Konami 50th Anniversary Collection (PC, PS4, Switch, XB1)

The Contra and Castlevania on SEGA really went under the radar and are overshadowed by the SNES games.

Agreed! I loved that Contra as well. I remember each character felt a little different. Also you can pick the path changing the levels and the ending.
 
Agreed! I loved that Contra as well. I remember each character felt a little different. Also you can pick the path changing the levels and the ending.

Hard Corps. I had a direct sequel on the Playstation which was in 3D and absolutely terrible. Arksystems picked up for a 1080p part 3 on the PS3/360 known as hardcorps uprising which was pretty impressive.
 
I enjoyed all of the DS titles. Dawn of Sorrow was probably my favorite just because it had been so long since SOTN came out. The others are all a bit of a blur, but I recall enjoying them.
 
I enjoyed all of the DS titles. Dawn of Sorrow was probably my favorite just because it had been so long since SOTN came out. The others are all a bit of a blur, but I recall enjoying them.

The three GBA ones were all SOTN styled as well. SOTN went directly into COM which was a close to launch GBA title.
 
The three GBA ones were all SOTN styled as well. SOTN went directly into COM which was a close to launch GBA title.
Ja, all new games after SOTN followed that same formula, including the 3D ones until the fighting game Judgement came out. The Nintendo 64 titles didn't have the RPG elements, but in my opinion it kept the other elements that defined the "Metroidvania" genre intact.
 
Ja, all new games after SOTN followed that same formula, including the 3D ones until the fighting game Judgement came out. The Nintendo 64 titles didn't have the RPG elements, but in my opinion it kept the other elements that defined the "Metroidvania" genre intact.

The 3d ones broke from the SOTN style ones in several ways, they aren't really the same. The series sort of has four different branches of game play not counting judgement.

Classic CV: This is 1, III, the GBs, Super, ect.
SOTN Style: This actually kicked off with CV2 and they admit that's the DNA of it, this is what most people know now.
The early 3D games: N64 and PS2 style.
The late 3D games: Lords of Shadow

The teams that made them weren't the same at all either. SOTN and it's ilk are all products of Iga (and oddly his wife worked on the PC Engine Rondo). He sort of got shoved out the door when Konami ditched his last project and went with Kojima and another developer to cranks out Lords of Shadow. Iga now has his own studio which is releasing SOTN style games under the Bloodstained monkier. Each time the teams have shifted the games have drastically changed as well. But SOTN style and the 3D style are not only very different, they were competing visions and it was the new 3D style that killed SOTN style, forced out Iga, and helped lead to the collapse of Konami is a game developer.
 
Only buying it because I'm an achievement whore. Konami knows me so well.
 
Welp, the PC version is garbage. No options whatsoever beyond what's in the games themselves. Not even an option to exit the game. Stick to emulators on the PC.
 
Welp, the PC version is garbage. No options whatsoever beyond what's in the games themselves. Not even an option to exit the game. Stick to emulators on the PC.

I'm hoping for an update or two. I mean, it's odd that it doesn't even load up like the Arcade Collection. It should have a basic fullscreen toggle, controller mapping, and exit.
 
Welp, the PC version is garbage. No options whatsoever beyond what's in the games themselves. Not even an option to exit the game. Stick to emulators on the PC.
That is unfortunate. This why you shouldn't support Konami anymore. What little they been releasing since the blow up have minimal effort put in and just money grabs from them.
 
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That is unfortunate. This why you shouldn't support Konami anymore. What little they been releasing since the blow up have minimal effort put in and just money grabs from them.

Except you know, he's wrong. There are options to exit, visual options, save states, replay creation as well.
 
Except you know, he's wrong. There are options to exit, visual options, save states, replay creation as well.

Actually, he really isn't. You can't exit to desktop and you can't full screen in game. I mean, you can ALT Enter, of course, but for those that want a seamless couch experience...it isn't ideal. I do think it'll get patched though. As it's odd that that Arcade Collection is fine in this regard, but the Castlevania one isn't. Other than that, I agree that garbage is a mild hyperbole. It isn't garbage. It's just not ideal.

I buy these things to offset my years of emulation anyway. So, the actual purchase is more of an apology than a playable thing for me. Still, I would like to have an actual useable product that is well done.
 
It is not just that. They did the entire gaming divisions wrong.

Eh, they have a lot of different honey pots. I'm mad, of course, they basically killed off the Suikoden series. However, I kind of don't blame them. Since really, most JRPGs at the time were terrible. It seems only within the last few years they kinda figured it out. Still, the ratio sucks and still makes sense to not make them. So, I'm not furious. Just disappointed because I'm a fan. I totally get why though.

It's nice they are dabbling in the water again. I think we'll see a bit more from them. Not in the same way they were...but, who knows?
 
Actually, he really isn't. You can't exit to desktop and you can't full screen in game. I mean, you can ALT Enter, of course, but for those that want a seamless couch experience...it isn't ideal. I do think it'll get patched though. As it's odd that that Arcade Collection is fine in this regard, but the Castlevania one isn't. Other than that, I agree that garbage is a mild hyperbole. It isn't garbage. It's just not ideal.

I buy these things to offset my years of emulation anyway. So, the actual purchase is more of an apology than a playable thing for me. Still, I would like to have an actual useable product that is well done.

I legit don't get the hate here. I own an ultrawide monitor and there is tons of stuff, even AAA dragon quest games, that won't full screen properly even if I want to black bar it. There are plenty of fighting games and other stuff where the damn thing won't bind or read properly one of my preferred joysticks even the (amazing) AAA Dragon Ball FighterZ. I own all these games in their original cart format and have purchased them again in multiple different ways. Heck I can fire up a NES, SNES, Gameboy, Sega right now and play the real thing of everything but kid dracula. I could also do it on the virtual console. The product is totally usable. I've clocked like 20 hours so far speed running CV1 and working on CV4. I'll hold off on three till the Japanese version comes out as there are major differences there and that's the version I'm going to beat with all three paths. It's totally usable.

It's sort of picking nits really. Games are usable, games work, plays well, it could be better but 1.) we are on the PC we are the ugly duckling of gaming so get used to it, 2.) they have already said this isn't the final product so consider this like any other early adopter nonsense that PC gaming ushered in with online gaming, 3.) I can point to games I paid a full 60 bucks for or games I paid about 100 for with all their DLC that were AAA release that have screen or control issues.

I mapped my controller though other ways and am going to finish all of these with an 8bitdo sf30 pro controller. I'm having a blast!!
 
I legit don't get the hate here. I own an ultrawide monitor and there is tons of stuff, even AAA dragon quest games, that won't full screen properly even if I want to black bar it. There are plenty of fighting games and other stuff where the damn thing won't bind or read properly one of my preferred joysticks even the (amazing) AAA Dragon Ball FighterZ. I own all these games in their original cart format and have purchased them again in multiple different ways. Heck I can fire up a NES, SNES, Gameboy, Sega right now and play the real thing of everything but kid dracula. I could also do it on the virtual console. The product is totally usable. I've clocked like 20 hours so far speed running CV1 and working on CV4. I'll hold off on three till the Japanese version comes out as there are major differences there and that's the version I'm going to beat with all three paths. It's totally usable.

It's sort of picking nits really. Games are usable, games work, plays well, it could be better but 1.) we are on the PC we are the ugly duckling of gaming so get used to it, 2.) they have already said this isn't the final product so consider this like any other early adopter nonsense that PC gaming ushered in with online gaming, 3.) I can point to games I paid a full 60 bucks for or games I paid about 100 for with all their DLC that were AAA release that have screen or control issues.

I mapped my controller though other ways and am going to finish all of these with an 8bitdo sf30 pro controller. I'm having a blast!!

The games are fine. The package is lazily built. Especially when the Arcade Collection doesn't have the same issue. It's a bare minimum thing people are asking. Now, I think it's hyperbole to call it garbage...but it certainly isn't ideal. ALT Enter is not a viable full screen method this day and age of couch PC usage.
 
Added the full Contra lineup to the first post. No release date as of yet. Looks like they filled out the lineup by including the PAL or NTSC/J release in addition to the NTSC/U release of the same game. In some cases there are appreciable differences, like the FAMICOM release of the original game having more detailed environments and PAL releases replacing humans with robots. As is usually the case the Japanese release also often has lower difficulty.
 
Added the full Contra lineup to the first post. No release date as of yet. Looks like they filled out the lineup by including the PAL or NTSC/J release in addition to the NTSC/U release of the same game. In some cases there are appreciable differences, like the FAMICOM release of the original game having more detailed environments and PAL releases replacing humans with robots. As is usually the case the Japanese release also often has lower difficulty.

Operation C is also really good and underated. Hell if you don't have a DS buy contra DS right now and a DS, thank me later. Contra held up really well on handhelds.
 
yeah day one for me, hell I'll preorder it, take my money now

If they did one shaped like the SuperGrafx that contained its 5-6 games and then the rest PC Engine/TG16 I would buy a few of them. I've wanted a SuperGrafx since 1989. I may still pick one up one of these days. It holds a certain mystique for me despite its tiny library, and despite that I have flawless FPGA version of it. :D A SuperGrafx+SSDS3 would be pretty amazing. Costly, but amazing.

I'll need to see the rest of the planned library, and details on the internals before jumping on one of these. You can still get a Core Grafx or Core Grafx II for like $130, and then add a flash setup to it and an RGB / HDMI mod. (SSDS3 or Everdrive, etc.)
 
If they did one shaped like the SuperGrafx that contained its 5-6 games and then the rest PC Engine/TG16 I would buy a few of them. I've wanted a SuperGrafx since 1989. I may still pick one up one of these days. It holds a certain mystique for me despite its tiny library, and despite that I have flawless FPGA version of it. :D A SuperGrafx+SSDS3 would be pretty amazing. Costly, but amazing.

I'll need to see the rest of the planned library, and details on the internals before jumping on one of these. You can still get a Core Grafx or Core Grafx II for like $130, and then add a flash setup to it and an RGB / HDMI mod. (SSDS3 or Everdrive, etc.)

konami has a ton of PCE games and they are all really good, give me the souped up gradius, sapphire, lords of thunder, gate of thunder
 
konami has a ton of PCE games and they are all really good, give me the souped up gradius, sapphire, lords of thunder, gate of thunder

Very true, not to mention their spinoffs like Twinbee and Parodius. They REALLY need Devil's Crush on there though, not just Alien. Also, more shooters, like the entire xxxxx Soldier series, Psychosis, Aeroblasters, Sinistron etc. Bonk's Revenge would be good too as it's the best in the series. Hopefully they can negotiate more non-Konami stuff too. I'm glad they got R-Type though. Oh, and both Legendary Axe games are absolutely necessary.
 
They should have also made it read HuCards. They would have CLEANED UP. It would have needed a few extra parts, the slot, possibly some sort of CPLD to read in the data, but that would have put this far and above all the other "mini-consoles" release lately.
 
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They should have also made it read HuCards. They would have CLEANED UP. It would have needed a few extra parts, the slot, possibly some sort of CPLD to read in the data, but that would have put this far and above all the other "mini-consoles" release lately.

They are releasing 2 of them and the games aren't going to be the same.
 
They are releasing 2 of them and the games aren't going to be the same.

Three actually. The TG16 is the only one that is different. HuCards are different size than all other revisions. However, there are ways to make all types fit into all of the models, or they could restrict PC Engine sized cards to Europe and Japan, and TG16 size to the US model.

The logic would be the same between them because the card format is the same between both types. The only difference between the real cards is minor physical size difference. Electrically they're the same.

They should have just made one, that looks like the SuperGrafx, that does it all. :p
 
Three actually. The TG16 is the only one that is different. HuCards are different size than all other revisions. However, there are ways to make all types fit into all of the models, or they could restrict PC Engine sized cards to Europe and Japan, and TG16 size to the US model.

The logic would be the same between them because the card format is the same between both types. The only difference between the real cards is minor physical size difference. Electrically they're the same.

They should have just made one, that looks like the SuperGrafx, that does it all. :p

you and I both know both of us are buying all three
 
you and I both know both of us are buying all three

If it turns out to be pretty cool, that's not an unsafe bet. :D

Actually my MiSTer FPGA is flawless with these games. They haven't implemented CD handling yet though, so I've got a bunch of PCCD, Duo, etc. discs that I can only use in either real devices (which I no longer own) or in say Magic Engine on a PC. IMO though, the HuCard games look better on the MiSTer than on the real hardware. (y)
 
you and I both know both of us are buying all three

Speaking of Supergrafx, I just got everything mounted in the case, LEDs connected, buttons hooked up about ten minutes ago.

Aldynes is my test game ;)

I run it through that little TC multiFX box because most of the older consoles sound really good with a little chorus on them.

AC2ACF0F-E506-4CC0-8502-312A6A5BB80B.jpeg
 
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