Weapons in Metroidvanias, Gems in Dead Gear

Many Metroidvanias follow the Metroid route: there is a standard weapon or attack, and throughout the course of the game, the player buffs the efficiency of the weapon, or alters it in a beneficial way.

Metroid for the NES.

 A good example from Metroid would be the one of the very first abilities gained. In Metroid for the NES, Samus' basic beam attack is pitifully short range, almost melee range. One of the first relics she obtains, increases her basic attack range two-fold. As the genre evolved, the abilities not only gave Samus better combat skills, but had additional utility functions as well. In Super Metroid, gaining the Ice Beam allowed Samus to freeze enemies solid.


This was cool by itself, but more importantly, it allowed Samus to jump on top of the frozen enemies, creating makeshift platforms. Samus did have different abilities, like the Grapple Beam and Morph ball, but most things in the game (even opening doors) are accomplished by using her basic, default attack and modifications therein. (Missile, Super Missile.)

Different Castlevania, but same premise.

When Castlevania SOTN came along, it offered a much more RPGish take on the system, allowing the protagonist to equip a myriad of different weaponry, each with their own quirks. A rapier would attack in a very different manner than equipping a greataxe. In addition to attack differences, the weapons even had attack attributes associated with them. This meant that a weaker weapon would grow obsolete, given enough time, forcing the player to find a more suitable item to equip. This system differs from Metroid in that weapons and attacks were not used to progress in the game in any manner. In theory, you could play through the entire game using the weak rusty dagger from the very beginning. Instead, Alucard's gained abilities that allowed him to progress through the map. The weapons were there only as a means to defeat enemies.

Cave Story.

Cave Story offered another fresh take on the system, containing a weapon system that more resembled a Contra game than a Metroidvania, with about 6 weapons that behaved in different ways, and could be 'leveled up' (or down) depending on the exp received. Functionally, it resembled SOTN in that weapons were purely for combat, with the possible exception of the Machine gun, which allowed Quote to hover a bit if fired downward.

Some designs for the Garnet.

In Dead Gear, Illyia collects Gems as a means of gaining both new attacks and new abilities. Some Gems will grant Illyia abilities passively, such as the ability to double-jump. Whereas others act as equippable weapons, similar to Cave Story and SOTN. But I've tried to make an effort into making each new weapon have an important secondary function that can affect gameplay mechanics.

For example, one of the first new weapon Gems that Illyia obtains would be the Garnet, which allows her to use Fire Magic. In addition to being one of the most damaging weapons, it also functions as a way for Illyia to hover for a short distances, allowing her to make long jumps. Other functions include doing extra damage to Ice-based enemies and melting ice.

In the future I'll elaborate on the overload mechanic.