Gear) that they'll whore them out to a sleazy shovelware publisher for a quick buck.

[system11]

I have it, it is what it is, it works.

There are 3 versions included - Gradius, and two versions of Nemesis. Unfortunately I can't read kanji so I'm not sure what the two are other than the second one mentions two extends on the title screen.

[Skyknight]

I'm not sure why you'd confine yourself to just one or two IPs. Certainly isn't going to help you reach the niche-genre players, and there's no reason to believe they're worthy of being abandoned.

That said...Those of you who actually follow Metal Gear, how much do they still have in common with the MSX original's methodology? Mostly because I'm wondering how distant present Konami and original Konami are. The Metal Gear situation might make for a good metric.

[Doctor Butler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kar0yRFAo8c

If this is it, it looks awful.

This is the most realistic Gradius port yet.

It's like you're actually sending Vic Viper commands through space!

[Dylan1CC]

I wasn't discussing the quality of recent Castlevania games or expressing an opinion on Iga himself. Heck, I don't even like Castlevania. The point was Konami's willingness to alienate someone as significant as Iga in their company is a reflection of the state they're in as a once prolific third party. There's a lot of people who disliked Metroid Other M (and to a lesser degree, Fusion which set the stage for Other M's focus on over-linearity and limiting the player's ability to explore which Sakamoto seems obsessed with now) but nobody would want to see a situation where Mr. Sakamoto quit Nintendo because he didn't feel welcome to make games there anymore.

Using Hamster to just churn out a quick, cheap, no-frills port on PSN really shows how little value Konami places on their classics these days.

Konami never "used" Hamster; Hamster approached them first with their own offer. Starting with the infamously terrible Oretachi Game Center PS2 ports (AKA MAME-on-a-disc), Hamster has been paying Konami for temporary licenses to use their legacy games.

Ok, fine, so they shouldn't be allowing Hamster the opportunity to make these ports. As said before, it'd be nice if Konami themselves would take the initiative to commission some ports or compilations of their classic games and use a high quality company like M2 to do them.

Still, it says a lot about Konami's apathy towards their classic franchises (besides Metal Gear) that they'll whore them out to a sleazy shovelware publisher for a quick buck.

Exactly.

[Despatche]

Starting with the infamously terrible Oretachi Game Center PS2 ports (AKA MAME-on-a-disc), Hamster has been paying Konami for temporary licenses to use their legacy games.

Pretty sure you're the only person on the entire planet who's ever said this.

Hamster is the only developer-agnostic publisher of old games you are probably ever going to get, and they actually don't suck. I'm really tired of all the complaining about "final nails in the coffins" when you're trying to deliver such a thing to the entire point of this forum.