Konami has been around now for a staggering 50 years! In that time they have gone from one of the greatest game developers with hit arcade games, amazing horror games, the best stealth espionage action franchise and the greatest line of vampire hunters know to history, down to a company that has become a stain in the world of gaming. Not only has Konami barely released any games for consoles this generation, the ones they have released have been extremely lackluster and potentially franchise killing.
But it seems there is a bit of a bright side to this tale as Konami has announced for its 50th Anniversary that it will be putting out a trio of game compilations. First up is the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection launching on April 18 for PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One. The compilation will include classics like A-Jax, Gradius, Gradius II, Haunted Castle, Salamander, Scramble, Thunder Cross and Twin Bee. The compilation will also include a digital artbook that combines sketches and design notes on the included titles. the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection will launch for $20.
The next game collection set for release is the Caslevania Anniversary Collection. A leaked ratings board classification already turned us on to the existence of this game so its nice to see it get announced so soon after. The collection will bring together Castlevania and Castlevania III from NES, Castlevania II: Belmonts’s Revenge from Gameboy and Super Castlevania IV from SNES. Other titles will also be included but have not been revealed at this time. I am really hoping for the inclusion of Symphony of the Night but since it and Rondo of Blood got their own compilation on PS4 not to long ago I won’t be holding my breath. We also gleamed from the leaked rating that one of the included games could potentially be one of the Lords of Shadows games from Mercury Steam. regardless the known lineup is still pretty great and the compilation will also include a digital artbook like the Arcade collection. Castlevania Annivesary Collection will be out in early summer for PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One.
The last revealed compilation is the Contra Anniversary Collection which is also planned to release in early summer for PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One. The compilation will gather together Conta and Super Contra from their original arcade release, Super C from NES and Contra III: The Alien Wars from SNES. Like the Castlevania collection there are more games that will be included in this release that have yet to be revealed. For me, I am just hoping to possibly see the inclusion of Contra 4!
What do you think of these compilation releases? What games would you like to see included for Contra and Castlevania? Share your thoughts below.
