Konami Teaser Gives Castlevania Fans Hope for a New 3D Collection

Castlevania is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and for the first time in a long time, series fans actually have things to look forward to. Next month, we’re getting the highly anticipated Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, the first mainline entry in more than 12 years. On top of announcing that the original Castlevania will be free on mobile for a limited time, Konami kicked off the series’ 40th anniversary celebration with a trailer that takes us through the franchise's history, from the original 1986 NES game to next month’s new game. While the video may seem more like a celebration than an announcement of anything new, eagle-eyed fans spotted a big hint teasing which games may be included in Konami’s next Castlevania collection.

At about one minute and 22 seconds into the trailer, we see four portraits with key art from different entries in the series. The first is Belmont’s Curse, but the next three represent games that haven’t been re-released on modern consoles yet: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Since Konami has released collections containing almost all of its other Castlevania games in recent years, it seems fair to assume these titles could make up a new collection.

What do these three games have in common?

The main thing these games share is that instead of adhering to the series’ typical side-scrolling format, they’re all 3D action games. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence came out in 2003 for the PS2, and it received slightly better reviews than its predecessor, Castlevania for the N64. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness followed in 2005, introducing a more open-ended structure similar to Symphony of the Night. Then, in 2010, MercurySteam released Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, a rebootoften considered the best 3D Castlevania.

As for why this trio was chosen, these are arguably the best-regarded 3D Castlevanias; the N64 Castlevania is probably too wonky for modern standards, and the more recent Lords of Shadow 2 was panned.

What Castlevania collections has Konami already released?

Konami has been busy re-releasing Castlevania games over the last few years. In 2019, it released the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, featuring the first four games alongside some cool weirdo picks like Kid Dracula. In 2021, Konami put out Castlevania Advance Collection, which features the trio of Game Boy Advance titles alongside Castlevania: Dracula X. Lastly, the company re-released all three DS games in 2024’s Dominus Collection. With nearly everything else re-released, it makes sense for Konami to dip into its 3D catalog, even if most of those games never received the same acclaim as their 2D counterparts.