I didn't really find this funny, it's not the kind of content I would prefer to see, but at the same time don't demonize anyone on the staff or the community. It's not, like, helpful at all.
This will always be my favorite Zelda purely because of the world and exploration. Even on the original version, I never minded the sailing portions because I enjoy the atmosphere so much. Doing quests for NPCs, seeing the detail in their homes, and learning more about them from turning in their picture, it all makes this setting feel more lived-in than almost any other in the series. For people who love dungeons, I understand being let down by that aspect, but that is not usually my favorite part of Zelda games so it doesn't bother me much. I might be putting on some rosy glasses here because of the improvements in the HD version. Still, Wind Waker just hits a magic sweet spot for me and is in my top 5 games ever.
I did everything in the Wii U version, so obviously I enjoyed the game quite a bit. But also, I played Wii U games a lot more thoroughly back then because there weren't many to choose from! I forgot that they added co-op to future versions, in my mind I think it would be annoying but it sounds like it works well. My favorite Nintendo co-op experience is Luigi's Mansion 3, I wouldn't want to play it any other way!
Wow, I can actually speak with some expertise on this subject! You will never find a Shantae fan who says the first game is the "best." This being such a rare, late and expensive game for the GBC, almost no one started with this one, instead coming backwards from the much better sequels. As someone who did just that I still believe you are spot on with every criticism here. The backtracking is tedious, there's not enough screen real estate and the Rottytops race can go straight to hell, but I still love how much of the series DNA is preserved in an 8 bit form. Sprites, animations and virt's amazing music were translated and updated for later games to great effect. So going back gives a weird, false impression that this is a retro throwback demake like Shovel Knight. The fact that these great visuals and music are actually from a type of hardware that an avalanche of developers would replicate starting a decade later makes Shantae feel weirdly ahead of its time for a GBC game. But as you say, without that qualifier and context it's not the most fun thing in the world.
Subsequent games came fully in the Retro zeitgeist, and WayForward had a lot more experience by that point, so pretty much everything after is more beloved. Like I said, the music and graphics only got better. They also started playing up the humor a lot more which helped draw people's attention. Shantae 2 is like a more advanced version of the original, fun but with obvious cut content and some problems with backtracking still. The third game, Pirate's Curse, is my favorite, giving up animal transformations but adding a bunch of fun mobility tools. The structure is from an alternate universe where they kept iterating on Zelda II, not quite a Metroid experience in my opinion. I haven't played the last two games - the fourth is an action platformer with a Kickstarter budget and the fifth is perhaps the most Troidlike of the bunch, but I never hear anyone talk about it. In a world where indie fans have an endless feast, WayForward is a generally respected and admired studio, and Shantae is their most prominent franchise. But man, does it have some shaky beginnings.
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