Castlevania was the first horror-themed video game I ever played. This was back in the 8-bit days when Nintendo was King, and I couldn’t get enough of whipping the shit out of skeletons, bats, zombies, and pretty much any mythical monster you can think of. I was a fan of the original trilogy on Nintendo and have been a faithful player of the series ever since. There hasn’t been a new Castlevania game in quite some time and it doesn’t look like one is coming anytime soon, so today’s release will have to tide us vampire hunters over.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection is available for download today on all the major platforms for $19.99 plus tax. Not a bad price for all the games we’re getting: Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, and Super Castlevania IV. Also included are the two outings for the original Game Boy, Castlevania: The Adventure and Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge. And we can’t forget the Sega Genesis classic Castlevania: Bloodlines, and available for the first time in English, the Famicom rarity Kid Dracula. Konami has also announced that the Japanese versions of all these games will soon be available as free DLC content.
I love these games. Even Simon’s Quest, which gets lambasted so damn much by the fans, but that one in particular had such beautiful graphics and music, it’s a total nostalgia trip to play it through again. This collection doesn’t update the graphics of any of the games, but you can mess around with display options and they give you frames to choose from if you want to play the games in the orignal 4:3 aspect ratio.
These games have held up pretty damn well. I know the graphics and sound are archaic, but the gameplay is the important factor here, and they’re all still fun to play and as challenging as I remember. If you’re an old school gamer you’ll want to buy this collection. If you’re younger and into horror, you should check these games out… and ask your parents if they remember any tips or tricks to help you out.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection is out today, May 16, 2019, on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.
