Metroidvania: half Metroid, half Castlevania

Metroidvania is a subgenre of action-adventure video games that combines elements from two popular game series: "Metroid" and "Castlevania." The name "Metroidvania" itself is a portmanteau of these two titles. This subgenre is characterized by several key gameplay and design features: exploration, non-linear progression, upgrades and abilities, storytelling and boss battles.
Both the Metroid and Castlevania series served as influential templates for the Metroidvania subgenre, with "Metroid" games focusing more on sci-fi and alien worlds, and "Castlevania" games having a gothic, vampire-hunting theme.

Most popular metroidvania games

Montezuma's Revenge

actionDOS

Castlevania

action-adventureDOS

Captain Comic, The Adventures of

action-adventureDOS

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Below The Root

DOS19843.7/5 Dale Disharoon, Inc.

Below the root is an atipycal early 2 dimensional adventure game based on the Zilpha Keatley Snyder novels: the Green Sky Trilogy. The player can choose one of many characters, each with different skills and embark in a quest to eliminate the distrust between two races: the Erdling and the Kindar.
Captain Comic 2: Fractured Reality

DOS1990freeware4/5
Captain Comic, The Adventures of

DOS1988freeware3.8/5
Castlevania

DOS19903.9/5 Distinctive Software
Lyle in Cube Sector

Windows20064/5
Montezuma's Revenge

DOS19844.3/5 Parker Brothers
Monuments of Mars

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac1991freeware3.3/5 Scenerio Software
Rad Warrior

DOS19863.9/5 Palace Software
Sorcerian

DOS19904/5 Nihon Falcom
Zeliard

DOS19904.1/5 Game Arts

Zeliard is a fantasy platformer - JRPG hybrid with metroidvania gameplay elements developed by Game Arts and released for DOS in 1990. Zeliard is a single-player game.