When Metroid first hit shelves in 1987, the Nintendo game about an alien-killing bounty hunter felt like nothing else. Set on an eerie, alien world, it eschewed the poppy optimism of most ‘80s games ...

Since this franchise title makes up one half of the inspiration for the genre term “metroidvania,” you probably already know what a typical 2D Metroid game looks like, but I’ll break it down anyway.