Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse

2014, 2022 | WayForward | Nintendo 3DS, Playstation 5

After beating Shantae: Half-Genie Hero I really started craving more of the series to see what the other installments had to offer. So, I decided to turn it into a bit of a project. That’s right, this site is now in full Shantae mode! We’re going to check out as much of WayForward’s flagship series, and I couldn’t think of any better follow-up than my initial foray into the series; Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse for the Nintendo 3DS. Although I originally played the game on its original platform, this would’ve complicated my intent to stream the entire series as well. Thanks to the support on Ko-fi I was able to get my grubby hands on a Playstation 5 copy of the game and I couldn’t be more excited to sink my teeth into it.

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is the third installment in WayForward’s Shantae series. The game was the first in the franchise to be developed for both handheld and home console, with it releasing the Nintendo 3DS and Wii-U through the Nintendo E-Shop in later 2014. The game released for PAL territories a few months later. The initial versions garnered critical acclaim and commercial success, shining a bright spotlight in the direction of the series. Throughout the years, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse has been ported to numerous platforms, like PC, Playstation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch and Amazon Luna. In contrast to Half-Genie Hero, Pirate’s Curse would maintain the pixel art look with a few changes to the formula. Instead of the open world, as seen in 2002’s Shantae and 2010’s Risky’s Revenge, the game favored a more stage oriented exploration and deeper character narratives. The game has since gained a small cult-following of fans that feverishly recommend it as the definitive Shantae experience, whenever someone gets within stonesthrow distance of the series. And I can see why!

After losing her genie powers in the last game, Risky’s Revenge, Shantae now has to adjust to life as a human. One day she’s woken up by a loud explosion and after a brief investigation finds that Ammo Baron has moved into Scuttle Town and has started aggressively renovating. The mayor of Scuttle Town forked over the rights of the town in exchange for a gourmet feast of chocolate, an absolutely irresistable offer. Defeated, Shantae returns home, only to find her nemesis, Risky Boots, waiting for her with pointed fingers and accusations. As it turns out Risky’s minions, the Tinkerbats, have gone missing and the pirate queen is of the unwavering conviction that Shantae is involved. It doesn’t help that shortly after they find a Tinkerbat locked up in Uncle’s lab. However, after freeing the henchman, a dark mist envelopes the escapee and transforms it into a grotesque monstrosity, a Cacklebat. In the aftermath of a short tussle, and with the Dark Magic mist safely tucked into the genie lamp, Risky realizes that the seal that the Genie’s placed on the remains of the Pirate Master has started to weaken and that his revival will spell doom for all of the Sequin Lands. To stop this from happening, the two enemies form an unwilling alliance to find all of the Dark Magic and stop the Pirate Master from returning, as well as stopping the curse placed on Risky and her henchmen from spreading.

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse has you travel across the various islands surrounding Scuttle Town to find the missing Cacklebats and Risky’s old gear in order to stop the Pirate Master. Much like Half-Genie Hero, Pirate’s Curse is heavily structured around a set of individual stages that are free to explore. However, unlike its successor, the stages are much less linear in their design and will have you solve stage wide puzzles in order to progress. This has you traveling back and forth to the various locations to find items that help you get across certain barriers. Instead of being able to bee-line it to the end of the stage, Pirate’s Curse feels much more involved in its interactions; you get to actively engage with island inhabitants and solve smaller mysteries along the way. The stages themselves are heavily themed, with you exploring a dense jungle, harsh deserts, a spooky graveyard and an eldrtich gateway to the afterlife. These provide a nice level of variety and provide unique challenges as your arsenal expands.

Even without her genie powers, Shantae still has her powerful locks to defend herself with. As with the other Shantae games, her default attack is a powerful smack with her ponytail. To give things a bit more pezazz, you’ll find various pieces of Risky’s equipment along your journey to stop the Pirate Master. These items give you access to a wide array of abilities to help you traverse obstacles more easily. The Pirate Hat allows you to hover for a short distance, Risky’s boots (heh) allow you to take a sprint to traverse large gaps, the Pirate Gun gives you the ability to shoot enemies and switches and the Pirate Cannon gives you a few extra jumps by firing downward. One of my favourite parts of Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is that moment when you get a new item to try out and you’re suddenly feeling a boatload of freedom. I constantly ran back and forth between stages in order to try out new things and use the newfound tools to further explore every nook and cranny of every single stage. Much like the transformations in the other games, the Pirate items immediately open you up to a slew of new possibilities outside of completing the stage that you’re on. Each of the Shantae games I’ve played so far has had points of interest placed just enough out of sight to spark your curiosity, and the second you get a new option that might just get you to that one Heart Squid, you immediately want to try it out. It’s immensely satisfying and extremely clever in its design.

It wouldn’t be a Shantae game without its cast of extremely fun characters. Most of the fan favorites make a return in some form or way, with Bolo, Rottytops, Uncle Mimic and Sky providing back-up for Shantae in her battle against the Pirate Master. The gang is as likeable as ever and my favorite squid overlord of video game justice, Squid Baron, makes a timeshared return that got a good belly laugh out of me on more than one occasion. Risky’s collaboration with Shantae provides a new and interesting angle to the rivalry between the two. What initially seems to be a mutually beneficial deal to prevent Risky’s curse from taking hold and allowing Shantae to free the Sequin Lands, evolves into a layered and complication friendship between the pair. It’s a display of odd loyalty that shows admiration and appreciation for the more positive qualities of the pair, and gives us glimpses into what could’ve been a thriving friendship between Risky and Shantae without overstepping that actual line. Pirate’s Curse is littered with little stories that go from heartfelt to heartbreaking, especially once you visit the Village of Lost Soul, where we find a spirit that has lost all sense of identity except for the two brothers she holds so dear. These moments give Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse a more nuanced tone and shows a willingness to deeper explore the stories of the cast members a little deeper. While most games would continue to lean more into the comedic side, this provided the game with a much needed layering to develop the characters and this, in turn, allows the player to get more invested in their growth over the course of the series.

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is a fantastic evolution of the formula that’s presented in the other games in the series. It expands the metroidvania elements, but cleverly confines these within the boundaries of their respective stages. This makes exploring rewarding and information digestible. I often find myself wondering what to do next when faced with a large open map with a few points of interest when it comes to games within this genre, however Pirate’s Curse distills this experience and focusses it to give players like me more breathing room to enjoy the game as a whole. The comedy is once again on point, with some incredibly funny deliveries from Rottytops, Sky and Bolo, as well as nailing Risky’s snarkier tone without feeling overbearing. Squid Baron’s quest to buy a beach-side timeshare to watch girls in bikini’s got a good laugh out of me, but the constant Star Trek references during the part of the game where the crew is kidnapped and put in the Leia outfit from Return of the Jedi absolutely ascended me to a new plane of existence.

The soundtrack, once again provided by the brilliant Jake Kaufman, delivers on the pure ubeat and energetic excellence I’ve come to associate with the franchise. The presentation also raises the game to new levels, with some absolutely incredible character portraits and art. The backgrounds and stage design also shine really brightly with the unique locales providing some really memorable screens. Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is proving to be a hard game to beat when it comes to the pure joy it gave me. I felt surprisingly invested in the story as well as the character development, whilst nearly falling out of my chair from laughter on more than one occasion. While my only reference at this point was Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, it did feel like I got a good glimpse in what the series pinnacle looked like. Pirate’s Curse has a lot of design overlap with its neighboring installments, yet it feels incredibly fresh. With new mechanics to use to traverse the Sequin Lands, new locales to discover and a more than modest toneshift towards the terrifying near the end. As the second game I’ve played in this series, it makes me excited for what the other installments have to offer. As I’m writing this review I’m getting close to completing Shantae and the Seven Sirens (more on that next week) and had a taste of Shantae: Risky’s Revenge. Each of these gave me a similar feeling of refreshment as this installment. Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is an absolutely brilliant game and bares itself to the world to see the very best that the series has to offer.

Beach-side Timeshare/10