Nah this is miles better.

It's bloody good , isn't it?

Lucky to have played it back in the day.  What I don't like about Super Metroid is that it fucked up Castlevania which has tried to copy its template ever since.

Circle of the Moon was great too.

hunk wrote:

Disagreed. Symphony of the knight is one of the best examples of the genre yet. It adds an rpg overlay to super metroid's exploration template. One that has been reused recently in From Software's Dark Souls series.

SotN also gets a bad rep for being a copy of the Metroid formula IMO. It has obvious similarities but the best aspects of it are all its own.

davyK wrote:

It's bloody good , isn't it? Lucky to have played it back in the day.  What I don't like about Super Metroid is that it fucked up Castlevania which has tried to copy its template ever since.

Super Metroid created the formula, the Castlevania series perfected it.

I wouldn’t say it fucked up the series, anything but however the pinnacle of the franchise is Order of Ecclesia which is a sublime blend of the traditional Castlevania formula and the Metroidvania structure.

I've still never played a Castlevania.  But Dawn of Sorrow and Lord of Shadow are now staring at me...

acemuzzy wrote:

I've still never played a Castlevania.  But Dawn of Sorrow and Lord of Shadow are now staring at me...

Both are great. Enjoy.

Super Metroid is untouchable and you can all stop this silliness right now.

They're just very different beasts, once you get beyond the basic thing of an open area with bits that are barred off till later.

The level design in SM is far more intricate - every screen serves a purpose - and it's more skill based, especially when you want to collect all the extra bits and bobs.

SOTN is brilliant for exploring and constantly rewards you with new gear, areas and enemies. I also like that it's a bit rough around the edges, and almost doesn't give a fuck what order you do things in later on, while later Vanias of that sort are too streamlined.

Both fantastic, and among my favourite games, although I had SM in my top 10 and SOTN just outside it.

Ori in the Blind Forest is a Metroidvania of sorts, and it would would definitely be in my top 10.  It's light on exploration though - despite areas being off-limits while you wait for ability unlocks, you rarely (if ever) stumble on a head scratchy progression moment.  It's more of a skills based platformer with a Metroid-lite template and kinda linear adventuring - probably why I like it so much.  SM had more of the 'okay I'm stumped' feeling you might get from a point and click, which is one of the main reasons I've always bounced off it.

B says I need to play Ori after Super Metroid, I just don't really like the look of it.

Played a couple of the gba / ds Castlevania's, never tried SotN so can't really compare.

I'm close to the end game in Super Metroid now, am just in a room with 3 enemies that give out the small energy recharge balls, as I was almost out. Takes ages and my hand still hurts, maybe the 3DS isn't that great after all for Snes games, as the dpad is so low. Think 2 energy tanks and maybe 1 ammo upgrade is all that I've left.

This game is so full of atmosphere, and it's different than in any Castlevania I've played. You're on your own, in a world that you don't know. You've no idea which part of the environment might hurt you, what will be ok to just walk through. Some enemies are there just to annoy you, some hurt you, there are enemies that don't pay attention to you at all, are just doing their own thing. You need to learn all this, learn to be in that world while trying to make your way to who knows what. Feels very Alien to me, in a good way.

Only the other day, while backtracking for power ups, I realized that
I love it, and I think DS is right.

hunk wrote:

Disagreed. Symphony of the knight is one of the best examples of the genre yet. It adds an rpg overlay to super metroid's exploration template. One that has been reused recently in From Software's Dark Souls series.

You have no idea how much a crushing disappointment SOTN was to me. I always loved the tightly focussed linear experience of Castlevania and when I started playing this and saw all that bolted on RPG related stuff/guff my heart sank. To turn such a tight game into a bloody run-of-the-mill-that-everyone-else-does-explorathon was a sin.

It got a shit PAL port as well on PS1 which didn't help as it played with huge borders - even larger than usual - but I would have ignored that if I had liked it.

I nearly wet myself when I found it pre-owned in GAME for £12 with the soundtrack and artbook in immaculate condition. I really tried to like it. But it just gathered dust on my shelf until I offloaded it a couple of years ago after several attempts at playing it.  Then the series jumped to the GBA - a platform I despised because I couldn't see the screen. That was the end of it for me. By the time the SP came around I had lost all interest.

I have a GBA player for my Gamecube. Have an SP too. I suppose I could give one of them a try.

Just bought this for $2.50 on vita

There aren't that many games using the metroid vania template. There's a reason for this, it's hard to implement right and it takes a lot of work. Hell, even dark souls got toned down level designs after the first game; designing interlinking worlds is hard and it's even harder in 3d.

Metroidvania games are adventure exploration games, not arcade games. You have to be in the right mindset to tackle them. They are not arcade style experiences, jump in jump out for a quick fix. It's more like zelda without the fixed overhead view. Go in expecting an arcade game and you'll be dissapointed yeah.