Workshopping Metroidvania

Suggested during the recent bombcast it was suggested to workshop a new name / term for Metroidvania games... I dont necessarily have a new name for the concept but ive got a new term...

Abilikey - an ability that allows you to progress further into the game by bypassing a previously unpassable barrier / obstacle.

Boom. Minds blown.

I'd be happy if people just said:

"Yo, it's like Metroid!"

So I could then say:

"Good, there aren't enough of those. Take my money!"

The Castlevania spoonerism doesn't necessarily help because then I have to assume it has some rudimentary loot and a relatively transparent RPG-esque levelling system, which was only really a Castlevania thing after SotN. You could argue games like Guacamelee and Shadow Complex had those, but it wasn't quite the same thing.

I never really got the vania part of the metroidvania term. I feel like lumping castlevania in this makes it seem like a metroidvania should have some sort of drop loot system beyond health and ammo pickups. Having not played a pre sotn castlevania game i may be wrong but i didnt think they had any sort of "unlocking areas with abilities". And since the term metroidvania doesnt imply a loot system (the one thing the castlevania side brings to the table) I feel that the genre should just be called Metroid.

Metroidvania is commonly accepted and works just fine, even if it threatens to give Jeff a seizure any time he's forced to say it.

Just call them Roguelikes

I think they like to add -"vania" just because SOTN did the Super Metroid thing so well, but Metroid's still the original even though it's become standard for Castlevania.

There's really nothing "metroidvania" says that "metroid-like" doesn't already say. I think people keep using it just because they like the sound.

I don't know, AGE - Ability Gated Exploration?

YouShallNotPassWithoutSuperMissleslike

Open world side-scroller?

@oraknabo: But Castlevania hasn't even really used the Metroid framework in quite some time. I don't really care one way or another, but it does seem more pointless than ever.

@theht: But it's not really an open world.

And people forget that Simon's Quest was a Metroidvania title, it may have become standard with SotN, but it didn't start there.

I'm fine with the phrase. If Roguelike works, so does Metroidvania.

@zeik: Yeah, I guess "standard" was the wrong word to use there.

I don't think we understand what a roguelike is if some of us intend to call it that.

exploraction

@xolare: I think the only person that said that was making a joke.

Castleoid

@asurg: when I saw the title of the thread, I thought about it for a second and came in to say "abilikeys", you've simultaneously made me so sad and so happy.

I get Jeff feeling like we could do better, but I feel like we've all become too accustomed to the MetroidVania name. Just leave it as is, it may not always be an entirely accurate description of a game, but it gives you a good enough idea of what to expect from it.

Boom. its a Rougelike cause you die. I was playing some Counterstrike the other day. Its my favorite Contra-Like (game with guns)

I wish all games writers/people would stop saying -like anything. Its not that hard to use like two sentences to describe a game other than one word. I have the extra 30 seconds. Tell me about this game. that said i stand by Contra-like.

Those are both my favorite types of ponglikes.

@tomorrowman: I salute you brother. Abilikeys... need to go add a new concept page.

An item-access game. Item-gated.

Action / exploration.

I don't know...

@asurg said:

Fuck...that's actually pretty good...