This is a brand new topic that will just talk about how the overall series has turned out from the start to the finish. Since there are only five games here, it shouldn't be a problem reviewing them all.
So with that out of the way, we're gonna start with one of the known Platform-Adventure ones and that's Shantae!
First off, let's talk about the Heroine and the Villain here!
Name: Shantae
Objective: Guarding Scuttle Town and stopping Risky Boots evil schemes.
Likes: Umm...pretty much what girls would like?
Shantae is a simple heroine. All she wants is for Scuttle Town to be safe from Risky Boots evil attempts. Now there are moments where the games do have some form of character development as she wants to know of her past to some extent.
Now we look into the main villain of the series...Risky Boots!
Name: Risky Boots
Objective: Rule over Sequin Land...or take revenge on Shantae.
Likes: Ruling over the sea.
Abilities: Can use her pistol gun, call out her Tinkerbots, uses swords...all typical pirate stuff.
Risky Boots is nothing but a pirate who wants to take over Sequin Land. She'll do anything to achieve that even if it means stopping Shantae(guess she's really good at taking risks! get it?). Why she wants that goal? No idea..though Pirate's Curse does have some kind of background for her but..not by much.
However...Shantae thinks that she has a soft spot deep down.
So we got through the main heroine and the villain. Now we get into the series.
Platform: GBC
Developed by: Wayforward
Published by: Capcom
Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure
Number of levels: 12(but most of them are hub worlds)
Collectibles: Yes but they are optional and are only useful for better progress.
Release Date: 2002
As you can tell, the first one is rather obscure as it's developed for the Game Boy Color..in 2002..a time where the Game Boy Advance was already out a year ago. On top of this, Capcom published this one. Weird isn't it? A Japanese publisher publishing a western-based game?
Anyway, the first one starts off with Shantae stopping Risky from stealing the Steamwork Engine. After finding out from Mimic, Shantae heads out to find the four tablets before Risky does in order to stop her evil plans from taking over Sequin Land.
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| I gotta admit though. It almost looks like a GBA game! |
The game at first tries to play like a straightforward platformer since it has lives and you mostly do platform jumping. But really it's not, as the game has levels that act more like exploring to find a town, visit the town and then find a way to unlock the town's gate to get the tablet.
You're only attack method is Shantae whipping her hair. It can be slow at times and certain enemies take more than one hit. Speaking of which, enemies here are in variety. Female scorpions, female archers, female monsters(I'm kidding), and ghosts. Oh, and who can forget this series Goombas which are, of course, Risky's Tinkerbats?
Eventually, you will unlock a new dance that does things like transforming Shantae into a Monkey that can climb on walls, an elephant that can destroy boulders, a Spider that can climb to higher places, and a bird that can take Shantae to higher platforms.
They can attack too but they have their own upgrades that have to be collected in order for them to do so. Besides that, you can also just walk if you want but why would you use it?
So how the level design works here is that the majority of the levels have it focused on platforming rather than having areas that are for exploring. What I mean here is that you will tend to keep jumping from platforms to platforms for most of the time, rather than how most platform adventures work, where you don't always rely on platforming to make progress.
Because of this, some sections tend to drag when it comes to just going to the next town.
To make matters worse, the game has nighttime where enemies are tougher, and that these firefly collectibles are only present at night. When night comes is never clear, however, which can be a problem.
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| Don't make her scream or she'll burst your eardrums! |
But to be fair, there are four squids per town that you can get that give you a dance form, which makes it faster to get to areas. You have minigames like dancing and gamble which give you more gems but they are too hard to do. Oh, and I guess you can buy items like Pike Ball which damages enemies while it goes around Shantae.
I guess the only other odds in this one is the life system being here. There's no reason for this at all as if you end up losing a life, you just resume from the same part which makes fighting bosses awkward as their health does not reset. Belly dancing is also tedious as you have to perform the right combinations fast and with perfect timing! Gems could be problematic to get, but not by a whole lot if you're skilled enough to win dances and gambits.
And of course..the bottomless pits. Unlike the later games where bottomless pits are less common, here they are not and because of the screen crunch, you're going to end up falling down. Fortunately, you can get the cloud upgrade which prevents you from falling down..well..only for a short time.
Humor isn't much here and the characters are hardly expressive. But considering that they made a game like this work on GBC, I can cut them some slack. Heck if you put this on GBA, it has inbuilt enhancements so good for that!
Now if you're going for the original game, good luck cause it's damn near expensive! But fate is so kind to us that it's out on the 3DS e-shop at a mere 5$. Also of note is that it's coming to the Switch I think at the time of writing this.
Next up is Risky's Revenge
Title: Shantae Risky's Revenge
Platform: Dsi, PC, IOS, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Wii U
Developed by: Wayforward
Published by: Wayforward
Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure
Number of levels: 6
Collectibles: Yes but they are optional and are only useful for better progress although the ending image depends on whether you 100% or not.
Release date: 2010
I'll admit that hearing how the original didn't do so well, I didn't think that Wayforward could muster up a sequel. But after eight long years, they finally did..and it is SO much better!
The most obvious one is the graphics. They are far more colorful and vibrant compared to the original with those buttery belly dancing animations! (*ahem*) that aside, the characters and gameplay are also a step up in the right direction.
The story takes place after the events of the first one. Shantae, her uncle Mimic, and her friends Bolo and Sky find a Lamp sealed in a stone. As they examine it, Risky steps in steals the lamp and runs away. For not taking care of Scuttle Town, the mayor fires Shantae but that isn't enough for her to still stop Risky again.
There are new characters that are added and because it's on a much-advanced console, characters are slightly more expressive. There are more cutscenes added, now with illustrated portraits. This is also where they begin adding more humor and it's not funny funny. It's just..meh funny if you catch my drift.
The gameplay plays like the original. Walk-in hub worlds, find people to talk to, go to the main areas, complete the dungeons, and beat the boss in the dungeon. There are some fetch quests here and there that have items for progress, but they can be done fast enough since the worlds are small in size.
New abilities are introduced such as backsliding, and the ability to increase whipping speed and attack! But the best thing now is that transforming no longer requires button presses as just one simple pose gets you the transform.
While Monkey and Elephant remain the same as before, instead of Harpy(the bird), you get Mermaid which allows Shantae to swim underwater. Certain abilities require you to get Magic jars for a certain amount like getting Pike Ball an upgrade for example. Heart containers are also present which you know..grant more health?
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| There are panels that give a cool 3D effect! |
Besides that, there is some quality of life improvements too. Now you don't need to get four squids for instant warps as there are warp statues all around that make it easier to access areas from afar. She no longer screams like in the original, and bottomless pits are now easy to spot thanks to those dead skull sprites that show up.
And there's some replay value too. Depending on how much time you take to beat the game, and whether you 100% the game or not, the game's image ending differs.
But it comes at a cost...its length. I mean looking at the information above, it has only six levels. And in that, you only come across three dungeons. That's too short. And the map is too simple. I mean sure, it's better than the prequel where you're clueless but it could still be better.
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| Hmm...something seems off here. |
This I think is a good starting point for those wanting to start out the series. Sure, it's kinda short( seriously..only six levels?) But it's much better everywhere else and it's worth the price tag. Heck, the director's cut adds more content where you have Shantae only cast just magic and less health!
And now we move on to my favorite game in the series...Pirate's Curse!
Title: Shantae and the Pirates Curse
Platform: 3DS, PC, Amazon Fire TV, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Wii U
Developed by: Wayforward
Published by: Wayforward
Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure
Number of levels: 11
Collectibles: Yes and 100% is required to get the true ending.
Release date: 2014
The game takes place after the events of the second one. Shantae Heads out to stop some guy called Ammo Barron, who ends up becoming the new mayor in Scuttle Town and he just punishes Shantae by getting her to stay only in her house.
As Shantae takes a bath, Risky kidnaps her and mistakes her for stealing Risky's pirate equipment. Risky develops a theory that the Pirate Master is behind her stolen equipment and so the two decide to team up and get back Risky's equipment before the Pirate Master does.
This is when the series really got me into the series..for real! And many would say that Pirates curse is their preferred game over the others. But why is it that good? Well, let me tell you!
For the first time in the series, it feels like an actual Platform-Adventure. The maps now have that classic design layout that is generally used for Platform-Adventure games. This layout is known for two things. To know what areas you've yet to uncover, and what items you've potentially missed out on.
Sure, maybe Risky's Revenge was fine without this layout but it is so helpful to know what collectibles you've missed out on. Especially if you're in that part where you can't remember which paths were blocked.
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| If you get the 3DS version, you can see the map at the bottom screen while playing at the top screen! |
And besides, progress is simplified too. You just select the next level when you get aboard the ship and then start the level mate!
The next thing here is abilities. Because of plot reasons, Shantae can't use her transformation abilities this time around. But instead, she uses the pirate equipment that is found in the dungeons. These abilities are incredibly subtle, unlike the transformations which slow down the pace a bit.
The upgrades feel like actual ones that are used in a typical Platform-Adventure. The Pistol for full range attack, the Cap that can be used for hovering, and the boots which work just like the booster from Metroid which is dashing at super speed and destroying everything in your way!
And then finally, there's the level design which is by far the best level design ever. Levels don't feel anywhere as passable as it was in the earlier ones. There's tons of variety in the level design itself.
I'll give you one example. There's a section in the game where you have to avoid yourself from getting caught by enemies while rescuing the others. And it doesn't drag the pace either since, after this section, you just face the dungeon.
It doesn't stop just there as there is a lot of variety in the level environments as well like Fire and Ice worlds and ancient pyramid kinds too! The previous games might have had some of this, but the levels in pirate's curse are far too memorable.
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| Gliding with the cap is just so darn fun! |
The level structure is also great. The platforming is great, there are not many sections in the game that prompts you to get better equipment, and yes because of how it's done, there are no
Pirate's Curse doesn't have as many collectibles compared to the other two. The only ones here are heart squids and cracklebats that are monstrous tinkerbots that you should catch hold of somewhere in the levels. But that means less padding and more progress which is good in my book. Magic is gone here and the sub-items can now be used based on how many you have.
And best of all, 100% the game actually gives you a better reward than just a better ending image which is as you guessed it, the better ending. And damn the final boss music is upbeat. Heck, the entire soundtrack is brimming with energy and I keep hearing it from time to time. This is without a doubt Jake Kaufman's best work in the series.
I guess the only step down it took is that to get more hearts, you now have to get four squids and give them to a Squidsmith, who smashes four cute squids just to give you one heart. And ok, some might argue that why would I be fine with this when I should get a full one like the other games?
And yeah you'd be right...but considering how easy most of them are to get and that they are labeled in the map design, I'd cut off some slack. Besides, enemies now drop food items that are frequent and you can get upgrades that make things easier for you as usual so I'd cut it some slack.
With vibrant visuals, fantastic gameplay, and well thought out level design along with a great soundtrack, Pirate's curse is simply the best one in the series. I recommend playing this after playing Risky's Revenge first since their plots are connected.
And now we look at two games that start to make the series..way backward
Title: Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
Platform: PC, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Switch, Wii U
Developed by: Wayforward
Published by: Wayforward
Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure
Number of levels: 5
Collectibles: Yes but they only exist for easier progress and you get nothing else.
Release date: 2016
Unlike the trilogy of the games, Half-Genie hero was funded through Kickstarter, and despite their goals not being met, the game eventually came to fruition. And boy did it do a lot of things that were good...and questionable.
First the good. Gone are pixel art sprites and now hand-drawn sprites. Not exactly sure if this is good or bad seeing as how I love pixel art but ok I guess though the character portraits are a disappointment compared to Pirate's Curse.
Music is once again top-notch especially "Dance through the danger". And now the game is an entire reboot.
Yep, you heard that right. It's a reboot meaning all the events that happened at Pirate's Curse are never mentioned here. So if you somehow aren't sure to get Risky's Revenge at least, then this is the best...starting place?
But that's where all the good ends and now its time to talk about the questionable. But before we dive to that, let's go briefly into the story. Shantae has a dream that she enters a secret cave. Upon entering it, a voice tells Shantae that she is the only one who can stop evil. She wakes up from her sleep and heads out to see Mimic developing the Dynamo to protect Scuttle Town.
You know the drill at this point right? Risky shows up, wreaks havoc at Scuttle town, Shantae stops here, the mayor for some reason fires her, and so Shantae decides to help Mimic get the parts for the Dynamo while stopping Risky's plans.
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| Is this supposed to be funny? |
The story is alright. At least, in this case, we get to see some kind of origins of Shantae, and while it's so little to know of, what's shown here is good enough so to speak.
But now we get to the questionable design choices. Remember I said that it's a reboot? Well, it kinda is even in the gameplay side of things as they once again decided to go with more platforming sections like in the very first game instead of the kind that was in the other two.
But then there's a problem. See they decided to add blocked progress with specific items for every level. So to make progress, you need to get specific items in that level by talking to specific characters in that level.
But to do this, you have to play the level in the same form over again. This means that you have to go through the same platforming of that level multiple times in order for you to reach those characters or find specific items.
There is no way to instantly warp here and while Pirate's curse doesn't have warp points, at least there are shortcuts you can take to keep up the pace unlike here. You at least have checkpoints in case you die and that certain transformations can help you skip platform sections. But why? Especially when it's a game that heavily relies on backtracking.
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| Get used to this level select while you're at it. |
But you might be asking why to complain about this if I love platforming? I mean heck, even games like Super Mario World require some kind of backtracking to unlock some levels right? Well yes and no cause for something like Super Mario World, you only need to find three switches and the levels hint you which power blocks you need to get in order to unlock more levels.
So you only need to at best play the same level twice. And seeing they can be completed faster, it's usually not a problem. Here, however, it is because you have to play the same level multiple times in order to get all the items at that level sooner or later.
Going into transformations, they are back here too. Monkey, elephant, bird, spider, and mermaid return but then come newer ones like a bat, spider, crab, mouse, and jar. Monkey does what it does best which is climbing from walls to walls.
I gotta say that this time instead of holding the button waiting for the pose, you have to select which form to pick but these forms keep getting shuffled so you have to pick them at a good timing which is frustrating.
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| Now there are foreground effects within the levels here! |
Anyways, the elephant does the usual, bashing on strong rocks. Bird lets you fly around. Mermaid swims underwater. Spider lets you climb up on platforms that are on top and at the sides too. You know who else is fine with climbing on platforms? The monkey.
But then we come to the newer forms. Bat simply sends you from one side to the other without any change in direction which is uh..neat? You know who else flies better? The bird.
Then you have crab whose only purpose is sinking underwater. You know who else can go underwater? Come on take a guess here...its the mermaid!
See where I'm getting at? The newer forms don't really do anything that is significantly different than what the other forms do but better. Crab is the only exception to this since the mermaid can't fit into smaller gaps for some reason.
The only ones left are the mouse and the jar. The mouse is almost never used and when it is required, it is used on sections that tend to drag over and over again. All Jar does is give out free money.
Other forms are Duryad and Blobfish. One gives out oranges and the other...flip flops on the ground.
And on top of that, they come with abilities which you must find in order to make better use of them.
In terms of collectibles, there isn't much. You have gems, heart holders now instead of heart squids, abilities, and story-based items. That's about it. You get a better ending pic depending on how fast you complete the game with a total percentage but that's about it.
Level design is shallow with many sections that have secrets being very unfulfilling most of the time. There are blocks that you can destroy and they are often placed in places where you would think they hold secrets but they don't.
And ok, in some cases, Pirate's curse and Risky's Revenge might have that but those sections in those games are few and far between especially in the latter where there is an easter secret if you do destroy a certain block.
It also doesn't help that the difficulty is reduced thanks to so many factors that are in. You have more ways to heal, an item that allows you to infinitely use magic, and more arsenal on your side. At least you can't exploit the boss fights so easily since they are all timed moments only.
Not to mention that being a game with just a few levels to explore, it's lacking in content. Fortunately, Wayforward added DLC which has additional modes to play to compensate for that. Like being able to play as Bolo, Sky, and Rottytops, Risky having her own story and mods that are based on other Wayforward games like Mighty Switch Force(Really should get into it sometime!)
But unless you'd like the game the way it is which is basically, lacking a Platform-Adventure type of gameplay, you're better off just playing the main game if you don't mind it being like the very first game.
And then we go into the final game...which is another way backward
Title: Shantae and the Seven Sirens
Platform: macOS, PC, IOS, PS4, Xbox One, Switch.
Developed by: Wayforward
Published by: Wayforward
Type of platformer: Platform-Adventure
Number of levels: 11
Collectibles: While they serve to make progress easier, you do get rewards for 100% of the game.
Release date: 2020
This time the story takes place in Sunken City where Shantae and her friends head for their vacation. Shantae must dance at the Genie grand festival to show the world how valuable half genies are. After finding all the five other half genies, the festival begins.
But suddenly, all the half-genies except Shantae are kidnapped. So she sets out to save them and find out who's responsible. I can say without a doubt that this is the weakest story in the series. Remember how I said that the scorpion enemy defeat animations were lifeless?
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| I just took a screenshot and I honestly don't know if this is Half-Genie or Seven Sirens... |
Well, that is apparent here including nearly all the supporting characters. Sirens' histories are never fully explored, the characters most of the time serve no purpose in the plot and the expressions are generally weak with very limited character portraits even though the character portraits are better illustrated here.
Now the gameplay is mostly similar to Half-Genie Hero with just two exceptions. Instead of platforming levels, it now has interconnected levels that almost plays like Pirate's Curse. The other thing now is that there is a new power called Fusion magic.
It comes in two types. One is in forms and the other is in dance. This means that transformations are not linked with dancing as they now have separate functions. Newt is just Monkey, Gastro is just a spider but it can only dig through yellow walls. Tortoise is Elephant but worse since it bounces back upon impact from walls, which makes speedrunning with it tedious.
The frog is just a mermaid but it can never stop moving and it only slows down so passing through certain obstacles can get tedious. Finally, we have jet octo which just gives two extra jumps like the Cannon from Pirate's Curse...yay.
Then the dances which are one-time use. Seer just shows you hidden stuff in the levels. Refresh grows some plants and other things plus regains some of your health. Spark just sends out electricity and gives some damage to enemies, and the Quake obliterates everything and opens certain sections.
Other kinds of collectibles that you get here are just heart squids(from pirate's curse) and golden nuggets(I'll get back to this later). Past that, just gems, food, and abilities that are overpowered here. Seriously, getting gems becomes a joke after a while and its easy to get all buffed.
New here are monster cards and if you get enough of one kind, you unlock an ability that can range from useful to extremely broken. I'm talking about never taking damage from bottomless pits broken.
I'm talking about dealing thrice damage broken. It makes combat a lot easier. No joke since your arsenal for healing both health and magic are large and enemies drop out food very frequently...almost makes getting Heart Squids pointless.
Combat can get ignored really fast most of the time and because of how powerful you are here, it's really easy to defeat bosses rapidly since they almost don't have timed beat-up moments, unlike the earlier games. Just use silk cream+ Shampoo+ Swords and you've defeated the boss before you know it and it doesn't wear off unlike in pirate's curse.
And the level design is another thing. While it's better than Half-Genie hero, the game neither displays the caves that you explored in the map nor does it hint to you where the golden nuggets are which means you'll wander around finding the caves where the hear squids or the golden nuggets are making exploring for them tedious.
The only real purpose the level design serves is getting through progress and finding out gold nuggets. Past that, you don't do anything else in the levels which make them empty. Even after having warp positions, its still tedious to explore the levels since they do not have shortcuts like in Pirate's Curse and there is only one warp point in each world no less.
And what do you get when receiving golden nuggets you ask? If you trade it to some of the people out there, you get very powerful monster cards. Wow! Like the game's not easy enough so the devs made it even easier for you!
But at least the music is still good right? Nope. It's a disappointment. It's a step back from the previous two as the music here is mostly generic and forgettable. Probably because Jake Kaufman is absent this time around.
Look I don't want to be negative here. But honestly, it still feels like a step back like Half-Genie Hero and lacks in more content. At least Half-Genie hero made up for the replay value but here, there is almost none. Weak story, weak characters, shallow gameplay, and disappointing music overall is what the fifth game is in the end. Between this and Half-Genie Hero, I rather play Half-Genie hero over this unless this gets patched.
If despite my pessimism you still want to give it a shot, I advise you to get it at a lower price cause its not worth the 30$ in my humblest opinion.
Well, those are all the five games covered so how is the series going on? Honestly, it's tough.
On one hand, the series has potential considering the simple plots, characters, and worlds. For a series of platformers, this is much needed and Shantae does that just right. The only thing I wish it could do better is in the humor as I just find it weak. Maybe have slapstick moments there like giving Bolo a whack?
But if they want to focus a lot on the story, then they have to do everything in fleshing out the characters. And I don't just mean in the case of Seven Sirens but the general gist. Like why doesn't Sky or Shantae pity Bolo? Or what is with the Barrons especially Squid Barron? These things need to be explored more for the characters to stand out more than they are now.
The only characters that are explored are Shantae and Risky. Everyone else is just mostly there for the sake of being there. Rottytops just randomly ends up being Shantae's friend and they don't have anything related or any kind of backstory. Same goes for Shantae and Sky who is her best friend and you don't get any history between them.
As for transformations, I'm fine with the genie forms if they just gave you the abilities and not have you find their abilities separately, especially if they are handy during combat. But the way its done makes combat mostly a chore especially if you're forced to buy power-ups to ease it out
And while Seven Sirens does that, the abilities aren't as fun as the previous forms. The tortoise should have just acted as a booster completely. The frog should have been a mermaid with the ability to have control swimming instead of just having sections moving through paths like mazes collecting coins.
But then there's pirate's curse, where transformations are gone but have abilities that are more fun than the transformations themselves. And that it tops all the games in the series even now because of everything that it just does the best. Even characters are portrayed here better than everywhere else.
When you look at the last two games, for platform-adventures, they play too easily and levels aren't very fun at least in the Seven Sirens case. I wouldn't mind easy games if the series just ended up being straightforward platformers where it's just moved to the right and don't lose lives but the series isn't like that so the challenge needs to be there.
If Wayforward can learn from Pirate's Curse and offer variety to the levels, a charm to characters, memorable music, better map layouts, and can just make transforms more instant, I'm Ret2Go there!
But as it is, it's too early to say whether the series is looking slim or not.
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| Sorry girl. I can't go out with half-genies that only give half a wish. |
Well, that was long enough. I would like to venture to another retrospective perhaps maybe big ones like Mario..or Kirby..or even Sonic!
Until next time this is SPG saying...
GET JUMPING!
Yeah, I changed my catchphrase. Hopefully, it's good!
