Claim it. Castlevania Anniversary Collection goes free on the Epic Games Store on March 30 and stays free through April 13 — a full two weeks, not the usual seven days. It normally sells for $19.99 and includes 8 games covering the franchise’s 1986–1994 era. Metacritic 81. If you’ve never played classic Castlevania, this is the right starting point. If you have, claim it anyway for Bloodlines — a Genesis exclusive that spent 30 years nearly impossible to play outside original hardware or emulators.
The 8 Games You Get
Here’s the full lineup:
- Castlevania (NES, 1986) — The original. Simon Belmont, a whip, Dracula’s castle, 6 stages. Tight level design, brutal difficulty, and one of the best-composed NES soundtracks ever made. Still holds up in 2026 the same way it held up in 1986 — by being relentlessly well-constructed.
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES, 1987) — The meme game. Konami experimented with open-world exploration and day/night cycles, and the result was famously cryptic. The NES Godzilla thing? Started with this game’s obtuse design. Play it once for the cultural context, lower your expectations, and you’ll probably enjoy it more than expected.
- Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (NES, 1989) — A significant step up from II. Four playable characters with branching paths, considerably harder than the first game, and the direct prequel to Symphony of the Night. Alucard shows up here. Worth playing before ever touching SotN if you care about story context.
- Super Castlevania IV (SNES, 1991) — The best game in this collection. A reimagining of the original with 360-degree whip control, Mode 7 effects, and a legendary soundtrack. Konami’s composers went absolutely to work on this one — the bonus room theme alone gets covered by orchestras 35 years later. Start here if you’re new to the franchise.
- Castlevania: The Adventure (Game Boy, 1989) — Historically significant, technically rough. The first handheld Castlevania has scrolling so slow it feels like the game is watching you. Play it for 15 minutes, appreciate the ambition, and move on.
- Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (Game Boy, 1991) — A big improvement over The Adventure. Still a product of 1991 Game Boy limitations, but it’s competently paced with genuinely good music. Worth a playthrough if you’re going through the full catalog.
- Castlevania Bloodlines (Sega Genesis, 1994) — The real reason to claim this. Bloodlines ran on the Genesis and never got a clean re-release until this 2019 collection. Two playable characters, European horror settings (Paris, Versailles, Pisa, Athens, Egypt), and technically impressive — Konami pushed the Genesis hardware hard on this one. If you’ve played all the NES/SNES titles and never touched Bloodlines, you’re missing the best game in the franchise most people have never played.
- Kid Dracula (Famicom/NES) — A comedic spinoff with a chibi young Dracula. Different tone from everything else, surprisingly fun. Treat it as a palate cleanser between the harder games.
The Japanese Versions Matter More Than You’d Think
Every game includes its original Japanese release. This is more significant for some titles than others. The Japanese version of Castlevania III used the Konami VRC6 audio expansion chip, which adds two extra pulse wave channels and a sawtooth channel — the soundtrack sounds noticeably richer than the North American cartridge, which was limited to the base NES sound chip due to licensing issues. If you play one version, play the Japanese one. The difference is immediate once you hear both side by side.
Also included: a behind-the-scenes developer e-book with production history and commentary from Konami staff. It’s genuinely interesting if you want the context on how these games were made under compressed timelines in the late 80s.
Display options include scanlines, pixel-perfect filtering, and multiple aspect ratio settings. Use pixel-perfect — stretching 256×240 NES sprites to 1440p looks bad and the devs knew it.
Where to Start If You’ve Never Played Castlevania
Start with Super Castlevania IV. It’s the most accessible game in the collection and makes the best first impression. 360-degree whip control, chandeliers to hang from, and the SNES hardware gives the levels room to breathe. You’ll finish it in 2–3 hours on normal difficulty and want more.
Then go back to the original Castlevania to see where it started. Expect Medusa Heads and Death on Stage 5 to make you feel things. This is intended.
Then play Bloodlines. The dual-character system and Gothic European settings — you’re fighting through a Versailles ballroom at one point — make it feel distinct from every other game in the collection. It’s the underrated one.
One Real Caveat
There’s no button remapping. This was a legitimate complaint at launch in 2019 and it’s still true five years later. For modern controllers (Xbox, PS5 DualSense, 8BitDo) the default layout is fine. If you have an unusual controller setup or strong opinions about button assignments, you’re stuck. It’s a real miss on a $20 collection of older games, but it’s not a dealbreaker.
Also worth knowing: this is the Classic-vania collection — the side-scrolling action-platformer era. If you’re looking for Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, or Circle of the Moon, those are in the Castlevania Advance Collection — a separate product, not in this free offer, but frequently on sale for $8–12 if you want that era too.
How to Claim
The collection goes free on March 30 at 11 AM ET / 8 AM PT. The two-week window runs through April 13 — twice the usual Epic free game window. Once claimed, it’s yours permanently. You’ll need a free Epic Games account; no subscription required.
Also free that same week: Monument Valley ($7.99). The short mobile puzzle game about impossible geometry — completely different experience, but also worth grabbing while it’s there.
Already claimed this week’s Epic freebies? Isonzo and Cozy Grove are free through March 19 — last chance on those. And if retro-era games are your thing, check out the Humble Cartridge Chaos Bundle running through March 18 with 8 retro-inspired Steam games for $19. The EA Steam Spring Into Play Sale also has Star Wars Jedi: Survivor for $2.99 right now.
The Verdict
$0 for 8 games including two console-exclusive titles (Bloodlines, The Adventure) that were genuinely difficult to play legally before this collection. The weak entries — Simon’s Quest, the Game Boy titles — are part of franchise history rather than collection quality issues. Konami didn’t cherry-pick the safe titles, which is the right call.
If you want to understand what Castlevania was before it became the genre-defining Metroidvania of Symphony of the Night, this is exactly the right place to start. And if you already know all of this, Bloodlines in a clean modern format is still worth the two minutes it takes to claim it.
Mark March 30 on your calendar. You have two weeks, and there’s nothing stopping you from claiming all 8 games.
Want to play these properly? These are controller games — keyboard is technically possible and genuinely unpleasant. The 8BitDo SN30 Pro ($45) has the original NES/SNES button layout and a proper D-pad built for exactly these games. The Xbox Wireless Controller ($54.99) works perfectly too and handles every other PC game you own.
