Konami

Template:Infobox Company Konami Corporation (コナミ) (NYSE: KNM (http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=KNM)) is a leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling computer and video games. The company was founded in 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair business in Osaka, Japan by Kagemasa Kozuki, the still-current chairman and CEO. The name "Konami" is a conjunction of the names Kagemasa Kozuki, Yoshinobu Nakama, Hiro Matsuda, and Shokichi Ishihara, whom were partners acquired by Kozuki and the original founders of Konami Industry Co., Ltd in 1973.

Konami is currently headquartered in Tokyo and additionally operates health and fitness clubs in Japan.

History

On March 19, 1973, Kozuki transformed the business into Konami Industry Co., Ltd. and began work on manufacturing "amusement machines" for arcades. Their first actual game machine wasn't created until 1978. They began to achieve success with hit arcade games such as 1981's Scramble and Super Cobra.

Between 1982 and 1985, Konami manufactured and sold game software for home PCs, producing games for the MSX, Atari 2600, and Nintendo's Family Computer ("Famicom") game consoles. This new business was in addition to, not in place of, the arcades, and many hit console games of this time period were ports of the arcade versions. Konami of America Inc. was established in the United States in 1982, and in 1984 Konami expanded to the United Kingdom and established Konami Limited.

Konami began to achieve great success when the Famicom took off, being released in the United States as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Many of the NES/Famicom's bestselling titles were produced by Konami, including the Castlevania series, Contra and its sequel, and Metal Gear. Konami was one of the most active and prolific third party development studios for the NES, which led to conflict with Nintendo of America's licensing restrictions. During the heyday of the NES, Nintendo of America controlled the production of all licensed NES software titles, and limited third party developers to a maximum of five titles per year. Several companies found a way around this restriction by founding quasi-independent subsidiary corporations, effectively doubling the number of games that they could release during the year. In the case of Konami, this subsidiary was known as Ultra Games, and a large number of Konami titles were published in North America under their banner, including the original Metal Gear, Skate or Die, the first three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games and the critically savaged Snake's Revenge (a Japanese-made Metal Gear sequel made specifically for the western market). In Europe, faced with a similar restriction placed by Nintendo's European branch, Konami established Palcom Software Ltd. to the same end. By the early 1990s, Nintendo of America had relaxed many of the more draconian of its licensing restrictions, and, no longer needed, Ultra was shut down in 1992, with the remainder of its staff being reabsorbed into Konami's official American branch.

In 2003, Konami of America closed down their arcade division due to heavy losses. All machine inquiries and new machines will be handled by Betson Enterprises.

Games

Over the years, some of the biggest and most memorable video games have been created by Konami. Genre-defining titles attributed to Konami include the dating simulation Tokimeki Memorial series, the vampire hunting Castlevania series, the action/shooter Contra series, the platform/adventure Ganbare Goemon series, the espionage action Metal Gear series, the console role-playing Suikoden series, and the rythmic dancing Dance Dance Revolution (aka Dancing Stage) series. Konami is particularly notable for its side-scrolling shoot-em-up games (also known as SHMUPS), such as Gradius, Parodius, and Twinbee. Konami's games based on cartoon licenses, especially the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tiny Toon Adventures series, are still remembered fondly. Recent cinematically-styled franchises from Konami are the continuing Silent Hill survival horror game franchise, and the Metal Gear series, which underwent a public renaissance with Metal Gear Solid. Another successful franchise is Winning Eleven, the spiritual sequel to International Superstar Soccer, which is extremely popular in Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Konami is also notorious for its famous password, the Konami Code, which traditionally gives many powerups in its games. Although variants also exist, as in the Parodius series, and button naming can differ depending on the controller used, the classic Famicom or NES combination is: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start.

Konami structure

In 2005, Konami Corporation merged with six of its subsidiaries.

• Konami Corporation
  • Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Inc.
  • Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Inc.
  • Konami Computer Entertainment Studios, Inc.
  • Konami Online, Inc.
  • Konami Media Entertainment, Inc.
  • Konami Traumer, Inc
• Konami Sports Life Corporation
• Konami Sports Corporation
• Konami Corporation of America — Holding company U.S.
  • Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. formerly Konami of America Inc.
• Konami Corporation of Europe B.V. — Holding company Europe, formerly Konami Limited
  • Konami of Europe GmbH
• Konami Software Shanghai, Inc.

See also

• List of games by Konami
• Treasure Co. Ltd
• Konami Code

External links

• Konami Corporate Information (http://www.konami.com)
• Konami Entertainment (http://www.konami.jp/) (Japanese)
• Konami Digital Entertainment (formerly Konami of America) (http://www.konami.com/usa)
• Konami of Europe (http://www.konami-europe.de)
• Konami of Europe Arcade Division (http://www.konami.co.uk/video.htm)bg:Конами

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