New school: Hollow Knight and Silksong

Old school: Super Metroid

Animal Well is stellar

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The game so good it created the term “Metroidvania” even though the formula was basically “Metroid”.

i can tell you the one that surprised me the most: Yoku's Island Express! utterly adorable pinball metroidvania. you're a little dung beetle pushing a big ball around to deliver mail.

i find that there is so much focus on dark and dreary in the metroidvania genre, which makes sense considering the roots of the genre. me, i get enough of that in my daily life. i want colorful and full of curiosity. the ori games are good for that too, as is supraland, but i don't know of many more.

Played a lot of these in the last two years, with Ender Magnolia and Nine Sols being my favorites among them.

All-time I think I'd still go with Super Metroid, despite its age and having completed multiple playthroughs I still end up playing for hours anytime I boot it.

Honorable mentions for Rabi-Ribi (don't let the cutesy anime artstyle fool you, this is a fantastic non-linear game with some of the best boss battles in the genre), the recent Momodora games and the Team Ladybug games (with Touhou Luna Nights being my favorite of the three).

A few other good ones that come to mind:

Axiom Verge

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Guacamelee

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

Rabi-Ribi

A Robot Named Fight (it's basically if super metroid was a roguelike)

Touhou Luna Nights

Cave Story

Also, the Castlevania Advance Collection is three GBA metroidvanias, definitely worth getting if you wanna play/replay any of those.

Rogue Legacy 2, if it counts. Otherwise, Axiom Verge.

A bunch of good ones have already been mentioned (SOTN, Nine Sols, Super Metroid), so I'll just mention some that were missed.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (sequel to SOTN, just as good if you can get past the DS touchscreen BS. The new remaster might get rid of it)

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (made by Iga, creator of Castlevania: SOTN, Dawn of Sorrow, and others)

Salt and Sanctuary

The Messenger

I haven't played very many, and these might not be pure Metroidvanias, but I recommend:

The Messenger

Pseudoregalia

Tunic

Metroid Prime. It's the only series I know of that is fully in the genre and is also not a 2D platformer.

It's insane to me how many Souls Likes could be 3D Metroidvanias if they used special powers to clear obstacles instead of just keys or random triggers to unlock new areas. That's really the only thing I see that separates the genres.

Sekiro is closer than any other, but it's mainly just 1 thing you don't have in the prologue (the grappling hook). I would love a game that is 3D over a 2D platformer, but also has the unlockable traversal tools the way Metroid or Syphony of the Night had.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

I was shocked to see no mention of Ori in any of the comments here before I realized you had already recommended it in the OP. I have no issues with seconding that, the Ori series is really good.

Batman: Arkham Asylum. It doesn't come up a lot, because only that first game is a metroidvania and Arkham City might be most people's favorite in the series, but it absolutely counts. I love Arkham combat. It's better in the sequels due to some slight tweaks in game feel, but that combat in a metroidvania is just excellent, and the game is just so well paced. It's a shame what WB did to that studio.

I haven't seen Shadow Complex on here yet.

It's an older title (2009) and even the remastered version is from 2016.

Still one of my favorite Metroidvania type games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/385560/Shadow_Complex_Remastered/

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. IMO this is where the series peaked, perfected the formula and delivered a game packed with several large maps and three sets of bonus characters to replay the game with.

Aria of Sorrow

The only one I've played is Dead Cells, and it's fantastic. I haven't even bought any of the DLC, the base game is already endlessly replayable. I also listen to the soundtrack at least once a week.

I definitely want to get around to playing Hollow Knight and Animal Well at some point.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is top tier.

carrion is a reverse horror game where you play as the monster

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is a fantastic experience.

I don't know if it's "favorite", but an old classic was Aquaria. It had a surprising amount of content, even to the point of several secret bosses, and an absolutely excellent soundtrack. Sadly, the main guy behind it is dead now. Ori was also fantastic.

I love this style of game. I always have one on the go. Some times they scratch the itch, others they miss just a bit. I found that the blasphemous series more dark souls than Metroidvania. Biogun, chasm, bloodstained, any of the ori games, haiku, the mummy demastered, turnip boy commits tax evasion, dust an Elysian tale... I have more but that's a solid chunk. I'd love to hear from others if they do or don't consider these in the same family.

Do you consider Zelda64 a MetroidVania? If so then Darksiders has that action, similarly control, soul reaver 1 and 2, and blood omen 2.

I've played Ultros recently and thought it was really cool and unique.

La mulana 1 and 2, animal well for puzzles.

Metroid dread, highly recommend for combat.

Dead cells and rouge legacy two for rouge lite bits

terraria for minecraft + metroidvania

time spinner, bloodsworn for more typical metroidvania

the old castlevania games are on steam, so there is that

almost metroidvania suggestion is Outer wilds. Progression based learning. just not in a 2d plane and no fighting.

Void Stranger. The most powerful progression unlocking item is knowledge. The second most powerful is the

Just so it's not forgotten to time I want to recommend AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake). It's basically what if Metroid 2 was made in the Super Metroid engine.

I'd recommend any of the 2D Metroids, but if you're going to play Metroid 2, that's the version to play.

I have a list of Metroidvanias I've started but never completed. The only one that managed to hold my attention to completion that wasn't an actual Metroid title was Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Which is a shame, because Ori and The Blind Forest is beautiful and Hollowknight is very cute, but neither could really hold my attention.

I also really liked Ender Lilies/Magnolias.

Other metroidvanias I've really enjoyed that haven't been mentioned yet are Blasphemous and Vision Soft Reset.

Blasphemous has a really cool theme and is pretty challenging.

Vision Soft Reset is more indie and probably PC only. It has a unique twist to the formula.

Super Metroid. I really haven't liked any others that I've played.

Aside from sotn of course, dead cells hands down.

Playing it for years now.

Edit: I would love for the downvote(s) to say (why/if) they didn't like dead cells or if they don't see it as metroidvania. (no discussion about opinions! ☺️)