When You’re a Young Kid, Your Whole Life is a Metroidvania
Life Imitates Video Games: Polygoing Off
English - February 16, 2017 05:19 - 42 minutes - 39.7 MB - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsVideo Games Leisure Society & Culture Personal Journals Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
As a kid, the world is full of items you can't reach and places you can't access. Like Samus. Life is a Metroidvania, especially in the early years.
Life is a Metroidvania
As a kid, the world is full of items you can’t reach and places you can’t access. Like Samus. Life is a Metroidvania, especially in the early years.
This episode draws parallels between young kids hitting milestones and gamers progressing through these quest-laden classics. Learning to crawl is like acquiring the Morph Ball. Also, figuring out how to open a childproof latch is a metaphorical key item.
In addition to connecting dots, I do a quick breakdown of the term “Metroidvania” and wax nostalgic about some favorites from the NES era.
Episode Summary
Intro and greeting (01:03)
Don’t worry; this is not an episode about parenting (01:32)
“Metroidvania” is a portmanteau. What’s a portmanteau? (06:08)
A pseudo-history of the Metroidvania (06:58)
Oddly, the original Castlevania was not a Metroidvania. Conversely, were Zelda and Metal Gear? (13:07)
So … life is a Metroidvania for a little kid, how? (18:14)
SWS: Amazon Echo, my voice-controlled best friend music player (29:16)
And finally, a call for feedback and the closing (40:37)
References
Some general info on Metroid (1987, NES)
Some general info on Castlevania (1987, NES)
Also, general info on Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1988, NES)
Amazon Echo ($179) and the Echo Dot ($49)