I had read on Konami's official site a few months back, sometime around July I think, of their plans for the Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania and Contra game collection. When I first read about this collection, I was quite excited. Being a fan of the Castlevania and Contra games on the NES, this package sounded very appealing. However, waiting for its release was very annoying at times.

I remember in July when Konami had announced that this package was shipped to stores. I went to my local Babbages, inquired about the Konami Collector's Series PC game...the employee had no idea what I was talking about! Asking Konami when I got home, they told me that they pushed the game back a few months. When I heard that the game shipped a few weeks ago I was very skeptical, that was until I went shopping yesterday and snagged a copy from Electronics Botique for $19.95. I used a gift certificate my Uncle Buster had given me, the game costed me $3 total.

Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra (from here on referred to as C&C;) was another one of Konami's cheap ideas used to make a quick buck. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I own this game set. However, Konami could have put a bit more effort into it.

The game itself is Konami's three Castlevania and two Contra games, perfectally emulated. Yes the games are exactly the same as the roms you can download from the internet for free...well except for the copyright dates. C&C; states "Copyright Konami 19XX- 2002." Everything else is the same. The game does not run in a full screen mode, the screen takes up about half the monitor size. This leaves a boring black border around the actual game...very uninteresting.

Another gripe I had with Konami's C&C; is that they did not include a manual with the game. They had a CD-Rom and a skimpy "fact sheet." There manual was a PDF file located on the CD-Rom. It gave the game a cheap appearance overall. Heck, Konami didn't even include any inserts for the CD jewel case. Ugh...

>Don't get me wrong, Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania and Contra is a good deal. Five of their best works are included in one affordable package. My problem with the set is that Konami could have done so much more than they did. They could have presented us with the uncensored Famicom games, they could have given us a "hard" manual, they could have made the game fullscreen. It seems that Konami did the bear minimum possible to produce their C&C; game collection.

If you missed the original Contra and Castlevania games the first time around, I recommend buying this PC game. If you loved these games as a child, you might also want to buy this game collection. Every last heart is where you remembered it, the challenge and flavour are still in the game. Personally, I would shell out the $20 for Konami's C&C; collection, spend the money and support the NES. If Konami would have made it more pricey, I would say leave it...luckily it's only $20.