Konami has put the original Castlevania on iOS and Android as a free download, part of the series' 40th anniversary celebrations. The app, listed as Castlevania: 40th Anniversary, went live on September 24 and will be free to claim until October 24. After that date the app comes off the App Store and Google Play, but anyone who has already installed it can keep playing.
The game that started it all, unchanged
This is not a remake or a reimagining. Konami describes it as a direct port of the original title, the one that first sent Simon Belmont up the steps of Dracula's castle. The story is the familiar one: a century after Christopher Belmont defeated the Count, a carnival in a Transylvanian town is interrupted by storm clouds and lightning, Dracula returns, and the young vampire hunter sets off alone with his father's enchanted whip.
Everything that made the original famous is present: the stiff, deliberate jump arcs, the whip that only fires in the direction Simon faces, sub-weapons fed by hearts, and the six-stage climb through the castle to Dracula's chamber. It is a demanding game by modern standards, and the port keeps that intact. There are no difficulty settings listed on the store page and no new content, just the NES game as it shipped.
How it plays on a phone
The game runs in a centred window with a virtual touchpad around it: a D-pad on the left, B and A buttons on the right, and Select and Start underneath. The store screenshots also show three extra buttons along the top edge, labelled Save, Manual and Title, so you can make a save, pull up the original instruction manual and jump back to the title screen without digging through menus.
That Save button matters more than it might sound. The original Castlevania is famous for making players redo long stretches after a death, and a save option on a phone, where play is often broken into short sessions, makes it far easier to pick up and put down. Purists can simply ignore it.
The app is tiny. The iOS build is about 6MB, requires iOS 15.6 or later, and carries a 9+ age rating. Konami also notes that it works offline, so there is no always-online check to worry about on a commute or a flight.
Why it is only free for a month
The time limit is the key detail. Konami is treating the mobile release as an anniversary giveaway rather than a permanent storefront product: the listing says outright that the game is coming to mobile "for a limited time". If you want it, the thing to do is claim it before October 24. Once the app is delisted it will not be available to download, although installed copies will keep working.
It is worth doing on both platforms if you use both. The iOS version is on the App Store as Castlevania: 40th Anniversary, and the Android version is on Google Play under Konami's own publisher account.
Part of a wider 40th anniversary push
The free game is one piece of a larger celebration. Konami is also running a sale on its retro Castlevania catalogue. On Steam, until October 1, the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Lords of Shadow games, including Mirror of Fate HD and the Revelations DLC, are 80% off, with the Advance Collection at 70% off and the Dominus Collection at 50% off. On the PlayStation Store, until October 7, the Anniversary Collection is 80% off, the Advance Collection and Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood are both 70% off, and the Dominus Collection is 50% off.
All of this leads into Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, the new 2D entry that Konami revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase in June. It arrives in October on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC, and a demo lands on October 1, with progress carrying over into the full game.
Worth grabbing?
For anyone who has never played the original, this is the cheapest way to see where the series began: it costs nothing, it is a small download, and it keeps working after the giveaway ends. For long-time fans, the pitch is having the NES classic in your pocket with a save button. The one real caveat is touch controls. Castlevania asks for precise jumps over pits and moving platforms, and a glass D-pad is a harder way to play it than a physical controller. Still, as a free, time-limited anniversary gift from the publisher, it is an easy download to justify before October 24.
