As a series,Castlevaniaisn't doing so good right now. Here is a franchise that's successful both critically and commercially, yet Konami seems content to let it rest on its laurels. There hasn't been a major non-pachinko Castlevaniagame since 2014.Lords of Shadow 2wasn't exactly well-received, but abandoning the franchise entirely seems like an overreaction. Wait, though - there could be undeath in the old zombie dog yet. As part of its 50th-anniversary celebrations, Konami has exhumed the corpses of eight retro Castlevaniagames forCastlevania Anniversary Collection.
This is the kind of collection whose name should probably precede several asterisks. There aren't any games post-Castlevania Bloodlineson Sega Genesis. There aren't any Igavania games (that'sSymphony of the NightthroughOrder of Ecclesia). Instead, Konami is strictly focusing on its side-scrolling action days. These areCastlevaniaadventures from before the series gave the second part of its name to the term "Metroidvania".
Of the eight games on offer, four are undisputable classics and four are curios at best. Porting work is handled by M2, a Japanese studio well-known for its emulation releases (it's worked on Sega Ages, Virtual Console games, and the 3DS'3D Classicsseries).Castlevania Anniversary Collectionalso includes a neat little ebook with behind-the-scenes material and interviews with key personnel. Otherwise, this is a fairly sparse compilation. You won't be getting anything fancy like advanced visual filters or multiple save states.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection's Lazy Emulation
That's the first problem of Castlevania Anniversary Collection: this isn't a conversion that feels particularly well-loved. Konami doesn't currently enjoy much of a good reputation amongst gamers. A collection like this should be a victory lap for the company, a chance to show off its storied history and win some fans back. Instead,Castlevania Anniversary Collectioncontents itself with the bare minimum of effort.
All of the games here appear as they would have in their console days. There don't seem to have been any tweaks or changes. Technical bugs are still present in games that have them. Visual glitches that should have been stamped out are present in spades. There's still a tremendous amount of slowdown during certain visually busy sections in a couple of games. One could argue this is preservation for posterity. Still, I'm not sure any gamer is nostalgic for the days when games would slow to an agonizing crawl with more than one enemy on screen.
Castlevania Anniversary CollectionCan Be A Bloody Good Time
If there is a saving grace withCastlevania Anniversary Collection, it's the games themselves. The four best games in the collection by far are the original NESCastlevania,the third gameDracula's Curse, the SNES debutSuper Castlevania IV, and the Genesis outingCastlevania: Bloodlines. All four of these games are still masterpieces by anyone's reckoning, and although the earlier NES games show some rickety controls and signs of aging, they're still just great fun to play.
That leaves us with four also-rans.Castlevania II: Simon's Questis ambitious but it's aged very poorly indeed. It's hard to imagine anyone who'd champion playing this overSymphony of the Night, even if it is something of a blueprint for Igarashi's masterpiece. The mechanics ofCastlevaniaare still intact, and the combat is still fun in a moment-to-moment sense. Still, it doesn't take long for repetition to set in, and the truth is thatSimon's Questjust has very little to offer outside of an intriguing flirtation with RPG mechanics.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection's Games Are Lacking
The two Game BoyCastlevaniagames are the undeniable nadir of this collection.Castlevania: The Adventureis a horrible mess, dragged kicking and screaming intoCastlevania Anniversary Collection. The visuals are juddery and awkward and the gameplay is slower than a snail dragging itself through quicksand. The WiiWare version would have been a far superior inclusion, but given rights issues and the general sense that Konami doesn't care, it's absent here. The sequel, Belmont's Revenge(on whom? Dracula? Surely this should be Dracula's Revenge) is better and at times is actually fun, but still isn't much more than a diversion.
Finally, there's the intriguing curiosity Kid Dracula. This is a Japan-only Famicom game which was originally released under the name Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun. There was a remake for Game Boy back in 1993 that did find its way to Western shores, but this is the original Famicom game. Players control a chibi version of Dracula who must stop the demon Galamoth from...taking over the world, presumably. Kid Draculais a perfectly functional if unremarkable platformer that does just fine as an extra inclusion here. It won't sell the collection on its own, but it's fun.
Technical Terrors Abound InCastlevania Anniversary Collection
If you've never played any of these games, it's definitely worth picking upCastlevania Anniversary Collectionjust to experience them. At the time of writing, some are available in various places and others aren't. Having them all in one place is worth the asking price if you're new to the series. If you're not, there's really nothing here to tempt you back. There are no secret extra games, there are no fun extra features for the existing games, and the ebook feels more tacked-on than an integral part of proceedings.
That's without mentioning the numerous technical glitches, some of which are lethal. During several points ofCastlevania: The Adventure, I attempted to access the save state menu only forCastlevania Anniversary Collectionto crash. No error message accompanied these crashes. The PC version starts in windowed mode and contains no instructions or options to go full-screen. Castlevania Anniversary Collectionwas, it seems, in dire need of a few extra months for the sake of polish and quality control.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection Review | Final Thoughts
It's sad thatCastlevania Anniversary Collectionis more notable for the features it doesn't have than for those it does. Compare and contrast this with the 2007 PSPRondo of BloodremakeCastlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. That game constituted a full 2.5D remake of an existing title and still packed in secrets. Both the original Rondo of BloodandSymphony of the Nightwere unlockable extras. None of that joie de vivre is evident in Castlevania Anniversary Collection.
If you already own these games in any format, you don't need to buyCastlevania Anniversary Collection. It's a bare-bones collection of ports that offers nothing new. If you're new toCastlevania, pick this up. As flawed as it is you'll love at least four of the games here just the same. For neophytes, this is an acceptable entry point. Nevertheless, Konami needs to try much harder than this to win back gamers' favor. This is more ghoul than vampire.
TechRaptor reviewedCastlevania Anniversary Collection on PC via Steam using a copy provided by the publisher. The game is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.