What many thought to be a lost cause has finally been dispelled, as the first entry in the Konami Anniversary Collection is now officially available.  The news that the company would be bringing back some of their classic titles last month was quite the surprise, albeit a welcome one. Now we have our chance to see how well the games in question perform, and what extras they offer. Let’s have a look!

The first of the three Collections, Arcade Classics, released on the 18th of this month for $30.00 AUD. While the initial announcement didn’t go into the greatest detail in regards to content, we can now see the specific details of everything that’s included, which helps give us some more insight into the Konami Anniversary Collection titles as a whole.

The Konami Anniversary Collection starts off strong

So for those who need a refresher, the games included in this entry are:

• Haunted Castle
• Life Force (aka Salamander)
• Nemesis (aka Gradius)
• Scramble
• Thunder Cross
• TwinBee
• Typhoon (aka A-Jax)
• Vulcan Venture (aka Gradius II)

Does this technically count as foreshadowing?

These titles were established right away, but the “modern enhancements” to accompany them weren’t; thankfully with the game’s release, that has changed. Each game now has the ability to make use of save-states. In addition, there are now multiple difficulty levels, and a configurable display.

Lastly, thanks to the GameXplain Youtube Channel, we can see how well the games actually run. As demonstrated below, the performance seems to be pretty strong:

Our May forecast says to expect skeletons and medusa heads…

As for the second entry in the Konami Anniversary Collection, which focuses on Castlevania, we now know the full line-up of titles included, and we also have a release date.

Here’s the full list of games which will comprise the Collection, with the newly revealed entries in bold:

• Castlevania (NES)
• Castlevania II – Simon’s Quest (NES)
• Castlevania III – Dracula’s Curse (NES)
• Castlevania The Adventure (GameBoy)
• Castlevania II – Belmont’s Revenge (GameBoy)
• Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
• Castlevania Bloodlines (MegaDrive)
• Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun (Famicom) , aka Demon Castle Special: Kid Dracula

That last entry is notable for being a Japan exclusive until now.

How is he going to rule the night when his bedtime is 8pm?

It’s safe to assume that these games will also come with the same enhancements seen in the first collection. At the very least, it’s been confirmed that this entry in the Konami Anniversary Collection trio will be arriving on May 16th for the same price as the last Collection, so we won’t have to wait very long to find out.

On a final note, there’s been speculation amongst Castlevania fans that due to this Collection’s focus on the older gameplay style of the series, that we may see a follow-up that focuses on the MetroidVania titles. I haven’t found anything concrete to support this, but it would certainly be a welcome addition.

With all this news now available, only one real question remains… is Simon’s Quest gonna come with a guide this time?