In addition to her standard hair whip attack (which has never got old, and I’ve played a lot of these games now. The bosses are incredible and perhaps the best example of the creative freedom that HD design has allowed WayForward. Her enemies are universally interesting in their movement and behaviours, making each new level a delight to play through. Shantae’s movement is slick, fast, and graceful. Additionally, the level design manages to be creative from start to finish, and the general lack of repetition is due to the developers not feeling the need to pad the game out but I know there are also going to be players who would like to see more.Įvery second of it is a delight to play as well. It’s perhaps best as a short-and-sweet experience so that its humour and personality don’t have a chance to wear players down. While Shantae: Half-Genie Hero isn’t the longest game, it’s deeply fulfilling from start to finish, and there’s not a second of its runtime that is not dripping with style and panache. This sight is surreal to behold, and downright funny in how it’s executed. I don’t intend to give away too many of the surprises, but there’s also a level early on where Shantae is trying to rescue the young girls who have been kidnapped from a village, and when she finds them, they’re being pulled around on a conveyor belt to be turned into mermaids as a fish leaps out of the water to swallow their legs. Then, when talking with a little boy, he asks her if she’s a medusa because his “mother always tells me to avert my eyes when you’re around.” This is because Shantae’s harem costume doesn’t have much more material than the bikini armour. Shantae can buy bikini armour, and the description states that “this armour halves damage taken” surely a bit of satire about how women’s armour generally works in most games.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is also deeply humorous. That being said, Shantae is my favourite character in 2D platforming, and the additional detail afforded her with this new art engine only enhances her appeal further. WayForward has created a character of such inherent interest that I tend to feel she’s outgrown what the platformer genre can grant her. I would still like to see Shantae in a JRPG or more narrative-heavy adventure game. From the way she dances to transform into various animals (more on that in a second), to her running style and idle movements, all give this easy impression of a perky, upbeat character who brightens the world. Though there’s not a great deal of explicit storytelling going on through the game, the quality of movement through Shantae’s sprite gives her more personality than many RPGs manage in their most important characters. In any given level there is stuff happening in both the background and foreground at such a rate that you’ll barely notice it happening, but what you will be aware of is that the screen is perennially filled with motion, colour, and energy. The attention to detail with the smallest of elements, animation, and movement is immediately immersive. There’s a clear love that the entire team at WayForward has for its characters and universe. This is by far my favourite fantasy setting, complete with genies, harem costumes, blistering hot deserts, the occasional refreshing oasis, eroticism, and that distinctive approach to music that immediately sets the scene.Ĭould watch all day. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of platformers, but I play the Shantae games compulsively because, in an era of game design that is so completely uncomfortable with referencing the Middle East, Shantae is ballsy in its clear inspiration from 1001 Arabian Nights. The great thing about the Shantae games is they’ve been set in such exotic locations – simply witnessing the world has always been a delight. Now, with Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, we finally have a proper HD Shantae, and by golly is it gorgeous. And, while each of the games in the series have looked as good as 2D pixel art can allow, on the big screen each of these games have indeed looked like upscaled ports overly large pixels and all. WayForward, the modern genre specialist, has always led its Shantae games with a handheld first approach. Related reading: Another of Matt’s reviews of one of the Shantae games on PlayStation 4. One that people now pay real attention to, because aside from Nintendo’s own stuff, 2D platformers just don’t come better. This series, which started out with a humble Game Boy Color game that had low circulation and received even less attention from both the mainstream and the typical niche for these kinds of games, has slowly but steadily grown into one of the highest standard 2D platformer franchises out there. Upfront and from the start, it is so very, very cool that Shantae is finally in high definition.

Sky shantae sprites