Tag: Shantae

Friends of Nintendo Bundle

Last year Nintendo surprised us with their very own humble bundle but region locked the games to North America. As an affluent Australian I bought it anyway, directing the money to charity, just to support the concept. This year though, no doubt inspired by me, they ensured the bundle was open to Nintendo customers in Europe, South America and Oceania so I was excited to actually be able to play it. I’ve got some quick impressions of most of the games to share and there’s even a download code for one game to give away if you’re too stingy to buy the bundle. Continue reading “Friends of Nintendo Bundle” →

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse – eShop Treasure

Shantae on Game Boy was an incredible technical feat in 2002. The Game Boy Advance was already out, but Wayforward stuck to their guns and made the best GBC game possible, working so hard to make it one of the best looking games on the system. Unfortunately while the gameplay had some neat ideas, it felt like it wasn’t as exciting as it could be. It’s well designed and I understand why people like it, but I personally never really felt inspired by it, and the movement is very basic to the point where it’s not that enjoyable to play. It made an interesting one-time playthrough at the very least and established the character. Fast forward a decade, and Shantae has been set free from technical limitations with the release of Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse on 3DS and Wii U. Sporting a glorious pixelated style in 3D and on the big screen, the game takes Shantae’s wildest wishes and makes them come true. I’ve just played through the Wii U version and it’s absolutely fucking amazing. The music, controls, gameplay design, structure, presentation are all excellent and everything has suddenly clicked in a brilliant way. It’s significant. I’d liken the improvement here to the jump between Metroid and Super Metroid. Great foundations were already in place, but now it’s a lot more fun to play. This is a top-tier videogame, and I felt that the second I started controlling Shantae.

shantaehappy

Continue reading “Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse – eShop Treasure” →