Shantae

"Christina Aguilera Has Nothing on This Half-Genie Gal!"

Shake shake shake--shake shake shake--shake your booty... you'll be doing a lot of that during the game. Shantae is about the cute half-genie, named Shantae, who's home has just been destroyed by the cute lady pirate, Risky Boots. Cute as she may be, though, Risky Boots is not a very nice girl--she wants to take over the world, and she may do just that, with the steam engine she's stolen, and 4 special stones she intends to steal to perpetually power her doomsday device she's devising. It's up to you, as Shantae, to get these 4 stones before Risky Boots can nab them!

The game is essentially a platformer, though I can't really pinpoint a specific one that Shantae most resembles... it is, at least somewhat, like Castlevania 2 on the NES: the time turns from day to night, when enemies get stronger at night, you need to get things in the labyrinths (think mansions from Castlevania 2), the way enemies usually give gems to buy items with (hearts from Castlevania 2), and the way towns are separated by action-filled areas. The action is typically more intense, though, and the labyrinths are a blast... fun action-packed mazes to try to find your way through, much-better designed than the mansions of Castlevania 2.

Speaking of Castlevania 2, unlike that game, it's a good idea to listen to the people you see in the towns. They actually have useful advice, though some of it is obvious stuff... listening to them will help you figure out what you should do. Also, you may want to check in the towns both day and night--during both times of the day, you'll see different people to talk to, including some friendly demons at night.

Back to the labyrinths... it seems some Super Mario Bros-type creativity was put into these things. In each one, you need to free a genie to learn a transformation dance, and get the special stone hidden within... but it won't be too easy! Besides the fact that it's easy to get lost if you're not paying attention to where you are, there are some devious, and cool puzzles to solve in each to free the genie, and get the special stone. Some easy to figure out, others not-so-easy, but all good fun in solving!

And yes, the transformation dances... when you free the genie of the labyrinth (or other requirements, depending on the dance), you can transform into a creature of some sort... a cute fun little monkey that can climb walls, and elephant which isn't particularly fun, but can bash down some walls, a spider that can climb certain background objects, and a flying grey bird that can fly. All of them will be needed to complete your quest, but there are other optional dances too you can learn, upon meeting certain requirements...

Generally, each area is distinctly different. In the beginning area of the game, you have a short desert-mountain type area on the left, and a grassy field on the right. You won't find areas like this later in the game, either. A few schemes will repeat, though (like the forest to the right of the grassy field), though the enemies and layout will make it a different experience, still.

The graphics are the best for a Game Boy Color game. Shantae herself looks great, as well, though surprisingly, she doesn't have an idle animation... not that it's necessary, really. The other characters look nice as well, particularly the female characters, including Risky Boots, and others. Random townspeople rarely reuse sprites for different towns, though a few do, most notably one random woman who doesn't wear much, the guy who saves your game for you (with an exception for one town), and the genies in the labyrinths... interestingly, they're not palette-swapped either, for some reason, so they'll look the same everywhere.

The enemies look great as well. The smaller, more minor, enemies often are reminiscent of enemies from other classic games (Zelda-looking spiders and Moblin-like creatures, Mario-looking Goomba-like things), though the larger enemies look stunning. Many of the larger enemies take the shape of women (like women scorpion ladies and women fox ladies), though certainly the coolest-looking is the magnet that wants to give Shantae shaken baby syndrome!

The backgrounds and foregrounds are great as well. The background actually changes from day to night, as clouds go away and stars come out. The labyrinths and underground areas have parallax scrolling too, which I didn't even know a Game Boy Color game was capable of! The water is great looking, giving a transparent, ''wavy'' effect, as if someone had just thrown a rock in.

The music is mostly average... nothing stands out much as being overly good, though it's certainly not bad either. Just kinda' average, as are the sound effects... just average sound effects. It doesn't really hurt, though... there's nothing bad about the music or sound, but nothing really striking, nothing standing out, either.

Shantae controls quite well. She is quite responsive, and rarely will she ever do something you didn't want her to do... key word being rarely. The exception is after you purchase the fighter's cuff... when you hold down B, you do a powerful dash attack. The trouble is, when you're holding B, waiting to run and jump on a platform, and you go into dash mode when you didn't want to, and wind up falling in a pit because of it. I'd have made it hold up and B, or hold down and B, or something, as it's annoying when it happens... eventually, you learn to run in place a bit to avoid it, but it's still pretty annoying when it does happen.

So it's not perfect. You won't care. You'll love Shantae anyway. Or more specifically, if you're into 2-D platform games (which sadly not everyone is), you'll love Shantae. And though many of you have probably gone the Game Boy Advance way by now, as it's compatible with the Game Boy Advance (forward compatible according to the game, whatever that means), there's just no reason to skip this lovely half genie gal!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/02, Updated 12/02/02