Having recently immersed myself in Ori and the Blind Forest, it’s reminded me of how much I enjoy (and occasionally despise but still enjoy) metroidvania games. Of late, it’s been hard for me to turn away from action/shooter madness and open world adventures, but games of Metroid and Castlevania once ruled the roost. Various titles from both series were constantly in the Super Nintendo or PlayStation. Once I obtained a Nintendo DS, I placed a number of games on repeat, like Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid Fusion, and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon.

With the advent of 3D platfomers and more modern titles, 2D metroidvania games slowly fell by the waist side. It really wasn’t until I joined Steam in 2011 that I began to refocus on them. And by “refocus” I mean “show interest in a few key titles but never purchase them because I can’t…