I rarely spend money on video game franchise anniversary collections, even if it does include one of my favorite games of all time. When it comes to the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, well, I’m still not about to break that habit. At the time of writing this Epic Games is giving it away for free (November 14-21, 2024), so it was a no-brainer to click that button and add it to my collection. Thanks Epic Games!

The Castlevania Anniversary Collection includes the three NES classics: Castlevania, Castlevania II Simon’s Quest, and Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse. It also includes the two Game Boy games that were, uhm, well they were: Castlevania The Adventure, and Castlevania II Belmont’s Revenge. It also includes both the Super Nintendo entry Super Castlevania IV and the Sega Genesis entry Castlevania Bloodlines. There is one more game that the gaming world outside of Japan had been chomping at the bit to get a hold of that was released in this collection: the Nintendo Famicom’s Kid Dracula. I’m not sure why they didn’t also include the Game Boy version, just for good measure, but that’s fine. As an added bonus most of the games include their Japanese counterparts as well.

All of the games included are just as good as you remember them, or in the case of Castlevania The Adventure it’s slightly better than you remembered on the Game Boy, but only just. Since the version I own is the PC version I have to say the games run very smoothly. The only chugging issue I’ve had was, as previously implied, Castlevania The Adventure, but it was built that way. The collection includes a lot of interesting features such as save states, screen filters and screen frames. You can also modify your controller layout to whatever fits your playing. I did notice the layout from The Adventure was different to Belmont’s Revenge, so I swapped those around to make them match.

I’ve not found anything egregiously wrong with any of the games or the way it runs, but I’ve not really sat down to get stuck into any of them for too long either. I would imagine each version of this collection should be just as polished for whichever platform you purchase it on. If you’re lucky enough to have snagged it for free from Epic Games, congratulations. If you’re thinking about purchasing it, even I would say it’s worth it. From a collector’s standpoint the value for money is great. Sure, I love to own the cartridges, but this allows me to pack them away safely and enjoy the games I love in a more modern way. Am I more willing to purchase anniversary collections after this experience? No, but that’s because I’m a cheap ass.