Castlevania celebrated its 40th anniversary this week--an impressive milestone in video games and a terrifying pair of numbers for anyone who was born in 1987. Konami marked the occasion with a new video paying tribute to the original whip-slinging hero of the 1986 Famicom game, as well as all of the other influential entries in the Castlevania series over the last four decades. It's a cute little retrospective, and it might also be teasing something else from Konami, if our tinfoil-hat-speculation is right.

Right near the end of the video, Castlevania's first protagonist, Simon Belmont, takes a quick stroll past a series of non-ruined portraits in Dracula's castle. Eagle-eyed observers will note that these feature cover art from three of the 3D-era games--Lament of Innocence, Curse of Darkness, and Lords of Shadow. The fourth one is for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, which launches in October 2026. Could Konami be teeing up a new compilation that bundles together the PS2 and Xbox 360/PS3-era 3D Castlevania games?

The company isn't saying anything, and there's a good chance that the games were chosen purely because they still have some of the best cover art in the franchise. They're pretty neat, artistically! But a Castlevania collection isn't uncommon, as Konami has released a few of these in the past. The Castlevania Anniversary Collection from 2019 collected eight games spanning the first 10 years of the series, and the Castlevania: Dominus Collection bundled all three DS-era games alongside the 1988 Haunted Castle arcade game.

What Konami did confirm is that it will hold sales for select Castlevania titles, new vinyl record soundtracks for classic games are available to preorder, and Castlevania on mobile is also free for a limited time through the iOS and Android stores.

Source link