User blog:Matt Hadick/Guided Tour: Metroidvanias

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With over 72 million monthly visitors across over 320,000 wikis (and counting!), Wikia is a hotbed of passionate expertise on an incredibly diverse range of topics. With such a plethora of information to sift through, breaking into a new franchise or genre can seem a tad overwhelming. To help break the ice, we're going to be asking experts from various communities to tell us what it is about their area of expertise they find so captivating -- and the steps they recommend beginners take to set themselves on the path to geekery.

We're calling the series "Guided Tour," and our topic this time is the Metroidvania video game genre.

“Metroidvania” style games are a subset of the platformer genre that emphasize non-linear progression, exploration, and an epic sense of adventure. In games like these, players will often encounter obstacles that can only be hurdled after he or she obtains a specific item. These obstacles can range from doors that require a type of munition to open, geographical materials that can be destroyed only with the right kind of bomb, chasms that can’t be cleared without the right pair of jet boots, and so on. Usually, all of the game’s obstacles are environmental, as opposed to narrative or character driven, and the game progresses alongside the player’s acquisition of items, scattered throughout the world map, either as items the boss drops, or rewards for completing puzzles.

Metroidvania’s forebearer — as you may have guessed — were early Metroid and Castlevania titles for the NES (and, in the case of Castlevania, the Japan-only MSX2.) Though there were other early 2D platform adventures, these series really blazed the trail for Metroidvania as a genre, establishing and popularizing non-linear exploration, a la Zelda, in side-scroller platformers.

The world maps in Metroidvania titles tend to be interconnected areas that encourage exploration on the part of the player. Traditionally, the games won’t do much hand holding or directing — it’s up to the player to experiment with and investigate the game’s environment, trying new combinations of items and abilities to check and see if they can now bypass obstacles that previously left them staring at a dead end.

How did you get into Metroidvania games? Seeing that I’m an old man, I naturally got into Metroidvanias with the original game, Metroid for the NES. At the time most of the games I played were sidescrollers where you ran from the left to the right for the entire game, so the idea that I could go in pretty much any direction was a big change for me. I remember the game making me feel very alone, and it really captured the feeling of landing on an alien world and being all by yourself. The eerie soundtrack helped a lot in that regard as well.

'''What are some good Metroidvania games for beginners? For intermediate players? For experts?'''

Beginners new to Metroidvanias should definitely check out Drinkbox Studios' Guacamelee! It’s a fun platformer with great melee combat and a super colorful world. It’s available on pretty much every platform at this point, and unlike most Metroidvanias, it only takes ~5 hours to complete, meaning you won’t have to sink a bunch of time in to see if you like it or not. Shadow Complex is also a good entry point, it’s not too long and has a more action game theme for people turned off by the usual sc-fi and fantasy themes of most Metroidvanias.

If you’ve found the genre to your liking, you’ll have to play Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, one the best, if not the best, Metroidvanias ever made. Featuring a massive castle, great soundtrack, and fantastic combat, it captures the thrill of exploration, the tactics of an RPG, and the excitement of duking it out with monsters. Intrepid gamers are also highly encouraged to seek out Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, an amazing PC Engine game that was previously unavailable in America until its release on the Wii’s Virtual Console. Avoid the far inferior SNES remake/port Castlevania Dracula X.

What is some advice you'd give to new players? Check your map! Metroidvanias are generally all about exploring, and the faster you familiarize yourself with the world, the easier it will be for you to get around. If you find a dead end, make a mental note so you’ll remember to come back there later once you’ve gotten a new ability or item. Good Metroivanias will make it pretty clear which new area you’ll have access to once you’ve gotten a new ability/item, but if not, making a note can save you a lot of time.

Want to learn more about Metroidvanias? All of our experts provided a number of links to help you dip your toes into their world. They also recommend you reach out to them via their message wall, wiki chat, or talk page if you have any questions. Here's the syllabus:


 * http://metroid.wikia.com
 * http://castlevania.wikia.com
 * http://cavestory.wikia.com
 * http://guacamelee.wikia.com
 * http://shadowcomplex.wikia.com

Got any questions about Metroidvanias or a favorite Metroidvania to recommend? Leave a comment below!