50 YEARS OF KONAMI
Sometimes, a company can mean many different things to different people – and in Konami’s case, we’d argue that it’s just a sign of success and longevity. You might know it as a producer of excellent licensed beat-’em-ups, or a leading light in music games. You might have grown up putting coins into Scramble and Frogger, or the Konami Code into Gradius and Contra. If asked what the defining Konami series is, you could answer Castlevania, Metal Gear or Pro Evolution Soccer and back any of those options up with a credible argument.
Konami’s roots go back to 1969, when it was founded by current Konami chairman Kagemasa Kozuki as a business renting and repairing karaoke machines. The company was fully incorporated as Konami Industry Co, Ltd in 1973, when it shifted its focus to the general manufacture of amusement machines. Many of its earliest videogames were simple shooting and block games, but the company’s developers started to implement their own original ideas and broaden the possibilities of gaming. It’s arguable that Konami’s breakout year was 1981, when it massively increased the number of videogames it released and scored some major arcade hits as a result.
One of the big releases was Frogger. “It looked colourful, sounded cheerful, and was popular. However it was proper difficult, and super sneaky,” remembers Paul Davies, former editor of C&VG. “I remember being hacked off by the sinking turtles and quickly deciding that I wasn’t smart enough to endure the challenge. When the crocodiles appeared that was me out. Dastardly.” Jaz Rignall, another veteran games writer known for his tenure as the editor of Mean Machines, was a fan of the game. “I recall feeling that the frog was really vulnerable because it had no way of protecting itself – it was a game all about avoidance. That made it completely different to pretty much everything else out there at the time.” The gameplay wasn’t the only thing that made it distinctive, either. “Something else I noticed – and this is anecdotal - but a lot of female gamers in my local arcade really enjoyed playing Frogger. Along with Pac-Man, Frogger seemed to have that quintessential je ne sais quois that gave it broad appeal to gamers of all ages and sexes.”
Nobuya Nakazato, a veteran of Konami who has worked on games such as Rocket Knight
