I’ve finally decided to get around to the task of codifying (and venerating) the entries on the Metroidvania page, starting sensibly enough from the top. The Metroid link up there no longer leads to an elderly review (circa 2002) about the version of the game packed in with Prime but instead an entirely new write-up focusing on the little tidbits that make it intrinsically… uh, Metroidvania.
(ProTip: it’s actually the same thing I posted at my 1UP Blog. I feel obligated to post something there every few days, but my heart really lies where I have a little more control over the backend and archiving, i.e. here.)
To that end, I’ve completely reorganized the Games main page, organizing things in a much more orderly fashion than the prior state of disaster. I’ve also begun dusting off some really old write-ups and editing them to be less painful to read, such as this thing on Simon’s Quest.
12 thoughts on “It’s the Chronic(WHAT)cles of… Metroid. Vania.”
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Came across that Simon’s Quest retroview yesterday while gallivanting around your site as a matter of fact. Good job there. I never got the reverse logic with the multiple endings either. There’d be (minor message board) riots if that were the case with Valkyrie Profile.
Anyways, I look forward to your future writeups.
Wouldn’t System Shock 2 classify as a Metroidvania title in the Windows category?
yujg: Nope. He specified “2d” in the Metroidvania description.
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Which is too bad. System Shock 2 IS all kinds of awesome.
Reading over your old Super Metroid review, I miss the old sidebar format you used to have which contained the information about older games and the comments on screenshots. Not that I don’t appreciate the screenshot comments without the screenshot parts, though.
Konami’s Knightmare II for the MSX is better known as Maze of Galious… and is definitely a Metroidvania-a-like. One of the first I played, actually — and one of my favorites, mostly because you can pretty much go anywhere from the start; the only lineairity comes in the fixed order in which eight in-castle ‘worlds’ must be conquered.
I recommend moving it to the top of your list. It’s that good. :)
Er, yeah. About 95% of the old articles are in dire need of formatting, still.
It’s funny how you should mention Pitfall in that Metroid review. While the original Pitfall isn’t really much of a Metroidvania title, its lesser known follow-up, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns actually seems pretty Metroidvania to me. It’s got a non-linear quest to find different items in a 2D-platforming world with lots of different routes. And, quite impressive for an Atari 2600-title, it’s got music. Quite a catchy tune, I must say.
So, is your 1up blog the unofficial Classics section from now on? All your entries pre-Retronauts seem to have disappeared. Which is too bad, since they were pretty good reads. I guess you’ll just migrate that style of writing here, or something.
Remember when Nintendo would have diffrent labels for games (sports, action, etc)? I was stumped by what the difference was between an action game and an adventure game. By deductive reasoning (or childish rationale, your pick) I decided that action games were the ones where you just beat up stuff, and the adventure games where the ones where you hade to go find stuff in order to beat the game. I was curious as to what part the side-scrolling element plays in the equation. Legend of Zelda seems the logical predecessor to Metroidvania, but it’s top down view would exclude it. It an emphasis on action? The ability to jump? Or is Metroidvania a sub-genre of (at least what I define as) the adventure game?
Zelda was released just six months prior to Metroid in Japan, so I don’t think you can really call it a predecessor.
Pitfall II is rad. How many other Atari 2600 games had background music? I was trying to think of some but, alas, no luck.
I have no idea, but what of about Wonder Boy in Monster World for the Genesis? That requires you to beat the bosses in a certain order; but lots of backtracking is required to beat the game, and even more to get all the secrets.