The Castlevania Anniversary Collection is coming very soon, giving players a chance to explore the beginnings of the legendary series. However, Konami is giving fans even more to look forward to. Details are slim at the moment, but Konami has confirmed that the collection will be receiving an update that will enable players to play “Japanese title variants” of the Castlevania titles. It will come “shortly after launch,” though that’s all the information we have at the moment.
It’s not entirely clear what exactly this wording means, though it appears to simply indicate that it will give players the option to play the versions of the Castlevania games that released in Japan. While the Japanese and Western releases are essentially the same, there are some notable differences between the two. The Castlevania games, as was common in the NES days, were often censored for their Western releases, taking away things like religious imagery and violence, for example.
Castlevania and Castlevania II were also originally developed for the Famicon Disc System (which never released outside of Japan), which allowed for things like save systems and enhanced musical tracks. If anything, this update could simply change the translation to make it more in-line with the original.
As a reminder, the Castlevania Anniversary Collection will include eight titles from Castlevania’s history, it includes:
- Castlevania
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest
- Castlevaia III: Dracula’s Curse
- Super Castlevania IV
- Kid Dracula
- Castlevania: The Adventure
- Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge
- Castlevania Bloodlines
It should be noted that this is the first time Kid Dracula (the NES version, not the Game Boy version) will be released outside Japan, so technically this is the Japanese version of that title, at least.
The Castlevania Anniversary Collection will be released on May 16, 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
