Go with the original, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It gave birth to the term & is still one of the best, if not the best, period.

If you don't like this one, you probably will never enjoy the genre, so it will save you a lot of time.

Castlevania isn't a metroidvania, so it won't work (though some of the later sequels will).

Metroid is not a good choice if you're worried about where to go next; I would suggest starting either with Super Metroid or a game that came after that. Metroid Fusion is heavily linear and guided (to the point that long-time series fans have criticized the game for that), though eventually comes a part where you have to find your way out of somewhere without tips.


One problem, however, is that (typewriter-style, not piano-style) keyboards are often limited in how many simultaneous keypresses, and which sets of simultaneous keypresses, the keyboard will recognize at once. As a result, many keyboards will not be suitable for Guacamelee, as that game does require you to press many buttons at once at times. So, even if one might consider it easier to play on a keyboard, that only works if the keyboard can handle it, and many can't.

I was making a joke dt. :P

Please don't abbreviate my name that way.

Also, if you are going to make a joke, expect people to treat it as serious, especially if the joke isn't even that outlandish.

Did you have a map? Try a game that has a map. Otherwise, I'm afraid metroidvanias are not for you.
Except first Metroid is a very though game. In fact, I couldn't beat it without walkthrough, and I had no problems with other "metroidvania" games. So it's definitely not the best recommendation.

Super Metroid stands up amazingly well for it's age. Played it not long ago and I was impressed by the game design.
The original Metroid... No so much.

I wouldn't call that game easy, as there is some very tricky platforming in there, and the bosses are non-trivial as well. (There's also the occasional hard arena room, but they're not as common.)

This is *especially* true if you want to 100% the game, as there are some incredibly difficult optional platforming challenges that are hard enough to make your hand hurt.

I like the genre, but I don't like every game in it, so it would be helpful to know which one(s) you played that put you off.

I'd recommend Mrs. Pacman to someone who doesn't like metroidvania's, but wants a metroidvania :P

On a more serious note, Treasure Adventure Game/World might be a good starting point.

You got me thinking and as usual, you're right. I grow up with platformers, fighting and action games and probably will find a bit easier some sections with heavy simultaneous button pressing. Neither the less, most of dificulty sections do not pressure the player towards finishing fast, and don´t punish any "death" at all, just re-do until you get the timing right, unlimited times.

One more excelent game wich can be considered metroidvania as well is steam world dig. With the digging, it makes exploration a little more interesting and might appeal more to someone who find the usual exploration dull.

It sounds like they're just not the games for you. Exploration and working out where to go next are generally big parts of metroidvanias.

I am not saying one may find it easier, I certainly don't. I am saying keyboard style controls are objectively better for fighting game style inputs. Hitbox like controllers are considered the best controller type after all. I still prefer PS style controller though.

Don't know about this keyboard limitations though.

To be fair, it really depends on how it's done. Most metroidvania (and -likes) I've played were never so complicated that I'd feel lost and didn't know where to go. It could just as well be that the game the OP tried was a badly designed one.

I guess we'd need to know which games they tried, it's possible they played some badly designed ones or it's possible they're just not good at (or don't enjoy) the kind of skills metroidvanias require. The fact that you didn't feel lost says more about your game playing skills and tastes.