Stealth Metroidvania 'Yars Rising' Gets An Easter-Egg Packed New Trailer

We really need a new name for the genre at this point. It’s moved beyond what Metroid and Castlevania did and needs to become its own thing.

@Jireland92 "Search action" has been coined before, and is even the genre's name in japan (Tansaku-Gata Akushon). But nobody in the west is catching on that metroidvania isn't really a good long term name, especially when castlevania has gone through multiple forms of "action game"

I played alien infestation on my new 2ds xl, it will be cool if we got switch remake/port of the game, just update the game to widescreen 720p 😃

Yars rising looks okay but I'm worried about the game framerate on switch, I hope it's not 30 fps like contra galuga.

Metroidlike, in parallel to Zeldalike?

Collection Platformer?

This trailer looks much better than the last one

@Jireland92 I think it would only cause confusion to change the name at this point. Roguelikes aren't always like Rogue either, but I think roguelike is still a fine name for the genre.

I saw very little stealth and a whole lotta blastin'...

the only meaning to the name "metroidvania" is that the genre was popularized by super metroid and then castlevania: symphony of the night. that's as deep as it gets, folks! any attempt to link the genre itself deeper to those two franchises is bound to fall flat, especially as others have mentioned, the genre has evolved from there over decades.

they are side scrolling action RPGs, or action puzzle platformers, I suppose, if you'd rather. Metroid is Zelda on its side, and SOTN is Castlevania meets Metroid with additional light RPG elements. 👍

personally, I think "metroidvania" describes well the metroid and castlevania games that fit this description (its a finite number!) and possibly the games that explicitly copy those games, but others could just be called action rpgs or puzzle platformers.

On the Metroidvania/Roguelike discussion, I always find it funny when people defend calling games Metroidvanias, but the moment you call a platform fighter a "Smash clone" people are like "nuh uh it's is own thing don't compare it to Smash."

But on the game itself I am personally very much looking forward to this, Yars' Revenge is one of the best 2600 games.

@KoopaTheGamer not if you give it a name that’s a reflection of the genre. I think the reason Roguelike stuck around for so long is because nobody has come up with a better term for it yet, well that and the genre wasn’t that well known until the boon the indie scene gave it in recent years.

And it isn’t like genre names don’t change in gaming. First person shooters and platform fighters were once known as Doom clones and Smash clones. But after a while the games in that genre moved beyond those games and thus the name was changed to something more fitting and no one minded. I don’t see why the same can’t be the same for Metroidvania’s.

@Jireland92 I’ve never liked the name as it implies Castlevania added something essentially Castlevania-y to the Metroid formula moving forward that wasn’t already in Metroid (I don’t count the EXP-based leveling system, as this was not a hallmark of the Castlevania series at the time either, and chiefly associated with RPGs at the time) Konami took the Metroid gameplay and applied it to its pastiche horror world, and made some of the best games of all time, but people call Super Metroid a Metroidvania at this point and that’s just cracked.

@Samalik It's because the genre is dominated by hyper fixated speed runners who want to gate keep the genre. Can't say I blame them, but I also hate most of them, so I use Search Action just to annoy them.

@Samalik 99% of them are 2d side scrolling, so I like to use "ant-farm game". Or to include the non-side scrolling ones, " 'where do i go next' simulator"

I'm still undecided on this. I finally picked up Yars Recharged this weekend. Only played for about 20min, but that was perfect. It really is the modern version of what those old 2600 games were - simply play mechanics with perfect drop-in and play features. Just what I've been needing. I may need to invest in a new gamepad for this. Finding my trusty old 360 wired controller is starting to drift just a little. Maybe just needs a cleaning given how old it is though.

Back to Yars, I'm still not sure how this new game is supposed to connect to the shooter game. Maybe I'm missing something in the description or trailers?

Oh THERE'S the VCS logo

Put it on a disc/cart and I'll buy it!!

@Jireland92 Who cares. The term is inoffensive and everyone knows what it means.

I love 4 of the 5 Igavanias I've played (HoD was ironically unharmonious), but CV didn't contribute anything to the concept except to show that you can steal Metroid's je ne sais quoi without being lambasted for it. It added unnecessary RPG elements that served to slow down gameplay and progression away from speed running and gitting gud.

So my favored term is Metroid-like, also since people seem to love them but yet not buy the original inspiration for the genre.

@Zeebor15 How does "metroidvania" as a name gate keep the genre? Makes no sense.

@Samalik Ask a normal person what they think of when they here the name "Search Action" and what they think it means, then tell them to "Metroidvania."

It's a Costello paradox; "what is Metroidvania?" "It's a game that's like Metroid or Castlevania." "What are those like?" "They're Metroidvania." "What?"

THIRD BASE!

"Search Action" sounds like an oxymoron, and also boring. Ugh.

@Dr_Awkward Not really. It's stating the fundamentals of the game. An action game where you get more powerful through exploration and problem solving aka "searching".

It's similar to how "style action" in games like DMC and Bayonetta are action games where the player must put effort into elegantly making their own combos for the purpose of self made expressive spectacle.

Trying to overcomplicate these terms with needing to know the games it's referencing is just gonna cause problems. Even "boomer shooter" is far more descriptive than calling every 90s style shooter a "doom clone".

@Zeebor15 Ah, trolling them with circular reasoning

@Samalik yeah, style action sounds like it sucks too.

Stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen.

@Dr_Awkward well what would you call devil may cry then? There's barely any games like it and all other action games are usually DPS-optimization based rather than creativity based.

If Wayforward is reading this, please allow for custom button layouts.

Played through the demo yesterday, and it's really good! Loved the Yars Revenge hacking mini games, and it had a fun boss at the end.