Metroid wasn’t first. Games like Pitfall II and Montezuma’s Revenge predate it.
As for the “Metroidvania” name, originally it just applied to Castlevania games in the Metroid mould (particularly in the GBA/DS days when there were a tonne of them) but people just started applying it to the entire genre. It was always a terrible name.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on PS1 revitalized the genre so much, I think it’s fair that it took on half the genre name. Modern metroidvanias are as much SOTN as Metroid.
I never understood why they call this genre Metroidvania. Metroid definitely came first right? Why isn’t it just Metroid-like?
Super Metroid + SOTN
Metroid wasn’t first. Games like Pitfall II and Montezuma’s Revenge predate it.
As for the “Metroidvania” name, originally it just applied to Castlevania games in the Metroid mould (particularly in the GBA/DS days when there were a tonne of them) but people just started applying it to the entire genre. It was always a terrible name.
Neither of those are Metroidvanias. Montezuma’s Revenge isn’t one big interconnected world and they both lack ability-based progression.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on PS1 revitalized the genre so much, I think it’s fair that it took on half the genre name. Modern metroidvanias are as much SOTN as Metroid.