CES: Konami Shows Off New Games For The NES
Hot off its Christmas release of Gradius, Konami has more games in the works for Nintendo’s 8-bit console. In the first six months of the year the company hopes to have four new titles ship.
The first is currently a hit in the arcades and will have gamers rescuing hostages from behind enemy lines in Rush’n Attack. Armed with a knife you must free dozens of POWs hidden in a well-defended camp. Defeated enemy soldiers will allow you to pick up and use their weapons, like grenades and bazookas. You’ll need all the help you can get to find your captured comrades and to destroy the enemy’s secret weapon. Luckily the NES version will have a two-player simultaneous mode so you and a friend can take on the enemy warriors together! This game is scheduled to come out in April.
Konami is bringing some popular Olympic sports to the TV with Track & Field. It will include eight familiar events: Long Jump, Archery, High Jump, 100-Meter Dash, Hurdles, Skeet Shooting, Javelin, and the Triple Jump. You can play against the computer or another player and you can even choose your own difficulty level. In our brief play session the game only seems to use the “A” button on the NES controller. Most events had us press it as fast as we could to build up speed. It’s simple, but really becomes a competition when playing with someone else. Watch out for this one! It should be available by April.
Double Dribble is another sports game from Konami, and the first basketball game on the NES. We were immediately impressed with the game’s visuals, which show huge animated cinema scenes of the players. Two players can compete against each other at the same time and this is by far the best-looking basketball game on any system so far. Although it was loud on the show floor, Konami reps mentioned that the game will feature speech as well. Sports fans are sure to eat this up when it comes out this summer.
Last, but certainly not least is a game called Castlevania. I’m a huge horror movie fan, so I’m excited to see Konami’s take on the classic Dracula tale. This action-packed game has you controlling a character holding a whip. He uses this to kill the enemies coming at him from all angles. There are zombies, monsters, bats, and other ghouls just waiting for a chance to take you down. Luckily you’ll be able to pick up special items by destroying candles placed throughout the levels. You’ll have to place your jumps carefully to make it across bottomless pits and to navigate the rickety staircases that line the vampire’s vast castle estate. Konami is telling us this single-player horror game should be on store shelves this May.
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
