Konami's creative MSX team: From Pippols to Metal Gear 2

Konami's PC/MSX division: a group of talented developers with their own work-flow, challenges and opportunities. Their creative concepts and know-how of the MSX resulted in an expansive library of excellent games. Being responsible for massive MSX hits like The Maze of Galious, Penguin Adventure, Metal Gear and the unique Gradius sequels. This made them the most prolific developers on the platform.
///Support the channel
All your views, likes comments and shares are really appreciated! This video is part of a bigger series. I set up a patreon for those who would like to financially support it: / strafefox
Narration by Steven Kelly
/ stevenmkelly
//Music and Sources
For the complete track-listing with time-codes skip to the end of the video. Sources used for this video are also listed there.
//Chapters
00:00 MSX
00:49 Pippols & Popolon
03:38 A true Nemesis for the NES
06:10 Vampire Killer
09:16 Metal Gear
12:16 Penguin Adventure
15:26 The Maze of Galious
19:21 Snatcher
21:59 Metal Gear 2: A Solid sequel
26:34 The bad ending
27:47 The good ending

[@MRSAUltraviolet]

Strafefox, I don't think you understand how much of a treat it is whenever you guys drop a video. The sheer quality is worth the wait.

[@strafefox]

Thanks so much! That's really awesome to read

[@tylerjones9197]

Straight facts. Where can I find out when you decide you start to do talks? I’m sure Portland Retro Game Expo would love to host you for something. Your videos are the best and can’t believe this channel hasn’t blown up yet.

[@davidbenoit7730]

So true!

[@jeremybowers3181]

Well said lol!!

[@clearyourthirdeye]

Its really true though-

[@anibarukyouran1145]

The production of each episode is super high, this channel deserves way more views and audince

[@SilhSe]

Well it seems YT algo recommended me to this channel so most likely its a positive flow.

[@Diwasho]

Oh, Anibaru the cat? Nice.

[@juiceala]

Thank you for this awesome retrospective video for the MSX, one of my most cherished childhood memories of all time, I grew up with the awesome Penguin Adventure back in 1986.

[@strafefox]

Thanks! Penguin Adventure was also one of my favorites along with Maze of Galious.

[@computer_toucher]

Same! Never tried Maze of Galious though. Nor the original Metal Gear - didn't have an MSX2. But Sorcery, all the Head over Heels clones like Batman; Life in the Fast Lane; Hang-On!; Alpharoid...

[@nostartia]

I was recently thinking about the insane creativity the Konami MSX team had, after reading everything about Hi-Fi Rush and its success, everyone praising its new creative ideas, something hard to see nowadays. Perfect video and perfect timing to remind me about that genius MSX team, and also to learn more and expand on it. As always, a joy to watch. Thank you so much!

[@alec_almartson]

When I was a kid in the 90's, Konami was a Magical Company, we're talking about Ninja Turtles Games for NES and SNES & The Castlevanias... I was overwhelmed by the beauty and fun of their games, like a kid in a candy store.... or more (literally): like a kid in a Video Game store 😄🎮✌🏻 In those days we didn't have Tutorials to learn how to finish the difficult games... we had Nintendo Power & Club Nintendo Magazines which were Amazing... I am very grateful to have been born in that era.

[@hieioni3354]

Konami used to be so great. But at least they didn't go the way EA is now.

[@orangeslash1667]

Good news the Turtles have a game collection.

[@roland-d5050]

For content like this, it is worth waiting four months. Awesome as always.

[@Zaborpila]

From someone in Spain who was lucky to spend his childhood in the 80s enjoying MSX computers and their games, thank you very much for this awesome video! Back then Konami was by far my favourite game company.

[@Ryusagi]

Can't have a MSX retrospective without a La-maluna reference, the ultimate love letter

[@VahanNisanian]

Konami was the best developer for the MSX there ever was. I have played pretty much all of their titles. I think their best ones were from 1986 to 1990 ("King Kong 2", "Maze of Galious", "Hi No Tori", both "Metal Gears", "Usas", "F-1 Spirit", "Shalom", "King's Valley 2", "Space Manbow", and "SD Snatcher" are some of my favorites from them). A fun fact is that most of their games were on 128KB. None of them were on 64KB or even 384KB. In addition, they had three 256KB games, and one on 512KB.

[@retroraves]

22:17 that box move is a little detail that really gave high value to this remarkable video

[@Marc_Araujo]

During college (circa 2007), I picked up an MSX2 that was upgraded to an MSX2+ with a bunch of games, including Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, and Space Manbow, for real cheap. It was really awesome for what it was. The soundtrack for Metal Gear 2 still slaps hard.

[@kickheavy8982]

A NEW STRAFEFOX VIDEO!? IT'S CHRISTMAS IN JANUARY! Thank you so much for this! All your AMAZING work and dedication is RECOGNIZED and greatly appreciated. My favorite youtube channel.

[@MrMahoses]

The inclusion of Mr. Explorer in the end was such a nice touch. The ultimate love letter to the MSX, truly

[@dan_loup]

The MSX 2 can do horizontal scrolling, but it's a bit of a kludge. It has this screen adjust registers that allow you to finely scroll the entire picture in all directions by 16 pixels. the purpose is to allow you to center the picture in your television better, but it can and is abused by certain games like space manbow and higemaru to deliver smooth scrolling in all directions.

[@oliveuk]

The 80's Konami team was amazingly creative. I would buy every single of their games.

[@RyuHayabusa06]

Great video!!! I love that era of Konami. Very cool seeing all the pics from the development of these great games. Snatcher is still one of my favorite games of all time.

[@Tombrillioot]

And when the world needed him most, he returned! Amazing video, cannot state it enough times. This could be easily be on Netflix! I think the writing, research and the nice flow of outstanding visuals and information is stellar. These 30 mins flew by. Keep rocking!

[@AllTimeScary]

The most underrated channel on KZbin! I have to actively check to see if new videos have been made. This is one of two videos that I was never notified about but I'm glad I found them!

[@Yarumasi]

THANK YOU for all your hard work!!!! I love everything you do, and I hope someday you truly break into a much larger audience. :)

[@shannonbateswillis5022]

I completely agree! I can’t wait to see what they do next!

[@goatbone]

150K subscribers is already massive for a retro game channel

[@lindejordan]

This channel is like Konami's music in the 80s.. a cut above the rest!

[@moritzgerber7678]

By some random chance, in the late 80ies, early 90ies, in my hometown in Switzerland a small little store, hidden in the second floor of an undescript office building, somehow had a connection to Japan - and started selling MSX computers and games. A lot of the games were in Japanese, full with this unknown language and these beautiful characters. I was around ten years old, and this store, these games, these glimpses of a fascinatingly different culture felt like a gateway to another world. For many years I regularly escaped into this amazing, mysterious place. Memories I'll never forget - thank you, Konami MSX team.

[@uncaaj6242]

The return of the Mack! I love this show!

[@Level1Sword]

The techniques used to make Penguin Adventure look like they inspired Sonic 2's special stages.

[@TheRogueCobra]

Strafefox has uploaded. You know what that means: Watch it, watch it, and then watch it again.

[@siiseli92]

Amazing content. This is like nostalgia crack for me. Love the la-mulana reference at the end with the music and all, that game was a great love letter to the MSX.

[@strafefox]

Thanks! La Mulana is such an amazing game, especially the original MSX themed version :)

[@siiseli92]

@@strafefox Indeed, the original is the best. I've played it through so many times by now. I even achieved the skimpy swimsuit of horror, tho never again with that one.

[@MelsoMProduction]

The MSX was the 1st computer and video games I had when I was 7 or 8 in the 80's.. It was my 1st experience that have made me passionate by video games and Japan until now and that's why your video automatically put me in a cocooning and warm mood.. 30 min of nostalgic pleasure ! I love you bro ! 🥹💚

[@RichardBlaziken]

Hearing about a time when Konami was a wonderful game company is so wild these days. This was wonderful, thanks so much!

[@vaevictis_]

Any gamer growing up in the 80s and 90s, whether it was Nintendo, MSX, sega etc, knew that the game on the shelf would be great quality if it had the Konami logo on it Great video!

[@ZenithMusicNet]

Wow, it's awesome seeing MSX content again! Grew up as a teen with a MSX2 in the 90's, this really brings back warm and fond memories of that time. I still have my MSX2 with a stack of Konami games, it's pure gold from that era.

[@AaronMartinColby]

Genuinely among the very best video game-related content on KZbin. These videos deserve so much more attention.

[@FromInfinityTV]

You're video's are the best retro game content on the net. There's no other KZbin channel that I actually get excited for when an new episode drops, and will plan my day around it. 🔥RRRRRRESPECT 🔥

[@robobeau]

"Kojima wanted your MSX to smell like blood" is the wildest shit I've heard about him.

[@TiagoBullets]

This is Tv show quality, this guy is the finest video game channel on the entire youtube

[@Dasan1111]

this video is the best PC game documentary I have ever seen in KZbin. The creator knows details of technical and developmental aspects of MSX.

[@HopeHunterX]

Awesome! Old Konami games is a true art!

[@varoennauraa]

Damn! This was such a well made documentary, I didn’t even notice it was half an hour episode!

[@ubiased23]

This is the best video related to the MSX computer and it's Konami exclusives. You have reviewed many great Konami games on the MSX, and it brought back a lot of nostalgia. I had great time playing games such as Vampire Killer, Knightmare, Yier Kung fu, and sport games such as ping pong. I was a former Atari 130 XE owner and thought I had the best games. Then my friend from my school invited me over, and he pulled out the YAMAHA MSX1 computer. He inserted the cartridge of Knightmare game, and I was blown away. This is way back in 1989, and I couldnt believe it. I literally played this game with him for hours, and it was so addicting. Thats when I have decided to sell my Atari 130XE and bought YAMAHA MSX2. Miss the good old days of the MSX, and it was extremely popular in Iraq. There are other great games on the MSX2 such as Aleste, and Zanac. Thank you for the awesome video!

[@cloakofshadow1]

You guys really are the pinacle of video game history, so thank you for keeping these games alive!

[@ToranosukeEdo]

When you saw that orange logo splash down the screen and heard the chimes, you knew it was going to be a fun time Capcom and Konami- so good in the 80s and 90s

[@Kousaburo]

I still remember when Konami on a box was a seal of quality.

[@boxthing8328]

Easily one of the best channels on KZbin

[@AlexandreSantosBR]

MSX was amazing, my first computer.

[@HiThere619]

My jaw dropped when I saw a new video was uploaded. This is one of the best channels on KZbin I’ve ever seen.

[@CrazyBossDK]

The most impressive Konami MSX game in my mind was SpaceManbow. But I also played a lot of SD-Snatcher and all the MSX1 games. Konami did it great for the MSX, fun games and great use of the hardware. Its worthy to mention that Metal Gear 2 and SD-Snatcher, Kingkong, Firebird etc. all came in Japanese only. Some fans have translated them into english which is cool :)

[@SalaDeVideoGame]

It's always a struggle to me finishing watching your videos because I don't know how and where to find words to say how amazing your work is. Thank you for sharing such a beatiful work, we can always feel your love and dedication in each video. You're amazing.

[@bananabike279]

Great retrospective! The team sounded so ambitious when it came to creating games for the MSX, such a shame Konami's console didn't last longer in the market

[@XentinelSB]

The King is back.

[@SnipinG1337]

Your 3D work is getting better every video

[@CrazyBossDK]

MSX2 had multicolored sprites, each horizontal line could have its own color. Around 7:50 they talk about no multicolored sprites at MSX2. But besides that is a cool video, alot of great information. Konami made great games for the MSX, I think the support for the Z80 Cpu and TMS99x8 chip started at the Sord M5, and ColecoVision, a few Official ports from Konami made it to the Colecovision, along with a lot of unofficial ports made by homebrewers.

[@CrazyBossDK]

Multicolored MSX2 Sprites explained here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3e1l2ttiNaKqNk

[@sushisunbreak]

What a absolute blast this video was! We owned a MSX and seeing al these games make me feel nostalgic (and old). Great job on the research, writing and putting this video together. Your content is next level!

[@elmarakovideo]

Excellent video. RIP Classic Konami! They ain't what they used to be.😢

[@PhantomArcade]

i search strafe fox every couple days to check if a new vid is out, and to check and find one that's 9 hours fresh, daaaaaaaaaaamn just feels so good. Gonna get some dinner n sit down and savor every second

[@rigues]

Thanks for such an AMAZING video. The MSX was very popular here in Brazil, and the Konami games so amazing that they inspired some hardware: the MegaRAM. It was a RAM cartridge that could emulate a MegaROM one. Pirate copies of the games would be loaded from disk into the MegaRAM, the machine was reset and... voilá! Instant MegaROM! We may say it was one of the earliest Flash Carts.

[@cocasurfboards]

I already know the quality of this is extreme. Thank you for this fascinating and inspiring work. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😍😍😍

[@GamingBroductions]

When it comes to pure documentary style video game content on KZbin you are by far the best channel on the platform. Your production value is insane, quality like this deserves millions of views. Honestly it feels almost too good for KZbin and like you should be selling this stuff to Netflix or something lol

[@musabjunaidi]

Every single video on this channel is a master piece from script writing to the visuals and voice over.

[@animatedstill4729]

Whoa, a new video. Today just got much better!

[@LucosPlays]

It's always interesting to see companies like Konami decided to branch out and how it worked out, also never expected to see Snatcher there i always thought that was made later for the Sega CD and stuff. The whole combination of cartridges for many games on the MSX was really genius i love it. Combined with the amazing production values of this channel makes it better, i applaud the hard work that goes on every video. Keep up the great work Strafefox!

[@Nolasco.]

I really miss old Konami 😞🥺 Thanks for the video 💕

[@RewindArcade]

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but this was a joy to watch! The MSX's library often doesn't get the attention it deserves compared to other platforms, especially Konami's contributions. I'm sad you didn't go further into Parodius, but I loved learning more about Vampire Killer, Antarctic Adventure, and Kojima's MSX works. Thanks for putting this video together!

[@PropaneWP]

Thanks again Strafefox! Amazing quality as always. To this day the SCC music for Gradius are some of my favorite BGM pieces. I hope some of the people from the MSX Konami division gets to watch this video. I think they would appreciate it.

[@Raul-fv8mi]

You’re back!! I miss you 😢

[@thepainthuffer886]

Would love to see you guys do a video off Konami's time with the Ninja Turtles license as well as some of Warner Bros's IPs someday

[@caseforsong]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 As a Brazilian and Sharp MSX owner, this really made my day.

[@shadowfang1034]

Man every one of these videos looks so sick, things like the 3d models and animated graphics really make these feel like professional documentaries

[@dawnstar5294]

Still the most underrated channel on the entirety of KZbin, you guys are a blessing

[@BIGW0RM]

Oh jeez, another strafefox video? *immediately pauses everything else in life to watch*

[@petirgarda1005]

SUPERB quality production value! Your videos really enlightened me about other hardware/gaming system that i heard of but never touched upon. Thank you for all of your hard work! Really really appreciate it!

[@SegasonicfanDesigns]

I literally yell at my monitor in giddy excite sounds when I see there's a new splash wave video!

[@WickedElement]

I love that you covered the MSX. I have an MSX2+ and some of the games you highlighted, but I also have a carnivore2 so I got to play not just the best of the library, but also the fan games. 🙂 Awesome video Strafefox!

[@eightieslover]

One of the best MSX related videos of all time. The narration is excellent. Best regards.

[@duckhead014]

Excellent as always!! I never got to play any of the MXS stuff and this is a phenomenal overview!

[@PXAbstraction]

It's a great day indeed when there's a new strafefox video! Fantastic watch, as always!

[@Aeoncalcos91]

Whenever I'm having a rough time, seeing a video from Strafefox seems to make me feel better. Thanks for all of your hard work!

[@lordioris]

I had a MSX (later upgraded to a MSX2+memory mapper) so this is a GREAT video for me. Hell, it's a GREAT video regardless

[@Rationalific]

No matter the gaming subject, these Splash Wave documentaries always turn out to be some of my favorites! I didn't know much about Konami's time with the MSX, so thanks for this knowledge that was presented in such an exciting way!

[@GameplayandTalk]

Aw man, I am so glad you covered the Konami MSX stuff. Their output was killer. There was even some stuff in here that I hadn’t heard of before, so I guess I’ll have to get on that now and try them!

[@strafefox]

Great to hear Austin! Btw: another unique game you can give a try is Androgynous by Telenet who later developed Gaiares for the Mega-Drive.

[@misterretrowolf1464]

WOW. This is such an amazingly well produced video. I'm blown away. Thanks so much!!!

[@ms08gouf]

I am a simple man, i see new strafefox I click play and like

[@emberman535]

Best gaming channel on the site, easily.

[@Lageno]

One of maybe three channels I have the notification bell active for! Your video's are my favourite content on KZbin and are always worth the wait.

[@grahamkelly5341]

The work you must have done to get thos video out. Aboslutely wonderful. Television quality documentary. Im gonna emulate me some msx/68000 roms . Thanks for the video.

[@fluffy_tail4365]

I was gonna comment about la mulana original outing being inspired by the MSX but you got me smiling in the last second of the video! Excellent work on shedding light on this lesser known system and talents!

[@MonsieurRitournelle]

C'était le meilleur studio de développement des années 80, à n'en point douter ;)

[@armorvil]

pas que des années 80 d'ailleurs ! Les Castlevania, les Suikoden, les MGS, ... on dira ce qu'on voudra de leur politique actuelle, mais on peut dire qu'ils nous donnaient de la qualité ! MGS5 TPP n'était pas ce que j'attendais de la série et m'a laissé un sale goût d'inachevé en bouche, mais son gameplay reste au top, même aujourd'hui.

[@radiak55]

Great to know more about the unsung talents of the era. It's amazing how something so simple actually had a lot of thinkering in production. I do believe games were instrumental in figuring out the posibilities within the limitations of computers back in the day

[@collamec]

Thanks and congrats from an old game dev. Your quality is top notch and I really appreciate the technical details you provide ;)

[@strafefox]

Thanks so much, that's cool to read!

[@hieioni3354]

Another awesome work! Thanks to this, I now have an insight into Konami's MSX division, and a new appreciation for Hideo Kojima.

[@RemnantCult]

The MSX is an underrated computer. I'm happy to see it covered here!

[@Wykesidefruitmachine]

No way, I just randomly thought to check this channel as it's been a while. Time for a chilled bedtime watch of the latest from the greatest 👍🏻

[@Asobitech]

What a great look at Konami and their MSX output. So many awesome games, pushing the technical limitations of the hardware.

[@yoteca]

Another fantastic presentation. Man, it's like a christmas present everytime you drop a video. Criminally underrated and ridiculously well produced. Thank you !

[@brainwheeze6328]

God I love Metal Gear 2. It's amazing just how much Metal Gear Solid owes to it.

[@Zetsumaru]

Wake up baby, new splashwave just dropped.

[@lorenzominiero]

As someone who grew playing and programming on an MSX1 as a kid, this was a truly fantastic video, and full of things I didn't know yet! Thanks ♥️

[@corycourtney8923]

THE...BEST...CHANNEL...ON...KZbin...PERIOD. Thank you for another fantastic video.

[@penniesplacesandpaws788]

Amazing work and quality. We need to get this channel seen and recognized for the greatness that us strafefox

[@pixhell]

This video is forged gold ( like all your vids ) ! Its captivating, well made, extremely well documented ! you do a excellent job and it's fascinating... Thanks you a lot for that!

[@JesusGarcia-Digem]

Excellent high quality content amigo, God bless!

[@RickyRei1]

Watched as soon as I got home. My favorite channel~

[@KLegyyn]

My favourite channel drops another gem. . .