I played it as a kid, so I remember. It had a TON of different paths you could take, all eventually leading you to where you needed to go, if you were willing to put up with the difficulty much of the game seemed to have (although, I WAS just a kid, so YMMV). The fact that you could end up on a totally different path from different areas in the FIRST LEVEL says something. Drop down that well, and you're not going to see a few of the early levels from the other path... unless the path you take from there happens to bring you back (and I know they all converge at the first wall of death, since you can't avoid that one... no mater how hard you try.)
TL;DR: It's the nonlinear stage layout and the many possible level chains that earn it the Metroidvania title.
By this logic, Super Mario World is a Metroidvania. I'm pretty sure Super Mario World is not a Metroidvania.
Moon◊
It can be a bit more like Metriodvania in the Juggernaut, Maniaxe, Eyeclops, and Red Stealth forms, if only because they have attacks other than Goomba Stomp.
Speed is life.
Why is the game compared to Metroidvania games? It's a straightforward Super Mario-style platformer and shares very little in common with Metroid other than the fact that both feature platforming.
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