It makes for a solid take on the genre (that’s a bit heavy on sleazy fanservice at times), and a pretty decent introduction to the basic concepts that underscore the metroidvania genre. The action revolves around guns, swords and even her own disused genie lamp, which gives the game a pleasantly familiar vibe for anyone who’s spent much time dabbling in the metroidvania genre. Unlike in the other games, she doesn’t have access to her magical genie powers here instead of making use of enchanting dances and animal transformations, Shantae instead makes use of pirate tools - which is to say, weapons. The eponymous heroine destroys bad guys with her mighty ponytail and earns new skills. In particular, hunting for the myriad hidden secrets scattered about the world involves a considerable deal of wandering around and scouring old haunts.Īs with Shantae’s other adventures, Pirate’s Curse has a brisk, light-hearted feel. That said, each of the standalone areas involves a great deal of exploration, backtracking and discovery, so it undeniably has a metroidvania feel about it.
#Super metroid lost caves map series#
The third Shantae ditches the interconnected world in favor of a series of individual stages linked by an overworld map. It’s less of a pure metroidvania than its predecessors, but it’s also marvelously refined. The third entry - Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, which debuted on Nintendo 3DS before trickling out to other platforms - strikes an ideal balance of those two traits. Each of its sequels has progressively ironed out those flaws, though some of the original’s reckless glee has been lost along the way. The Shantae series began life on Game Boy Color as a lighthearted platformer in the vein of Wonder Boy III, exuberant but undeniably flawed. Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (3DS/PS4/Steam/Switch/Wii U/Xbox One, 2014) Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse WayForward 12. The ground rules for this list: Indie-published two-dimensional platformers published after Order of Ecclesia (e.g. But which one is best? Let’s make it official. And some of them have been extraordinary - as good as, if not better than, many of the games that inspired them. Metroidvania-inspired platformers rank up there with roguelike (or roguelike-like) procedural games as some of the most popular among aspiring indies. Thankfully, we’ve had no shortage of indie developers eager to jump in and fill the double-jump-boot-shaped hole in our hearts. but let’s be honest, a decade and change is a long time to go between fixes. The lead creative mind behind the metroidvania line, Koji Igarashi, will be delivering a spiritual follow-up next year in the form of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Shockingly enough, it’s been 10 years since the release of the last of these, 2008’s Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. The latter-day Castlevania games, of course, were the “true” metroidvanias - that is to say, Castlevania games that borrowed liberally from Metroid’s style. When someone says “metroidvania,” you know exactly what they mean: A 2D platformer based around exploration and character progression, built in the style of Metroid and the latter-day Castlevania games. “Metroidvania” may be an irritating word that sends many people into paroxysms of rage, but that doesn’t make it any less useful a word.
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