Such weapons include her long range pistol, her enormous hat (which is used for gliding in the air), a sword serving as a Ducktales-inspired pogo stick, and so on. Speaking of which, the character’s trademark attack is whipping out her long hair, which gets the job done with most encounters but eventually requires an expansion of arsenal courtesy of Risky’s treasures scattered throughout each area. While not quite as expansive as other games that share that classification, Shante and the Pirate’s Curse still features the usual secrets and areas requiring a certain power-up in order to access. The game itself borrows many platforming elements from classic games, including the now commonly-named Metroidvania series of open-ended platformers. It’s a visually endearing look, even if the pixelated graphics often clash with the high-res artwork and text. The playfulness and optimism also carries over to the visuals, which feature happy, bouncy (both in the literal and fanservice sense) animations for both characters and enemies. Many wacky situations occur throughout the journey, from having to escort a young zombie girl through a series of obstacles or escaping an Egyptian-like cult that mistakes Shantae as their long-lost princess. Mercifully, Shantae’s cheesecake is also played in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and for the most part manages that balance pretty well thanks to some smart writing and characterization. Forming an uneasy alliance, Shantae must travel to several islands in order to collect intel (and of course, power-ups) in order to find the location of the Pirate Master’s grave and prevent his dark resurrection.ĭesigned with a clearly Anime-influenced aesthetic, Shantae’s cast of characters range from all sorts of colorful and cute characters, not to mention a rather copious amount of sex appeal. According to Risky, an even deadlier enemy known as the Pirate Master is planning his resurrection, which puts everyone in jeopardy, Risky included. While Shantae is forced to await her day in court for interfering, she is approached by her old nemesis Risky Boots, the buxom pirate whole stole her lamp in the previous games. While adjusting to life as a human, Shante’s town erupts in cannon fire courtesy of the Ammo Baron, who it turns out actually owns the town legally and is proceeding with the renovation (by blowing everything up). Shantae and the Pirate’s curse follows the events of the previous game, Risky’s Revenge, which culminated with the titular half-genie having to sacrifice her genie powers. Originally released in 2014 on the Wii U and 3DS, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse marks the third game in the series starring the cutie genie in 2D, and has made its way to the Playstation 4 nearly two years after. The origins of the Shantae franchise are even more bizarre, with the first game launching on the tail-end of the Gameboy Color’s lifecycle amazingly, the game received enough of a cult following that it moved toward greener and more modern pastures instead of fading away like so many 2D mascots. Much like the titular half-genie herself, the Shantae series falls somewhere in the middle, not quite a Triple-A creation but with enough publisher connections to place it a bit higher above most independently-developed games. Yet many Indie developers keep the spirit of 2D alive, going so far as to utilize retro-styled sprites to perfectly recreate the nostalgic love, even if the pixels in question tend to be misrepresented (slapping a bunch of pixels together does not automatically make a game “8-bit”, a fact many Indie devs fail to recognize). As far as Triple-A publishers go, 2D Platformers are a thing of the past, with only the occasional Mario or Sonic title paying tribute while many classic cornerstones of the genre (including Metroid and Mega Man) go tragically ignored. 2D Platformers are kind of like the Schrodinger’s Cat of videogames: neither alive nor dead, but continuing to exist in a universe where both concepts are valid.
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