Action role-playing game
An important influence on the action RPG genre was the 1986 action-adventure, "The Legend of Zelda", which served as the template for many future action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs, such as "Dragon Slayer" and "Hydlide," which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, "The Legend of Zelda" featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced new features such as battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since.
Platform game
Many games fuse platform game fundamentals with elements of action-adventure games, such as "The Legend of Zelda", or with elements of RPGs. Typically these elements include the ability to explore an area freely, with access to new areas granted by either gaining new abilities or using inventory items. Many 2D games in the "Metroid" and "Castlevania" franchises are among the most popular games of this sort, and so games that take this type of approach are often labeled as "Metroidvania" games. "" popularized this approach in the "Castlevania" series. Other examples of such games include "", "Tails Adventure", "Cave Story", "Mega Man ZX", "Shadow Complex" and "".