I always get kind of bummed because these games don't have much of a following. I'm an hour in Shantae and the Pirate's Curse and I'm loving it. $20 on 3DS and definitely worth it (some people think it's the Kickstarter game, but it's not!)

Gameplay feels good, the art is nice, the music is phenomenal, and it's just got a ton of charm. Risky's Revenge was more of a Metroidvania, this one seems level-based so it feels a little tighter.

Anyone play the previous games? I never got around to trying the original on Game Boy Color, but I found RR to be really memorable. So far, so good on this one. Who knew that Nintendo systems would have potentially 4 spots on my game of the year list? (DK: Tropical Freeze, Shovel Knight, this game, and hopefully Bayonetta 2!)

I didn't have much interest in the game, but the soundtrack just recently got released on Bandcamp and I think it's some of Jake Kaufman's finest work. I hope this will get a Quick Look soon. Risky's Revenge's Quick Look is literally the only time I've seen of that game.

@audiobusting: Oh, sweet, I'll need to grab that. It's really fantastic. Great beats, great melodies, and definitely unique due to the setting

It's no Double Dragon Neon but yeah it's pretty fucking great.

I'm debating picking up this/the others. I bought the first one today on VC to see what it's about. Seems interesting for sure.

Just picked it up on the Wii U, bought it on a whim on a sunday morning. Didn't know anything about the Shantae series from before, and this seriously blew me away.

Really solid platforming, super fun platforming puzzles at times. Love the pixel art, reminds me a lot of the Metal Slug animations. Love the color palette á la Sega 90's, and the soundtrack is super good.

Honestly blown away about how good this is. Really interested to see how the earlier games stack up.

The earlier games are decent/good. The original Shantae is a solid platformer, while I feel Risky's Revenge was a step back for the series due to how short it was. This one is by far the best yet, and I'm hopeful the Shantae Kickstarter game (Half-Genie Hero) will be even better.

P.S. Shovel Knight was created by former members of WayForward, some of which (I believe) worked on the original Shantae.

@mikelemmer: The fact that they're making a 3D/high-rez version kind of bums me out. The pixelart is so goddamn charming in this one.

That's encouraging to hear, I just played through Risky's Revenge (my first game in the series) on Steam and really enjoyed it. Didn't really expect the light Metroidvania aspect to the game,that was a welcome surprise.

Totally agree with you that the game could have used another Boss fight/level or two though.

I hope the other games make their way to PC!

I love it, my favorite Shantae game so far. Really hope the next one is even better.

@slag said:

Yeah, have they gone out and said why this is only on Nintendo hardware? So sad to see it slipping by so silently on the bigger sites. Just read through the neogaf thread, and it had nothing major to complain about either.

Was wondering who created a Shantae thread after all these months. Surprised it was me!

Shantae made my top ten list and I continue to think it kicks ass.

I don't know honestly, maybe Nintendo helped fund it?

the series was originally a Gameboy Color one I think, maybe they figure Nintendo plats are where their audience is. They might be right, since these games feel aimed at a fairly young crowd (still fun for older peeps though)

Risky's Revenge despite being a DS game just got a PC port this summer, so maybe the new ones will eventually too if that did well.