I really should've saved my Tex Avery joke for this one, because Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is at least twice as thirsty as the previous game. That's really what sequels are all about, one-upping everything its predecessor did. It's about finding any excuse to put your characters in bikinis or have their clothes get shredded up because that's... that's just for daddy.....

Joking aside, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse does a pretty good job of building off of Risky's Revenge, a game I mostly found fine though limited in scope and fairly barebones for a search-action. Pirate's Curse is comparatively more involved yet still undemanding, perfect for people who want to get into the genre and still feel engaged. Gone are Shantae's genie powers, which were stripped from her by Risky in the previous game, negating the slow dancing/transformation mechanic and swapping it out for collectable pirate-themed items. I found these to be overall more fun than Shantae's transformations, and not needing to wind each of them up before using them helps a ton with maintaining the flow of gameplay.

Dungeons play very similarly to Risky's Revenge, though they are more aesthetically distinct. The overworld, however, is far more realized than it was in the last game, featuring some great character interactions and excellent level design. Some of the islands you visit could be considered dungeons in their own right, and by spending a more significant amount of time above ground, it makes getting into a dungeon feel more like an event. The story is also given more room to play out here, and it actually feels like characters are moving around and doing stuff, whereas the world in Risky's Revenge felt mostly static as Shantae zipped between dungeons. Teaming her up with Risky is a lot of fun too, it's great seeing how Shantae's softness rubs off on her, but I am a sucker for a good villain-turned-hero arc.

I do think Pirate's Curse could've done a bit more in some areas, like with the mutating tinkerbats, which are very similar mechanically to the Metroids you hunt in Metroid 2. Unlike Metroid, however, you'll only fight one type of tinkerbat. They don't evolve over the course of the game or become more challenging, and I think that was a missed opportunity. The final dungeon is also needlessly brutal, with a lot of sequences that involve precise timing and a bit too much trial and error for my taste.

I still had a great time with this one and I can certainly see why people say it's the best Shantae game, but that's also a little upsetting because I still see room for improvement here. A Shantae game that has the same level of exploration and depth as a proper Metroid could be great, and I think there's something to the idea of Shantae transforming and gaining new abilities even if that system could be smoother in practice. Hopefully the following two games give me exactly what I'm looking for, which is more girls in bikinis, and they're uh... they're covered in oil, yeeeeah... yeah that's just for daddy ,....

This is where the series really comes into its own. A solid action platformer with much smoother movement and combat.

The artwork here is at the peak of its pixel art while the cartoon artwork has filed off the rough edges from Risky's Revenge. The music maintains its excellent quality and this game introduces some of the best tracks in the series.

Gameplay is a lot more frantic and fun than it was in RR as there's less focus on short complicated platforming segments and they make use of larger more open level design. The new pirate themed abilities give you a more offensive boost and add even add offence to movement without the awkward animal transformations from the previous game.

The puzzle aspect has been reduced to much simpler platforming challenges and what's left is more of a trade chain of taking x item to y character which does remove a lot of the backtracking from RR.

Overall a big improvement and a stand out entry in the series. If you're just getting into Shantae you could easily start here.

It's faster, flashier, and funnier than Shantae: Risky's Revenge, but it's also more slippery. Every controller command and its associated animation in Risky was perfectly timed. Maneuvering Shantae had heft, friction, and consequence. But Pirate's Curse oils up the action, dampening her tangible physicality. And while Pirate's dialogue portraits are more appealing, the game criminally deprives Shantae of her signature belly dance (which was gloriously gussied up in Risky's HD Magic Mode).

This is the third entry in the Shantae series, and is a damn good one. It may very well be my favourite one. It follows the Metroid-like gameplay style of its predecessors but still keeps things fresh with a slightly different art style and different mechanics as far as abilities are concerned. Like the other Shantae games, there are different endings depending on how quickly you beat the game and if you collect everything or not. The game looks nice and plays well. Jake Kaufman does a great job with the music as always.

After being recommended Shantae as a series due to my love for Metroidvania's, I thought I'd give one a shot. This seemed like a good place to start. I haven't ever taken the time to figure out what the series was like; I've just heard about it in passing a few times over the years. Turns out it's ~almost~ the kind of game that I love.

First, I'd like to get this out of the way: the ways the girls are designed (all the exact same way) is a bit weird. I'm not one to ever point something like this out, or even care... but this is by far the most egregious example of random/unnecessary fan service. (I don't go near other games that are way over the top with this, so this stands out to me.) Again, I don't really care about it in most games, but here it stood out immediately as very intentional and very distracting. Especially when the character art is shoved in your face constantly when conversations are being had. Also, it's such a jarring difference between the pixel art aesthetic and the very high resolution illustrations of the characters when in dialogue. All around just some strange/off-putting choices regarding the art.

To be honest, that last paragraph has nothing to do with my low-ish score of this game, though. That's not something that would move the needle of a games quality for me, I just figured it needed to be pointed out.

Anyways - the actual game. At first, I was optimistic. I think the game controls very well - the way a platformer should. The jumps are tight, the animation is smooth, the knockback feels right, the upgrades to your arsenal are fun, and the precision of all of your inputs is appreciated. I was thinking hey, we might have another Guacamelee/Hollow Knight on our hands here.

The problem arises when the "loop" sets in. I played up until the second last island. It became clear half-way through that you end up doing something similar on every island, and it got to be boring. Unlock a new island, go to it, realize you can't progress, go back to a spot on the island 2 islands ago, find a hidden path to get a random item for someone, give it to them, earn something to now progress on the new island - repeat.

It's somehow both too linear in its design and also too vague. The conversations had by the characters are not nearly interesting/engaging enough to truly pay attention to, so I was constantly looking up where to go next. Sometimes I clued in to what I was supposed to be doing, but about half the time I hit a wall and was like.... what? Where do I go? This is something that rarely happens in other Metroidvania's. Getting lost is part of the genre, though. In this game, it doesn't feel like getting lost while exploring, it just feels like you're going the way you should be but you hit an arbitrary wall that forces you to backtrack. It's not a smooth process; like I said, it's oddly linear. Oh, you walked to the right for 2 minutes through a mess of enemies that are piling on screen at an awkward rate. So much so that they overlap each other, sometimes. Welp, you hit a wall, time to turn around and go back through it so that you can get an item you didn't know you'd need. But guess what? Now you get to spam Y on your way back through those enemies for a third time! (Yes, I know the teleporting barrel thing exists, I used it frequently once I realized what it was.)

The map is an important tool in any Metroidvania. In this game, it serves its purpose (red/yellow squares are appreciated) but doesn't go any further to aid your quest. It would be nice to be able to look at the map of any island regardless of where you are. Additionally, I think adding the ability to place a pin on the map would do wonders. Plenty of times I came across something I couldn't access (like a hole/gap/chest) and assumed I could return to it later. The problem is, half of these things are mandatory to progress and half of them are just extra items. There's no way to know which ones are truly important to remember. I also don't think the areas are memorable enough to have me recall the exact location I came across something. Within each island, most of the scenery is very samey. Even in situations where I knew what kind of item I needed to progress, I had no idea where it was. They're always in super arbitrary spots. One of the last ones I got just required me to go back 2 islands, wander around and find a random patch of grass I could now destroy with my downward thrust. Why? Well, I guess that's how Metroidvania's work. I guess everything just felt like it lacked context. It didn't feel purposefully placed.

The music in this game is fantastic, though. Nothing to complain about there. Loved every tune I heard. Almost reminded me of Banjo-Kazooie music, which is some of my favourite video game music around.

In terms of the combat and your arsenal of tools... it's a mixed bag. Fighting things feels good, if you're just considering how it feels to jump around, dodge, and attack enemies. The problem is that it's, again, really basic. There's barely any reason to attack anything with things other than your basic attack. It's by far the most powerful way to fight. The game kinda just turns in to mashing Y. Outside of bosses, which were a highlight of the game. I liked the way the pistol was used to manipulate platforms, though that ability wasn't used much. The glider is cool, too. The scimitar was a pretty boring addition that late in to the game. I liked the way the boots were implemented because they weren't super easy to pull off, but it felt fair.

Overall, it just feels too by-the-books in its design for me. The segmentation of all the islands made it feel like I wasn't really exploring anything - I was just following a path until the game told me I wasn't allowed to. A Metroidvania is all about the interconnected paths and how you learn to slowly unveil new ways to explore the map. I didn't get that feeling at all here. It's a shame, because I love the way the game plays. It feels right, which I always say is the most important aspect. I suppose in a game like this, the exploration/progression is equally as important.

I likely won't be trying the newer games in the series, as they are supposedly easier than this one. I did find this game a bit too easy for my tastes, combat/platforming wise, so any easier would probably make things worse.
Maybe, though. I haven't totally written it off. There's a decent amount to like here, but it's on the lower end for me as far as Metroidvanias go.

shantae games are fun, but not that fun. and i think it all comes down to the more linear aspect of the exploration. i mean, can this game really be defined as a metroidvania? the world is pretty straight foward, to the point exploration becomes boring. i think the times i had more fun with the game, were the times it seemed to experiment new things in its linearity (i.e the "stealth" section and the "running" section). also, i was gonna go for the 100%, but due to some weird bug, an item i already owned wouldn't show up in my progress, so, yeah.
also can we talk about the character design? i know it's from a classic gameboy color game but somehow they manage to make shantae and all the female characters even more sexualized than they were in previous games. i played it in 3D on my 3DS and their boobs actually were protruding through the screen ?? lol also they look exactly the same ???? there's no nuance whatsoever.

the movements and attacks were fun though! i love the scimitar jump and the cannon. it was cool to combine attacks to the movements. and, yea, i guess in the end of the day, i had some fun with it! i just wish it were something more.