The story of the Shantae series is one of the most fascinating tales in indie games. What started as a small underdog, released at the end of the GBC with little to no acclaim, managed to return years later, bringing with years banger after banger, and eventually turning into one of the most popular indie franchises.

In my opinion, Shantae and the Pirate Curse, the third title of the series, is the one responsible from making Shantae the juggernaut that is today. A really memorable and enjoyable platformer and metroid-vania, able bring together so many fun and crazy scenarios and formulas that make it impossible to be bored.

Graphically impeccable, with a snappy flow and a really endearing writing that makes yu grow attached to this cartoony world and its goofy heroes and villains. Also the music is a straight up banger.

Long live Wayforward. There is a reason they are such a beloved studio.

I kinda dig this game. It controls super well. The music is fantastic. Bosses are spot on and, without using heals, hit the difficulty sweet spot for me. The mix of platforming and combat is at a good balance. The platforming sections are fun to complete and evolve as you collect more power-ups, and there is a decent amount of enemy variety to make the combat fun in the moment to moment. Also, I kinda like that the combat is fairly simple. The options they give you complement the movement well and are pushed to their limits by the bosses of the game. There are a few sections that feel enemy-spammy which is one of my gripes. I like the way this game structured its gameplay loop as well. You can always count on going from mingling in Scuttletown to exploring and getting a feel for the new area to hitting the palace and fighting boss of the region. I enjoy it. There are some sections that require some backtracking, but most of the time they made it make some sort of sense and it at least expanded upon the world. Its also got a fun story that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Sure, it doesn't have the best visuals ever, but it did enough with its music, world, and gameplay to keep me interested all the way through 100%ing it.

off to a rough start when it hits you with sexualized female characters of unclear age, a sluggish first level and an uninteresting peek into a world steeped in orientalism reminiscent of aladdin. its reputation as 'the game to play in the series' and metroidvania label nonetheless made me truck onwards to see if there isn't something compelling to be found behind its offputting presentation.

the second world already felt a bit better, though the combat still remained rough as the enemies mostly serve as obstacles who you begrudgingly whip your hair back and forth against just so you don't run into the risk of body collision and knockback. meanwhile, the bosses were a welcome sight as they offered a little engagement through their mechanics and didn't overstay their welcome.

the game is certainly not helped by how unengaging the overarching story is, which results in issues with unlocking key items necessary for progression as they’re tied to talking to npcs. one could make it a habit to talk to everyone in town whenever you’re there and figure it out that way, but it doesn’t change it behind a drag. revisiting former levels with new abilities is a no brainer for anyone familiar with these types of games and works here, too, and i wish was the main way of unlocking & making progress.

all that said, once you do unlock the first movement ability is the point where the game finally shows real promise as it allows you to engage with the levels’ platforming and enemies more, making for satisfying dynamic moments. this of course doesn’t come as a surprise with games where unlocking abilities is one of the main draws, but here it really revealed how sluggish and unrefined the game was prior, and how much the game shifts going forward.. the games i have the most fondness don’t have exploration and existence in its world feel a like a chore without the upcoming abilities; instead moving around in them already feels interesting without anything fancy. they make you want to push forward to obtain those powers.

from this point onwards the game only got better for the most part as the levels became more intricate and new abilities were obtained – shoutout to the scimitar downsmash and rush ability!! the few puzzle served a medium amount of challenge that didn’t halt progress for too long but still felt like an obstacle. the currency dropped from monsters remained worthwhile throughout as it is used to buy certain upgrades and resources useful until the very end. (still wish a magnet ability existed as you could easily lose gems dropping from a vase etc.) secrets and collectables were spread out so you came across them frequently enough for it to feel rewarding (though having to go to an npc in town to upgrade 4 heart containers into 1 was a tad annoying).

at this point, my main gripe left was the save npc, which was often enough placed so that you’d either have to backtrack for it or in one instance - completely absurdly. there’s 1 (!) stealth section in the game where whenever you’re caught, you have to do approx. 5+ rooms again. it wasn’t even challenging, but it would trip you up often enough to warrant a few resets where you’re left waiting for guards to turn the other way again you had already figured out. one could say the game was taking the piss here!

the last big challenge where you (spoiler) have to climb a tower through the most difficult platforming gauntlets was definitely the highlight of the game. it takes all you’ve had to deal with throughout the game and ups the ante. with no save point throughout, mind you (though you can always use healing items to keep going as long as you have resources for) with all movement abilities at your disposal, this was a greatly satisfying challenge. it wrapped up the experience neatly with a satisfying boss battle.

all in all, shantae ultimately managed to win me over in the second half. it’s a careful recommendation with a lot of caveats, but if you happen to own it, or wanna see what shantae is all about, you might as well go for this one.

So far I think it's safe to say that this is the best Shantae game. Not only does it have Shantae and Risky teaming up to fight a greater threat (which is always peak) but it has the best move set in all the Shantae games. I preferred the more "linear" feel of this game and it's islands over Risky's Revenge and how the game was separated into layers so far it's the only Shantae game I went out of my way 100% complete. The only area I didn't like was Mud Bog island but other than that this game was great.

After playing through Risky's Revenge, I thought it only natural to move onto the other Shantae game I already owned on my 3DS. It took me a while to have the successive down times to play through it, but I eventually got it done just before I headed back to Japan. I'd heard this one was pretty good, and that's about what I found as I played it, with some not insignificant caveats along the way. It took me just under 7 hours according to the in-game clock, and I also collected all the collectibles.

At the end of Risky's Revenge, Shantae lost her genie powers, so the entirety of this game is Shantae as just a human (so no transformation powers). The Ammo Baron from the first game who bought Scuttle Town has moved in to take what's his, and on top of that, Risky has come in as well to inform Shantae that the Pirate Master is awakening from his undead slumber because of events that happened in the last game. Shantae has to team up with Risky (or really just borrow her ship and her info on where to go) to travel to five islands and defeat the "dens of evil" (dungeons) there to keep him dead for good. The humor is still very much Shantae, although it does wear a bit much at times. A lot of the humor is also tied up in references to pop culture (some hit, some miss), although I don't mind that. The music is nice, and the animation looks great as WayForward are known for.

The biggest issue I had with the presentation is that you can REALLY tell the game was designed by men with how the game seems to go out of its way to constantly shove the female characters' bodies in your faces in all manners of costumes and standing positions. The degree to which the four central female characters are constantly sexualized got to somewhere between pathetic and creepy for me, and it's something that brought the whole game down a peg for me.

Mechanically, Pirate's Curse is more Shantae but faaar better than Risky's Revenge. It's still the same power-ups for your base attack (a simple hair whip you can make hit harder and/or faster), but the transformations are gone now. They were a gimmick that did nothing but slow things down in Risky's Revenge, so I had no problem with that. Instead you get more moves that incorporate far more easily into how you play the game and don't break the pace. Levels also look more different on the whole, and you also finally have a Metroid-style auto-updating mini-map so you aren't wandering around lost constantly. I would've liked the ability to pin places of interest on the map, but overall the game design is head and shoulders above Risky's Revenge in a way I really liked.

That's not to say that the mechanics aren't without their fumbles. The dungeons are still the best designed levels of the game, but the overworlds are still a bit too flat and bland. With the whole concept of going across tons of islands, they didn't really need to have these mostly flat areas connecting to the dungeons or gimmick stages (the running one and the stealth one both suck, especially the stealth one) instead of just having several smaller labyrinths. The signposting is nowhere near as dire as the first game, but it's still a problem (especially if you're looking to get ever single bit of dark magic hidden throughout the game, as some are very fiendishly hidden).

Verdict: Recommended. This is a really solid Metroidvania on the 3DS. If you can deal with the signposting issues and the character design, you'll have a good time. It's certainly not the best Metroidvania out there in 2020, but on 3DS, particularly back in 2014, this is a really solid addition to the genre.