Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a platform game by WayForward for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It is the third game in the Shantae series, following Shantae: Risky's Revenge, and was released on the Nintendo eShop on October 23, 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS, on December 25, 2014 on Wii U, on April 23, 2015 on Steam,^[1]^[2] on the Amazon Fire TV on October 22, 2015^[3], on the Xbox One on March 16th, 2016^[4], on PlayStation 4 on April 19th, 2016^[5], and on Nintendo Switch on March 20th, 2018^[6]. It was also the first game in the series to experience a physical release since the first game on November 29, 2015, exclusive to Japan, thanks to a partnership between WayForward Technologies and Intergrow Inc. The game was later again physically released worldwide in October of 2016 via Limited Run Games, which gave the game a T rating rather than an E10+ one. Only 6,000 copies were made.

The game was announced in the November 2012 edition of Nintendo Power, and was in full development since the beginning of that year,^[7] but was already planned by the end of 2011, as Inti Creates were hired at that time to work on new artwork for the title.^[8] The game was followed by Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.

Story

Following the events of Shantae: Risky's Revenge, in which the half-genie girl Shantae was forced to defeat the embodiment of her own powers, she has been adjusting to a life without them as Mimic, Bolo and Sky help her protect Ammo Town. One day, however, Shantae is approached by her old nemesis, Risky Boots, who informs her that a curse is rapidly overtaking the land in preparation for the return of The Pirate Master, spelling doom for all of Sequin Land.

Having lost her army of Tinkerbats and her Pirate Gear due to the curse, Risky is forced to turn to Shantae for help in preventing the impending disaster. Despite not having her genie powers and still not being the town's Guardian Genie, Shantae nonetheless agrees to journey with Risky in order to save Sequin Land. Shantae does get her powers back and is re-hired as Guardian Genie during the good ending, and is able to transform again in the next game.

Gameplay

Players take control of the titular Shantae as she travels to stop the Pirate Master's revival by seeking out the sources of his dark magic and sealing them away. Unlike previous games, in which Shantae used her genie magic to take various forms, she must now seek out various Pirate Gear to progress through the game. These items include pistols, scimitars, and cannons.

Many of these items have multiple uses; the pistol, for example, can be used to activate distant switches as well as attack enemies. Some Pirate Gear can be upgraded throughout the game to make them more effective.

The second trailer for the game released during the E3 2014 showcases briefly the Dancer outfit previously seen in Risky's Revenge. Shantae, Rottytops, Sky and Risky wear it as a princess outfit in Tan Line Palace.

Shantae travels in several locations, including the returning Scuttle Town and its surroundings, and other islands. The map system from the previous installment is changed to a more Metroid-style map system and like Metroid, there are hidden paths.

The game also features 3D effects similar to Mighty Switch Force!, another WayForward title.

Development

Music

As with the previous installments, the music for the game was composed by Jake Kaufman. The original soundtrack to the game was released by Kaufman on Bandcamp on October 24, 2014.^[9]

Sprites

Shantae wears a purple vest and pirate bandana in the game's promotional artwork, but does not wear the bandana for the majority of the game. It occasionally shows up in her character portraits, as well as when she performs special Pirate moves (while using Risky's Hat, Boots and Cannon), but it is otherwise absent. This may indicate that at one point during development there was a goal of remaking all of Shantae's sprites but then decided against, leaving only the sprites used during special move animations. This may have been an economical decision to reuse Shantae's gameplay sprites from the previous game.

Reception

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic getting a metascore of 82/100 on 3DS,^[10] 85/100 on Wii U,^[11] 75/100 on PS4,^[12] 86/100 on Nintendo Switch,^[13] and 79/100 on Xbox One.^[14]

Credits

Role	Name
Shantae created by	Matt and Erin Bozon
Developed by	WayForward
Tyrannical overlord	Voldi Way
Consigliere	John Beck
Executive Producer	Chris Watson
Technical Director	James Chan
Director, Writer	Matt Bozon
Producer	Christopher Shanley
Assistant directors	James Montagna, Jeff Luke
Lead Programmer	Larry Holdaway
Programmers	David Pabers, Michael de la Peña, Chris Losorelli
Additional programmers	Adam Lutz
Tile set artist	Henk Nieborg
Background artist	Chris Drysdale
Level designer	Kyle Bardiau
Pixel modelers	Gustav Kilman, Andrew Bado, Jeremy Dower
Lead animator	Rafael Ventura
Animators	Joakim Sandberg, Mark McDole, Paul Robertson
Additional animation	Chris Kerlegon, Eunhi Oh, Danny McGillick, Randy van der Vlag
Characters illustrations	Inti Creates
Additional illustrations	Kristen George, Angelica Lopez, Alex Ahad, Chris Engle, Winking Entertainment
Technical artists	Cristobal Hernandez, Diego Paz, Justin Criswell, Arvind Kumar
Audio guy	Jake Kaufman
Voices	Cristina Vee
Contributors	Armando Soto, Chris Schroeder, Shannon Hatakeda, Jessie Seely
Quality assurance manager	Jeremy Pryer
Quality assurance testers	Chris Anderson, Michael Flores, Timothy Vinton, Robbie George, Georgeina Schaller, Nicholas Chavez, Landon Dastrup, Royal Keys, Jongsoo Yoon, Jaymes C. Taylor, Michael Bayne
Director of consumer engagement	Brandis Hulett
Public relations	Jordan Mayer
Community manager	Aaron Thornton
Powered by	Engine Black