Useful Links
Some resources that I've found useful while making this site, as well as some external sources made by me.
The Metroidvania Review - Thorough reviews for and news about (mainly) modern games in the genre, with good breakdowns on the main aspects that fans tend to care about. Excellent site search tool!
The Metroidvania Review's Discussion Forum on Steam
Entropy Pump's Metroidvania List - A good attempt at chronologically listing and commenting on MV-style games from the early days up until today, including some forerunners to the genre. It was my main reference starting out. The blog doesn't focus only on MV games, so updates are pretty infrequent.
r/metroidvania (Discussion Forum) - The largest and most active community centered around the genre today. They also have a discord chat.
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Features Documentation - A spreadsheet I'm making to document key features in every game, from 1984 onwards. If you are looking for a brief list where you can check for a specific aspect like non-linearity, environmental storytelling, world interconnectivity, world persistence, RPG elements or dimensions & perspective, check this out. Obviously this is still a work in progress!
Worlds Unraveled - My pages on non-side view PA/MV games eventually turned into this site, covering all retro (70s-90s for now) Action Adventure and Action RPG games in the same manner as I do here.
Youtube:
Metroidvania Works - Jeremy Parish's series on the genre's history. He tends to be well-spoken and witty, and have a somewhat unusual perspective on things while also being a bit of a curmudgeon to his viewers. This and his MV site were influential in me making a site like this, partly because he updates really slowly.
Game Maker's Toolkit's Metroidvania Videos - Analytical and professionally edited videos focused on the world design of and how players progress through various standout games in the genre. I recommend checking out games that you've already beaten or played extensively.
Youtube playlists:
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Forerunners (1983-1988)
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Games Part 1: 1986-1993
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Games Part 2: 1994-2001
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Games Part 3: 2002-20XX
The Metroidvania Review - Thorough reviews for and news about (mainly) modern games in the genre, with good breakdowns on the main aspects that fans tend to care about. Excellent site search tool!
The Metroidvania Review's Discussion Forum on Steam
Entropy Pump's Metroidvania List - A good attempt at chronologically listing and commenting on MV-style games from the early days up until today, including some forerunners to the genre. It was my main reference starting out. The blog doesn't focus only on MV games, so updates are pretty infrequent.
r/metroidvania (Discussion Forum) - The largest and most active community centered around the genre today. They also have a discord chat.
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Features Documentation - A spreadsheet I'm making to document key features in every game, from 1984 onwards. If you are looking for a brief list where you can check for a specific aspect like non-linearity, environmental storytelling, world interconnectivity, world persistence, RPG elements or dimensions & perspective, check this out. Obviously this is still a work in progress!
Worlds Unraveled - My pages on non-side view PA/MV games eventually turned into this site, covering all retro (70s-90s for now) Action Adventure and Action RPG games in the same manner as I do here.
Youtube:
Metroidvania Works - Jeremy Parish's series on the genre's history. He tends to be well-spoken and witty, and have a somewhat unusual perspective on things while also being a bit of a curmudgeon to his viewers. This and his MV site were influential in me making a site like this, partly because he updates really slowly.
Game Maker's Toolkit's Metroidvania Videos - Analytical and professionally edited videos focused on the world design of and how players progress through various standout games in the genre. I recommend checking out games that you've already beaten or played extensively.
Youtube playlists:
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Forerunners (1983-1988)
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Games Part 1: 1986-1993
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Games Part 2: 1994-2001
Metroidvania/Platform Adventure Games Part 3: 2002-20XX