Crisis Force

Crisis Force is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer (Famicom) in 1991. It was Konami's final shooter for the platform and one of the few Famicom games to utilize the custom VRC4 mapper chip, enabling visual features such as four-way scrolling and large, detailed boss sprites that pushed the console's limits. The soundtrack was composed by Jun Chuma, Kenichi Matsubara, and Yasuhiko Manno, three members of Konami's internal music group, the Konami Kukeiha Club.

The game was never ported to any other system for over 30 years, earning a reputation as a niche treasure among Famicom enthusiasts. In July 2026, Crisis Force received its first official re-release as a hidden bonus game in M2's Ganbare Goemon! Daishuugou collection for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Steam (the Steam version is region-locked). The inclusion was reportedly driven by Konami producer Ryosaku Ueno, who saw the collection as the only realistic opportunity to preserve the game for a modern audience. While the collection itself focuses on the Goemon series, Crisis Force's unannounced appearance turned it into a preservation milestone.