From Cave Story to Guacamelee! and Axiom Verge, the long-running “Metroidvania” genre of 2D action/adventure platformers continues to exert an undying allure upon both developers and players.

At GDC 2014, veteran designer Koji Igarashi examined the evolution of the Metroidvania genre through the lens of his own experience working on some of its most iconic games in a talk entitled “There and Back Again: Koji Igarashi’s Metroidvania Tale.”

Igarashi’s talk spanned the genre’s beginnings with 8-bit classics like Metroid, through its rebirth via Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and the many games that have since been released in the series, right up to the current generation of console hardware.

Igarashi also shared some of his own personal experiences and his game design methodology during the talk, which you can watch (translated into English) right now for free here on the GDC Vault.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech