Dark Horse Books introduces the world to Jeremy Parish‘s in-depth exploration of the metroidvania genre in The History of Metroidvania: Decade One—1980-1990. Parish, the current Media Curator at Limited Run Games and video game historian, pens this exhaustively researched book about the gaming trends of the early 1980s and how those beginnings shaped the initial expressions of the metroidvania concept.
Where did these games with heavy role-playing influences come from in the first place? Although the genre’s name might appear to hold the answer—a combination of Nintendo’s sci-fi adventure Metroid and Konami’s monster-movie action series Castlevania—the metroidvania draws from a far wider range of influences.
In this comprehensive account, you’ll see how gaming trends of the early 1980s came together to give us initial expressions of the metroidvania concept, and how the design language of the genre evolved over the course of the 8-bit hardware era. From text-based adventures to coin-op tests of pure dexterity, the metroidvania took its cues from early computer hits and best-selling console masterpieces, evolving alongside the medium itself.
The History of Metroidvania: Decade One—1980-1990 (hardcover, 232 pages, 9”x12”) will be available in bookstores on March 3, 2026 and in comic shops on March 4, 2026. It is now available for pre-order from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookstore or comic shop for $54.99.
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Source: Graphic Policy
