Top Metroidvania Franchises for Completionist Speedrunners

Renowned for its punishing difficulty and intricate map design, Hollow Knight offers a massive amount of content for completionists. The game features a highly active speedrunning community with sophisticated routing techniques and a deep skill ceiling that rewards mastery of movement and combat mechanics.

While technically a platformer, Celeste shares strong metroidvania elements in its optional B-sides and C-sides. It is a staple in the speedrunning community due to its precise frame-perfect controls and extensive modding support, allowing for creative and highly optimized routes through its challenging content.

The quintessential metroidvania that defined the genre, Super Metroid remains a cornerstone for speedrunning communities. Its complex movement tricks, such as wave dashes and space jumps, have led to some of the longest-running and most technically demanding speedruns in gaming history.

A modern continuation of the classic series, Metroid Dread introduces precise combat mechanics and fluid movement options. The game has quickly become a focus for speedrunners due to its structured level design and the introduction of new techniques that optimize traversal and boss engagements.

As one of the first true metroidvanias, SotN offers a rich item-collection gameplay loop that is highly optimized in speedrunning circles. Its legacy is maintained through extensive community research on item optimization, skip strategies, and perfect route planning across multiple categories.

This title is celebrated for its incredibly fluid movement options, which allow for high-speed traversal and precise platforming. The speedrunning community has developed complex routing strategies that leverage the game's mechanics to achieve near-perfect efficiency, making it a favorite for technical runners.

A dark and challenging metroidvania that rewards precise combat and exploration. The game offers multiple endings and extensive collectibles, providing depth for completionist runners. Its community has developed specialized techniques for optimizing boss fights and navigation through its intricate level design.

While shorter than its predecessor, Metroid Fusion offers a tight, linear experience with specific movement tricks and item optimizations. It remains a niche but respected category in speedrunning, with runners focusing on maximizing efficiency through precise enemy interactions and sequence breaks.

A remake of the original Game Boy game, Zero Mission expands on the formula with new areas and mechanics. It features a robust speedrunning scene that explores advanced routing techniques and item collection optimizations, offering a fresh challenge for veterans of the franchise.

Although primarily a run-and-gun, Cuphead shares metroidvania traits in its boss rush mode and weapon/charms customization. The speedrunning community is highly active, focusing on optimizing hit frames and dodge mechanics to achieve sub-minute clears, appealing to completionists who enjoy intense action sequences.

A roguelite metroidvania that combines precise combat with procedurally generated levels. Speedrunners focus on optimizing build choices and route planning to navigate the varying layouts efficiently. Its fast-paced nature and deep mechanics make it a popular choice for competitive running.

A 2D Souls-like with metroidvania exploration elements, Salt and Sanctuary offers a challenging experience for runners. The community focuses on optimizing skill trees and item builds to tackle its dense level design and tough boss encounters, providing a satisfying completionist challenge.

Inspired by classic Metroid games, Axiom Verge offers a large, explorable world with complex item interactions. Speedrunners exploit glitches and optimal routes to traverse the game quickly, with a community dedicated to discovering new sequence breaks and efficiency techniques.

A modern take on the classic 2D metroidvania, Chasm offers a massive map and challenging combat. The speedrunning community has developed strategies to optimize traversal and item collection, focusing on minimizing backtracking and maximizing efficiency through precise movement and combat skills.

A beautiful and atmospheric metroidvania that focuses on combat abilities acquired from fallen knights. Speedrunners optimize the selection and usage of these abilities to navigate the world efficiently, with a growing community interested in exploring its unique mechanics and routing possibilities.

A fast-paced metroidvania that emphasizes platforming and combat fluidity. The game's design allows for high-speed traversal and complex routing, attracting runners who enjoy optimizing movement techniques and minimizing hit times to achieve fast completion times.

While more of a bullet hell, Nex Machina incorporates metroidvania-like progression in its upgrade system. Speedrunners focus on optimizing power-ups and route planning to clear stages efficiently, appealing to those who enjoy high-speed, skill-intensive gameplay with a completionist twist.

A dark fantasy metroidvania with a unique art style and challenging gameplay. The speedrunning community has developed strategies to optimize the acquisition of artifacts and weapons, focusing on efficient traversal and combat to achieve fast clear times in its complex level design.

A lesser-known but challenging metroidvania that offers a unique experience for runners. The game's design encourages exploration and combat optimization, with a small but dedicated community working on mastering its mechanics and finding the most efficient routes through its intricate worlds.

A narrative-driven metroidvania with a focus on puzzle-solving and exploration. While not traditionally speedrun-heavy, its structured gameplay offers opportunities for optimization in traversal and puzzle completion, appealing to runners who enjoy a blend of story and mechanical challenges.