Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Symphony of the Night gave the 'vania' to 'Metroidvania'. Alucard, Dracula's son, explores his father's castle in an action-RPG with equipment, experience levels and a bestiary of hundreds of enemies. But the genius arrives mid-game: the castle flips, revealing an inverted version with new bosses and secrets. 'What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!' — the opening Dracula dialogue entered legend. Koji Igarashi created the template for decades of subsequent Metroidvanias.