As far as independent dev teams go, Wayforward stands out as one of, if not my absolute favorite of the bunch. Alongside the also great Inti Creates and Shin'en, Wayforward is a team with some real history behind it, already making a name for themselves with their technically impressive GBC games before really coming into the spotlight with their stellar DSiWare catalog. From River City Girls to Mighty Switch Force to Xtreme Sports to Sigma Star Saga to Ducktales Remastered to Contra 4 to the Boy And His Blob remake, Wayforward has made countless incredible games, but their Shantae series in particular deserves the most credit. Rock solid metroidvanias with a lovable and colorful cast of characters, inventive transformation-based gameplay mechanics, incredible dungeon design, charming and at times cheeky writing that feels straight out of a Nippon Ichi game, and banging music by Jake Kaufman, Shantae games are almost always a great time, but my favorite has to be the fourth entry, Half-Genie Hero.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero has the unfortunate role of serving as a sort of soft reboot of the series. After the far more dramatic and story-driven Pirate's Curse, Half-Genie Hero was a lighter, brisker, crowd-funded game meant to re-establish the cast and go back to basics a bit. As a result, it's actually the most divisive Shantae game, and I can definitely see why. The narrative is more episodic like a Saturday Morning Cartoon, dropping any plot threads that Pirate's Curse left hanging, and the progression has shifted from a full-on metroidvania to a more linear game with metroidvania-adjacent backtracking. So with this in mind, why is Half-Genie Hero my favorite in the series?
Well, let's start with that story. Half-Genie Hero has a pretty basic plot about Shantae doing odd jobs as her town's genie while helping her uncle Mimic build a mysterious machine, which ends up being hijacked and turned into the final boss. In face value, yeah, it's pretty lame. But the appeal of Half-Genie Hero's narrative for me is the aforementioned Saturday Morning Cartoon feel. Each stage has its own standalone story arc, almost like an episode in a TV show or a chapter in a Paper Mario game, and they're all so fun and creative. From getting fired and replaced by another half genie to participating in a magic carpet race, Shantae gets into countless memorable situations throughout the course of Half-Genie Hero, bolstered by Wayforward's typically charming and breezy writing. On top of that, the series' fantastic side cast, particularly Sky, Bolo, and Rottytops also get their times to shine in a variety of similarly fun subplots, and they even get their own exclusive campaign that focuses entirely on them. The characters in Shantae overall are just so fun to watch bounce off each other, even some of the villains like Ammo Baron, Risky Boots, and especially Squid Baron are fantastic. Half-Genie Hero doesn't quite have the drama that its predecessors have, but I think it works as the perfect introduction to Shantae's great world and characters. I should know since it was my first Shantae game, after all.
Gameplay-wise, Half-Genie Hero doesn't do anything particularly ground-breaking by action platformer standards, but it feels inventive and unique enough in its execution that I don't really mind. Shantae controls incredibly precisely, her hair is very satisfying to use as a weapon, and managing your subweapons is always a fun time. One of Shantae's claims to fame is the transformation system where you can do a dance to turn Shantae into an animal with its own unique moveset. It's a great concept, but having to do an entire dance can feel a bit slow in earlier games. In Half-Genie Hero, transforming is sped up dramatically, especially if you get an early-game speed upgrade that lets you switch forms in the blink of an eye. Shantae has a lot of forms in Half-Genie Hero ranging from the consistently fun animal forms with their own fully fleshed-out movesets to the sillier context sensitive forms that can still be quite useful depending on the circumstances, which leads to what feels like the most fully-realized iteration of the concept to date. While I don't blame people from preferring the more fluid classical upgrades of Pirate's Curse, I think the transformations in Shantae is a big part of that series' appeal and playing around with all the different forms in HGH is an absolute blast.
But where Half-Genie Hero really solidifies itself as my favorite Shantae game is in the level design. Most Shantae games are open metroidvanias and they're generally quite well-designed, particularly the puzzle box dungeons that come incredibly close to scratching that classic Zelda itch, but Half Genie Hero's more linear structure allows for far more setpieces and dynamic environments, leading to an absolutely incredible lineup of stages. There is not a single lame level in the entire game, so why don't we run through all of them?
Main Street is the typical burning town stage that kicks off most Shantae games. It's got just enough collapsing platforms, cannon-fire, and general spectacle to keep things exciting while still doing its job as a tutorial perfectly.
Mermaid Falls is where the game really kicks into high gear, a primarily vertical stage starting out in a Grecian temple populated by actual mermaids before you enter a weird factory where girls are fitted with fake mermaid tails for profit, which is just one of the most bonkers ideas for a level I have ever seen in a video game. And it's not just aesthetics too, much of the factory's machines are actually used within the level design. The stage ends on a high note with a very fun slide section and a surprisingly tough and large-scale boss fight against the Giga Mermaid.
Tassel Town starts out your average desert level before you enter a tower and begin being chased by a giant sand worm who you proceed to fight in the boss battle. Not as wild as the mermaid factory, but still one of the most memorable setpieces in the game.
Cape Crustacean is just straight-up one of my favorite levels in any game, period. This is where Shantae enters the magic carpet race, and the first half of the stage has you hop from carpet to carpet before entering Ammo Baron's ship and taking it down from the inside. For a game like Shantae with such heavy Arabian theming, the pure concept of a magic carpet race is simply genius, and it's executed phenomenally. It's the kind of stage so setpiece-heavy that it can't be done in a metroidvania, and in my opinion, it justifies the entirety of Half-Genie Hero.
Hypno Baron's Castle is probably my least favorite level, but it's still a fun time. It's a cute haunted house castle with tons of secret rooms and spooky monster enemies, culminating in one of the trickiest platforming gauntlets in the game.
And then there's Risky's Hideout, a strong final level that has you swapping between most of the major transformations to really test you on all of them, complete with one last slide section for good measure.
Half-Genie Hero isn't purely linear though. It does have some pretty heavy backtracking, both for story purposes and for the countless hidden collectibles ranging from heart increases to form upgrades. This is another make-or-break element of HGH, but I don't really mind it in this case. The levels usually get a few changes when you revisit them, some of the side quests you have to do can be quite fun, you get a warp dance that lets you leave an area whenever you want, and I simply like exploring and fully mapping out all these stages. I think it was overall a good choice on Wayforward to keep the series's metroidvania spirit while still allowing the levels to be as inventive as they are. The boss fights are also quite enjoyable, though often easy, with a really strong variety ranging from smaller-scale brawls against characters like Ammo Baron and Risky Boots, to larger battles against the Tinkerslug and Giga Mermaid, to full-on shifts into Klonoa-esque circular arenas for the fights against the aforementioned sandworm and final boss. As a whole, Half-Genie Hero isn't the longest game, but it's just pure, simple fun from start to finish. And the abundance of extra campaigns you can unlock make it super replayable.
In terms of presentation, Half-Genie Hero is also incredible, as per the usual for Wayforward. While I do love the pixel art used in the previous games, Half Genie Hero's blend of clean 2D lineart for the characters and 3D-esque depth for the stages and backgrounds looks so incredibly good. Every single character and enemy animates so smoothly and even have cute idle animations where they bop to the music, there's tons of silly background animations for those who pay attention (Bolo getting stuck in the mermaid factory is a 10/10 sight gag), and even the UI took a massive bump in style compared to the ugly Final Fantasy-esque textboxes of Pirate's Curse. Overall, it's easily the definitive artstyle for the series in my opinion. Shantae does have a bit of a reputation for sexualized characters and, while it doesn't do anything for me personally, I can't deny that it's hard not to notice. Even Half-Genie Hero has the Giga Mermaid and the countless monster girls in Hypno Baron's Castle. However, HGH does tone down that aspect of the series quite a bit with its cutesier, more chibi-ish artstyle, which really lets you appreciate how colorful, cute, and varied Shantae's characters are, with Rottytops and Squid Baron being notable highlights. And of course, there is the incredible music. Shantae's soundtracks have been primarily composed by indie scene legend Jake Kaufman, and Half Genie Hero might just have some of his best work. Kaufman's unique blend of dance and Arabic music that defined the Shantae series feels pretty much perfected her, with the biggest highlights being The Sky Bridge, Mermaid Falls, Counterfeit Mermaids, Neo Burning Town, and Cape Crustacean. Though I'd also be remiss not to mention the game's fantastic vocal theme sang by Shantae's voice actress herself, Cristina Vee. Vee has always been one of my favorite voice actresses for a number of reasons, but Shantae is always the first of her roles to come to my mind, she embues the character with so much energy and vibrancy.
And before I finish this post, I do want to bring up a weird fact I discovered. My two favorite Shantae games, Pirate's Curse and Half-Genie Hero, were co-developed by Inti Creates, who made the Mega Man Zero/ZX/9-10, Blaster Master Zero, and Azure Striker Gunvolt games. Considering these guys are modern action platformer legends as far as I'm concerned, that does a lot to explain why I found Half-Genie Hero so great.
I'm pretty well-aware that compared to many of the other games on this list, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero may seem a bit tame. It's not anything particularly ground-breaking or impactful, it's just one of the most consistently fun platformers I've had the luxury of playing. With tight controls, ridiculously inventive level design, an enjoyably freeform transformation system, engaging exploration, a lovable cast of characters, stunning hand-drawn visuals, and a banging Kaufman soundtrack, Half-Genie Hero just checks all the boxes for me. It's a game that exudes so much joyous energy that it's hard for me to not have a big smile on my face while playing, and if that doesn't earn it a spot on my Top 100 list, I don't know what would.
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