Classic Konami talk. What's your favorite Konami franchise or game?

Original post (since it sems to show up bugged):

I'm sure many of you have probably heard one way or another about all of the ruckus going down over at Konami. With all of the crazy things flying about and Konami now making it obvious they have a mindset focused on other markets there's all sorts of ire and gloom in the air as to how Konami's future may go without many of their star developers and teams.

However, let's push that mess aside for a moment. Instead of fixating on whatever will happen to Konami going forward, how about we glance back at the prime console years of the giant? Was there a special franchise in Konami's 30+ year gaming roster that you've grown up with or adored?

For me Konami was a chunk of my early gaming childhood with titles such as Super C, Contra III, Gradius III, TMNT II & IV, and Castlevania IV. From the deep psychological horrors of Silent Hill to the cursed halls of Dracula's various Castlevania domains it's been a fun ride up to this point and even if they were to just randomly vanish with that recent announcement, there's no doubting they will have left a lasting impression on many longtime gamers. With all of that said, let's discuss our some of our favorite titles from the vast gaming archives of Konami and remember one important thing:

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.

Start.

Metal Gear. The series is just so over the top, almost every game in the series boasted the best visuals on whatever platform they were released on, amazing music and excellent gameplay. My favorite game in the series would be Metal Gear Solid 3 : Snake Eater. The stamina system, the camouflage system, CQC, story, graphics, music, the Guy Savage mini-game, Snake VS Monkey - everything about MGS 3 was just brilliant. I have played the game multiple times on all the difficulties.

The boss battles of the series deserve special mention. Whether it was changing controller ports to beat Psycho Mantis or turning the system clock to a couple of weeks ahead so that The End dies of old age, each Boss battle was spectacular (except Fat Man - the hell with that guy).

It's a damn shame that Konami is now switching to mobile gaming (it's the "future" apparently - I've been hearing various devs say this for over a decade now) and that they are getting rid of Kojima. The Metal Gear series just wouldn't be the same without the man.

between Silent Hill and Castlevania for me, Super CastleVania 4 is one of my all time favorite games but I'm not keen on some other CastleVania games.

I love all Silent Hill games excluding Downpour

It's Yu-Gi-Oh. My first Yu-Gi-Oh game was on PS1 called Yu-Gi-Oh: Forbidden Memories. It was somewhat okay but could've done better. Later on, I started playing Yu-Gi games on Nintendo Handhelds like Gameboy advance and DS versions since they follow the duel rules and my last game was Yu-Gi-Oh: 5DS Stardust Accelerator. Konami did a good job on the Yu-Gi-Oh games if you ask me.

@fend_oblivion: It's a kind of "end of an era" feeling to me if they truly drop consoles/handhelds altogether. I'm glad to see Igarashi's already got a strong following for his new post-Konami project though and I really hope Kojima gets the same fortune down the road. I'd love to see him explore at least one more game like Snatcher and Policenauts because despite how much they derive from western cinema he really added a certain something to the atmosphere of those titles, particularly Policenauts.

As for Metal Gear, it's been surprising how up to this point just about all of them have been fairly high quality even without Kojima entirely involved. Ghost Babel, Rising, and the Acid games were quite good in varying regards. If they were to continue the mainline series without him though I'd have some big reservations.

Hard to choose so I didn't vote in the poll, but if I had to I would probably pick the castlevania series, but it is far too close between that and COntra to make a concrete choice. It boggles my mind how many developers try and fail to make a good side scrolling shooter, you would think with the indie scene being what it is good contra clones would be everywhere but it seems every time I play a contra style game it can't hold up to the original and does not even come close to achieving the greatness of contra 3.

honorable mention also goes to Yugioh, I used to love that game back in the day, now it is unplayable garbage, but for a time it was the best tcg on the market.

From the statement Konami issued, it seems like they are setting themselves up for ruin.

Igarashi's Bloodstained : Ritual of the Night has now received $2.6 million from Kickstarter funds, and the best part is, it still has 20 more days to go.

Kojima's efforts for the Metal Gear series is nothing short of exemplary. And yes, without him Metal Gear would never be the same.

I have to go with Metal Gear. Castlevania Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite games but I don't care too much about the others.

I have yet to play Suikoden but I really want to. I think I'll check out the series during my winter break.

Castlevania is my favorite Konami Franchise followed by Metal Gear. But you can only choose one franchise.

Castlevania and Rocket Knight are my favorite Konami franchises, and Contra has gotten a lot of playing time too, especially the first one and Hard Corps.

Zone of the Enders is another IP that I need to get back to and try again, because I bought the collection a couple of years ago, but I never finished it since the indoor levels of the second game annoyed me.

I would say the Castlevania games but there are some that I couldn't get into. My favorite in the series was Castlevania IV.

Castlevania, Ganbare Goemon, and Suikoden are top 3. If I had to pick one, probably Castlevania I suppose.

Contra is awesome but I actually prefer Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes.
Metal Gear is good as well, but haven't been quite as enamored with the series since MGS3.

@fend_oblivion: I've been watching the progress since I backed it day one, it's probably one of the very few times I'll be using Kickstarter. I'm hoping they reach their final goals but it's slowing in momentum somewhat now. If Kojima does one then I'm likely in once again.

As an aside looking at the co-op thread I think this summer I need to visit one of the TMNT games with a partner again. Konami (along with Capcom and Sega) somehow had a thing for making solid licensed games. I remember some of Konami's Tiny Toons games even being pretty fun. Meanwhile I lumped my vote in for Castlevania but I'll admit SotN has more than a bit of influence in that choice along with IV. Seven of the nine series options hold some major favorites for me.

If Kojima does a Kickstarter campaign, I'm definitely backing it.

Ah. Co-op in TMNT :) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III : The Manhattan Project is one of my all time favorite NES games. As a kid, I'd watch my twin brothers play the game for me while I stood cheering them on. When I couldn't get my brothers to play, I'd call my mom. It's the first game my mother ever played. She never did get past Rocksteady but boy, what a joy it was to see her play and laugh.

Have fun with the TMNT games :)

Castlevania is my favourite Konami franchise and my favourite Konami game would be Turtles in time, other ones I love- Blades of steel, Aria of sorrow, X-men arcade

Contra in 1987 on the NES is what started it all for me. Konami won me over with Contra.

TMNT III was the only one I myself never owned officially. : ( I used to play Turtles in Time enough that soloing it on hard was second nature for a time. I have memories of my mother playing games also but instead of TMNT she actually played Contra with my uncle.

TMNT, Contra, Castlevania and a ton of other titles. Konami was pretty much the pinnacle of good gaming back in my early childhood BEFORE Kojima Metal Geared it to death.

FWIW: Metal Gear on the NES remains my favorite in the entire series.

Metal Slug has some of the best sprite based visuals of all time. So much style. Even though it is considered at great series it definitely deserves to be recognized up there with the best.

I voted Silent Hill, but it is actually tied with Suikoden.

After an absence from here I missed the chance to bring up Konami's recent backpedaling about their retreating from consoles statement. In bigger news though Koji Igarashi has not only successfully raised the funds for his Igavania successor Bloodstained eleven-fold, his project has also managed to become one of the top 10 supported projects across Kickstarter as a whole last night. Anybody wonder what some of the folks at Konami think about this? I sure hope developers like Kojima have taken notice...

Definitely contra for me, but Castlevania will win and that's not a bad choice.

Silent Hill 2

Metal Gear (Solid). It's one of my favorite videogame franchise of all time. I first played MGS1 back in PS1 and was blown away, and ever since I fell in love with the series (and Kojima's stuff).

Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Bio Miracle Bokute Upa. It's bizarre and I only got because I needed to use up my last Wii points, but i can't believe how much I've ended up liking it.