• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Furukawa Speaks! We discuss the announcement of the Nintendo Switch Successor and our June Direct Predictions on the new episode of the Famiboards Discussion Club! Check it out here!

Discussion I hope the potential success of Metroid Dread inspires more AAA Metroidvania games

Hero of Hyrule

Hero of Hyrule

Frieren the Slayer
Pronouns
He/Him
I love this style of game design, and I love just how much smaller indie developers have done with it, and in the process delivered some of the best designed games of all time. I fucking love that.

But playing a full fledged AAA 2D Metroidvania game in Dread makes me hope that, in addition to us getting more of these amazing Metroidvania games from indie and smaller developers, we also start to get more AAA ones as well. I want to see more of the bigger developers try to tackle this genre, and bring things that are more unique to AAA style games to the genre. Dread already does it, and this helps it stand out in the genre; but there are so many AAA developers, each with their own unique sensibilities and strengths, and I would love to see their spins on the genre.

What are your thoughts?
 
Kinda wanna see a decent budget 2D/Sidescroller Castlevania game again. But that aside yeah i hope some bigger studios give the genre a shot again. Theres most certainly demand for it.
 
there will probably be plenty of 3D ones (if you want to count Dark Souls-style games and Jedi Fallen Order)

2D? doubt it
 
0
It wont,it had a team of around 250 and 4 year of development,too big for indies and large studios dont want to work on 2d games for some reason
 
0
Things dreams are made of @Phantom Thief but as others have said , it might be a huge undertaking for Indies studios and bigger studios are more focused on the AAA cake so the chance are slim...a man can dream though, Dread is pure bliss
 
0
I am doubtful. The success of Mario doesn't even inspire AAA devs to make more platformers. There are entire genres publishers and devs concede to Nintendo while they battle it out in crowded genres like shooters and battle royales.
 
0
More than 4 million would be a miracle for Dread and I don't think those are the kind of sales that inspire AAA companies, unfortunately.
 
Triple AAA 2D Metroidvania games sound like a waste of money and resources for everyone. Just limiting yourself and too much risk
 
0
HK-47 said:
I’ll take the indies to be honest. including indies funded by a bigger publisher like Ori.

Also not sure even Dread counts as AAA.
Click to expand...
Dread is definitely AAA. MercurySteam and Nintendo have made a fantastic game here too.
 
HK-47 said:
We know the budget?
Click to expand...
I mean we don’t really know the budget for most games, but it’s easy to tell a AAA one from a non AAA one.

Dread is absolutely AAA. It’s a 2D AAA game which I think is the point of contention that throws people off. But it is AAA.
 
0
I don't think Dread is a AAA title. I doubt the budget for the game and marketing was massive like something in the vein of Mario or Zelda.

Prime 4 will absolutely be the AAA title though.
 
HK-47 said:
I’ll take the indies to be honest. including indies funded by a bigger publisher like Ori.

Also not sure even Dread counts as AAA.
Click to expand...
Of course Metroid Dread is a AAA game.

AAA games are "meant to be a game development company's best work and provide a high quality video game experience--comparable to a summer blockbuster."
 
I don't see many AAA companies investing in 2D Metroidvanias, but I think AAA 3D Metroidvanias may become more popular soon. Depending on how good Prime 4 is received, that might accelerate the process.

I don't think Dread will have anything to do with it though
 
0
bellydrum said:
Of course Metroid Dread is a AAA game.

AAA games are "meant to be a game development company's best work and provide a high quality video game experience--comparable to a summer blockbuster."
Click to expand...
That is not what AAA means. AAA is a budget thing that gamers decided meant something about quality. I don’t think Nintendo sank AAA levels of money into Dread, even including its marketing.

And it not being AAA means nothing except in relation to sales expectations and other financial considerations.
 
Yeah, stuff like Mario/Pokemon/Zelda/Smash/AC is AAA Nintendo stuff.

Metroid is kind of b-tier. They've certainly rolled out the red carpet for Dread, which is great, and the game will probably perform better than any in the series has to date, but... top-tier Nintendo echelon it is not. Not in terms of quality, just in terms of budget and commercial performance and such.

As for the topic, outside of Metroid and Castlevania, I'd be hard-pressed to expect much out of non-indie metroidvanias. And even Castlevania is a bit of a pipe dream these days. So I guess just Metroid for now. But the success of Dread and a steady developer like MercurySteam will presumably keep this series afloat at least, which is more than can usually be said for the IP.
 
0
HK-47 said:
That is not what AAA means. AAA is a budget thing that gamers decided meant something about quality. I don’t think Nintendo sank AAA levels of money into Dread, even including its marketing.

And it not being AAA means nothing except in relation to sales expectations and other financial considerations.
Click to expand...
I understand what AAA means—thank you.

It's an informal term that, by definition, has no formally agreed-upon meaning. So arguing that "Dread doesn't count as AAA" is pointless.

The OP is operating on the axiom that Metroid Dread is a AAA game. There's really nothing to debate that isn't off-topic. I'd rather we get back to the OP's point.
 
0
Moltres006 said:
Wasn't that new Oddworld like $50 bucks at launch?
How was that game?
Click to expand...

I haven't played it but I recall the general reception being "It's more Oddworld". I don't think it was particularly remarkable. It has a 66 on Metacritic if you care.
 
0
Even ignoring definitions of “AAA” and other factors , I just don’t really have the imagination to consider who would be in the market for either reviving an existing metroidvania they have in their portfolio or even more so doing the undertaking of making a new IP metroidvania . my only thoughts are konami obviously bringing back castlevania and there who knows what the budget will look like . my other thought is Microsoft may be willing to take the risk considering the general desire for variety on gamepass . But in that case i think for many on the outside looking in the metroidvania genre looks pretty well served by indies and with very few avenues for being presented as “big budget” and a blockbuster title for their line up . But then again we just this year saw a “big budget” narrative drive roguelike so who knows maybe Sony puts out a metroidvania next.
 
0
Completely agree. Yes there’s 3D games that have Metroidvania elements, but there’s so much more potential for games to stand alongside Prime
 
0
Metroid was definitely AAA during the Gamecube and Wii days. The expression AAA was a thing since gen 6, Metroid was definitely treated as a major release for Nintendo. It probably was expensive to make as well

At this point the term is pretty meaningless since now we have so called AAAA games. Games in general keep being more expensive to make, so now you have certain developers that are locked out of making AAA games since they are simply not spending the money on some of the most expensive aspects such as actors, cg cutscenes/movies, 3d artists, etc. So that’s why so many people consider almost every Nintendo game to not be AAA since they mostly never seem to include the stuff that is usually associated with “good production values”. Meanwhile back then, since we didn’t have an exact amount for a game to be considered AAA, that’s why a lot of people interpreted the term to be relative of quality or relevance. I’m pretty sure back then Ubisoft considered Rayman to be AAA alongside Prince of Persia and their Tom Clancy stuff.

I’m not sure who could even make a 2D game with the scale of Dread, the genre is already oversaturated by indies and one of the reasons why Dread works is that it’s a long awaited sequel in a series with a very strong legacy. The only series that could do something similar is Castlevania but Konami would probably never do this. Overall I do hope that Dread serves as a reminder to devs that in adventure games, it’s nice to have a progression system that’s about gaining new abilities instead of settling with stuff like simple leveling systems and skill trees that are usually about very small percentage increments for your stats
 
0
Vito said:
Give me a new Metroidvania Castlevania damn it.
Click to expand...
You play Bloodstained? It's pretty solid. You also got games like Ender Lilies and Timespinner taking up the Igavania torch.

In any case, there are rumors that we may be getting more Castlevania in the future so there's that.
 
Pascal said:
You play Bloodstained? It's pretty solid. You also got games like Ender Lilies and Timespinner taking up the Igavania torch.

In any case, there are rumors that we may be getting more Castlevania in the future so there's that.
Click to expand...
I did play Bloodstained but sadly didn't like the world/aesthetic. The art style and monster design are awful.
 
0
Pascal said:
You play Bloodstained? It's pretty solid. You also got games like Ender Lilies and Timespinner taking up the Igavania torch.

In any case, there are rumors that we may be getting more Castlevania in the future so there's that.
Click to expand...
The question is, is a new Castlevania going to be a Metroidvania game or some other kind of game?
 
0
I really hate to be pessimistic, but Konami's recent output is really low budget and I don't think Castlevania is gonna get justice, like say, that Momotaro game. It probably end up being like the Contra game that released recently, at least in production values.
 
Budget-wise, my question would be: how much dev money a Metroidvania game needs in order to be outstanding? I tried both Ori and HK, and both are amazing even without AAA budget.

Quality-wise, I think developer's experience and creative vision would be much more important to a Metroidvania game relatively compared to other genres, and both factors can't always be acquired by money alone.

Personally, a Metroidvania game with AA budget and a cohesive design is enough to be amazing to me. I'm afraid that more budget will just bloat such game up with detracting elements.
 
I feel like discussions like this would be easier if publishers just made their budgets public lol (I know, not going to happen).
 
0
Yzz said:
I really hate to be pessimistic, but Konami's recent output is really low budget and I don't think Castlevania is gonna get justice, like say, that Momotaro game. It probably end up being like the Contra game that released recently, at least in production values.
Click to expand...
Yeah I kinda feel the same way. It's a shame because Bloodstained seemed to be successful and the Netflix Castlevania series is incredible. It seems like now is a good time for Castlevania to make a comeback, but Konami is just eternally out of touch so it wouldn't surprise me if they put out something low-quality and call it a day.
 
Big studios aren't lining up to make 2D AAA Metroidvanias, but if they were going to try they'd lean on tried and true IPs. Imagine 2D AAA Metroidvanias set in the worlds of BioShock, Doom, God Of War, Halo, Ratchet & Clank, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider or Uncharted.
 
Last edited:
Buried In Time said:
Big studios aren't lining up to make 2D AAA Metroidvanias, but if they were going to try they'd lean on tried and true IPs. Imagine 2D AAA Metroidvanias set in the worlds of BioShock, Doom, God Of War, Halo, Ratchet & Clank, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider or Uncharted.
Click to expand...
I didn't know I wanted a BioShock Metroidvania game until just now.
 
0
The portfolio of the Touhou Luna Nights dev gives me hope that more licensed games take the metroidvania approach. Maybe we can see something with a pretty large budget.
 
0
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top Bottom