Post

a while back someone posted a video of awards for Metroidvania games and I was like hey, I should watch this and get ideas for my next search-action games to play for my list (list here: medium.com/@RowanKaiser...)

but they opened it up by saying that their all-time favorite was Hollow Knight and that's just so far from the way I think about what I like in this these that I just stopped watching. like almost every much-loved search-action game I bounce off of is a Soulsyvania. Just doesn't seem to work for me

which makes me think that there's really three different interacting subcategories, the Soulsyvania, the METROIDvania, and the MetroidVANIA and I'm very much a partisan of the latter

Castlevania-style games have a sense of fun and playfulness that Metroid-style games don't have. Like there's challenges in SOTN but a lot is just having the ability to mess around and do dumb useless things. Also if you haven't please check out Team Ladybug games. They capture that idea so well

Might be time for me to play Super Metroid again (for the sixth attempt? seventh?) to see if I can figure out how to put this into words. Or if there even is a "this" to put into words at all

A few people are saying that Castlevania has RPG systems and Metroid doesn't and yes that is a thing but what I'm looking for here is FEEL. A Castlevania game (classic) tends to feel like it has somewhat more constrained movement and combat. you're checking frames for swings, or pixels for jumps

there is, perhaps, an element of awkwardness that exists that you as the player are consistently fighting against. Learning how to turn that big sword swing arc from a liability into a benefit, for example, is a big part of the Castlevania experience

Have you tried Zero Mission?

I have not, I always try to go back to the NES original instead, but maybe it's worth it for the Feel

I thought it was the more RPG-like equipment system that accentuated the Vania

Numbers go up and getting to customize your gear are the differences between super Metroid and sotn basically

I have always felt part of it boils down to Metroid-leaning games having permanent upgrades and abilities as the primary progression, while Castlevania-leaning ones have permanent systems *plus* choice-based RPG/equipment mechanics. The extra personalisation/dabbling is the line for me, as a player