Hey, remember that review of DuckTales Remastered I posted early this year? Well, I’m going back to the Wayforward well for now. And, this time, I’ll be playing a game I’ve never played before! Even before I played through Super Metroid for my review, I knew the “Metroidvania” genre was large and encompassed multiple franchises – I mean, what was I expecting? Only Metroid and Castlevania? Come on, Nic. There’s got to be more than those. And, indeed, there are. Tons and tons of games that are set under the genre. Gigantic maps, with a lot of secrets? Weaponry, abilities and items required to move forward in the game? Memorable environments? Yep, Metroidvania alright.
There is one franchise that I had never played before,
and it falls squarely into the genre. Tell me, who is a dedicated heroine who
feels the need to help her fellows, thanks to her prehensile purple hair and
generally friendly demeanor?
What? No! I meant Shantae!
That’s her. While Shantae’s franchise only contains four main games for now, she has already found a large following thanks to the
intriguing storyline, the tongue-in-cheek comedic tone, and the endearing main
characters. That cutesy art style on the main cast couldn’t have hurt, either…
and same for the fanservice, if Pervert-Me is allowed a single
comment today in this review. The clash between the cuteness of the style and
the very revealing clothing is what makes this game hard to pin on the ERSB
charts. Is it for kids? Yeah, but there are many jokes that would be understood
only by adults…
How else would you get a half-genie anyway? You can
guess the implications behind this term, right?
Shantae first appeared in her eponymous title, on the
Game Boy Color, in 2002. She then took an 8-year break until coming back again
in 2010's “Shantae: Risky’s Revenge”, a downloadable title on the Nintendo
DSiWare. This one was re-released in 2014 mere months before the release of
“Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse”, available on Nintendo 3DS and WiiU through
the eShop. Then, a fourth game was crowdfunded on Kickstarter, and the resulting title, “Shantae: Half-Genie Hero”, came out on WiiU, PS4, PSVita,
Xbox One, and lately on the Switch. The last three games were also released on
Steam… and I already own two. I only need Half-Genie Hero now. I decided it
would be best to discuss the games in order, so I’ll start with Risky’s
Revenge, and see whenever I can review the other one – and the last one, if I
get to buy it. This intro has been long enough, let’s jump into this game,
shall we?
The game begins at Shantae’s house, the Lighthouse,
where she’s assaulted by various enemies. Why? Well, ever since she saved her
world from her arch-enemy, any baddie that believes itself good enough wants to pick
a fight. Or they attack in gangs. No problem though, Shantae will just smash
them with her prehensile magical purple hair! Hey, that’s a pretty neat way to
fight! Hm, I wonder what would happen if all the video game heroes with that
sort of magic hair got into a fight…
Sephiroth was just passing by and he got "tangled" into this mess. You could say he was "roped" in. But that's nothing to be splitting hairs about. |
…I gotta agree there, it's probably not a good idea.
That oil looks like it could have been someone's itty-bitty living space. |
I love the mythos behind the Shantae franchise. It has
those nods to the Arabian Nights, but it also implies that the relics are more
advanced than the technology currently existing in their world, Sequin Land. As
if a cataclysm caused them to revert to those days, with remnants of modern
society still out there. It’s as though someone took that theory about Aladdin
being actually set in the far future (solely because the Genie references
multiple modern celebrities), and based a whole franchise on it. Then we have
all the enemies based on Arabian Nights myths, the main recurring villain is a pirate…
Despite Mimic’s insistence that we shouldn’t focus on
the lamp, the people present are mesmerized by it. Well, until the wall is
blasted open and Shantae’s arch-enemy, Risky Boots, shows up in her flying ship.
You know what, most women in this game franchise are scantily-clad, so I’ll
just keep this on hand. I get a feeling I’ll be saying it frequently, with
Risky Boots being already the third character it applies to.
Is that a... robot pirate ship? Holy crap. How did she get that? |
Mimic shows up, with Mayor Scuttlebutt following soon
after. And the Mayor fires Shantae from her role as guardian genie of Scuttle Town
for not preventing that attack from happening in the first place. After the
ungrateful fat bastard leaves, Shantae asks Mimic to explain the magic oil lamp
to her; Risky had to have a reason to take it, no? He soon explains that the
lamp contained great power that once put the whole land in danger, but its dark
abilities were separated in three seals scattered around the land, handed to
three Barons. Alright, got it. Find three seals, save the world. Simple enough.
You can actually see through the entrances on both sides what's going on in the plane behind this one. |
I can see two or three planes behind in this forest! And that's a good, thing, that's where I'm going! |
I dunno if you can see it, but Rotty is using her spider computer thing. Also, close-up of characters when they're about to talk, as we can see here with Shantae. |
(Dennis Hopper voice) "Monkey!" |
With this newfound ability, she makes her way
towards the boss room, where she finds and fights the Squid Baron. He has a plethora of attacks and takes
dozens of hits from her hair whip before going down. Thankfully, he is defeated
soon enough, and so Shantae gets her hands on the first seal. When she leaves
the dungeon, Risky shows up, asks to get the seal, Shantae refuses, Risky
leaves. Aww, I wanted to see a catfight.
Fireball! I want to burn things! |
Not that one, sadly.
Urgh, I hate having to help you. But I have no choice if I want the plot to continue. |
Give me a second, the cutscene wouldn't allow me to give it to you just yet! |
Not so bad right now with only oner enemy left... But that's because I killed the other 10 already. |
As we leave the Battle Tower, Risky Boots shows up
again and requests the seal, threatening Shantae’s uncle is she refuses. Uh oh. Still, Shantae refuses, and when we’re back
at Scuttle Town (now renamed Ammo Town), Uncle Mimic seems fine. No harm yet.
He does mention that, now that we have two seals, only one still has to be
found – but we need a special ability for that purpose. There are talks of a
locked door in the forest area that may lead to said special ability. And,
well, as it turns out, we also got the key to open that door! Thanks, Barracuda
Joe!
Inside this mini-dungeon is another altar, and
this one gives Shantae a new special ability: If you release the dance button
during her second dance, she’ll turn into an elephant that can ram into blocks
and enemies to destroy them. If you do it near a ledge, the elephant will even
continue into its ramming path while in the air, though not for long. A
powerful attack, which you get at the cost of losing most of your agility. The law of gravity? Eh, we'll follow it whenever we want to.
Geez, for a zombie, this guy is friggin' ripped! Also, he looks evil, but don't worry, he's actually a good guy. Kinda-sorta-usually. |
As we leave this mini-dungeon, we run into two
other zombies, Abner and Joe Cadaver, Rottytops’ brothers. They say that Shantae will need their help to get in the third Baron's fortress. They demand one thing in return – no, not her brain! They
need coffee. That’s apparently what makes them able to resist their zombie
urges. …Huh. Then again, with the silly tone of the game so far, I’m not
surprised. Shantae questions the offer, but reluctantly accepts as it’s pretty
much guaranteed that the plot won’t let her move forward till she does it. Okay
then, time for a coffee run! Sge must be feeling like an intern own game, what a shame.
Well, I think this is as good a time as can be to
pause. How about we continue this next Monday?
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