It wasn’t too long ago that the idea of a new Shantae game was nothing but a wish unfulfilled. After earning a reputation as the last great Game Boy Color game, a limited run made it a rare find, with publisher interest seemingly non-existent. It would have been hard to imagine back then, that not only would there eventually be a sequel thanks to this unwavering fan support, but that we would eventually reach a third game in this cult classic franchise with a fourth on the way. With the arrival of Shantae And The Pirate’s Curse, it could be considered an end of an era for the titular half genie, as the story that began all those years ago ends comes to a close with the unlikely team up with her longtime nemesis, the pirate, Risky Boots. And as we would expect, it’s some of the most well designed 2D platforming you could hope to come across.
After losing her powers as a genie, it’s safe to say Shantae is in a bit of a rut. That only gets worse when circumstances lead to the loss of her position as the guardian of Scuttle Town, making a bad situation turn much worse. Yet, help can come from the most unlikely of places, as Risky arrives and accuses the former protector of casting a spell on her Tinkerbats, turning them into vicious monsters. When it’s clear that Shantae had nothing to do with this strange incident, a new adventure begins, where the two enemies come together to solve the mystery of the Tinkerbats, reclaim the genie’s magical energy, and put a stop to the revival of the Pirate Master, a being powerful enough to rule all of Sequin Land!
Unlike the previous game in the series, Risky’s Revenge, Pirate’s Curse features a more traditional level select mechanic, taking players through a variety of locations while in search for the stolen magic, rather than finding dungeons through an interconnected map. That’s not to say the game is any smaller. On the contrary, each map is expanded to have at least two to three sections that must be explored before unlocking each world’s dungeon, where you can expect your platforming chops to be tested with some powerful enemies, well hidden areas, and challenging bosses. But if beating down enemies starts to get old, (does it ever?), nearly every stage has its own section that switches up the game play, including stealth and non-combat areas.
Side missions give the game extra variety.
But there’s just one problem; how will she fight without her powers? Thankfully for her, whipping her pony tail at enemies works as well as ever, certain items can give her power ups, such as the Pike Ball, which circles around her while smashing into foes. Cash that can be picked up throughout the journey can even be exchanged for upgrades, which can strengthen her existing abilities while adding new physical attacks, (which are largely useless compared to the hair whip). But the most significant change in Pirate’s Curse is the use of Risky’s equipment, all of which allow Shantae to access areas that couldn’t be reached otherwise. Giving her the ability to float, break through obstacles, and shoot unreachable switches for example, being able to seamlessly use these moves on the fly without having to switch or stop makes the game move much faster, and is much better off for it.
Risky’s gear adds much to the game, usually being heavily relied on in boss fights.
Gaining these abilities helps add replay value to the title, encouraging revisiting old stages to find hidden Tinkerbats and Heart Squids, (happy little heart shaped guys who are smelted down to create more health, you heartless monster), each of which offer their own incentives to seek out. Yet, backtracking is also where Pirate’s Curse suffers its biggest flaw. Seeking out secret areas is one thing, but being forced to travel to old stages to progress through new ones becomes tedious, especially when outside of a line or two of dialogue, (which is as charming and witty as always), there’s no place you can go that will remind you what you’re supposed to do. Sharing this issue with its predecessor, putting the game down for a few days can be the death of your progress, forcing you to search everything for that one item that you forgot you’re looking for. Even when I played it straight through, there were times that I had trouble remembering what I was supposed to do, leading to too much time mindlessly wandering around until I stumbled on a way to progress.
Knowing where to go doesn’t completely alleviate this issue either, since Shantae has to actually walk back to the starting point when you want to leave a stage, which caused me to die many a frustrated death when I would try to rush through it. A new item can be purchased that will teleport you to the beginning, but when you consider that it costs the same money used for upgrades, it’s a bitter pill to swallow when you spend cash that could have went towards improving your character on a mechanic that should be a default option to begin with.
At least the gorgeous backgrounds will distract you while you run in circles. Too bad the character models didn’t get as much detail in comparison.
Thankfully, when a game is as entertaining, funny, and well designed as Pirate’s Curse, issues like these are easy to ignore. Wayforward and Intl. Creates could have taken the easy route and made a game based on one of its prequels and kept the formula the same, and I’m sure it would have still been fantastic to play. But instead, they once again took the foundation started on the Game Boy Color and out of it, developed a unique, stand alone throwback to the 2D games of old, while improving in almost every way. The backtracking can get annoying, and the visuals could have been improved a bit more considering the increased power of the 3DS, (the only thing that seems to be significantly changed with the character models are the 3D boobs jabbing you in the eye during conversations), but when it comes to eShop games, platforming games, or games in general, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is one of the best ways you can spend your Nintendo cash on. Seriously, go play it!
tl;dr
+ Shantae is back with the same humor, level design, and platforming expertise that has become synonymous with Wayforward.
+ Areas are broken up into smaller worlds, each of which still manages to be packed with environments to explore, some of which with different play styles.
+ New pirate equipment breathes fresh life into the game, leading to a fast paced, seamless experience.
+ A good amount of replay value, with hidden areas, items, and upgrades aplenty.
– Backtracking is still here. And it’s still not fun.
– No reliable way to find where you need to go if you forget or put the game down for awhile.
– Most of the purchasable attacks are useless.
+- 3D boobs!?
Final Score: 4.5/5