Konami Cross Media NY has signed new licensing agreements with Blacklist Games (in conjunction with Kess Co.) and IDW Games for tabletop games based on the KONAMI video game titles, Contra and Bomberman, respectively.
“We hope fans will love the fantastic and compelling gameplay the board game versions will offer from these two KONAMI titles,” said Jennifer Coleman, Konami Cross Media NY’s vice-president, licensing and marketing, in making the announcement. “This is just the start of the different engagement points we plan to develop in order to create a truly robust experience for Contra and Bomberman fans.”
Targeting a North American launch in spring 2020, Blacklist Games is developing a cooperative board game based on the original Contra video game, with tactical, card-driven gameplay and detailed miniatures of the famous heroes, enemies, and environments from the iconic video game. Contra is the run-and-gun style action game that helped trailblaze multiplayer cooperative gameplay. Initially debuted in 1987, the Contra library has several titles across multiple platforms.
“We’re extremely excited with this opportunity to work with an iconic property like Contra and having Blacklist Games create an immersive board game that captures the essence of Contra’s action-packed experience,” said Alex Kessler, founder and CEO of Kess Co.
IDW Games has licensed the global rights to develop Bomberman-branded board games, card games, puzzles, and collectible pins. The board game will launch later this year. Bomberman launched in 1987 for NES as an action video game. The newest version, Super Bomberman R, released in 2017 exclusively on Nintendo Switch and is now also available on Xbox and PlayStation 4.
Added Jerry Bennington, IDW Games’ vice-president of new product development, “Super Bomberman R’s epic battling and colorful characters translate well into the multi-player board game we’ve envisioned. We hope fans will embrace the opportunity to discover that when the game debuts.”