Call me insane but I believe I invented the "metroidvania" genre as a kid...even before I knew of Metroid.

[pixeltroid]

Call me insane but I believe I invented the "metroidvania" genre as a kid...even before I knew of Metroid. Here's my story: as a kid, the only console I owned was a Nintendo Gameboy (the original white brick version). My first 2 games were "Super Marioland 2" and "Legend of Zelda: links awakening". With SML2 I liked the platformer format but after playing LoZ:LA, I realized how linear and basic its level layouts were. With LoZ:LA I loved the exploration and item collecting but disliked the 4 directional movement, mainly because the combat was not fun IMO.

I began to wish there was a Mario game with the complexities of the Zelda game. So I visualized a a Zelda-esque Mario platformer complete with complex levels, special items and secrets and what not. I "designed" some of the game in a notebook over a few months. It was basically a platformer version of Zelda. I bet If that game were to be made today, it would be considered a metroidvania. So even though Super Metroid was already out, I believe in my heart that I invented the metroidvania genre on my own, using my own reasoning. But then again, I just had the idea (and I'm sure many others had the same idea). But somebody else came up with the idea and most importantly, implemented it before me.

Thank you for reading all of this.

 

[TsukaYuriko]

Ah, so you're the one to blame for Zelda 2.

 

[K12gamer]

5 Years before the Nintendo SWITCH came out...I posted on a game forum that Nintendo should release a Handheld game console that could also connect to TVs.
Everyone on the forum said it was a dumb idea that would never work.
Oh, how wrong they were.

 

[nacho_chicken]

Call me insane but I believe I invented the "metroidvania" genre as a kid...even before I knew of Metroid. Here's my story: as a kid, the only console I owned was a Nintendo Gameboy (the original white brick version). My first 2 games were "Super Marioland 2" and "Legend of Zelda: links awakening". With SML2 I liked the platformer format but after playing LoZ:LA, I realized how linear and basic its level layouts were. With LoZ:LA I loved the exploration and item collecting but disliked the 4 directional movement, mainly because the combat was not fun IMO.

I began to wish there was a Mario game with the complexities of the Zelda game. So I visualized a a Zelda-esque Mario platformer complete with complex levels, special items and secrets and what not. I "designed" some of the game in a notebook over a few months. It was basically a platformer version of Zelda. I bet If that game were to be made today, it would be considered a metroidvania. So even though Super Metroid was already out, I believe in my heart that I invented the metroidvania genre on my own, using my own reasoning. But then again, I just had the idea (and I'm sure many others had the same idea). But somebody else came up with the idea and most importantly, implemented it before me.

Thank you for reading all of this.

Metroid 2 was already out for the Game Boy for well over a year before the first games you played were. Someone took your ideas before you even had them

Speaking of, Metroid 2 GB is fantastic, and you should play it if you haven't. Spectacular atmosphere. If it had an in-game map and Nintendo released the planned Metroid 2 colorization, I'd daresay people would rank it up with Super Metroid as one of the best in the series.

 

[pixeltroid]

Metroid 2 was already out for the Game Boy for well over a year before the first games you played were. Someone took your ideas before you even had them

Of course, someone else had the idea before me. I'm just saying I came up with the idea of a metroidvania on my own before I knew about that genre.

I got Metroid 2 for the GB much later (I still have the cartridge and the manual). But it was nothing like the game I was designing in my head. The reason is that Metroid 2 is very different from Super Metroid and the typical "metroidvania" games that came later. Metroid 2, while being open world, is pretty much linear. You just go from one area to the next, finding metroids to kill. There's also the fact that you find all the items you need along the way, so there's very little backtracking from one zone to another (as was the case in Zelda and metroidvanias). The element of coming across a mysterious inaccessible area and then coming back to it when you find the right item is completely missing. You can still "explore" the maze like areas to find metroids, additional health tanks and missiles, but that's about it.

 

[Gamebot]

There are lots of times when I'm like wouldn't that be a cool game if....picks out name too then big company six months later is like ta dah look we did. Same game same name ( My Idea ). Im gonna sue as soon as I get enough money to. ( Which will never happen )

 

[ElectroMan]

People don't know this but I once messaged Notch about a creation-oriented game fully populated by cubes back in '06. True story.

 

[Evanski]

I made a game about 3 minutes where you needed to solve a mystery of why their was a bomb in town and after 3 minutes the game would restart in an infinite loop

THEN THEIRS THIS GAME!

 

[Rob]

I invented the "open world" genre. Way back when Link to the Past was released on SNES, I would pretend I was some kind of Robin Hood-esque figure, running around and killing soldiers, collecting the loot and retreating to my "base".
I also realised how "limited" that game was, because I couldn't just do whatever I wanted and go off and be an outlaw or whatever my tiny mind was imagining.

I also invented another "genre" but I'm not sure what to call it! I used to play with plasticine, and I had the HeroQuest board game, so I used to pretend the orcs and goblins were trying to live their lives in the dungeon, and they were all basically "adventurers" who could meet other creatures and interact with them, buy stuff etc.

We're both idea-man-gods, clearly.

 

[Nocturne]

You'll never believe this but... I INVENTED PONG!

As a kid (before the Atari console even existed, yes I am that old!) I'd bounce a ball against a wall and see how many times I could hit it before I missed and the ball escaped behind me!!!!

 

[Joe]

You're insane.