why did this game make 80 million dollars?

Is it unironically not only babby's first metroidvania but also babby's first 2D sidescroller?

the game was good but its bewildering that it developed such a cult for an 4/5 star game. its just bizarre

i've only ever beaten metroid 1 for the nes and the pre sotn castlevanias so i'll fully admit im not a genre expert

Why did the 2D platformer genre get hijacked by souls-like metroidvanias?

Admit it, it was just alright. Not a genre-defining work, just a good metroidvania