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I need a history lesson: Metroidvania and Rouge-like

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Instability, Sep 3, 2014.

  1. Instability

    Instability

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    Hey guys,

    the other day someone was reminded of Metroid playing my game. I have no idea what this means, I wasn't even born! How many times have I read or heard or watched a current indie game being described as either Metroidvania or Rouge-like? My understanding is that comes from Metroid, Castlevania and Rouge. My questions are:
    • Do you have links to (as much as possible) authentic versions of the original games to play in browser or download? Where it's safe to assume the PC version is just like the NES (or whatever) original was?
    • What precisely characterisies Metroid, what Castlevania, why are they taken as one word to characterise new games? What about Rouge?
    Thanks!

     
    AndrewGrayGames likes this.
  2. c-Row

    c-Row

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    Lesson #1: It's ROGUE, not ROUGE. The latter is something you apply to your face. ;)
     
    ippdev, orb and Ryiah like this.
  3. movra

    movra

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    But don't try to apply rogue to your face, you won't live to tell the tale.


    You have to play these things, not talk about them. The correct way to play NES games:

    1) get a good old-fashioned tube TV
    2) connect a good old-fashioned NES to the TV
    3) insert a good old-fashioned cartridge of Metroid or Castlevania
    4) press the good old-fashioned power buttons
    5) most important step: no internets

    Also play this thing! http://www.nethack.org
     
  4. Instability

    Instability

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    Game idea no 16744: A sexy 80's cokaine-filled vector graphics styled neon-coloured dungeon crawler named ROUGELIKE! :cool:
     
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  5. RockoDyne

    RockoDyne

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    Nethack has been my go to roguelike for a few years now.
    http://indiestatik.com/2013/03/08/roguelike-primer/ has some other good picks, but if you really want to tumble down the rabbit hole http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

    As for Metroidvania, super metroid on the snes is a good starting off point. As for castlevania, the only one I ever really played was aria of sorrows for the GBA. It had a nice mix of RPG elements to it. I think Symphony of the night on the ps1 is supposed to be good too.
     
  6. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k

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    a game similar to rogue, permadeath, procedural level generation, turn based , grid based level and a fantasy setting. I guess roguelike usually has the first two.

    If you watch this video the first game seems closer to a rogue but people probably mean something more like binding of issac


    Metroidvania a freeroam platformer game where you can roam around the world but there's parts of the world you can't access unless you have certain items, which you can't get to later in the game
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2014
  7. Taschenschieber

    Taschenschieber

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    If you have a 3DS (or maybe a Wii, dunno), some of the original Metroid & Castlevania games are on the Virtual Console.
     
  8. AndrewGrayGames

    AndrewGrayGames

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    How did you find out what I do on the weekends!?
     
  9. kablammyman

    kablammyman

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    castlevania SOTN is the first of the series that mimicked metroid in level layout. You can get that game on XBLA and PSN for cheap. Its a good game too.

    Also, most metroid games can be bough on the virtual console.

    Do yourself a favor, and play these games. IMO, no newer games that try to replicate the feeling/design of these games do it as well.
     
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  10. Kinos141

    Kinos141

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    What precisely characterisies Metroid, what Castlevania, why are they taken as one word to characterise new games?

    Metroidvania games have interesting level design. Instead of opening new parts of a game or loading a new level, they opened the whole game from the start, but the player had to gain new abilities to be able to access those areas. Both games are loved, hence why their names were put together.

    What about Rouge?

    Rouge-like, from my understanding, is a programmatically generated level design that changes upon death, and death was permanent. There are other aspects, but those seem prominent to me.
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2014
  11. AndrewGrayGames

    AndrewGrayGames

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    Rouge is a cosmetic that is typically worn by women on the face. Roguelikes - think World of Warcraft's Rogues - have three characteristic features:

    - EXTREME difficulty
    - Random worlds
    - Perma-death
    - ...With the caveat that usually there are perks that are unlocked between playthroughs.
     
  12. Ocid

    Ocid

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    Just look around for some emulators. Plenty of them around and plenty of ROMs for them kicking around as well.
     
  13. c-Row

    c-Row

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    YouTube.
     
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  14. RockoDyne

    RockoDyne

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    Are you sure it wasn't a different kind of *tube?
    Yeah, I can't think of too many that actually do the exploring/backtracking aspect too well. Terraria is probably the closest I can think of.
     
  15. orb

    orb

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    If you can't snack on a troll to gain regeneration, it's a pretty weak roguelike.

    The most awesome classic roguelikes that aren't Rogue are Moria, NetHack and ADOM (in chronological order). Moria started the player in a town, then went on to randomly generated dungeons. NetHack is like the WikiPedia of roguelikes, where lots of people contribute their strange ideas. ADOM brought some new ideas, including a fancy character system, and expanded the land to a grand scale overland map with plenty of dungeons and a few towns, with some non-linearity to exploration.
     
  16. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    The main characteristic of a "Metroidvania" is that it is a side-scrolling maze that requires lots of back and forth to progress through. Imagine a mansion or a base, that has keys spread all over. The keys may be literal keys, but mainly it is an ability that will let you access an area that was previously blocked. The ability to jump higher, climb walls, crawl through small spaces, etc.

    Metroid on the original SNES was the first (or one of the first) games to introduce this gameplay. Castlevania: Symphony of The Night on the PS1 perfected it. The genre is called Metroidvania because the two games are considered the most iconic games in that category.

    If you have an XBox 360, Shadow Complex is a good and modern Metroidvania game.

    Very recently Guacamelee is a very popular game in the category.
     
  17. Demigiant

    Demigiant

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    Demon's Souls / Dark Souls is one hell of a Metroidvania take, minus the side-scrolling.