As part of their 50th anniversary, Konami have revealed the upcoming digital release of three classic collections for all major platforms. So prepare to go old school with the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Contra Anniversary Collection.
The first to be released is the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, arriving on 18th April to enable players to experience eight of Konami’s classic arcade cabinet titles. The following games are included in the collection: HAUNTED CASTLE, TYPHOON (also known as A-JAX), NEMESIS (also known as Gradius), VULCAN VENTURE (also known as Gradius II), LIFE FORCE (also known as Salamander), THUNDER CROSS, Scramble, and TwinBee. There’s also an in-game Bonus Book showing concept sketches from the development of these titles.
The Castlevania series follows the epic story of the Belmont Clan and their struggle with Dracula and his group of menacing minions. The Castlevania Anniversary Collection is scheduled for an early Summer 2019 launch and will contain titles from the series including Castlevania, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge and more yet to be announced. As part of the collection players can access an in-game Bonus Book that includes early developer notes and an interview with Adi Shankar, a producer on the animated series.
And finally, more than 30 years since its debut, the run-and-gun genre defining Contra franchise returns. The Contra Anniversary Collection will bring classic Contra titles previously released on arcade and console units including CONTRA (arcade version), SUPER CONTRA (arcade version), Super C, Contra III: THE ALIEN WARS and others upon its release in early Summer 2019. In the collection, fans can access another of those in-game Bonus Books, with this one documenting the history of Contra and showing how the franchise rose to prominence over the decades, becoming the beloved series it is today.Â
All collections will be digitally exclusive and will be available to download from the respective digital stores of Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Which one are you most looking forward to delving into?
