But in recent years, players have rediscovered the genre’s unique appeal. While Metroidvanias remain beloved and acclaimed by many players, they fell out of favor for years as processing power outgrew the need for artificial game-lengthening gimmicks. This particular version of backtracking has spun into its own gaming subgenre, known as Metroidvania the portmanteau comes from what’s considered to be the conceit’s originators: Metroid and Castlevania, a Konami series that also began in the 1980s. Requiring Mario to re-nter the same levels multiple times to complete different goals in Super Mario 64 is one example of this another is the 2D action-adventure game formula of sending you to one side of the map, then giving you a power up there that you must use on the opposite side in order to finally open a new area, and having you repeat this process over and over.
Back then, games meant to tell longer stories over larger areas couldn’t fit on the standard cartridge, so tricks were used to stretch out the playtime as much as possible. In the early days of video game development, backtracking was one of the tricks developers used to get the most out of limited hardware. Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.
