Current Events > I just played and 100% every Shantae game in a week. AMA. (abilities spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

By 100% here, I just mean 100% of items & collectables. I didnt bother to get all the achievements such as beating the game under a certain time. Anyway Im not really sure how to structure this post so I want to provide a technical analysis first for all the games and then go back and give my opinion on each of the games separately.

So lets begin. Please bear with me here as I split this up into 4 posts because GameFAQs.

Technical Analysis:

Shantae (Gameboy Color). I did not play the original but rather the Limited Run reprint from the Nintendo eShop. Pretty basic controls. Dancing to shapeshift requires a series of inputs that match to a beat kinda like OoT flute, except you have to use them very often which makes them kind of annoying. Theres an open world where you can run around freely and seamlessly with several labyrinths for exploration. Warp points are located inside towns and you have to unlock them by giving them warp squids. You collect a powerup mid-level by freeing a captured spirit and then you have to use the powerup to complete the level. Its very Zelda-like in structure. Each of the shapeshift forms gets a talisman powerup as well. You can warp from anywhere which is nice. There were several fun minigames as well.

Riskys Revenge. Played the Directors Cut. I am not sure whats different from the original. This game maintains the seamless open world however the warp points are taken out of the towns and moved into the middle of zones meaning you always have to cross at least one monster filled area before getting back to town--of which there is now only one. Scuttle Town. The others are gone making way for more wilderness to explore. Warp points are unlocked just by getting to them. Dances were changed to remove the input mechanic instead just holding the dance button for a specified duration. Item use was simplified to use a magic meter instead of each item having an individual item count. Powerups are found in labyrinths and used to complete it like Shantae.

Pirates Curse. Shantae borrows Riskys Clothes for a spin in the world which is no longer seamless but structured in different zones. The mechanics are otherwise mostly the same as Riskys Revenge. You can warp to the hub from anywhere but theres no way to warp to places and must start at the beginning each time. Each zone holds a labyrinth to explore so the actual field of play is quite a bit larger than previous games despite the lack of an open world. Shantaes powers in this game are used without transforming at all so you never dance. If you need to glide, you just push the button to do it. Like the previous games, powerups are found mid level and used to complete it.


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Genie Hero. This game further simplifies the world structure by having it play out more like classic MegaMan. After completing a stage by which there is no backtracking past certain divisions and defeating the boss at the end, youre rewarded with a powerup. You can go back to the world youve beaten to get new items that you couldnt get before without the powerup (although in MegaMan this was usually just things like a 1-UP). While you can warp out from anywhere like Pirates Curse, this game is also kind enough to provide a warp dance letting you skip around levels so you dont always have to replay the same area repeatedly if you know you just need something from the end of the level. There are also several utility dances like a dance that damages enemies, dances that make you drop oranges, and other stuff. The DLC is pretty good but its essentially just the same game all over again with different characters kinda like how Castlevania has Richter Mode. The Risky DLC Im pretty sure is just an excuse to have Risky in a bathtub the whole game wearing only the bubbles as convenient censoring. The Friends to the End DLC is basically Trine but in the Shantae world. Friends to the End is straight linear. You can go back to pick up a missed collectable but everything is obtainable in one shot. Both DLCs change up the levels dramatically to accommodate the different abilities the characters have and the Friends to the End actually has new levels entirely. I did not play the costume DLC at the time of writing this but I might give it a shot at some point later.

Seven Sirens. This game returns us to the open world that we see in the GBC and Riskys Revenge original. It features 8 warp points to go around the world which you need to go to in order to warp. Theres no Pirate Flare or Whistle like the previous two games. Transformations are in the game but are not accessed through dancing but rather woven seamlessly into the game play. Need to do a ground stomp? Well theres no need to transform into an elephant and jump. Just jump and press down twice and youll do the stomp with the tortoise. Charge attack is the same way. Just hold the attack button for a bit and release to transform as the tortoise and smash away everything in your path like giant koopa or something. Dances are not gone, however, but function more like magic spells that you cast. 4 in total with different effects. One to reveal secrets, and 3 others to have some effect + can activate several interactable items for secrets and progression. Due to the combative nature of the dances, the game no longer freezes time while you dance so when trying to use the dances offensively youll need to get to a safe place for a second or so. Monster Cards replace the series pre-existing talismans (or skill ranks in the case of Pirates Curse) which only 3 can be used at a time and theres a wide variety to enhance various abilities or general utility such as shop discounts, and not losing any health when you die to spikes. The monster cards just straight up drop from the monsters so theres no need to go hunting for them. Just kill the monsters repeatedly until they drop one. Cards for the bosses exist but must be traded for with the Nugget collectable items. 50 in total.


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Opinions/Reviews:

Shantae. This game isnt bad and didnt really age poorly. Its basic for sure but its still better than a lot indie stuff made today. And even better than some AAA stuff in the similar genre (coughbalanwonderworldcough). The difficulty is kind of rough but it seems most of it is based on the clunky limited control options and extremely small drawing area giving poor visibility on your surroundings. I encountered a softlock problem in which a key can be used out of order in the Twinkle Dungeon without rescuing the harpy spirit causing a game breaking issue. Its not a bug, its just bad level design. Other than that the level design is actually really well thought out and insightful and interesting. Compared to its contemporaries like for example Metroid 2, Shantae is still one of the best games on the platform. There arent really many GBC exclusive games so I dont have a lot to compare it to.

Riskys Revenge. Its quite an upgrade overall from Shantae but theres actually significantly less content. This was a DSi downloadable title originally before being later ported to the 3DS which meant the game probably had to have an unrealistically small size which put the games content at odds with its high art / sound quality. Lots of improvements were made in every category but the game just ends way too soon. One of the best things about this game was the underwater exploration which I thought was great.

Pirates Curse. This was the favorite for a while. The lack of a seamless world I felt was not a positive change. The actual mechanics of Shantaes powers however were a great upgrade. It had gotten a little annoying having to constantly stop and shapeshift just to do one or two things and then shapeshift back. The combat and traversal in Pirates Curse were all more fluid and fun than in previous games. Something else I thought wasnt good about this game was the level layout itself was fairly uninteresting. There were a lot of very straight corridors with very little interesting things in them and the solutions to many platforming puzzles were likewise straightforward with a great deal of just waiting for two moving platforms to get close to each other and jump across them.

Genie Hero. The MegaMan style world structure was a straight step back from Pirates Curse which was already a step back from Riskys Revenge. The game however makes up for it in a lot of other ways. While the powers arent seamless like Pirates Curse, the game made vast improvements to the speed in which you could switch between forms so having to constantly transform into a monkey just to do a jump wasnt really an issue anymore. The DLC is fairly high quality. Many of the familiar powers from Pirates Curse appear again as you play through the Pirate Queens Quest story. The levels are modified so that you can progress through them using Riskys powers. Friends to the End DLC is a Trine-style game where you switch off between Bolo, Rottytops, and Sky and use their abilities to get through it all again. Theres no backtracking or power ups. The gems you get serve as a kind of experience meter that upgrades their abilities to do more damage and attack faster but thats all the upgrades youll get. Unlike the other DLC, this DLC also has a brand new level tailored specifically just for their abilities instead of merely retooling the other levels. It was also very difficult even after the levels got significantly dumbed down to accommodate for their weaker abilities.


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Seven Sirens. This is THE definitive Shantae game. You get immediately dropped off into a seamless open world with a huge map just like Super Metroid or SotN. Essentially taking the world concepts they had going on in Shantae and Riskys Revenge but expanding it massively. This game is the only game since the GBC original to feature more than one town with different item shops that also sell different items. Riskys Revenge, Pirates Curse, and 1/2 Genie Hero each feature just one town. With 8 warp points and 3 of them in towns and 6 of them in the wilderness below the island youre on theres a vast area to explore. Theres lots of people to talk to that actually have things worth talking to them for. The new method of transformation is vastly superior to that of the old dancing. Of course dancing is still in the game but features screen-wide magical effects now and youll want to dance a lot as its frequently the fastest way to kill the on-screen enemies once you pick up the lightning dance. The transformations are also usable in combat which was always a bit clunky in the previous games. For example the Dash Newt which is this games replacement for the monkey can essentially Monkey Bullet from anywhere even in mid air. The dash can be upgraded to have better velocity, distance, and damage so you can dash through enemies while killing them as you cross the map. The way you upgrade these things are the cards which function similar to paper mario badges in that you can equip a limited number of them at any given time to enhance your various skills and kill enemies youd otherwise not be able to. Several other transformations such as the Gastro Drill (Look at me. Im the Dig Dug now.) are mobility only but the Newt and Tortoise both have pretty good combat applications. While theres some things I felt like could have been done better (the underwater exploration is inferior to that of Genie Hero)

Seven Sirens ultimately has it all.

• Seamless open world
• Multiple Towns with item shops that have different stocks
• Warp to both towns and wilderness
• Powerups found mid dungeon
• Shapeshifting traversal powers that are inherently activated without disrupting the game to dance
• Fun and interesting labyrinth layouts
• Customizable upgraded abilities
• More collectables than any previous game

If someone asked me to put together a list of the best metroidvanias, I would not hesitate to put Shantae and the Seven Sirens on it.

Overall ranking:

1. Shantae and the Seven Sirens
2. Shantae and the Pirates Curse
3. Shantae: Genie Hero
4. Shantae: Riskys Revenge
5. Shantae (The soft lock issue is bad enough that I put it on the bottom for that alone. Fortunately I saved before entering the dungeon and did not overwrite my save so I only had to redo that whole dungeon and not the entire game)

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Any of the 1/2 Genie Hero dlc worth it?

@16-BITTER IIRC said you'd wanted to read this when it was done.

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CapnMuffin posted...

Any of the 1/2 Genie Hero dlc worth it?

Risky's DLC is worth it. The Friends DLC is fun but it can be skipped. It explains what happens during the time after Shantae becomes evil and gets better

if you get the ultimate edition, you'll already have this DLC.

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We have very different factors of appeal, but I appreciate that you took the time to make this.

For someone who prefers the Megaman structure, would 1/2 Genie Hero be ideal?

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Oh, incidentally, if you like the open world format, Phoenotopia Awakening is gonna be right up your alley.

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Guide posted...

We have very different factors of appeal, but I appreciate that you took the time to make this.

For someone who prefers the Megaman structure, would 1/2 Genie Hero be ideal?

Yeah actually. If you really like classic MegaMan style and just wish it had a bigger reason to revisit older levels or more RPG elements then 1/2 Genie Hero is perfect for you.

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I'm going through the costume DLC now for 1/2 Genie Hero. Ninja sucked so I quit after one level. Doing Jammies mode and it's way more fun.

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Ninja and Jammies both have some annoying issues in certain levels that can make them painful to play, but the Ultimate Edition was actually less expensive than the normal one when I went looking for it and I had a fair bit of fun with the Risky DLC.

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Oh I have to post that video of me doing something stupid I promised

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Tyranthraxus posted...

Oh I have to post that video of me doing something stupid I promised

Soon (TM)

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Now! (TM)

https://youtu.be/SxZG_aLmtU0

Sorry this is probably disappointing but there you go.

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I've beaten 2 and made it to the last dungeon of 3. I should beat it

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Smackems posted...

I've beaten 2 and made it to the last dungeon of 3. I should beat it

You should the final boss is fantastic. 2nd best final boss in the series.

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