TIMELINE OF NOTABLE CASTLEVANIA-RELATED ACTIVITY/RUMORS(Smash Bros.-related news connects to so-called Castlevania "leaks," so that's why it's included below)
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April-November 2014*Castlevania: Dracula X, rare SNES game, re-released for the first time via Wii U Virtual Console in all regions.
May 2015*Bloodstained Ritual of the Night achieves $5,545,991 via Kickstarter
December 2016-January 2017*Castlevania: Dracula X, rare SNES game, re-released for 3DS Virtual Console in all regions.
June 2017*Via Nintendo Life, Konami's European Brand Manager states: "All I can say is that there is lots of internal discussions going on within Konami regarding what games we can bring to the Nintendo Switch, other than Bomberman, a game which we are well aware of its heritage and how loved it and Castlevania is. So much so that Castlevania is getting is getting its own show on Netflix and because of that, we’re hearing a lot of desires from our fans for a new Castlevania series. So we do know there is a demand for a new game, but right now nothing is set in stone as the discussions are still on going." [sic.--direct quote, typos and all]
*Belmont Bomber character added via DLC for Super Bomberman R
January 2018*Warren Ellis says Netflix's Castlevania Season 2 will launch in the summer of 2018 [it would actually air later that same year, in October]
April 2018*Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls iOS Mobile Game announced
May 2018*Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls beta closes
(Circa) June 2018*Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is announced to have "100,000 downloads less than a week after it launched...56% of them on Nintendo platform."
*Netflix announces Castlevania will have a 3rd season prior to Season 2 even launching.
*Internet rumor/leaker person Vergeben claims Ridley, Ice Climbers, Snake, Simon Belmont, and Isabelle are coming to new Smash Bros.
*Via Castlevania Dungeon website from outside source, internet rumor/leaker person Vergeben proclaims: "Castelvania is making a comeback with two new titles. I believe each are multiplatform releases (one may be Switch exclusive but haven't been able to verify that). One is a new title and the other a collection of classic Castlevania games, with Symphony of the Night being the headline game." (Note that this is well after Grimoire of Souls was announced and demoed.)
*Vergeben goes on to suggest that Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth may come to Switch via a collection, which may or may not be related to the above.
*Via Castlevania Dungeon website, a user by the name of Dusk Golem who posts on ResetERA, who's been in the know about REmake 2, said Konami has a game to "counter" Bloodstained.
*Via Castlevania Dungeon website, French gaming site Gamekult speaks about Konami at E3 about being invited to a closed doors presentation to an unannounced game. Translation from ResetERA notes discussion as: This isn't PES or the sport compilation (i don't know a thing about this game). The editor in chief knows some things on this game but can't talk about it yet. Then, one of the guys at Gamekult asks if it's horror-related and the guy who knows about the game hesitates before dismissing the question.
*Ridley, Ice Climbers, and Konami's Snake confirmed for Smash Bros Ultimate.
*Vergeben doubles down, still says the two Castlevania games he spoke about exist despite not showing at E3.
August 2018Simon Belmont (and Richter Belmont, plus more) confirmed for Smash Bros Ultimate.
September 2018*Super Bomberman R adds Castlevania-inspired stage and Alucard Bomber character via DLC.
*Isabelle confirmed for Smash Bros Ultimate
October 2018
*Konami opens a new Castlevania website, complete with timeline of games
*Netflix Season 2 of Castlevania launches
*Castlevania Requiem, a collection of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, launches for PS4. (The collection Vergeben heard about?)
March 2019*Konami announces multiple anniversary collections, including one for Castlevania's early days, and asks for a person's birth date to enter the website (despite these games being rated no worse than T for Teen, I'd imagine), as if possibly collecting demographic info.
May 16, 2019Castlevania Anniversary Collection release date. Includes book that, according the new sample pages available on the website, notes there is an unnamed "current series producer at Konami...currently supervising production of the Castlevania series as a whole, including the recent Netflix animated series."
(E3 2019) June 11-13, 2019*Probably nothing, but...? ? ?
Summer 2019*Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night launches
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Now, as I go over all this again, I see that it's sort of a mishmash, but two patterns emerge:
1.) Vergeben was not 100% incorrect on his/her Castlevania leaks, and was close to if not completely correct about his/her Smash Bros. leaks, opening up possibilities for his "new" Castlevania claim.
2.) Public interest and viability for Castlevania, while not spectacular, is growing more than it has for a while, and Konami has shown some level of response to that. Moreover, they apparently have someone specifically managing the brand again post-IGA, which is intriguing. Why have a producer for a supposedly inert series?
Assuming that they’re only putting in home and handheld console games in these collections (skipping the arcade, home computer, cell phone games etc) and that they hit every eligible game in release order, the next volume would contain the following 8 games:
- Dracula X
- Kid Dracula (gameboy)
- Symphony of the Night (they probably wont release the saturn version. who knows, maybe we’ll see a localized version though)
- Legends
- Castlevania 64
- Legacy of Darkness
- Circle of the Moon
- Chronicles??? (not sure if they’d do rereleases, but i feel like releasing harmony of dissonance instead ought to be considered the start of another era. although maybe they might get back to rondo eventually when they release Dracula X Chronicles if they did Chronicles)
Maybe we’ll finally get Vampire Killer when it corresponds to the time it was rereleased for Japanese consoles?
I would love to get Dracula X SNES represented in a collection. I actually think this first collection is pretty great, all things considered. But the website has gotten rid of the "first" collection moniker last I checked. It may have been a typo from what I've been hearing. That doesn't mean things won't change, or that it was a typo in the sense that it was a premature announcement mistake.
Most interesting that a largely dead series have a producer looking over the whole series.
They're totally making a new game aside from the mobile one. All the Bomberman representation, the Smash inclusion, the Netflix show, the two collections...this is the only franchise they seem to be proactive in showcasing over the last few years.
I do think something's going on; at the very least it's being discussed. This e-book (no physical release) seems pretty impressive. It's 74+ pages! Seems like a lot of care for something that's supposedly all in the past. I think there is some gradual attempt here to educate/prepare fans and newcomers.