Shantae
Game by Wayforward Technologies/Capcom
Reviewed by Philip Wesley
Save: Battery Three Slots
Released: 2002
Works with: Game Boy Color/Game Boy Advance/SP (Enhanced on GBA)
ESRB Rated: E
Rating Descriptions: Suggestive Themes, Comic Mischief
Quick Opinion: Own

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Opening Snide Remarks: Honesty in a review is the hardest thing to achieve.
Especially if you are emotionally invested in a product or feel a devotion
to a company that makes that product. When Shantae first came out on Game
Boy Color in 2002, DMG Ice pushed it pretty hard. I personally love all the
characters in the game, I love the atmosphere of the game, and Shantae was
happily proclaiming her love of our logo at the bottom of nearly EVERY
issue of our "Viral Speak" feedback articles. There are a few independent
games that I love and promoted heavily. Hungry Are The Dead, Mythri,
Drymouth, Magi-Nation 2, and then there was Shantae. Shantae was the little
independent game that DID get picked up by a publisher. Picking up this game
at a Game Stop was a thrilling experience. I still carry a torch for the
characters that Matt Bozon created and I still carry a torch for this game.

I feel that it is time to be honest about Shantae though and I will finally
get down to reviewing this title. Initially, there was a user submitted
review of Shantae on the website. The old template for reviews would
probably net the game a 100% score and that would be it. The problem with
the old template is that it was way too easy for a game to get a 100% score
and I felt that cheapened the scores at DMG Ice. I did not feel it lent an
air of honesty to the site or to our reviews. The template I am using now
has been in development for years and the review you are about to read has
been simmering in my mind for over eight years. Some games are hard to go
back and re-review. The Legend of Zelda 4: Link's Awakening, Final Fantasy
VI Advance, Chrono Trigger DS, and Shantae are a few of those games that
are tough for me to review because I have an emotional attachment to them.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, it is time for me to take an
honest look at the merits of Shantae. Since I finally have a template that
allows for the type of in depth reviewing that my readers deserve.

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Gameplay Description: Shantae is not an ordinary platform game at all. There
really are no "levels" in the game, nor is there a "set" goal at first. The
game starts out with Shantae being rudely awakened by pirates, led by Lady
Pirate Risky Boots, attacking Scuttle Town. Shantae is the Gaurdian Genie
of Scuttle Town and it is her duty to protect it! However, Shantae is just a
HALF-Genie. So, instead of PHENOMONAL COSMIC POWERS, she hits things with
her hair, dances, and occassionally transforms into different creatures.

The introduction level teaches you some of the basic mechanics of the game.
Shantae runs, jumps, hits things with her hair, and has a life bar. There
are three little hearts in the bottom right corner and when you get hit,
they slowly disappear. If they all disappear, or you fall into a pit,
Shantae loses a life. Lose too many of those and you get a Game Over. The
first area has a pretty simple goal, beat enemies, dodge things, and get
from Point A to Point B. Then you take on a boss fight where you figure out
the boss pattern and take it down!

Then -after a few short cut scenes- the real game begins. The game has a
huge variety of "styles" in it. This is an open world side scroller. When
you leave a town, you can go either Right or Left toward other areas and
towns. Now, some areas you will NOT be able to pass to yet because you lack
a special power or ability. This makes the game a little like Super Metroid
or Castlevania 2. Dodge enemies, discover items that expand your powers,
and collect money to spend on items in the towns. Oh! Be careful outside of
towns because this game has a Night and Day cycle. When Night falls suddenly,
it would appear that the enemies get stronger, shops open or close in the
towns, and special items appear in the fields. Daytime is a lot easier; but
the Nighttime will probably get you a little upset. It's like someone
decided to make the Night time enemies a bit of a curse. And it is a
horrible night to have a curse!

I had to go there. You understand that, right? Good. Back to gameplay
details!

A lot of the story advances inside of the towns, which are presented in a
"3D" view where you get a Behind The Genie view of the town. You can enter
shops, talk to villagers who pass you by, save your game, replenish your
energy, visit whatever weird place is available in that town, and more!
The first town you visit has a Dancing Mini-Game that you can play for
sheer profit. That dance hall is only open at night though and it brings
us to another weird aspect of the game: The Dancing.

Hit the SELECT button and Shantae will stop whatever she is doing in the
field or inside of a building. A beat from no where starts up and a note
and a few dots become visible in the bottom part of the screen. Hit any
of the D-Pad directions, A, or B to witness Shantae doing a dance move.
Later on, you can perform specific dances to transform into creatures
like an Elephant, a Spider, a Monkey, and so forth. You can also warp
to towns, provided you have collected four "Warp Squids" in the various
dungeons in the world and earned the dance for the town you want to
warp to. You can also replenish health or do other effects.

At a Dance Hall, you have to hit the buttons at the right time to match up
with a string of directions on the side of the screen. This earns you cash
and praise. It also does wonders for those glutes and sides. There are
other little mini-games but I will not go into those.

The plot dictates that -in order to stop Risky Boots and her evil plan-
Shantae must collect four stones from the temples in the world. First,
she will have to visit people in the towns to gain entrance to the
dungeons, than she will have to solve the puzzles in the dungeons and
defeat the evil enemies that live in those dungeons. She will have to hunt
down switches, enemies, hidden areas, and a lot more in her quest to find
the four stones before Risky does. If that sounds a bit straight forward,
it is a bit straight forward. However, the dungeons, the fields around
the dungeons, and the characters that inhabit them are very compelling.
There is a ton of stuff that is hidden in the game. It never forces you
to collect all of it, but collecting the items will make your life a bit
easier. There are also huge bosses and a fun storyline. The game creates
a great world that is fun to play in!

The game is also difficult and challenging. The enemies take absurd
amounts of hits sometimes, and seem to be placed in ways that make it
tough to avoid getting hit. Thankfully, this is not as unforgiving as
games like Mega Man 2 or The Legend of Zelda 2: Adventure of Link. The
animal powers help the balance of the game as well. You end up relying
on a lot of those powers to get past the legions of enemies in the
main fields. The powers are used frequently and nothing in the game
feels like it was just there as a gimmick. I love platform games and
this game is really fun. Not for a novice player though, as it can be
reasonably cruel from time to time. And one more thing, they do not give
you a map of the areas. So, you will have to keep track or make your
own maps of the areas. Some places would knock points off for this, but
I honestly feel that a map would make the game a lot easier than it
should be.

Liked: There is a lot to do in this game, it feels natural, the puzzles
are great, there is no "fat" in this game. Everything has a purpose and
all of the skills you earn or learn are used.

Hated: Sometimes, it is tough to hit enemies with your hair without getting
hit yourself. This and some of the nastier patterns that bosses, and even
normal enemies give the game a bit of bite that may be too much for some
players.

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Graphics Description: THIS IS A GORGEOUS GAME. A few of the enemies may be
mono-chromatic; but that unfortunate aspect of Game Boy Color games is
drastically lower in this game. The areas you visit are full of lush colors,
lighting "effects," scrolling backgrounds, details, and animations. Shantae
herself has silky smooth animation that demonstrates how well animated a
sprite game can be. The game looks better than some Game Boy Advance games
and is bursting with chracter. Some of the cinema scenes are also mono-
chromatic and that is unfortunate. The opening sequence with Shantae and
the bridge is a moment where many people will say: "So, the Game Boy Color
was capable of this?!" There are layers of scrolling backgrounds in many
of the levels, the bosses are large and in charge, the towns look great,
the special moves are great, and everything is done with a sense of wacky
humor to it as well.

The script is pretty funny from time to time as well. Everything is pretty
easy to understand and clipping is minimized in this game. This is a feast
for the eyes in comparison to other Game Boy Color games. A lot of very
obvious pride and care went into making this game look amazing and it
really shows. This is a high watermark for Game Boy Color games.

Liked: This game is freaking gorgeous and the animations are sultry!

Hated: There are a few mono-chromatic enemies; but that is more of a system
issue than a game issue.

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Sound/Music Description: The sound track is pretty good and appropriate to
the game visuals. The sound effects are pretty well done and the "dance"
music is pretty entertaining as each dance move has a different "track"
attached to it. This allows you to make your own little freestyle DJ-ish
dances when you're not running, jumping, and whipping things with your
hair. While nothing really stands out in the soundtrack to this game, it
will not make you run to the hills either. The composer of the music has
made the entire soundtrack for this game available online and a quick
search for the soundtrack will bring it up. Go ahead and nab the sounds of
this game. It is well worth it.

Liked: The sound effects and music work very well in this game in their
duty of complementing the gameplay and graphics.

Hated: The music complements the game a bit too well and you will probably
not remember too much of the music after you finish playing.

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Play Control/Game Design: The only thing that needs to be changed in this
regard is the length of Shantae's attacks. You will spend a lot of time
getting hit, so stock up on healing items! Oh, in order to do that, you may
have to spend some time around monster generating items. Then you can beat
up endless waves of enemies to gain money to buy new moves, or other items.

This game borrows heavily from Castlevania 2, The Legend of Zelda 2:
Adventure of Link, and the Metroid series of games. This is a perfectly
acceptable way to design a game, if the game has good play control and
presentation. Luckily, Shantae has both of these available!

There is no level up function in the game, but you are given a lot of items
to buy that help "level up" your abilities.

Liked: Easy to control and easy to get into.

Hated: Hair needs more length to be effectively lethal!

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Improve: Longer Hair for Shantae! More dance moves!

RIYL: Castlevania, Metroid, platform games in general.

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Final Words: I should mention that the game also has Game Boy Advance
enhancement in the form of a dance you can only learn while in a Game Boy
Advance. The amount of secrets hidden in this game, the graphics, the fun
atmosphere, and design make this a game that you SHOULD track down and play!

It is more difficult to review games that I love than it is to review games
that I hate. Shantae is one of those games that I love and I recommend that
people buy it. At this point and time, the game is going for about $200+ on
eBay. While that may be a bit excessive, maybe we will see this one on the
3DS "Virtual Console/Pocket"

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Score
Gameplay: *****
Graphics: *****
Sound/Music: ****
Play Control/Game Design: ****
Value: *****

Star Total: 69

Personal Opinion Merit: 25

Add the Star Score and Merit Score together for the final % score.

Final Score: 94%

Letter Grade: A

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