June2018
News Second Season Of The Castlevania Netflix Series Arrives “Later This Year”
Trevor Belmont will return
If you’ve been wondering what the latest developments are with the Castlevania Netflix series, the writer of the animation, Warren Ellis, recently provided a small update via Twitter. His message is the second season of the bloody and violent show will arrive later this year. He’s also reconfirmed it will be comprised...
News Konami Is Resurrecting Hyper Sports For The Nintendo Switch
Take to the track (and field)
Konami has revealed that it is resurrecting its classic Hyper Sports series on the Nintendo Switch with Hyper Sports R. The first game hit arcades way back in 1984 and was the sequel to Track & Field. We dread to think how many controllers and joysticks have been ruined by this series over the years. Here's some...
News FIFA's Rival Pro Evolution Soccer Takes Another Hit With Loss Of Dortmund License
A dip in form
While FIFA 18 producer Andrei Lazarescu and his team have been making headlines for all the right reasons in recent times, Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer hasn’t been performing so well on field. Following recent issues including the inability to secure high-profile licenses and a ten year reign as the Champions League license...
April2018
Awesome Hand-Drawn Guide To Contra Proves The Pen Is Mightier Than The Keyboard
Tips to live by
If you grew up in the 8 and 16-bit eras then you'll no doubt be familiar with the concept of writing down notes and drawing maps to help you beat tricky games. In the days before the internet and readily-available guidebooks, players had to make their own luck - and that usually involved putting pen to paper and creating your...
March2018
News Super Bomberman R Is Coming To Rival Systems With Exclusive Characters
It was nice while it lasted
A short time ago we reported on the news that Super Bomberman R is going cross-platform, and today Konami has confirmed that report. The former Switch exclusive launches on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on June 12th in North America and June 14th globally. The Steam version is expected on June 13th. All of these versions...
News Korean Rating Suggests That Super Bomberman R Is Jumping Ship To PS4
Bombs away?
Super Bomberman R was a bold move by Konami; the series - which was much-loved on the SNES - had fallen from grace somewhat in recent years, yet this Switch exclusive not only hit the mark with fans, but also gained a new following for the cute little bomb-chucker. Konami has since gone above and beyond when it comes to supporting the...
February2018
News Megadriver's Latest Album Is All About Shmups
And Great Justice For All
Nintendo Life shmup heads rejoice as Brazilian metal band and inventors of the game metal genre Megadriver have just released their latest album. For Great Justice is a twenty track metal cover album with some very iconic tunes from several classic shmups, including songs from Thunder Force IV,
News Got Bob Wakelin's Original Art For NES Contra? You're Sitting On $100,000
Game art collector wants to hear from you
When the legendary Bob Wakelin passed away last month he left behind an incredible legacy of artwork. Wakelin's associating with British publisher Ocean resulted in a flood of amazing covers, but he also did work for other companies, with the NES version of Contra being one of his most famous pieces. Now,...
January2018
News SNES Classics Illusion of Gaia And Mystical Ninja Receive MSU1 Audio Support
Will and Goemon join the high fidelity club
Another week and another two major MSU-1 Audio projects released by Super Nintendo fans. Considering both these classic soundtracks come in at nearly one hundred tracks each this is no small feat. Two epic quests featuring brand new audio possibilities await you. Caught between the brilliance of both...
Rumour Konami Is Bringing Its WiiWare ReBirth Series To Switch
Castlevania, Contra and Gradius could all be coming to the eShop
WiiWare wasn't exactly inundated with quality games but it had a few solid-gold gems, three of which were part of Konami's ReBirth series. Developed by emulation experts M2, Gradius ReBirth, Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth and Contra ReBirth adopted a classic 16-bit visual style and...
November2017
News Mammoth Super Bomberman R Update Goes Live With New Characters, Pets And A Grand Prix Mode
Impressive post-launch support from Konami
Konami has updated its Switch launch title Super Bomberman R with a massive helping of new content. The update includes: New World 7 Story and bosses Nine New Characters New Unlockable Pets New Playable Multiplayer Maps 3v3 Grand Prix mode New Arena style Maps The shiny new Grand...
News Gradius III Gets the MSU1 Digital Audio Enhancement Treatment
Option!
Shmups! We love them and we are not shy to admit it.The Super Nintendo always fell short to the lush number of shmup offerings present on the PC Engine, Mega Drive and even the NES / Famicom. Yet whisper Axelay in the wind and a wave of awe will overcome everyone. However, today's news is in regard to another classic Konami shmup, the early...
October2017
News Super Castlevania IV and Rival Turf Join the MSU1 Audio Club
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”
It looks like Conn and Kurrono Kei aren't giving the old MSU1 audio enhancement trick a rest; this allows you to add CD-quality soundtracks to retro games. Released during the last week was one of the most fan-requested patches (Super Castlevania IV) and a surprise release for...
August2017
News Studio Behind Netflix's Castlevania Opens Up On Story Changes And The Meaning Of Anime
"I grew up on Castlevania. I play Symphony of the Night to this day"
Netflix's Castlevania series may not have pleased absolutely everybody, but we certainly enjoyed it - and it seems have gained favour with plenty of hardcore followers of Konami's vampire-slaying video game franchise. We've already spoken to producer
July2017
News Factor 5 Almost Ported Super Castlevania IV To The Sega Mega Drive
"We did a 1:1 port of Indiana Jones to the Genesis"
Factor 5 is a studio with a long and proud history of technological achievement; it was founded in the super-competitive "demo scene" era of the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, and went as far as to create its own development hardware for the SNES and Mega Drive / Genesis in order to gain traction in...
Feature Castlevania Show Producer Adi Shankar On Respecting Fandom And Future Seasons
"I didn’t want to participate in the massacre of my childhood"
If you have a Netflix subscription and you're a Castlevania fan then chances are you've already digested the four-episode adaptation that has recently gone live on the streaming service. Based on the events seen in Castlevania III, the show includes the vocal talents of Richard...
Feature Castlevania Season 1 Review: Plenty Of Blood, Bad Language And Bite
And better than we could possibly have hoped for, to boot
Out of all of Konami's illustrious back catalogue, Castlevania holds a very special place in the hearts of gamers. From its humble beginnings as an 8-bit take on Bram Stoker's famous Dracula story, it has gone on to create a self-contained world which uses the vampire legend as its foundation...
News Netflix Renews Castlevania Series For A Second, Longer Season
8 episodes, up from 4
Netflix's animated take on Konami's Castlevania series went live on Friday, and we're sure a great many of you will already have basked in its blood-soaked, foul-mouthed brilliance. Penned by author and comic book legend Warren Ellis and featuring some impressive vocal talent, it's a surprisingly effective take on
Video Off-Screen Footage Of Netflix's Castlevania Series Surfaces Online
Sink your teeth in
Netflix's Castlevania animated series premiers this week, and off-screen footage has emerged showing the introduction sequence and two key scenes. The quality of the footage isn't great and those of you wanting to feel the full impact of the production might be advised to wait until it launches officially on the 7th July, but for...
June2017
News The Cast For Netflix's Castlevania Series Includes A Few Famous Faces
Or should that be voices?
Netflix's promising Castlevania animated series isn't far away now, and producer Adi Shankar has revealed some of the voice talent signed up for the show. He's joined in the video above by Scottish actor Graham McTavish (Erik the Viking, The Hobbit) - who plays the role of Dracula
News Super Bomberman R Update 1.4 Is Live With Castlevania, Gradius And Silent Hill Bombers
Vic Viper and Simon Belmont join the team!
Super Bomberman R's most significant content update yet has just gone live, bringing with it new characters, stages and items. Three new characters are available in the shop: Vic Viper Bomber (from Gradius) Simon Belmont Bomber (from Castlevania), and Pyramid Head Bomber (from Silent Hill). There are also...
News PES 2018 is Skipping Nintendo Switch, But Konami Will Consider Future Releases
Fans have to make noise, of course
Nintendo Switch owners will be able to play some virtual football this year when FIFA 18 arrives, and it should be an interesting release. EA will have a clean run without competition, however, as Konami has confirmed what was already quite obvious - PES 2018 isn't coming to Nintendo's console. Though that is the...
News Famicom Title "Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ōgon Kiseru" Translated to English
1990 JRPG spin-off includes healthy doses of Ebisumaru
Despite very few and far between official Western releases, Konami’s “Ganbare Goemon” series has quite a following outside of Japan, a deserved status considering that despite a few ninja duds it is a strong and solid series that made its way across several generations of Nintendo...
News New Nikkei Report Accuses Konami Of Blacklisting Past Employees
"If you leave the company, you cannot rely on Konami's name to land a job"
Konami has made plenty of headlines over the past few years, but not always for the right reasons. Following the publisher's acrimonious split from Hideo Kojima - who was responsible for some of the company's biggest games - reports hit the Japanese media of Konami's shameful...
News Konami on Super Bomberman R Support and the Possibility of Producing More Games for Switch
Castlevania is being discussed
Admittedly, Konami hasn’t been all too popular with the gaming community in recent times. The company is in charge of multiple treasured franchises, such as Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Castlevania, and Bomberman, but it’s been rather eclectic in its continued support of gaming. When the company decided to release...