14 Curated Videos
Retrospective documentaries, longplays, composer spotlights, and speedruns spanning Konami’s classic NES and SNES catalogue.
Comprehensive retrospective covering Konami’s rise from Osaka jukebox repairs to NES dominance — Scramble, Frogger, Gradius, Castlevania, Contra, TMNT, and Metal Gear. Covers the Konami Code origin story, the Ultra Games publishing strategy, and the creative teams behind the golden era.
The history of ↑↑↓↓←→←→BA — from Kazuhisa Hashimoto’s testing shortcut in the 1986 Gradius Famicom port through Contra’s 30-lives trick, and into mainstream culture. Covers Hashimoto’s obituaries (2020) and the code’s 100+ appearances across games and media.
Overview of Konami’s internal music composition team: Kinuyo Yamashita, Miki Higashino, Hidenori Maezawa, Kyouhei Sada. Covers the NES sound hardware constraints, VRC6/VRC7 extensions, and the commercial soundtrack albums released in Japan during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Coverage of Hideo Kojima’s early career at Konami: joining the MSX division in 1986, creating Metal Gear, the stealth genre, and his subsequent work on Snatcher and Policenauts. Covers the NES port controversy and Kojima’s evolving relationship with the Metal Gear franchise through the PlayStation era.
Complete two-player co-op playthrough of Contra on the NES, from Stage 1 jungle through the waterfall, the base top-down stages, and the alien lair to the final boss. Maezawa/Sada soundtrack throughout. Essential viewing for the flagship title.
Full playthrough of the original Castlevania on NES — Simon Belmont through Dracula’s castle. Kinuyo Yamashita’s complete soundtrack, from “Vampire Killer” through the Dracula boss battle. A document of one of the finest NES soundtracks ever recorded.
Complete playthrough of Gradius on NES, featuring the Vic Viper through its full stage progression: volcano, stone henge, coral sea, crystal zone, boss rush. Miki Higashino’s score including the legendary “Challenger 1985” title theme.
Full playthrough of Castlevania III, featuring Trevor Belmont and branching character routes. The Maezawa soundtrack across multiple paths — including the acclaimed Sypha route. Note: NES version lacks the VRC6 audio enhancement of the Famicom original.
Full playthrough of Konami’s only mainline Castlevania for Sega hardware. European settings, two protagonists (John Morris and Eric Lecarde), and a distinctly hard-edged visual palette that makes full use of the Mega Drive’s colour capabilities.
Complete Axelay playthrough showcasing the SNES at its technical peak — alternating horizontal and vertical scrolling stages, Mode 7 planetary approach sequences, and the distinctive weapon selection system. Taro Kudo’s acclaimed soundtrack.
In-depth analysis of Kinuyo Yamashita’s “Vampire Killer” (Castlevania Stage 1 theme, 1987) — covering the composition technique, NES hardware constraints, the rock guitar-influenced melody construction, and the track’s cultural legacy in game music history.
Complete Contra (NES, 1988) soundtrack arranged and performed — Stage 1 through the alien lair. Hidenori Maezawa and Kyouhei Sada’s complete score demonstrating the range of the NES 2A03 audio hardware across fourteen tracks.
Games Done Quick appearance featuring Contra (NES) in 2-player co-operative any% speedrun. Expert-level stage execution with routing commentary. Demonstrates the skill ceiling of Contra’s core mechanics and the depth of its speedrun community.
Games Done Quick Castlevania any% speedrun, demonstrating the movement techniques and damage-boost routing that compress an hour-long game into minutes. With commentary on the game’s mechanics and Yamashita’s soundtrack heard at high speed.