Konami has filed a trademark for 'Project Zircon'. Spotted yesterday by Gematsu and filed on 7th March, we know absolutely nothing about what this means, but it's got some people thinking.
As Gematsu mentions on Twitter, zircon has very few connections to the company in general, but there is one that'll be of interest to us (and this writer especially) — zircon is a jewel that you can sell for a pretty pitiful amount of money in the Castlevania series.
The precious stone, occasionally mistaken for the most-valuable diamond, has appeared in Symphony of the Night, Lament of Innocence, and Order of Ecclesia. So, are we getting another Symphony of the Night port, perhaps actually on Switch this time? Or a collection of the DS trilogy featuring Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin? Or perhaps even a new Castlevania game. Well... we don't know, really.
All we have is this trademark to go on, but we don't want to get our hopes up too much. After all, this could be part of Konami's game machines, as the trademark mentions game machines in multiple instances, though not exclusively.
Konami has been doing a pretty good job with its back catalogue in recent years, with The Cowabunga Collection and Castlevania Advance Collection both being excellent compilations. Heck, we're finally getting a Suikoden I & II remaster this year, and on Switch.
However, Konami has also been a bit of a tease in recent months — back in January, the developer said that it had multiple unannounced projects in development. And then, in February, our friends over at Push Square reported that rumours were swirling that Konami would be having a "big E3" and would be announcing a Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake and a new Castlevania. (via VGC's new podcast). And hey, Bomberman fans, we're supposedly getting more Bomberman in the future beyond Super Bomberman R 2.