The Castlevania Anniversary Collection Line-Up Has One Game We Didn't See Coming

Last month Konami unveiled its Konami Anniversary Collections, a series of games meant to celebrate Konami's 50-year anniversary. Konami's been a bit coy about the Collections' line-up, but today we received a final headcount for the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. Some of the choices are great, but there's at least one choice we didn't see coming.

Konami Digital Games' Senior Public Relations Specialist, Tommy Williams, posted the Castlevania line-up on the official PlayStation blog earlier today. Konami named four titles when it announced the Castlevania Anniversary Collection last month, and the latter four are Castlevania: Bloodlines (Sega Genesis), Castlevania The Adventure (Game Boy), Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NES), and Kid Dracula(!) (NES).

That means the finalized game menu for the Castlevania Anniversary Collection is:

• Castlevania (NES)
• Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NES)
• Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse (NES)
• Super Castlevania 4 (SNES)
• Castlevania: Bloodlines (Sega Genesis)
• Castlevania the Adventure (Game Boy)
• Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy)
• Kid Dracula (NES)

This collection is as retro as collections come. There's no sign of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but that might be because it recently received a (disappointing) re-release of its own on another recent collection.

That's fine; it's easy to find and play Symphony of the Night on several platforms. The Castlevania Anniversary Collection seems focused on bringing back lesser-known titles like the much-requested Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Sega Genesis (which was recently confirmed for the Sega Genesis Mini, too! Our cup of blood runneth over!) and Kid Dracula.

Kid Dracula is a weird inclusion, but not an unwelcome one. It's an obscure NES adventure game that's technically part of the Castlevania canon, as the titular Kid Dracula is implied (though not confirmed) to be a young Alucard. It's telling that the boss of Kid Dracula (and its Game Boy sequel) is the lizard Galamoth, who's also a huge super-boss in Symphony of the Night. This is the first time we'll see the NES Kid Dracula localized for a Western audience. I'm curious to see what Konami does with the KKK ghost that has a swastika on its hood.

Look for the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch on May 16.