Shantae Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Shantae
Genre: Adventure, Action, Platformer
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Game Boy Color and Nintendo 3DS)
Developer|Publisher: Wayforward
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price: US $9.99 | UK £7.49 | EU € 9,99
Release Date: April 22nd, 2021

Review code provided with many thanks to Wayforward

Complete the Collection

The Shantae series has seen a lot of love on the Nintendo Switch. For the first time, you can enjoy the entirety of the five-game series on a single platform with the release of the original Shantae, which was first released all the way back in 2002 for the Game Boy Color.

Shantae didn’t have the best start to her gaming career, releasing after the more superior GameBoy Advance had become available to the public. But that didn’t stop this series still coming back for four additional sequels over the years,  which feels a lot in part to a very dedicated fan base. But does the original hold up? It’s time to put our retro hat on, do a little dance and find out.

Half-Genie Hero 

Shantae is a half-genie who protects a small fishing village known as Scuttle Town. One day Pirates, led by an oddly named Risky Boots, invade the town to steal a prototype Steam engine. From there she goes to collect four elemental stones to power the steam engine and turn it into a weapon. It’s up to Shantae to beat Risky to the punch and save the day. It’s a simple plot presented in text boxes and doesn’t take itself too seriously with silly banter aplenty between Shantae and the various NPCs you can talk to in the game.

Retro Looks 

The graphics are delightful retro pixels just as it was back on the original Game Boy Color. Considering this was an 8-bit system on a tiny handheld this game makes the most of the colour palette and has some pretty detailed sprite work to boot. There’s also that familiar but simple soundtrack from this era, which may give some folk the nostalgia feels, but, possibly irritate folk not familiar with the system.

It’s not the most pleasant soundtrack to listen to and the bleeps and bloops when you get hit, sound a bit high pitched but considering the hardware the developers did a good job for the time. Sadly this port does absolutely nothing to update this. You can play the game in its original Game Boy Color aesthetic as well as a slightly more enhanced Game Boy Advance version. Unfortunately, you have to commit to your graphical choice before starting the game and you can’t switch the styles during gameplay which is quite a shame. 

You can Transform Into a Monkey

Shantae is an adventure platformer or as the cool kids call it a Metroidvania. You have free reign to explore the 2D map but areas are gated off to you until you have unlocked a new ability, which comes in the form of an animal transformation like a monkey, elephant, spider etc. To transform you need to perform a little dance by pressing the directions buttons at the right time while a timed beat plays.

Despite feeling like I pressed the right button at the right time, I felt like I had to press the buttons down hard to get it to function correctly. It’s just as finicky to do now as it was on the original version and it’s a shame this has not been simplified. 

Retro Feel

Shante’s design is intrinsically retro. You begin with a small health bar which can be upgraded by finding health vials in the game world. But the game also uses a life-based system so if you lose all your lives in a section you will restart at the last area you saved. Which in some cases might be very far away,  especially if you’re used to auto-saving and regular checkpoints in modern games. Enemies in some areas respawn regularly,  sometimes on top of your character!

Since the game presents in its original Game Boy Color aspect ratio the view of the area is very restrictive. This means that there are many moments where you feel like you’re taking leaps of faith. And of course, Shantae has one hit death pits to meet you on the way down. The controls are also quite stilted. The button you use to attack enemies, you also need to hold down to run. Without this hold you literally walk around levels at a slow pace, leaving you without any momentum to jump across platforms. Combat is also a bit tricky. Your weapon is your hair and you really need it to hit in the right place at the right time for it to connect properly. This is a game you have to learn through a trial of frustration. 

If you can overcome this there is a pretty enjoyable adventure here. There are multiple dungeons to explore with epic boss fights at the end. There are plenty of secrets to find and when you are hanging around the game’s towns you can buy items, save the game and participate in a pretty cool dance mini-game to earn some extra cash.

The Port Conundrum 

This is another game I find quite hard to rate. As a retro fan, I always love seeing old games get a re-release onto modern systems. The trouble here is Shantae feels like a standard port job with save states included. The trouble is, retro games have been given so much more love than this, with many retro collections featuring rewind features, emulation options and quicker save state access. Shantae feels like it just does the basics.

The Game Boy Advance enhanced version and a few concept art pieces are certainly welcome but it’s a shame more conveniences weren’t added to the game, like an autorun feature or just allowing you to tweak the controls in general. It will certainly appeal to fans that may have missed out on the 3DS digital re-release but if you already own that version of the game the double-dip doesn’t feel necessary here. It also feels like there’s a little bit of a wasted opportunity to just remake the original game and have this be an added extra.

Conclusion

Overall if you’re a fan of the series it’s worth picking up Shantae to discover its roots. If you’re new to the series I would actually suggest you pick up one of the newer games first before diving into this one. Some of Shante’s retro mechanics will not have aged well for some audiences. But if you’re old like me there is a certain fascinating curiosity around how developers were able to make good games on the little handheld that could, the Game Boy Color. Great for its time. Nice to see it re-released. Just a shame not more was done to make the game accessible for new audiences.

Final Verdict: I Like It