Konami Classics Coming to Consoles And PC in 50th Anniversary Editions

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Video game publisher Konami is celebrating its 50th anniversary by bringing some of its classic titles to PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in three separate digital bundles, it announced on Wednesday.

The “Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection” comes out on Apr. 18 and has eight ported titles along with a bonus book showing concept art from their development. The collection includes:

• “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”
• “TwinBee”

Meanwhile, the “Castlevania Anniversary Collection” contains at least four titles from the beloved series: “,” “Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge,” “Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse,” and “Super Castlevania IV.” said more titles in this collection will be announced in the near future. It also comes with an in-game bonus book filled with early developer notes and an interview with Adi Shankar, producer of the Netflix animated series.

The third bundle focuses on the classic run-n-gun franchise “Contra.” The “Contra Anniversary Collection” includes the original arcade game, “Super Contra” (arcade version), “Super C,” “Contra III: The Alien Wars,” and more. Its bonus in-game book documents the history of the series.

Both the “Castlevania” and “Contra” collections will be available to purchase this summer.