Konami has announced the launch of an NFT collection to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Castlevania.
The "KONAMI MEMORIAL NFT" collection features 14 unique artworks from the Castlevania series in celebration of the iconic franchise's 35th anniversary, though it actually comes a few months on from the milestone date in September. The complete collection will be available for the worldwide auction on OpenSea (a popular online marketplace for NFTs) from January 12.
Konami's official website offers a preview of the digital items that are going up for sale at the Castlevania 35th anniversary auction, including NFTs (non-fungible tokens) consisting of "game scenes, background music (BGM), and newly drawn visuals" from the series' rich history, which spans back to 1986 when the franchise's first console title was released.
NFTs are on the rise, with more and more people wanting to gain ownership of digital assets. A JPG file made by the digital artist known as Beeple sold for a record $69.3 million last year, while the viral Charlie Bit My Finger YouTube video was taken offline to become an NFT. Mike Judge also got in on the action, jokingly offering fans an NFT of the King of the Hill crew.
According to Konami, the Castlevania collection is just the beginning as it marks the very first project in "a new initiative to share content that has been loved by players all over the world, for many years," with the company planning to further "explore new developments and listen to player feedback following this initial collection."
All three Castlevania GBA games scored at least a 9/10 in IGN's original reviews, with Aria of Sorrow our pick of the bunch. "Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was a fantastic intro to the series on the Game Boy Advance, and an excellent launch title," we wrote in 2003. "Harmony of Dissonance was, and still is fantastic. Aria of Sorrow is better."
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.