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49-415: These games usually feature a large interconnected world map the player can explore, although parts of the world will be inaccessible to the player until they acquire special items, tools, weapons, abilities, or knowledge within the game. Acquiring such improvements can also aid the player in defeating more difficult enemies and locating shortcuts and secret areas, and often includes retracing one's steps across

98-462: A Kickstarter campaign for Castlevania -influenced Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019), which was the highest-funded video game on Kickstarter at the time. While the word "Metroidvania" is commonly used presently to describe games in this genre, or games that have elements of this genre, the origins of the term are unclear; Igarashi notes that he did not coin the phrase, though is grateful for

147-429: A Metroidvania featuring "soft locks" – obstacles in the form of boss characters that are difficult but not impossible to defeat when the player-character is starting out, and become much easier to defeat with increased experience and abilities. The third-person action/brawler Batman: Arkham series also uses similar concepts as a Metroidvania, with Batman collecting new gadgets to access new areas. The 2017 title Prey

196-408: A broad category of action games, referring to a variety of games that are driven by the physical actions of player characters. The term dates back to the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, when the terms "action games" and "character games" began being used to distinguish a new emerging genre of character-driven action games from the space shoot 'em ups that had previously dominated

245-488: A larger number of player characters to choose from, with some basic moves available to all or most characters and some unique moves only available to one or a few characters. Having many distinctive characters to play as and against, all possessing different moves and abilities, is necessary to create a larger gameplay variety in such games. Similarly to MOBAs, hero shooters emphasize pre-designed "hero" characters with distinctive abilities and weapons that are not available to

294-411: A player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games . The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling

343-413: A player typically creates or takes on the identity of a character that may have nothing in common with the player. The character is often of a certain (usually fictional) race and class (such as zombie , berserker , rifleman , elf , or cleric ), each with strengths and weaknesses. The attributes of the characters (such as magic and fighting ability) are given as numerical values which can be increased as

392-594: A real person, especially in sports games that use the names and likenesses of real athletes. Historical figures and leaders may sometimes appear as characters too, particularly in strategy or empire building games such as in Sid Meier 's Civilization series. Such a player character is more properly an avatar as the player character's name and image typically have little bearing on the game itself. Avatars are also commonly seen in casino game simulations. In many video games, and especially first-person shooters ,

441-690: A side-scrolling playfield. Examples include beat 'em ups like Kung-Fu Master and Double Dragon , ninja action games like The Legend of Kage and Shinobi , scrolling platformers like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog , and run and gun shooters like Rolling Thunder and Gunstar Heroes . "Character action games" is also a term used for 3D hack and slash games modelled after Devil May Cry , which represent an evolution of arcade character action games. Other examples of this sub-genre include Ninja Gaiden , God of War , and Bayonetta . Fighting games typically have

490-428: A single large, interconnected map, generally with discrete rooms or sections. Not all areas of this map are available at the start, often requiring the player to obtain an item (such as a weapon or key) or a new character ability to remove some obstacle blocking the path forward. Often, this item is protected by a boss character , providing story-driven challenges throughout the game. Maps are non-linear, and often require

539-409: A vein similar to "open world". CBR has also proposed "platform-adventure". An equivalent Japanese term is 探索型アクション or "search-action", which is used alongside the romanised メトロイドヴァニア (Metroidvania). Player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC ) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by

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588-414: Is a playable character in a video game available only after either completing the game or meeting another requirement. In some video games, characters that are not secret but appear only as non-player characters like bosses or enemies become playable characters after completing certain requirements, or sometimes cheating . Console role-playing game Too Many Requests If you report this error to

637-478: Is generally considered the most influential game for the Metroidvania genre. Nintendo 's goal for the title was to create a non-linear adventure game to set it apart from other games at the time, requiring the player to retrace their steps while providing permanent power-ups in contrast to how other adventure games only offered power-ups with temporary effects. The series was popular, and future titles refined

686-464: Is somewhat common in first-person videogames, such as in Myst , but is more often done in strategy video games such as Dune 2000 , Emperor: Battle for Dune , and Command & Conquer series. In such games, the only real indication that the player has a character (instead of an omnipresent status), is from the cutscenes during which the character is being given a mission briefing or debriefing;

735-465: The arcades in the late 1970s. Classic examples of character action games from that period include maze games like Pac-Man , platformers like Donkey Kong , and Frogger . Side-scrolling character action games (also called "side-scrolling action games" or "side-scrollers") are a broad category of character action games that were popular from the mid-1980s to the 1990s, which involve player characters defeating large groups of weaker enemies along

784-540: The Metroidvania.com site that has attempted to catalog all known Metroidvania games, acknowledges he helped to popularize the term but had learned it from his former co-worker at 1UP.com , Scott Sharkey, who had used the term to describe the games in the Castlevania series that had adopted some elements from the Metroid series. The term 'Metroidvania' is most often used to refer to a platforming game that features

833-432: The Night distinguished itself from prior non-linear platformers via the incorporation of console role-playing game elements with the means for the player to improve their character's attributes through an experience system . The changes for Symphony of the Night proved popular with players, and most subsequent games in the series would follow this formula. With the releases of Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of

882-492: The Night , the formula these games presented would form the foundations of what are considered Metroidvanias today. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night had also become a critical and financial success over time, establishing that there was a desire by players for Metroidvania-style games. As this neologism started to be adopted, Igarashi reacted Symphony of the Night was more inspired by Zelda , not Metroid , although he stated that Metroidvania "fits very well". Other figures in

931-522: The Wizard (1987), and Adventure Island IV (1994). They argued that such games, while having 2D platforming gameplay and power-up based progression systems, lacked good level design, which at their time had not been well-refined in the industry, and provided little or no information relayed to the player to help them to know where to go next, exemplified by the cryptic clues from Simon's Quest . The three also agreed that as games transitioned from 2D to 3D,

980-516: The aforementioned Shadow Complex , or with Metroid Dread . The exploration and character development concepts of Metroidvanias can be used in other genres, though these games typically are not categorized as Metroidvanias. For example, the Metroid Prime trilogy is a first-person action adventure game that builds on the same style of exploration play as Metroid . Dark Souls is a third-person action role-playing game loosely considered

1029-607: The best-selling downloadable titles on the Xbox 360 service. Due to games like these, the Metroidvania genre began to take off in both publisher-driven and independent games development. Drinkbox Studios ' Guacamelee! (2013), Moon Studios ' Ori and the Blind Forest (2015), and Team Cherry's Hollow Knight (2017) are examples of modern indie Metroidvanias that have reached critical acclaim. The genre's indie renaissance did not go unnoticed by Igarashi. In May 2015, he released

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1078-490: The character. Video games typically have one player character for each person playing the game. Some games, such as multiplayer online battle arena , hero shooter , and fighting games , offer a group of player characters for the player to choose from, allowing the player to control one of them at a time. Where more than one player character is available, the characters may have distinctive abilities and differing styles of play. A player character may sometimes be based on

1127-441: The exploration approach while adding more story elements to the title such as with Super Metroid (1994, Super Nintendo Entertainment System ). Super Metroid refined several aspects from the previous Metroid games, including a diverse array of locations and adding many secrets for players to find; these secrets also enabled players to find ways to break the expected sequence that the designers had envisioned players would approach

1176-467: The game industry have since used Zeldavania interchangeably, with the Zelda series recognized as following the same formula. The concept of Metroidvanias started to gain more attraction when other parties began to develop games in the same style. Cave Story (2004, Microsoft Windows) was developed by Daisuke Amaya as an homage to Metroid and other classic games; the game was critically praised showing

1225-556: The game play style different. Characters can learn new abilities or augment existing ones over the course of a match by collecting experience points. Choosing a character who complements the player's teammates and counters their opponents opens up a strategy before the beginning of the match itself. Playable characters blend a variety of fantasy tropes, featuring numerous references to popular culture and mythology . In both tabletop role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing video games such as Final Fantasy ,

1274-552: The game, making it a popular title among speedrunners . However, in retrospect, Super Metroid was still considered an example of a highly polished non-linear platformer. During this time, the gothic horror-themed platformer series Castlevania was gaining popularity. The original Castlevania (1986, NES) featured discrete levels that the player completed in a sequential manner. It was followed by Vampire Killer (1986, MSX ) and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (1987, NES) which experimented with non-linear adventure gameplay, before

1323-413: The gamer progresses and gains rank and experience points through accomplishing goals or fighting enemies. In many sports games , player characters are often modelled after real-life athletes , as opposed to fictional characters. This is particularly the case for sports simulation games , whereas many arcade-style sports games often have fictional characters instead. A secret or unlockable character

1372-582: The genre focuses on exploration of a large world map, and advancement of the player-character abilities over time. Metroidvanias are sometimes referred to as "platform adventure games" due to this scope. Metroidvania is generally associated with game levels/maps that are laid out as two-dimensional side scrollers, with the player character moving left, right, up and down through the level. These games typically are rendered using two-dimensional graphics, but can include 2.5D -rendered games using 3D graphics engines but limiting player movement to two dimensions, such as

1421-425: The genre that draws in players, working off the natural human instincts to explore, and giving the players the sense of discovery and self-control during the game. Donald Mustard of Chair Entertainment, the creators of Shadow Complex , said that a good Metroidvania helps the player come to epiphanies that enables them to progress in the game, describing an example of a ledge that is initially too high to reach, and as

1470-655: The genre. Symphony of the Night 's assistant director, Koji Igarashi , is credited with establishing key principles of Metroidvanias through his work on other Castlevania games. In the 2010s, a resurgence in Metroidvanias came about due to several critically praised, independently developed games . While not the first game of its kind (for example, Below the Root was released in 1984, or Brain Breaker in 1985), Metroid (1986, Nintendo Entertainment System )

1519-402: The genre. These include designing maps that encourage exploration but which still guide the player on a main path through the game and providing means where the player can be aware of where they are in the game world at any time. This can be accomplished by graphical themes through the game's world, visually unique milestones at key game point, overall map and player status information screens, and

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1568-410: The invention of the term. Igarashi noted that with Symphony of the Night the goal was to have exploration closer to the top-down Zelda approach, but with the side-scrolling nature, it was compared more to Metroid , and believes this is how the portmanteau came about. A similar portmanteau "Castleroid" is sometimes used as well for describing this genre. Video game journalist Jeremy Parish, who manages

1617-404: The later parts of the game. Access to new abilities can also open up shortcuts that reduce travel time, as well as discover secrets that help to improve the character's abilities. For example, gaining access to double jump or wall jump abilities can give players more mobility, while obtaining the ability to transform into a smaller object can let the player slip through narrow corridors. As such,

1666-513: The map. Through this, Metroidvania games include tighter integration of story and level design, careful design of levels and character controls to encourage exploration and experimentation, and a means for the player to become more invested in their player character through role-playing game elements. While early examples were usually two-dimensional side-scrolling platform games, the term has since been applied to top-down and 3D games. The first Metroid game in 1986 established principles of

1715-577: The means of moving around the map quickly. Russ Frushtick from Polygon observed that many modern Metroidvanias not only have these qualities, but also find a means to tell a narrative through the world's environments without necessarily relying on cutscenes or dialog. In a 1UP.com video discussion between Parish, Sharkey, and Chris Kohler of Wired in 2007, the three discussed some older games that had elements associated with Metroidvanias but would not be considered true Metroidvanias, including games like Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (1987), Legacy of

1764-471: The non-linear platformer that were refined through multiple iterations, with Super Metroid in 1994 considered to have polished the style of gameplay core to Metroidvanias. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in 1997 is considered the defining Metroidvania game, incorporating role-playing game elements from The Legend of Zelda series with non-linear traversal within the Castlevania series; most subsequent Castlevania games followed its approach and refined

1813-420: The other characters. Hero shooters strongly encourage teamwork between players on a team, guiding players to select effective combinations of hero characters and coordinate the use of hero abilities during a match. Multiplayer online battle arena games offer a large group of viable player characters for the player to choose from, each of which having distinctive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses to make

1862-410: The player acquires abilities, will discover how they can reach that ledge on their own. From a developer's standpoint, the Metroidvania genre also provides benefits. The genre encourages tight connection between level design and game story, and can give developers opportunities to create an immersive world for the player. Level design of such games can also be challenging as to make sure the challenge to

1911-425: The player character is a "blank slate" without any notable characteristics or even backstory . Pac-Man , Crono from Chrono Trigger , Link from The Legend of Zelda , Chell from Portal , and Claude from Grand Theft Auto III are examples of such characters. These characters are generally silent protagonists . Some games will go even further, never showing or naming the player character at all. This

1960-518: The player is usually addressed as "general", "commander", or another military rank. In gaming culture, such a character was called Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person, abbreviated as AFGNCAAP; a term that originated in Zork: Grand Inquisitor where it is used satirically to refer to the player. Character action games (also called character-driven games, character games or just action games) are

2009-442: The player to traverse the map multiple times during the course of the game. Weaker monsters will inhabit other parts of the level, re-spawning when the player revisits those rooms, and often can be defeated to gain health, ammunition, or experience points . Larger games generally feature save points as well as the ability to transport the player quickly between certain rooms on far sides of the map, eliminating tedious backtracking in

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2058-512: The player's abilities to be tested more rigorously throughout all of the levels. Ori and the Will of the Wisps executive producer Daniel Smith said: "I don't think people generally consider how difficult it is to make a Metroidvania game. Everything is so interconnected that if you change one aspect of the game, it's just inevitable that it's going to influence the rest". There is some opposition to

2107-421: The players of the game is fair and enjoyable, and achieving this goal can be seen as a sign of a success for a developer. Thomas Mahler of Moon Studios, who developed Ori and the Blind Forest , said that it was important to design a cohesive world with memorable settings for a Metroidvania, since "players remembering the levels is part of the core design". Large-scale development in this genre requires one change in

2156-405: The scope of what one person could do, and highlighted another take on the Castlevania and Metroid games, as well as vitalizing the 2D platformer genre as a viable indie game format. Shadow Complex (2009, Xbox 360 ) by Chair Entertainment was developed based on the premise that Super Metroid was "the pinnacle of 2D game design". The game received highly positive reviews, and remains one of

2205-409: The series returned to the more linear style of the original Castlevania . Series lead Koji Igarashi found that as they continued to produce sequels to cater to fans of the series, experienced players would race through the levels, while new players to the series would struggle with some stages. To try to make a title that would be more widely appreciated across play levels and extend the gameplay time of

2254-484: The title, Igarashi and others on his team looked toward the ideas used by The Legend of Zelda series into the development of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, PlayStation ). With Symphony of the Night , Igarashi introduced new concepts into the Castlevania series from Zelda such as a large open world to explore and the need to acquire key items to enter certain areas, elements already present in non-linear platformers like Super Metroid . However, Symphony of

2303-404: The true meaning of "Metroidvania" had become diluted, as 3D-based games can hide facets of Metroidvanias. The popularity of the Metroidvania genre is stated to be tied to the ease with which platformer games can be learned, while giving the player a character that they can grow over the course of the game. Many developers of independent Metroidvania titles cited the exploration as a core element of

2352-463: The use of the term Metroidvania, as it is derived from specific games rather than being a more direct description of gameplay. Comic Book Resources compared the use of Metroidvania to "Doom clone" in the 1990s, a term which was eventually replaced by "first person shooter" as the medium developed. Game Developer has also suggested that the term is too broad, as it encompasses a wide range of 2D and 3D games, and instead proposed "unlocking world", in

2401-482: Was developed as a first-person-perspective immersive sim but using Metroidvania level design concepts to require the player to traverse the setting multiple times as they gain additional tools and abilities. An even earlier attempt at bringing metroidvania gameplay to a first-person shooter was the console versions of the game PowerSlave in 1996 and 1997, as opposed to the more traditionally linear PC version. Igarashi described what he believed were key elements in

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