Luckily, Shantae stands up as one of the better soundtracks produced on the hardware. The GBC was blessed with some truly awesome chiptunes as well as truly awful ones.
SHANTAE GBA FULL
Pokémon Gold and Silver may have previously employed a day/night system on the GBC, but doing so in a platformer was unheard of.Īs for sound, Shantae features a full set of memorable, fun tunes. It’s little details like this that send Shantae over being just another platformer to a true visual masterpiece. I don’t quite recall what firefies do when collected, but their inclusion adds extra depth.
![shantae gba shantae gba](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUeJ1fEUEAACjXw.png)
As well, fireflies can only be found in hidden areas at night. During the day the world is colorful and vibrant, but when night falls, everything gets darker, enemies become stronger and shops are closed. The game’s only visual fault is the frequency of deaths caused by the limited viewing space, causing “leaps of faith” to often land you in pits or spikes.Ī totally unexpected touch Shantae features is a day/night system like in Castlevania 2 for the NES. Best of all, there is no slowdown or sprite flickering at all. Some areas even have multiple background layers like in Super Mario World. Environments are well detailed and well designed. Character sprites are large, detailed, colorful and have extremely fluid movements. Visually Shantae is a drop dead gorgeous game. Then sprinkle in Zelda style dungeons and puzzles, and finally add in a slight Metroid element of upgrades to find and vast areas to explore both above and below ground. First take the basic structure from Castlevania 2 Simon’s Quest. Shantae is a brilliant mix of many successful game types all melded together. In Harpie form, Shantae is pretty much unbeatable. These animal forms cannot attack when you first get them, but you can find secret items that allow you to do that as the game progresses. The spider form lets Shantae climb background walls and the Harpie lets Shantae freely fly anywhere. The elephant form can push around heavy objects. The monkey form allows Shantae to jump very high, access narrow holes and scale vertical walls. Each new form enables greater mobility and allows Shantae to access places she cannot in her human form, somewhat like Metroid games.
![shantae gba shantae gba](http://104.236.151.57/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/shantae_031403_5_640w.jpg)
These magical dances prove to be a large part of the game’s unique charm.Īs the game progresses, Shantae gains new dances to transform her into various animal forms. Does any of this make much sense? Not really, but who cares.īeing a half genie, Shantae can wield her magic to swing her ponytail as if it were a whip and also preform magical transformation dances. Shantae soon learns that Risky plans to enhance the steam engine by infusing it with the powers of four elemental stones, So Shantae journeys around to collect them first and foil Risky’s evil plans. Playing the part of the heroine, Shantae plans to get the engine back from Risky. Shantae soon learns Risky plans to use the steam engine to power a giant robot that would make her invincible. During the raid, Risky manages to steal town inventor Mimic’s prize, the “steam engine”. When Scuttle Town falls under attack from the infamous (and not surprisingly, sexy) lady-pirate Risky Boots, Shantae springs into action to fend off the pirate attack. Shantae has been hired to protect the small fishing community of Scuttle Town. Shantae is the story of a spunky, sassy and downright sexy teenage half-genie girl named Shantae strangely enough. So should you play Shantae? Short answer: yes.
![shantae gba shantae gba](http://s111111919.onlinehome.us/shantae/sh_ss_GBA_03.jpg)
Still, as we all know, technical achievements alone don’t make games good. The delay hurt sales, but allowed the team to craft Shantae into something truly special. Released in mid 2002, Shantae had been delayed from a mid 2001 release so Wayforward could really work on milking every ounce of power from the GBC. One glance at Shantae will reveal to anyone that it’s not only one of the most technologically and visually impressive 8-bit games to ever be made, but its a complete labour of love. Having previously honed their skills on the Gameboy Color with excellent titles such as Wendy: Every Witch Way and Xtreme Sports, the team at Wayforward poured all their experience into one last GBC game that pushed the limited Gameboy Color to its limits and beyond. That game was Shantae by small developer Wayforward Technologies. In the dying days of the Gameboy Color and after the release of its successor, the Gameboy Advance, one last 8-bit gem was released and served as the GBC’s final send off swan song.