Konami of Japan on Thursday announced release dates for three of its PlayStation2 titles: Gradius III&IV, Mahjong Yarouze! 2, and Eisei Meijin IV.

　　Gradius III&IV is the rerelease of two separate titles. Gradius III was originally released for the SuperNES console, and Gradius IV recently made a comeback into the arcade scene, though with limited success. Each title will be a perfect port of the original game with an addition of numerous FMV sequences featured between gameplay. Other new features include adjustable difficulty levels for novice and expert gamers, as well as a boss-battle mode and a music-selection mode.

　　Mahjong Yarouze! 2 is the sequel to the mahjong game released on the PlayStation. In addition to the 11 characters from the first game, seven new characters will now join the roster of players. Each character has been redrawn, and more voices will be featured in the game. The AI of the computer players has also improved.

　　Eisei Meijin IV is the fourth installment of the Shogi game. (Shogi is a Japanese table game similar to chess.) The AI of the computer players has improved, and the AI's thinking time has been shortened.

　　Gradius III&IV, Mahjong Yarouze! 2, and Eisei Meijin IV are all scheduled for a release April 17 in Japan. The storage media will be CD-ROM. Gradius III&IV will be Dual Shock 2 compatible.