Editorial: Konami Should Bring Castlevania Symphony of The Night and Rondo of Blood To PC

Konami has been doing a great job bringing many of its classic Castlevania games to modern systems again with both the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Castlevania Advance Collection, but there are still some missing pieces. Both Castlevania Rondo of Blood and Castlevania Symphony of the Night have seen their modern ports stay on PlayStation currently, and one platform where this absence is notable on is PC. While many of the classic titles are on PC storefronts, and the Lords of Shadow trilogy is available on stores like Steam, the game considered the best in the series has still never seen an official PC version.

Symphony of the Night, widely regarded as the series’ high point has had multiple different ports on PlayStation systems including the recent Requiem collection and had an Xbox 360 port that is playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series and it is even playable on mobile devices. Yet the game has yet to reach the platform which has exploded in popularity since the game’s initial release in the 1990s. This is not to say fans have not played the game on PC, as emulation has been constant, but that begs the question of why there has not been an official PC release for Symphony of the Night or Rondo of Blood, the latter of which has seen a Wii release in the past, is part of the Requiem collection on PS4, and even received a PSP remake.

If Konami wants to avoid mods and romhacks, then they are out of luck as there are many of those already, since fans have already been working on this thanks to emulators. Why not embrace this though? Bring Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood to PC, make them Steam Deck compatible, and let fans go crazy with the full potential of what can be done. If Konami only wants to include one audio track, fans can add in more themselves for instance, and that is just the start.

Numerous mods and hacks can be made for the game, but giving fans an official port means fans will buy the game to get these mods and hacks for an official release more easily. There is also an interesting aspect to this, as Konami has in recent years held contests for indie developers to revive its older IP. Konami could take a look at the best mods for an official Symphony of the Night or Rondo of Blood port and possibly find a new team they could make use of for a new Castlevania game this way.

There is also the simple fact that the market is there for a PC port. Emulation has happened for a long time because people want the game on PC.  Konami has brought other games in the series to PC as well, making the absence especially odd, as stated above. Maybe it is time for Konami to take the plunge and bring Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood to PC.