Konami Anniversary Collection brings classics like Castlevania and Contra to Xbox One

It's been 50 years since Konami was founded, and the company is celebrating in style by bringing a ton of its classics to modern consoles. In all, several classic arcade games are making their way to Xbox One as part of this push, along with entries from the Castlevania and Contra series.

The games are being released as a part of three separate collections and will only be released digitally. The first to make its way to gamers will be the "Arcade Classics" collection, which is set for release on April 18 for $20. The collection will include the following eight titles:

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

The Castlevania and Contra collections, meanwhile, are expected to launch in the "early summer" timeframe with eight games each. However, Konami has only revealed four games for each collection so far, leaving the other four in each as a mystery.

In the Castlevania collection, the only titles Konami has revealed thus far are Castlevania, Castlevania II Dracula's Curse, Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge, and Super Castlevania. For Contra, Konami has revealed Contra, Super Contra, Super C, and Contra III The Alien Wars. Presumably, we'll learn what else will be included with both collections as their releases near.

Each collection will also come with an eBook featuring more information about each game included.

There are no preorders available just yet for any of the collections, but well update you when they go up.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl