Why We Love to Get Lost in Games: The Enduring Appeal of Metroidvanias
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I’ve never heard of B: AA described as a metroidvania… How do you figure that one?
It is a metroidvania. It fits the definition exactly. You backtrack over a space as you get more and more upgrades to unlock parts of it that were gated. The sequels weren't really that so much, because they were open world games that gave you access to the entire map, give or take a few interior areas.
A Robot Named Fight is a fairly obscure indie game, but if you wish you could get that experience of playing Super Metroid for the first time over and over again, this is as close as you'll get.
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Castlevania has always had a pretty heavy emphasis on movement abilities to access new areas
The -vania part always seemed a bit odd to me as well because of the history of the games, but it makes sense based on when the term became popularized. If someone had tried to coin a term for the genre earlier I think it would've been Metroid-like alone, specifically because the early entries of Castlevania didn't really have any movement-based mechanics upgrades until SotN. Even things being locked behind item progression was only in Simon's Quest before that (although it looks like Vampire Killer had some more open levels where you had to find keys). I'm not familiar with Rondo of Blood, which looks like it had some exploration of levels with the secondary character, but again without upgrading movement mechanics.
So you basically had Metroid ('86) and Super Metroid ('94) being quintessential examples of the modern metroidvania genre, whereas there were almost a dozen Castlevanias before SotN ('97) that were mostly linear.
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But that's exactly why we have the word metroidvania.
The term Metroidvania initially referred to entries in Konami’s gothic 2-D action Castlevania series whose mazey maps closely evoked the Metroid games
It was sometimes used derisively in forums, but it was to tell apart the likes of Symphony of the Night from the likes of the linear ones. And then as we got more Castlevanias like Symphony of the Night in the GBA era, it became part of the definition of what this genre is.
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I'm never sure where to draw the line with metroidvanias. Does Dark Souls count as metroidvania? or Link's Awakening? Cave Story?
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I count Dark Souls as a Metroidvania in my head, honestly.
But I think the actual defining feature is unlocking new abilities to reach new locations.
DS1 has you unlocking new areas that are interconnected with ones previously explored, but you don't really unlock new moves to get to a new place, it usually just happens after you beat a boss or buy an item.
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It’s a good point, they all have item or ability gated progression with backtracking and alternate routes. The more I think about the question, the less of an answer I have…
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I wanna second a robot named fight, that game was fantastic.
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Hollow Knight is pure art!
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I would argue that 2D platformer should be part of the definition.
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I suppose you're right, I guess I had a blind spot there. Haven't played it.
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It's one of my top five all timers, and my kid's. Raising em right. I was just trying to figure out where this other fella was coming from.
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Then you'd be excluding the Metroid Prime games from the genre, which doesn't make a lot of sense.
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Blaster Master was an underrated metroidvania. I'm a little bummed they didn't mention that in the article.
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Yeah a lot of people seem to draw a line between Metroidvanias and classic Zelda games/Zelda-likes. I don't really know what the distinction is.
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The line I personally draw between Metroidvania and Zelda like is the ability to sequence break without glitches and a focus on platforming as the core of movement.
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Getting lost is definitely a love it or hate it kind of thing. I love getting lost in games. I wish more games had it as a feature. It’s extremely rare these days. Most games hold your hand like a toddler at Disneyland.
It’s okay to hate getting lost. There are loads and loads of games out there for you. I just cross my fingers for a few more games for me!
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Have you played Chasm? It's a metroidvania, nothing outside of the ordinary, but map is randomly generated, so you're guaranteed to get lost lol
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Does it have an auto-map feature? That’s the biggest difference for me. I enjoy the newer MVs but the auto-map feature makes it impossible (for me) to get lost. I’m used to games without any kind of auto-map.
Edit: I checked it out on steam. Looks really cool!
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I'm bookmarking this link so I can read it when I have the time. Having said that, it should be clear that I haven't read the article, yet.
For me personally, 80's and 90's 2D Metroid and Castlevania games were fun, but for me, something transcendental happened with the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I'm 100% certain that I am incapable of truly putting it into words, but I'm sure a myriad of people have done it, and done it far better than I ever could. I bought the game on a whim because I enjoyed Castlevania 3 on the NES so much. Other than fighting games, 2D games were basically blasé for 90's 32-bit systems like the original PlayStation. Truthfully, I'm having a hard time recalling at the moment why I decided to buy the game. But I'm absolutely 10010% sure it was a good idea and I'm honestly thankful to my teenage self for that decision.
Modern Metroidvanias are fun, too. Truth be told, I gave up on Hollow Knight. I'm a patient, older gamer, so maybe that comes into play. But it eventually got to a point where it simply wasn't fun anymore. I was confused about what I needed to do next and I wasn't making any progress in the game. And then I had to set it aside for almost a year. When I tried to return, my memory had faded to the point where I really struggled to play it and make progress. That made me immensely sad. Once I realized that, I simply set it aside.
On the other hand, I played all the Nintendo DS Castlevania Metroidvania games back in the day and even still own the original cartridges. Via Steam, I also played the Gameboy Advanced Castlevanias. They are so much fun for me. So much fun that I purchased the Dominus collection on Steam, which is essentially all the DS games that I already own.
I also played Bloodstained: ROTN. I know there's a lot of criticism about the game, but I'll be honest, I loved every freakin' minute of it. I wasn't a huge fan of the graphics, but the game play was exactly what I needed at the time and I don't regret that purchase one bit.
And to finalize things, nice to meet other Metroidvania lovers. We might not all agree on the nitty-gritty details, but it's still neat to hear from others. Back in the 90s when I was absolutely in love with SOTN despite the fact that everybody else was hating on it entirely because it's a "2D platformer", it was hard to imagine that ~30 years later there would be entire communities of people who love these types of games.
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Man...I had the same experiences as you with Castlevania games and loved the hell outta Bloodstained. Wish I had more to add but wanted to at least high five lol
