Metroidvania

Metroidvania or Castleroid is a portmanteau name of the games that inspired the genre.

Metroidvanias have interconnected maps with locked doors and/or other obstacles blocking access to some parts of the world map. Special items, tools, weapons, or abilities are used to gain access to restricted areas and may also be used to locate shortcuts and secret locations. The careful design of levels and character controls encourage exploration and experimentation, and returning to earlier parts of the game to progress is practically genre defining.

Related genres with their own pages
	Action Adventure
	Platformer

History:

• July 18 2010, First proposed as a genre. Declined due to a lack of prominence within the gaming community at the time.
• July 27 2017, A poll was held. Not enough interest with the VGG community at the time.
• August 29 2020, A second poll was held. Added to the database.