Topic: Konami Announces Three Classic Collections: Arcade, Castlevania, Contra

[Shaymin]

UUDDLRLRBAStart, y'all.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/50016/konami-announces-three-classic-collections-arcade-castlevania-contra

As part of celebrations of their 50th anniversary, Konami will be rolling out three compilations of their classic titles into the summer.

The three compilations are themed around Konami arcade titles, Castlevania and Contra. The Arcade collection, releasing first on April 18 for US$19.99, will include Gradius I and II, Life Force/Salamander, Twinbee, Scramble, Thunder Cross, Haunted Castle, and Typhoon/A-Jax.

The Contra and Castlevania lineups have also been partially revealed: the Castlevania collection will include the original, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Super Castlevania IV, and the Game Boy title Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge. There may be more than one Castlevania collection, as Konami has said "The first Konami Castlevania Collection is designed to be a completed collection around the origins of the historic franchise."

 

The Contra collection has confirmed Contra (NES), Super Contra (arcade), Super C (NES) and Contra III: The Alien Wars (Super Nintendo): this is the first time ever that the NES Contra title has been re-released in a digital format, after being included as an unlockable in 2007's Contra DS.

[ShyGuy]

I would pay $60 USD for Contra

[KDR_11k]

Hope it's not the Silent Hill port team.

[lolmonade]

I would pay $60 USD for Contra

Shhh.....they'll hear you.

[Ian Sane]

I think this news post is a little inaccurate.  On the Konami site it shows the arcade version of Contra, not the NES version.  Did a press release specify the NES version?

Since the NES Contra was not on the NES Classic and not even on the Wii Virtual Console I suspect there is something up with that version of the game.  Either there's some unresolved rights issue or Konami lost the code for it (though if that was the case they could just download a ROM or buy a used cartridge and rip the ROM off of it).  I can't see any normal reason why such an established classic would continue to be out-of-print while it's sequel is readily available.  So I figure it's not going to be one of the four remaining titles to be revealed.  I suspect we'll see Operation C, Contra: Hard Corps, Contra Rebirth and Contra: Shattered Soldier.  Contra 4 would fit but I don't know if they could do the dual-screen part of it outside the DS.

[Adrock]

Contra 4 is doable because the two screens function as one screen. I think there’s data for that dead space since the screen scrolls. This would require just an extra bit of effort on Konami’s part to make it viewable as one screen. Then again, this is the same company that released a “Konami’s Best” line on DS in which the cover art was just a picture of the regular DS case so you know, what I’m getting at is chances are the game could fairly easily be included except Konami gonna Konami.

[ShyGuy]

All I want is Contra NES. THIS SHOULDN'T BE SO HARD!

[broodwars]

Having a Castlevania from the Gameboy on there instead of Simon's Quest is just...weird. I never played the GameBoy Castlevania 2 and Simon's Quest is no gem itself, but the GameBoy wasn't known for having great games outside of Pokemon & Tetris so it's probably garbage just like the rest of the handheld's lineup.

I'm hoping the other 4 games (if we're staying on a 2D theme) include some of the GBA games, Rondo of Blood, and Bloodlines since Bloodlines has NEVER been re-released.

[Adrock]

Yeah, the Gameboy ones are apparently bad.

If I had to pick only four:

1. Rondo of Blood
2. Symphony of the Night
3. The Castlevania Adventure: Rebirth
4. Aria of Sorrow

For $19.99 MSRP, never going to happen. It’ll probably by Kid Dracula four times.

[Mop it up]

Based on the line "The first Konami Castlevania Collection is designed to be a complete collection around the origins of the historic franchise" I'm guessing the Castlevania collection is going to include the classic-style games and there will be a later collection for the Metroidvania ones. So the other four will probably be stuff like Dracula X and Bloodlines, and maybe The Adventure ReBirth? Then a second collection later on will have Symphony of the Night and the following games from GBA and DS. I guess Simon's Quest could also make an appearance here since it was closer to that style.

[Ian Sane]

Having a Castlevania from the Gameboy on there instead of Simon's Quest is just...weird. I never played the GameBoy Castlevania 2 and Simon's Quest is no gem itself, but the GameBoy wasn't known for having great games outside of Pokemon & Tetris so it's probably garbage just like the rest of the handheld's lineup.

I'm hoping the other 4 games (if we're staying on a 2D theme) include some of the GBA games, Rondo of Blood, and Bloodlines since Bloodlines has NEVER been re-released.

I've never played it but Castlevania 2 on the Gameboy is supposed to be quite good.  Including it actually shows some savvy in the decision making process of what to include.  You have to be pretty familiar with the series to know to cherry pick it and not lazily just go with the inferior Castlevania the Adventure instead.  Adrock mentioned Kid Dracula as a joke but that's not a terrible pick since the cart is now so expensive.  But it would be silly to include that and leave other games off.

If the remaining four are Bloodlines, Simon's Quest, Rondo of Blood, and Castlevania Chronicles then you pretty much have all the worthwhile classic style Castlevania games.

[Luigi Dude]

Based on the line "The first Konami Castlevania Collection is designed to be a complete collection around the origins of the historic franchise" I'm guessing the Castlevania collection is going to include the classic-style games and there will be a later collection for the Metroidvania ones. So the other four will probably be stuff like Dracula X and Bloodlines, and maybe The Adventure ReBirth? Then a second collection later on will have Symphony of the Night and the following games from GBA and DS. I guess Simon's Quest could also make an appearance here since it was closer to that style.

This makes the most sense.  If there's 8 games in each collection, putting Simon's Quest in the next collection with Symphony of the Night, the 3 GBA and the 3 DS games would come to exactly 8 games of that Metroidvania style.

For the remaining 4 in this collection, I'd have to imagine if Konami is really going for quality which is why they put the 2nd Gameboy game which is good instead of the first which is terrible, the remaining 4 will be Bloodlines, Rondo, Chronicles and Rebirth.  If those are the last 4 games then this Collection is an amazing value.  Anybody that wanted to play Classic Castlevania would literally be getting the best of that style no questions asked.