Konami is a Japanese video game and gambling company. They are best known for game series like Castlevania, Silent Hill,Metal Gear, and even card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! They have certainly grown since starting out as just a jukebox rental and repair company in the 1960s. They are also well known for their arcade games.
However, they have made way more than just the games they are famous for. There are some that are better left forgotten. Here are the five of the best and worst games Konami have created, according to their Metacritic review scores
10 Best: Metal Gear Solid (94)
Obviously, the first Metal Gear game made it onto the top when it came to Metacritic scores. Its highest score is for its PlayStation version, but it was also available for the PC. The game was released in 1998 and began a major video game legacy.
Since this was before people knew how crazy Metal Gear was, everything in this game was a major surprise. Some would even call it the greatest PS1 game of all time.
9 Worst: Frogger: The Great Quest (32)
If you somehow were not warned by the ugly character design and the uninspired title, this game will still disappoint you with its content. Besides the characters looking hideous, the camera controls are awful, and the movement is choppy.
The Frogger franchise has had its good games, but this one was certainly its worst. On a grander scale, it is one of Konami's worst games according to Metacritic scores. The game proved that Frogger should just stick to avoiding traffic and not go adventuring through a jungle.
8 Best: ISS Pro Evolution (94)
Created for the original PlayStation in 2000, this soccer game was known to be the best of its series. Metacritic scores seem to indicate that this was the best soccer video game critics had ever played. It also added a Master League game mode.
This was the third game in the ISS Pro series and is still considered the best, at least by Metacritic scores. It also won the ECTS Interactive Entertainment Award in 1999.
7 Worst: Crime Life: Gang Wars (30)
Dating back to 2005, this Xbox and PC game offered nothing likable. Critics compared the game to a parody due to how its atmosphere was. The camera angle is disorienting and the gameplay is repetitive. The cutscenes are laughable for their terrible acting. It's actually a little cringe-worthy for its cliches and poor writing. The combat is also so easy that there is no fun in it at all.
Even more embarrassing is when you read the game summary, it claims to have a strong narrative. It was also on the PC, but no critic or player has yet touched that page to rate this game. That is probably for the best.
6 Best: Metal Gear Solid 3: Substience (94)
Not to be confused for the base game, Snake Eater, this version was actually released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and it has bonus content that takes players online. It can take a total of eight online players and can do Death Matches, Team Death Matches, Sneaking Missions, Capture Missions, and Rescue Missions.
A lot of critics were prepared to write their criticisms, but they were very surprised to find the multiplayer aspects to be brilliantly executed. Of course, the base game was already amazing.
5 Worst: Winx Club: Join The Club (30)
This PSP game surprised no one with its terrible reviews. Most gamers know that video games based on television shows are usually bound to be bad. Konami still took a chance and tried their hand at making a Winx Club game in 2007.
The negative reviews basically warn that this is more of a cartoon advertisement than a game. It had terrible load times and just consisted of simplistic mini-games.
4 Best: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (95)
This game got good scores all around, but out of the many consoles it came out on such as the Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 360, it got its best scores for the Xbox One. The game came out in 2015 and is now argued to be one of the best of the Metal Gear series.
Some fans did feel that Hideo Kojima held back in terms of the ridiculous writing of Metal Gear, but a lot of critics have argued that holding back the weirdness allowed some freshness into the series. The game also felt more open-world, which was new territory for the Metal Gear series.
3 Worst: Beat'n Groovy (29)
This mistake was released for the Xbox 360 in 2008. It was a rhythm and music game, which Konami does have some experience in making. However, this one was a major flop.
It was criticized for its limited soundtrack, poor translation to the Xbox controller, uninteresting characters, and cheap graphics. It is pretty hard to believe that this game came from the same company that did Castlevania, but that is the world we live in.
2 Best: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (96)
The highest scored game under Konami is the second Metal Gear game where Raiden is the main protagonist. Sorry Snake fans.
This game came out for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, and it still holds up to this day. What made it great is what made any other Metal Gear game great: its stealth-based challenges, its unforgettable boss fights, and its crazy writing. As to why this game is rated most highly, we can only guess.
1 Worst: ESPN NBA 2Night (29)
While some of Konami's sports games were winners, there were also some losers. ESPN NBA 2Night was one of the losers, and it came out in 2000 for the Dreamcast. The AIs were utterly mindless, the animation was jerky, the commentary was boring, and there was a lack of interesting modes.
The one compliment a Metacritic reviewer gave this game was that it had interesting TV-style graphics and CG character fonts. Unfortunately, that is far from the kind of qualities that could ever save this game from its poor score.