Incidentally, while building up to SotN I decided it was a good idea to revisit the Metroid Series. I replayed Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission. I couldn't find my copy of Metroid II, even though I had it specifically set out not many months ago, but I finally played through Samus Returns, which I had got a couple of years ago for the 3DS. I also replayed Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. I got all the endings on the two GBA games for the first time, and did bare minimum percent runs for both of those games, which I ended up enjoying.
Besides revisiting a favorite series and finally playing the latest entry, I wanted to replay them as a preliminary step to learning more about Metroidvania in general, and to see how Symphony of the Night compared and contrasted to its counterpart series in the genre moniker. I've also read quite a few articles on a variety of popular indie games that have adopted the Metroidvania term to describe themselves, and downloaded a demo for Ori and the Blind forest (which I've since learned a few relatives have played and liked). I've been looking for a fresh gaming experience, and these games seem to fit the bill.
I've started playing one of the early indie games called Cave Story. The freeware version comes in Japanese only, and although there are unofficial translation patches, I decided to try my hand at translating the language myself. Because of that, it's artificially slow going, and I haven't really made it past the first town, but the game looks promising.
Aside from the Castlevania games, I have a host of other Metroidvanias now that I've had recommended to me which I'm eager to play through as quickly as I have capacity to. I am finding it to be a great complimentary style of game to play alongside the more intensive RPG's I've been playing, to keep me from getting burned out on any one game. I probably can (and I guess really already have) finish two or three of these in the time it takes me to get through one big console RPG, and they seem to be very engaging in their own way.
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