![]() As a tradeoff, the new game spreads these levels across multiple islands which can be selected from aboard Risky’s iconic Tinkertub. Risky’s Revenge used layered levels to allow for more intricate zone design, but Pirate’s Curse abandons this in favor of more straightforward environments. Like Shantae’s previous DSiWare outing, Pirate’s Curse has a somewhat unique take on the standard sidescrolling exploremup formula. Kaufman makes all of his music that he can available on his bandcamp for free, so if you’d like a taste before you buy the game you can check it out there. When you’re playing the game it’ll make you want to get up and dance (or in some cases thrash) and when you’re done it’ll keep running through your head for days after. Mixing heavy Arabian and Egyptian influences with solid chiptune fundamentals, the music in Pirate’s Curse is diverse and infectious. Kaufman has been WayForward’s go-to maestro for years now, working on acclaimed soundtracks for games like Contra 4 and Adventure Time: Hey Ice King, Why’d You Steal Our Garbage, not to mention beloved indie titles like Shovel Knight. Speaking of sexy, one can’t talk about a Shantae game without acknowledging Jake Kaufman’s incredible score. As a series Shantae has always been unapologetically sexy, and this is certainly in keeping with that. The stereoscopy is also applied to the character portraits used in cutscenes, which can be slightly jarring the first time you see Shantae’s breasts protruding from the screen, but it works in a weird way once you get used to it. The world these characters inhabit is also exquisitely rendered, with hand-crafted backgrounds given depth with multiple parallax layers – an effect further enhanced by the 3DS’ stereoscopic capabilities to give the game a look not unlike a shadow box. Shantae herself has always been one of the best animated characters in gaming, and that still holds true here, with plenty of delightful extra details hidden within her running, jumping, crawling, and dancing. WayForward are masters of sprite art, and every NPC, enemy, and boss in the game shows off those talents with smooth, detailed, and expressive animations. Like its predecessors, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is dripping with charm, and of course that extends to its visuals. I’m normally not a huge fan of fourth-wall-breaking jokes, but here they’re used sparingly and used well – I was particularly fond of Squid Baron’s identity crisis over ending up as a recurring filler boss. It doesn’t take itself too seriously though – nearly every line is delivered with a tinge of self-aware humor that keeps the adventure feeling light and cheerful. The denizens of Sequin Land brim with personality, and the world feels like it has a history. ![]() Shantae is no longer their only original IP, but it was their first, and aside from the criminally underrated Sigma Star Saga it’s still their most fleshed-out game universe. WayForward has crafted the world of Shantae with the same care and attention to detail that they lavish on their artwork – which is really saying something. ![]() Now, to set the world straight, she has no choice but to team up with the pirate queen Risky Boots (who has her own score to settle with the Pirate Master) and sail the seas seeking out the dens of evil from which the villain draws his power. On top of that, Scuttle Town has its own problems to deal with – the Mayor has sold the town to the Ammo Baron in a desperate bid to refresh his chocolate supplies, and Shantae’s attempts to fend the Baron off see her labeled as an outlaw (on pain of haircut). ![]() With a new source of magic in the world he’s dangerously close to being resurrected, and without her powers Shantae stands little chance of defeating him. The Pirate Master was once the scourge of Sequin Land, and it took the collective might of all the genies to bring him down. At the end of that game, though, Shantae was stripped of her genie magic, and while many metroidvanias would simply use that as an excuse for her to build up the same ability-set from scratch in the sequel, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse instead gives her a brand new set of Pirate-themed weapons to unlock. 2010’s Shantae: Risky’s Revenge stuck close to the original game’s formula by giving players a big, open map to explore and three magical transformation dances to facilitate getting around it. So long as a sequel is a metroidvania game with a quirky sense of humor and (weirdly sultry) sprite animations of unrivaled quality, WayForward can do pretty much whatever they want with it. As a twelve year old series it feels like there’s a legacy future games need to uphold, but with only two games under its (ornate, mostly decorative) belt, the possibilities are effectively endless. Shantae sits in a weird place in the platforming genre. ![]()
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