Which Konami franchises you wish them to return?

Hello

The following Konami franchises I wished if they return for arcades, consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X & Switch), and PC are:

• Enthusia Professional Racing
• Racing Jam
• Gradius
• Snatcher

2D Castlevania, with sprites. That, Violent Storm, and Jikkyō Power Pro Wrestling.

Nectaris is of course the obvious pick, but I wouldn't mind a Contra reboot that's literally only the behind the back levels from the first game.

I really would like another Suikoden game, though I never managed to beat Suikoden 5 before my PS2 died back in the day.

EDIT: I just noticed this was about Konami and not Capcom. In that case err.. I dunno I guess Metal Gear if they just let Kojima do whatever he wants like in the good ol' days. Other than that I don't have all that much love for most Konami franchises.

Some proper Contra games are always welcome.

Zone of the Enders, as well, since that can probably go on without Kojima better than MGS.

Honestly? Probably none?

I love me some Castlevania (2d and metroidvania) but indies are doing that better. I LOVED Lords of Shadow 1 but 2 kind of makes me never want to see that franchise again so...

I remember liking Contra but fiddling around on a perfectly legit emulator and trying that Blazing Chrome or whatever it was called game... I don't think I like Contra anymore.

Metal Gear Rising was amazing and is one of the better character action games but... the number of studios who can reliably do that is pretty limited and they all seem busy.

I guess what I would like is if Konami were to just partner with a bluepoint or digital eclipse-like company and do re-releases of all their games. We sort of had that with Castlevania but it was missing a lot of the expected QOL improvements of a re-release. In theory, a re-release at this point will run on all future consoles (ignoring a new walled garden).

That being said, if we are going down the "never gonna happen" what ifs?

Metal Gear Solid but written/"directed" by a woman. I love that messed up world and gameplay but I am fucking done with decades of Kojima's issues with women.

And they tried it with Silent Hill over the years, but let's get a modernized take on that with some actual psychologists helping inform the psychological horror. No, I don't mean Penumbra Tribute. I mean something as (maybe?) revolutionary as the original Silent Hill in that they find some new way to innovate on the horror genre rather than just cashing in on what every indie developer who realized Unity can do dark settings has been for years.

A Lords of Shadow take on Contra. Yeah, I know, we have suffered through a LOT of horrible Contra spinoffs that keep establishing that that formula should not be changed. And I am not sure how you could provide the spatial awareness needed for a Contra from a third person over the shoulder. But... still.

None.

Konami hasn't made a good new game since MGS V, and it had been a while before that for a non-Kojima game.

Konami has released some decent compilations recently and if they want to keep doing that...fine (though honestly I'd like something on the level of a Rare Replay, which we'll never get.)

But new games from Konami? Why bother?

Now there are a lot of Konami franchises that I'd love to see in someone else's hands. MGS or Silent Hill to Sony. A new Contra in the style of Hard Corps: Uprising (and very much NOT Contra Rogue Corps.) Obviously Castlevania could be done very well in many ways.

But Konami doesn't have either the talent or the will to make good videogames anymore so as long as they hold the IP I have no desire to see anything new from them, unless maybe they were just publishing something they farmed out to a team that can actually do it well.

Return to whom? Kojima? Metal Gear would be a start

Never really thought about that but it would certainly be a welcome change of perspective. It's one of my favorite series but some of this stuff is straight up embarrassing and it's becoming increasingly hard to look past.

I'll have to go with none. They had their time; but I fail to see what purpose it would serve. Konami's track record is so poor, especially over the last couple of decades, that I'm not even sure what I would want out of one of their franchises that other development companies, indie or otherwise, haven't done as well as or better than they. Wanting them to return to a former franchise would probably just be in name only, and that isn't enough for me by a long shot. I feel like it's time for those franchises to just go away permanently.

I don't want Konami to return to any of their franchises. Given their level of disinterest, I'd rather they just liquidate their gaming division and sell off the properties to people who actually give a damn. Maybe let them keep a limited license so they can make their oh-so-precious branded pachinko machines, but that's it.

please just give me a metal gear solid HD collection on modern consoles

@cjring4: I don’t know. I feel like Metal Gear needs that Kojima branded shenanigans. Women creators should be given opportunities to create their own stories and not-hand me-downs. Have there been any notable female protagonist-centered games directed by women? Like big budget stuff? Nothing really comes to mind just now, not for big budget games, anyway

@nickm: oh yeah I totally get that side of it too. I think the biggest reason Metal Gear was able to be what it was is because it was such a singular vision. I’m just saying if a new Metal Gear was announced tomorrow with a new director I’d definitely be curious.

But yeah unfortunately I can’t really think of an answer to your question either. Kim Swift with Portal?

I've also moved on.

@cjring4: Kim Swift, good answer, not a name I’ve heard in a while. But even that, the writing in that game is Wolpaw and Falizcek through and through, so I dunno. I’d honestly like to know if someone could come up with something. As far as a singular vision type deal like Kojima or Ken Levine.

I swear whoever said this account was just doing market research might be onto something

PES of old

@nickm: Metal Gear Rising (and, to a lesser degree, Ghost Babel and the like) very much demonstrate that you don't need Kojima to have a vaguely political action thriller set in an incredibly political and horny environment with enemies who have weird powers and personalities. Hell, Rising was somehow simultaneously MORE horny and homoerotic AND spent less time objectifying women and failing to work through whatever borderline misogynistic bullshit is going on in Kojima's head.

And while western devs tend to not have the singular "director" bullshit, Jade Raymond (sort of) and Amy Hennig (hell fucking yeah) have been ripping through some pretty major AA and AAA franchises.

I'd be perfectly fine with MGS not even getting an HD re-release that makes MGS4 playable on anything but a PS3. That series has ended five times.

But, in the realm of "What if Konami were completely insane and didn't care about money", getting a female perspective on the glorious mess that is Metal Gear Solid would be pretty awesome. Kind of reminiscent of how what is arguably the best take on The Punisher ever was directed by Lexi Alexander. Hilariously over the top action, a retelling of some of the more fun and less... Garth Ennis... stories, and an examination of the casualties that Frank's war leaves that goes slightly deeper than "I didn't do it? Fuck yeah, let's keep spraying suppressing fire then"

Yeah there's just very little I want Konami themselves to come back and do. I'm done with Metal Gear, everyone does Konami style Castlevania now better than they did.

I would have said Suikoden I guess, but there's that kickstarter now that looks pretty rad without them.

Here's the thing I think every time I see a question like this; companies don't make games, people do. Your new 2D Castlevania already exists, Konami just isn't getting royalties from it. Unless you really just need to see what happens to a character named Solid Snake next, then Konami has precisely nothing to offer with any of its marque franchises.

I actually don't care what Konami does. I think everything good that came out of that brand came from people who've moved on with their careers. I'm much more interested in the new stories they're telling than Konami mismanaging some nostalgic cash-in.

Just re-release all the Silent Hill games, so I don't have to spend a fortune trying to get a copy of any of them. I even liked the bad Silent Hill games, so I'm down for more.

I would love to see a new Silent Hill game, but not from Konami. Konami clearly gives zero shits.

If Sony got the Silent Hill license and gave that to Kojima for another stab at Silent Hills, I'd be down for that. Some folks here have made good points about not being attached to the brand name of a series if other developers have made those games in all but name (Bloodstained comes to mind,) but in the case of Silent Hill, I genuinely doubt a large new survival horror game in that style would ever get greenlit without the brand recognition a Silent Hill provides. So continue to pine for Silent Hill to return, I shall.

I want MGS:V completed, and then I want Jeff Gurstman's "prediction" fulfilled that MGSV is actually pronounced "vee" and not "five" because MGSV was just Kojima's expanded take on the MGS2 prologue main character fake out, with the real Big Boss story told in MGS5.

It'll never happen, but it's what I want.

I'd love a Suikoden game set in Harmonia, but who would make it? I'm with those in here that would prefer that Konami just sell off their IPs and get out of gaming.

For me, the question I'd prefer to ask is, "which Konami franchises do you want reimagined by other developers?"

I don't care if Konami itself releases another game, really.

@gundato: Punisher Warzone? Really?

I don’t actually need an answer. This made me upset. I’m taking time off.

Most of the good Konami series are getting spiritual successors like Eiuyden Chronicle or Bloodstained. Kojima probably got Silent Hill covered with whatever his next project is, so what's left? I guess we need a Boktai and Tokemeki Memorial then we're set, right? Maybe a Contra.

Make another Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

I'd rather they sold their library of IPs to someone who would do something other than just make pachislot machines out of them

Silent Hill. I don't want Konami to make one, I just want them all available on steam, same with MGS and Castlevania. If they would license it out to someone that actually cares...I dunno who that would be. I would have *maybe* said Bloober Team prior to The Medium but now, eh, maybe not.