Info
Release Date – Kickstarters backers: Out Now (All platforms, all regions)! Digital (All platforms, all regions) - Dec 20, 2016 | Retail - Dec 20, 2016 (All non-Wii U platforms)| Wii U retail - Dec 27, 2016 (All regions)
Price – Digital - $20 USD, $27 CAD | Retail - $30 USD
Genre- Action Platformer, Metroid-like
Platforms - Wii U, Vita, PS4, PC, Xbox One
Disclosure
Before we begin, a little disclosure: When the Kickstarter for Half-Genie Hero began, I backed the game at the contributor tier, meaning you'll be seeing my [YouTube channel’s] name somewhere in the credits. With that out of the way, let’s get ret-2-go, shall we?
After gaining back her half-genie powers during the end of Shantae & The Pirate’s Curse, the titular Shantae is on a new adventure as she helps her Uncle Mimic build a new machine to help keep the city safe...mostly because she's got nothing else to do after getting fired (again) from the town's ungrateful mayor and a new replacement genie is brought in to protect Scuttle Town. Throughout the game's five chapters, she'll uncover a conspiracy surrounding Sequin Land's mermaids, enter a carpet-based race and discover more about the Genie Realm.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a return to the dance-based exploration found in entries prior to
Shantae & the Pirate's Curse. Be it through beating a level or uncovering them yourself, you'll assemble an arsenal of dances and abilities that will expand the various paths and items like heart holders to increase health and keys to unlock concept art in a given level. There's a lot of streamlining in comparison to past games, with areas of the map being broken up into levels with the ability to warp back to town at any time. Speaking of previous entries...
Shantae: The game that started it all, the original Shantae seems relatively odd when you consider how much more streamline the series has become. A mixture of CastleVania II: Simon's Quest by way of the Legend of Zelda, Shantae is often called the Game Boy Color's swan song since it arrived about a year after the Game Boy Advance had arrived, a date which was not lost on the developers as they included some new features for those playing the game on Nintendo's newest handheld. It is currently available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop for those of you that aren't made out of money.
Shantae: Risky's Revenge: The first sequel in the series [to not get canned], Risky's Revenge finds Shantae facing off against Risky Boots in a race to uncover three magic seals that could spell danger for the people of Sequin Land. It is currently available on the Nintendo 3DS, the Wii U, PC, iOS, the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. As a sequel to the original, it's far less confusing to navigate through the given areas and the dances are a marked improvement. Still, it doesn't hold a candle to...
Shantae & the Pirate's Curse: Considered to be the best entry in the series, Pirate's Curse ditches the dancing in favor of cannons and captain hats. This time around, Shantae is forced to work with her former nemesis, Risky Boots, in order to prevent her master from rising from the dead. Changing the game from the slightly tedious transformations to a swashbuckling adventure works surprisingly well thanks to some excellent level design and a boatload of humor to boot. It is currently available on the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, PC and PlayStation 4.
IGN - 8/10
Destructoid - 7.5/10
Is this game a sequel to Shantae & The Pirate's Curse or a reboot?
A: It is a sequel to
Shantae & the Pirate's Curse, albeit it's very loosely connected. The Shantae series has never weighed heavily on continuity between each entry aside from the ocassional in-joke, with Half-Genie Hero following this tradition with a couple of references to the events in previous entries (I got fired again?!).
Is this title cross-buy on PSN?
A: No, the Vita and Playstation 4 versions are sold separately.
How does the Vita version fare? I need my Shantae fix on the go, dangit!
A: Speaking from my experience, the Vita version runs as smoothly as its console counterparts with a consistent framerate of 60. The only area where any noticeable slowdown occurs is during the Mermaid Falls but it
How long is the game?
A: Half-Genie Hero will take you about the same time to beat as previous Shantae games, meaning somewhere between 6-8 hours on your first playthrough (I clocked in at a little over 7 hours). Ultimately, it depends on how dedicated you are to finding every single heart container and key for concept art. Speaking of...
I can't find ___ in ___level!
A: That's not a question. In any case, many backers have already beaten and/or 100% completed the game so do not hesitate to ask them for help in tracking down any key item(s) you just can't seem to find.
What was up with Shantae being whiter than the Republican National Convention during the Kickstarter?
A: Right, about that...
During the early days of the Kickstarter, there was some concern about Shantae’s character looking far more pale than she had in previous entries, with some assuming Wayforward deliberately whitewashed the character for what would be her console debut. As it turned out, Wayfoward was aware of this since the reason for the change in skin tone was that the team were experimenting with the lighting due to the background and that it wouldn’t be that be how she appeared in the final game.
Wayforward said:
"Hi friends! Since there were a lot of comments regarding skin tone, we lined up all the Shantae artwork from past games, and the skin tones are all over the board. We've always left this to artist discretion in the past. However, this new artwork does stand out as the lightest she's been since back in the GBC days, so I'm sure we'll adjust it once we have our character lineup established. This is a great example of Kickstarter comments shaping the eventual product, so please make your opinions heard!"
As a result, they quickly changed her skin color to more closely resemble how she looked in the original and Risky’s Revenge but you can still see the difference in skin tone compared to the final design via images and the trailer for the Kickstarter announcement.
What's with the thread title?
A: Look, stop asking questions and just play the game already!
Screenshots:
Trailers
Announcement Trailer:
https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/620152/video-284353-h264_high.mp4
E3 2015 Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szhhFGQ3rl0
E3 2016 Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr_dtRgC144
A special thanks to AlexFlame116 for providing the header images for the OT.
