Castlevania Advance Collection Gets an ESRB Rating

The Castlevania Advance Collection is now far from a well-kept secret with the collection of games receiving ratings from multiple different organizations. The Entertainment Software Rating Board is the latest to provide a rating for the collection, and with that, we’ve also gotten news of platforms it’ll be available for as well as a description of what’s included in it. Based on that description, it’s easier to discern which games will make up the Castlevania Advance Collection.

One notable difference in the ESRB’s description compared to other listings is that the Castlevania Advance Collection is said to include four games, not three as people assumed based off info from the previous listings. Gematsu says that fourth game will be Castlevania: Dracula X.

The new description for the Castlevania Advance Collection can be seen below. Looking through some of the cautioned moments listed in the description, we can see evidence of which games will be included. The bat being crushed by a giant’s hand, for example, is a key moment in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow when players are led to believe they’ll be fighting a giant bat only for a giant to be revealed as the true boss.

“This is a collection of four classic Castlevania games in which players battle monsters and attempt to overthrow Dracula and his minions. From a side-scrolling perspective, players traverse platform environments and use whips, boomerang-like blades, and grenades to kill fantastical creatures (e.g., vampires, demons, harpies, ghouls). Several enemies emit splatters of blood when injured or killed, and some levels/environments contain larger depictions of blood: tears/pools coming from a statue; a bat crushed in a giant’s hand; a figure impaled on a stake. A handful of small female demons/monsters are depicted topless. The word “bastard” appears in the dialogue.

While the collection has appeared more than once online through ratings boards like this one, Konami hasn’t yet announced anything to do with release plans or the collection itself. The ESRB listing does have a list of platforms, however, which line up with what we’ve seen already. The new collection of older Castlevania games is supposedly coming to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms.

Nintendo is set to have its next Nintendo Direct on Thursday, and the Castlevania Advance Collection seems like the perfect kind of reveal to be included in the event, so keep an eye on that presentation to see if it makes an appearance.