What's one thing that just bugs you about the Shantae series?

Simple question: is there anything at all that bugs you about the Shantae games in any way? Could be anything recent, or anything going back to the original game.

For me, it's how WayForward presented Half-Genie Hero to us. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure WF will do alright with the game and it's Kickstarter (it's currently over a quarter funded - about $113,000 there - so IMHO it's doing just fine), but I've noticed the game's existence in general is just one big spoiler for Pirate's Curse.

Basically, Half-Genie Hero tells us straight up that Shantae defeats the Pirate Master and gets her genie powers back from the Tinkerbats. Yay. But couldn't WF have waited until Pirate's Curse's release to reveal Half-Genie Hero to us? I honestly feel like this is a little too early.

But yeah, that's just my personal pet peeve.  Anyone else have anything they have to share?

Either that, or this has nothing to do with Pirate's Curse at all. :twisted:This looks like a straight up spin off series; I wouldn't count it as a spoiler until we have more details how this fits into the canon. It could actually be going back to explore Shantae's earlier adventures before the first game, we don't really know yet.

As for one of my pet peeves, it's how flow-breaking switching between normal Shantae and animal forms can be for platforming in the first game, but Risky's Revenge made transformations a lot more streamlined, so it's pretty much a non-issue now.

The dancing was nice, but I didn't like being a sitting duck for attacks, or only needing to waste my time dancing to get over one wall that was a little too high, which happened a lot in some parts of the overworld. I could deal with needing animal forms in the dungeons fine, but outside of them, I was busy trying to run from one town to another, (Never could find enough warp squids for every town.) so it was pretty trying on my patience.

The good guy beats the bad guy? Ahhh, why'd ya have to go and ruin the ending?!  

Eheh. But seriously, from what I gathered on the Kickstarter page, Half-Genie Hero is intended to kinda be it's own separate thing from the handheld trilogy: a fresh new story to help draw in series newcomers, along with those who simply may prefer Shantae on consoles instead of handhelds.

That said, if I had to nitpick on something in the Shantae series thus far... uh, erm... I'll have to get back to you on that one

Well isn't it pretty much obvious that Shantae will get her powers back and defeat the big baddy?
It's been the most probable outcome from the beginning.

And frankly, I wouldn't want it to end any other way.
Unless you expect her to become an outlaw, losing everything she cared for, everyone starts hating her, so becoming a full genie is the only option.
Such an ending would've pissed me off so much more than a minor spoiler.

My pet peeve... The games falling victim to bad planning and worse timing, resulting in final products that no longer have the features originally announced.

In regards to the debate over the new game...
1) It's very obvious that Shantae is getting all her powers back by the end of Pirate's Curse (unless they pull another cliffhanger, which is unlikely since Pirate's Curse is stated to end the current storyline).

2) I don't call this new game a spin-off. I call it "a new episode" in the Shantae canon. The first game was one episode, and Risky's Revenge and Pirate's Curse is essentially a two-part episode. Half-Genie Hero may have a different art-style, but that doesn't mean anything compared to how the story behind this game connects to the others.

3) It doesn't seem like a prequel to me. The first game was where Shantae and Risky first truly established their rivalry, and the pitch for the Risky campaign implies that she wants to beat Shantae simply out of spite, so it appears that they've already been fighting for a while in Half-Genie Hero.

It's a debate now? There was basically no premise given in the kickstarter, so we have little to debate until that thing gets off the ground and more is revealed. There's much more to say about the art style in the meantime, but I'm not hearing a lot of complains outside the forums so far.

Maetch wrote:My pet peeve... The games falling victim to bad planning and worse timing, resulting in final products that no longer have the features originally announced.

Considering nearly all of my favorite games have fallen into that, I've grown to expect this. With some games, it's amazing how much doesn't make the final cut, even if tons of content was already made and needed polishing. (Halo 2 and Earthworm Jim 3D come to mind.) So I can't say I'm ever surprised when a game falls short of its initial promises. As long as the end result is still a fun experience that isn't weighed down by what didn't make it into the final game, I can still enjoy it. Banjo Tooie was still a nice sequel on its own with or without the Stop n' Swap feature, but it would have been nice.

Maetch wrote:3) It doesn't seem like a prequel to me. The first game was where Shantae and Risky first truly established their rivalry, and the pitch for the Risky campaign implies that she wants to beat Shantae simply out of spite, so it appears that they've already been fighting for a while in Half-Genie Hero.

In the beginning of the first Shantae, both Risky and Shantae seemed to already know about each other, but that may have been their first actual encounter, so if that's the case, I'd have to agree with you here. The chances of this going into prequel territory isn't very high.

.Luke wrote:In the beginning of the first Shantae, both Risky and Shantae seemed to already know about each other, but that may have been their first actual encounter, so if that's the case, I'd have to agree with you here. The chances of this going into prequel territory isn't very high.

Only half-right.
Shantae knew Risky, but not the other way around.
And it's only because Risky was well-known and had a reputation.

Risky knew Scuttle Town had a Guardian Genie and wanted to challenge her apparently, only to find out it's "a little brat".
So yeah, she didn't know Shantae at all until then.


Just a little correction here.

Ordinary people can still use the items available in shops. (Half-genies are pretty rare, so it would be kinda silly to setup shop for one customer anyway. ) That's why she was able to use them during the final fight in Risky's Revenge. The items themselves are already magical, but I imagine the magic meter simplifying item quantity does make that sound confusing.

True that, but can't explain the magic meter. As much as I liked that they got rid of item quantities, i'm still like lolwut?

Deadly Lampshade wrote:True that, but can't explain the magic meter. As much as I liked that they got rid of item quantities, i'm still like lolwut?

Risky's Revenge seemed to imply that there are other kinds of magic in the world besides Genie Magic. It's why Shantae can still hair-whip even after getting strippped of her powers. The Magic Meter is likely part of some other magic type that normal people can use with certain items (perhaps all that Magic Jam that everybody likes to eat is part of it).

Multiple kinds of magic, eh? I guess I can buh-lieve it. :I

I had totally forgotten about the magic jams in Risky's Revenge. O: That would make a lot of sense, honestly.