One of the nicest surprises of last weekend’s E for All show was Konami’s booth, which was filled with promising games. Enough has been said about MGS4, but on the handheld front, Konami was making waves with original versions of four of their most popular franchises.

It seems like a perfect combination–Castlevania, Contra, Metal Gear Solid, and Silent Hill. All are established franchises, some even dating back to the days of the NES. But there’s nothing old about these remakes and original titles. In fact, this lineup represents one of the most refreshing collections of handheld nostalgia available this year.

With Silent Hill: Origins for the PSP, Konami has created an original backstory for the creepiest town ever to grace a videogame. We didn’t get to see too much plot, though, because the level we played was set in a dark, abandoned hospital, where Silent Hill’s trademark freaky nurses were trying their best to stab our trucker hero.

The locations, while familiar, did show of the game’s surprisingly good light and shadow effects, and a bit of hammer and scalpel combat made even the nurses a tough challenge. Origins also added a few new quick-time events, like tapping x repeatedly to avoid a nurse’s attack. The graphics are somewhere between PS1 and PS2, and hopefully the rest of the game looks and plays as well as this creepy hospital did.

Nearby on the PSP was Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, an online-focused “special edition” of the last full-fledged portable MGS. Our hands-on time with this title was focused mainly on running around catwalks and hallways, targeting other players with Old Snake from MGS4 or Raiden from MGS2.

While Metal Gear isn’t best known for its fun multiplayer deathmatch, Ops Plus seems like good practice for when Metal Gear Online hits the PS3 next year. The graphics are surprisingly good for a PSP title, showing that Konami really knows its stuff when working with Sony hardware.

Rounding out the intellectual property bonanza on PSP was Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. As a remake of a PC Engine game that was never released in the U.S., this collection of one remake and two unchanged titles (Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night) is one of the best Christmas gifts for Castlevania nuts that Konami could have made.

The remake of Rondo, which is the only game unlocked from the start, is a slick-looking 3d throwback with some interesting boss-intro cutscenes and classic 2d gameplay. Even though Richter Belmont moves a bit slowly, the smooth animation and candle-whipping mechanics are really enjoyable. If you have any love for Castlevania, this is a must-play.

And finally, the DS will become the home to yet another beloved franchise–Contra 4, a return to form for a series that has been sidetracked with boring action-movie macho for too long. The original Contra was about one thing only–avoiding little glowing dots while wasting every pixely bad guy in sight.

Utilizing both screens but no touch-control, Contra 4 is standard stuff for those who remember the NES original. Bonus unlockables like a “museum” of old Contra games (don’t get too excited, they’re just screenshots and brief descriptions) and a new grapple hook move round out this highly enjoyable throwback.

It’s looking like a great holiday for old-school gaming, and if you consider yourself a gaming enthusiast there’s got to be at least one game in this lineup that interests you. Or if you’re like most hardcore gamers, every one of these titles holds an undeniably compelling appeal. For taking gaming back to its roots, we salute Konami’s legendary handheld lineup for this winter.

Tags: Castlevania:-The-Dracula-X-Chronicles, Contra, E-For-All, Konami, Metal-Gear-Solid:-Portable-Ops, Silent-Hill

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