I've been on a Metroidvania kick lately, and even though it's a dumb word, I'm looking to catch up on some good ones I missed so I may as well throw the question to the community.

Off the top of my head I would probably have to go with Metroid Fusion, the pacing of that game is top notch.

Symphony of the Night. God knows how many times I've beat it at this point.

The last one I enjoyed was Guacamelee! on ps3. Liked it so much I'm re-playing Guacamelee! Super Turbo Edition on PC.

Metroid Prime. It is still, to this day, one of the most atmospheric and engrossing games I've ever played. Not sure how well it holds up, but I consider it the best Metroid game.

Symphony of the Night is among my all time top 5 games, so the answer is pretty obvious for me.

I also really enjoyed the GBA Castlevania titles, Shadow Complex, Dust: An Elysian Tale and, well, Super Metroid.

Still probably Symphony of the Night.

Hard to say how much my opinion is colored by nostalgia, but I have to think my answer will always be Super Metroid. The Prime series was fantastic as well.

I was finally able to play Dust when I got a PS4, and was blown away. I'd say it's my favorite non-Metroid entry in the genre. Guacamelee was fun, but relied a little too much on twitch and timing based puzzles for my taste. Axiom Verge was a fun call back to the original Metroid, but at times it was too easy to get lost, it wasn't as tight an experience as I would have hoped.

I never played the Castlevania games when they came out. I tried to get into Symphony of the Night and Dawn of Sorrow both in the past year, but just couldn't do it.

I do love games of this type. Would really like to hear more recommendations, so I have more of these games to seek out.

if we're counting Metroid without the -vania then Zero Mission was incredible.

Super Metroid for me. It's one of a handful of games that I replay once every year.

Does Batman: Arkham Asylum count? It's not 2D, of course, but the way the game is designed feels very similar to a Metroidvania.

Symphony of the Night. The original is still hard to top.

Don't you mean IGAVANIA?! (someone please kill me)

Mine has gotta be either Symphony of The Night or Metroid Fusion.

*Haven't played any Metroid game*

Dawn of Sorrow and Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition, though Guacamelee's metroidvania-ness is a little lacking. You don't get much chance to explore till very late in the game and it's largely pretty linear by genre standards. Still positively superb game, though! I enjoyed every hour I spent obtaining the platinum.

Super Metroid, easy answer. That said, Monster Tale is a really cute and fun one on the original Nintendo DS! You had to manage both the top and bottom screens as you progressed.

I just finished replaying Metroid Fusion and was absolutely blown away by the quality of that game.

I also adored Ori and the Blind Forest, definitely one of my favorite games of the year.

Castlevania: Circle of Moon is probably my favorite entry in the "Igavania" version of the genre.

It's a great genre! More metroidvanias!

Symphony of the Night will always be king IMO. Bloodstained is the only one that has a chance of surpassing it.

The heart wants to say Super Metroid, but the brain knows it's Symphony of the Night. Honourable mention goes out to Axiom Verge...One of the best in the genre in years.

Shadow Complex.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.

Metroid Fusion? I means it's good, but it's too linear for the genre. Zero Mission is way better.

Also Super Metroid. Come on. That game is so superbly designed in every way, with the possible exception of a handful of rooms in Maridia. SotN might have added some great stuff but Super Metroid really perfected the exploration, aimlessness, and item and ability gathering.

Maridia killed it for me. I never made it beyond the quicksand. That was the worst platforming ever.

Symphony of the Night for sure, honourable mentions to Circle of the Moon and Order of Ecclesia. Super Metroid and Zero Mission were great too but I ended up liking the Castlevania ones more

I really did like Shadow Complex an awful lot. I need to finish up Axiom Verge. The Castlevania DS games were all pretty great, but Dual Strike might have been the simplest and best of them all.

Super Metroid for 2D and Metroid Prime for 3D. I love SOTN and several other of the Castlevania games that took this route, but it always felt to me like those games were more Metroid than Castlevania, so I got to give Metroid the edge here.

My only real experience with them is in 3D. On that basis, Arkham Asylum trumps Metroid Prime because it makes the combat meaningful. I need to really, really get deep into Symphony of the Night, though.

Only one right answer.... Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Behind that I would put Shadow Complex a close second and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon in third.

@ezekiel: I have never had an issue with the sand in Maridia, if you're careful you'll get through it just fine. Those rooms are the ones I was referring to, though, they slow down progress in an annoying way. Still, there are only a handful of them. What were you playing it on?

@rorie: You mean Dawn of Sorrow? You said Dual Strike, I think that's Advance Wars.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Without a doubt has to be Shadow Complex for me

Metroid and Castlevania, naturally.

Favourite modern one is Valdis Story. Kinda surprised it's not mentioned here yet, but I guess it was a pretty small indie release. It has an amazing fighting system for a metroidvania. Four different characters with skill trees and very varied gear choices. Can't recommend it enough.

Favourite old one is SotN.

Symphony of the Night is my favorite but I also really liked Shadow Complex and the DS Castlevanias.

I have never finished a Metroidvania so I'm not the best person to judge these. It's not that I didn't enjoy them. I just have trouble finishing games in general nowadays. I love the portable Castlevanias. Metroid Fusion was fun but I always get stuck at one part and don't know how to progress. Shadow Complex is amazing, but aiming the gun can be annoying sometimes. I still need to play Dust and Axiom Verge. I've watched full let's plays of Cave Story and Arkham Asylum and both seemed like great games. My favorite Metroidvania would probably be Guacamelee, even though the game is damn difficult if you're trying to get every achievement.

Dark Souls! Oh fine, if you are just talking about the classic 2D formula it would be Super Metroid. Cave Story is great too.

Before my life consisted of nearly endless hours of internet access I would regularly uncover new weapons and hidden rooms for Symphony of the Night for years. I loved how willing they were to hide pretty meaty content behind the most obscure of hidden secrets, it made you convinced anything could be hidden anywhere.

Unfortunately nowadays you just google it and whip through the game in an afternoon. Before that, though, SotN felt like it would never stop drip feeding me awesome new goodies and fun toys. Honestly the game convinced me it could do damn near anything if I was just able to find it.

Either of the 'of Sorrow' Castlevanias, can't choose one over the other, the soul system and weapon variety kicks it up a notch above the others IMO.

Cave Story

Super Metroid and SoTN. They're the most prominent examples of the genre for a reason.

I actually disliked the Prime games as a kid for some reason, but I'm planning on playing through them in the near future, and kinda hope they become my new favorites as a more open-minded adult.

Ori was absolutely delightful and was what renewed my interest in Metroidvanias recently; playing through Portrait of Ruin as well and really enjoying it, though it seems to be kinda overlooked compared to the rest of the series.

The original Castlevania? I definitely wouldn't call that a metroidvania. But who knows, maybe it counts as an "Igavania"...

Anyway, probably Metroid Fusion. It's a little linear and cutsceney at times, but there's some really great stuff in that game - particularly Nightmare.

I hate how people call SOTN metroidvania. SOTN did so much more than Metroid ever did. I actually kind of prefer igavania cause Iga took castlevania and made it awesome.

Iga didn't work on any Castlevanias until SOTN (edit: he was credited on Rondo of Blood, but only in Special Thanks) so no.

I really enjoyed Shadow Complex, the way it clearly marked the items on the map so you could go back and get them all. Cool powerups to boot. Can't say it's better than SOTN though.

I actually prefer to call my platformers "Miyamotolikes", my FPSs "first-person Carmacks", and my narrative-based puzzle games "Blow 'em ups".

It's more a question of seniority in the genre, much like the subgenre roguelike, and Rogue.

My favourite is Aria of Sorrow.

I prefer Metroid to Castlevania and Super Metroid is my favorite, so it'd have to be that. Symphony of the Night is damn good though, probably second. I'd have to put Axiom Verge directly after that. I still need to play the 3d Metroids, Shadow Complex, and the handheld Castlevania stuff.

SOTN and/or Metroid Zero Mission.

Shadow Complex for me. It was my first and so far the best I've played. I tried to play SoTN on several occasions, but could never get into it. I also tried to play Super Metroid, but couldn't get into that either. I know, blasphemy. Even though it gets a lot of hate, I actually liked Mirror of Fate. I played the HD version on 360 and thought it was quite good.

I'll just go burn myself on a stake now.

Shadow Complex was an absolute blast, shame we haven't (and most likely) won't see a sequel.

Circle of the Moon or Metroid Fusion ( I got them and a GBA at the same time, it was pretty awesome), Shadow Complex and Dust are close seconds though.

Super Metroid.