What Makes a Great Metroidvania?

I just pirated Hollow Knight (Got it from a friend) and played it for a few hours. I absolutely LOVE it. And I've never played games like these before. I've mostly played 3D open world games like Far Cry 3 & 4 and Fallout 3 & 4, so this is a completely new genre for me. I was skeptical at first but Hollow Knight completely blew my mind. Needless to say, I've bought the game now. I'll gladly support good game developers who just want to make good games.

hollow knight didn't make you're 2017 top 50 games list

Looks like a new metroidvania is coming…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3yTZCrX2h0

tweeter: https://twitter.com/DeepEnigmaTheG1

Dark Souls only rewards combat. It doesn't have any exploration focused power ups and and even items are mostly either dropped by enemies or bought with the currency you get from combat.
Why do people act like they know shit about game genress nowadays?

What I’m missing here is not just “gear gating”, but the way you replay areas when you have new skills, and especially how you have to remember what areas were once locked or otherwise inaccessible to you as a player. Getting a new skill not only means “ooh i can do new stuff now”, but through level design it becomes “ohh i think i know where i can apply this new stuff now”

Good video, but I'm not quite sure I understand the difference between Metroidvania and "modern Metroidvania" (or even why they're called "Metroidvania" and not simply "Metroid-like" or whatever).

1:15 "i wasnt supposed to BEE"

im not sorry

Metroid is my favorite game series.

Not a single second of Shantae? Are you kidding me?

Name of the Game in 0:17 ?

1:15 fuckin god dammit I hate everything

My fav metroidvanias are Spider-man web of shadows and shattered dimensions on ds

Wow watching this video just reminded me of how much I love video games. Pretty easy to feel overly cynical about the game industry these days.

What game is that at 0:17?

I actually believe that the term "metroidvania" is everything you said (because it's the METROID part) plus the RPG elements (the VANIA part): lots of items to collect, levelling up, etc.

The VANIA part is what missing on most of the games mentioned.

"Hello Knight"???

What do you mean Mantis Lords were one ofthe hardest boss fights in the game?

arkham asylum is my favorite metroidvania

Dark Souls is not a Metroidvania. It's far more like the first Legend of Zelda, where you have multiple objectives to complete, and then new objectives open up. The critical thing about Metroid is, as you said, "gear gating", so like, you need the high jump ability to get past a certain platforming challenge and into a new area. Dark Souls doesn't have that at all. Same goes for Bloodborne. Oh, yeah, and Rogue Legacy is a Roguelike. Absolutely no gear gating in that one either, and the world changes every time you die anyway.

I love Metroidvania, Symphony of the Night and Hollow Knight are some of my fav games of all time,
but I had tried and tried and could not get into any Metroid games , I want to like it or at least finish one but would never get that into it.

I love always prefer sword over guns.

There have been 3 games that I've played that rise high above any game I have ever played. The first one is Cave Story, the second is the Mother series (I'm counting the whole series as one thing. I never play them separately), and the third being the most recent, Hollow Knight. Never have I played games this enchanting, full of wonder and potential, beautiful music, appealing visuals, amazing story, splendid gameplay, and everything to make a game great. When I got Cave Story, that was the point my skill in platformers starting increasing rapidly. Especially after Beating Ballos. That was in 5th grade. I now have Regional records from NES Remix 3ds, and beat Cave Story on hard mode. My best feats to date. Earthbound was just lightning in a bottle. It gave me a better appreciation on life, and further tightened my grip on my childhood. Just like ponyboy from the outsiders, I'll stay gold. Hollow Knight is the best damn medroidvania I've ever seen and played. So much to do and find. There so much extra stuff that you can beat the game with only 8% completion. I spent hours straight playing this game. I absolutely love it's art style. It's both simplistic, yet detailed. In legend of Zelda games, you have to find heart pieces, yet finding them is way to time consuming. In Hollow Knight, you can go find grubs. They are easier to find, but still fairly difficult. Some are really hidden, and it's fixed with a map showing their locations if you beat a certain boss. I spent my time looking in every nook and cranny not so I can find things necessary, but because I wanted to explore. No other game ever gave me this wonder and curiosity. It's a whole world to explore. And you don't feel like missing out on anything. Once you get a new item, it just adds more things that you couldn't do. Not because you need it, but because it feels like a natural discovery that you are gifted with for exploring. And the lore, amazing. So many secrets to uncover, or ones left to theorize. Never stop being curious in this world, because that is what let's us move forward.

i get triggered when ever someone compares hollow knight or dark souls to any game out there
it just falsely put those games at the same level
people who pretend to be "gamers" really need to stop doing that

Everyone should play Iconoclasts, it's an amazing metroidvania with a great storyline

My first 'Metroidvania' was Metroid. I don't know why this term 'Metroidvania' is what it is. Metroid has always been 'Metroidvania' while only a few Castlevania games are 'Metroidvania'. Symphony of the Night is probably one of my favorite games of all time and I've been a fan of Castlevania and Metroid since the 80's. I suppose Metroidvania is easier to say than, "Games like all Metroids and some Castlevania games".