@NEStalgia My family got an NES and then a Genesis, and I was too young to protest. The PS1 was my idea, though. Spyro looked amazing. And, for the time, it was. It's like a better Mario 64, but with actual voice acting. From that point, I was a Sony fan until the PS3. The high price point made me opt for an Xbox 360 instead, which... I don't hate. It had some good exclusives. But I was sufficiently disinterested in its hardware and library overall that it knocked me out of gaming for years. I had a DS, but I mainly used it to play older GBA games once in a while. What really got me back into gaming, and what made me a Nintendo fan, was playing Super Mario Galaxy. Now, I'm not a fan of pointer controls or the Wii's hardware overall, but that game is AMAZING fun. I'd forgotten what it's like to just have pure fun with a video game. From that point, I nabbed a 3DS in 2011 and really dug into its library for years. Also picked up a Wii U in 2014. Gaming went from a thing I did once in a blue moon to my pre-eminent hobby.
Half-Genie Hero is the newest, and the one with the most broken base. What's there is good, but there's a lot of backtracking that turns a lot of people off. You'll run through basically every area at least twice. I enjoyed it for what it was, but considering the hype around it there was a lot of backlash.
Pirate's Curse was before that, and is generally regarded as the best entry. No genie powers here, instead you'll use pirate gear. But it came together pretty well?
Risky's Revenge was the one before that. I haven't played it, but as a DSiware title it probably wasn't very long? I know it was one of the only titles on the service that caught any major attention.
The original game is for the Game Boy Color, and was really fun. It's stuck with a lot of limitations due to it's origin though, both in level design and graphics. It's a cult classic these days however, it probably would have sold great if it hadn't launched after the GBA came out as it's one of the best titles on the system.
TL/DR version: Buy Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.
Longer version: Almost all of the Shantae games are Metroidvania-esque (actually, they're very similar to the Monster Boy games in this respect), beginning with the original Shantae on the GBC, which has you gaining transformations that you use to access new parts of the world map and dungeons. Risky's Revenge is similar, although it's shorter, easier, and missing the original game's more intricate dungeons. Pirate's Curse is a little more linear in design, but you explore pretty expansive environments. Half-Genie Hero is... a linear, arcade-style game with half-assed Metroidvania aspects that lessen the experience. While it's not an incredibly story-heavy series, the first three games form a trilogy that connect to one-another in small ways. Half-Genie Hero is a soft reboot, and is missing most of the fun dialogue and charm of the older games.
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, in terms of actual gameplay, is perhaps the least traditionally Shantae-like, because your genie powers and transformations are replaced with pirate equipment, but the flipside of this is that the gameplay is much faster and more fluid due to its reliance on equipment over transformations. You can pull off a lot of crazy maneuvers in this game if you know what you're doing.
Pirate's Curse has the best dialogue, plot, character development, and difficulty curve in the series. It's one of my favorite action-platformers of all time.
Half-Genie Hero, on the other hand, is shallow in every regard, and replaces the fun, interconnected, Metroid-style environments with very linear and arcadey sequences where you're generally running from left to right. It could be OK if WayForward really leaned into this genre change, but the game is also pathetically easy on the standard difficulty and isn't willing to abandon its traditional conceits, so it forces a ton of backtracking. The problem is that these levels aren't designed with backtracking in mind, so it becomes rather like scouring Mega Man levels you've already beaten to find new routes and equipment. Except these levels aren't nearly as well-designed as your average Mega Man game.
There's still some fun to be had with Half-Genie Hero, and the new artstyle is beautiful, but I'll always recommend Pirate's Curse over it, as well as over most games in the genre.
I am having so much fun with Super Smash Bros Ultimate. I am currently playing the Adventure Mode. The Spirits system is interesting. I had a few troubles with fighting puppet fighters when I realized my Spirits are either low leveled or have low stats. But it took some luck and skill to beat the puppet fighters to get the spirits that they have.
Plus, I am unlocking fighters by saving them in the Adventure Mode. I unlocked Ness outside of Adventure mode. Still, I am loving Smash Ultimate. If it gets a sequel one day, I will enjoy it even more.
Never understood the hate for Half Genie Hero, it almost feels like I played a completely different game to @Ralizah (e.g. I liked the backtracking and I thought the levels were generally well designed). In fact, I couldn't put the game down whereas I've struggled to get into Pirate's Curse and Shantae GBC.
That said, the majority do seem to prefer Pirates Curse so that's probably the less Risky choice.
@Buizel Well I'm glad it has an audience. And, hey, now that I'm not as salty and I'm actually playing all the DLC I got for free as a backer, I'm enjoying it a bit more. The costume pack campaigns lack the backtracking and have different quirks in their gameplay styles, so I'm actually finding them more fun than the base game.
The GBC original is a bit rough around the edges, but I genuinely love how expansive it is, how good the dungeon design is, and how detailed the sprites are. It looks AMAZING for a GBC game.
@Tsurii Great! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it. Since you mentioned using Gold Coins, I imagine you bought it on Switch?
I bought it for full price on both 3DS and Wii U, so I'm a bit hesitant to buy it again.
@Tsurii I'm not a long time Shantae fan. I got Half Genie and really enjoyed it, it's a pretty game with fun controls, but it's also short, and as Ralizah said, shallow. Not bad, just shallow. it doesn't deserve the hate, but maybe it doesn't live up to older games. I keep getting tempted for Pirates Curse. Still I thought it was really enjoyable and might get frustrated in the bogged down nature of a metroidvania style.
OTOH I loved Wonder Boy. You have to keep in mind Wonder Boy is an old old old game from the Sega Master System (not even Mega Drive/Genesis.) The "remake" wasn't a remake, just a graphical overhaul with a few QoL enhancements, but the actual game design/level design etc is an original mid-1980s game that would be more at home in the NES Online app than a modern game. So viewing it as a retro 80's game (which it is) with pretty new graphics slapped on, it was amazing. The game let you toggle back and forth to the old 80's sound and graphics.....it felt brand new with the new graphics, but you realize how old the design is when you look at it's real form.
Monster Boy, the new one, however, is a brand new game from an indie shop rebooting the series as a "spiritual successor" (It's not officially Wonder Boy/Monster World, Sega owns those rights) with some help from the original creator at Sega, and the original music composers.
It's confusing, I know. TL;DR
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap: A graphical overhaul of the actual 1980's Sega ROM. Level design is ancient, but was ahead of its time. Game is rooted in 8-bit game design, limitations, and mechanics from the actual 8-bit era.
Monster Boy: A brand new indie game with help from the original series' creator. Level design is modern.
I'm finding it difficult to contain my enthusiasm for 2019. The slate of games scheduled for release have 2019 appearing to be one of those "all-time" great kind of years, especially as an rpg fan. Right now I'm trying to convince myself that the assumed January Direct will provide release dates for games we already know about. Daemon X Machina, Yoshi's Crafted World, etc.
But if Nintendo were to announce anything else for Q1 or Q2 (which of course they will) I fear I might pass out from exhaustion. Too many games, not enough time to play everything.
Switch Physical Collection - 1,247 games (as of April 15th, 2024)
Favorite Quote: "Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age the child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies." -Edna St. Vincent Millay
My Top 9 Favorite Games of All time.
1. Judgement
2. Baldur's Gate 3
3. Bully (Rockstar)
4. Person 4 / Golden
5. Sonic Adventure 2
6. Xenoblade X
7. Ape Escape 2
8. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
9. James Bond 007 Nightfire
About the Sims: I wonder if it will be the true full version or a scaled back port. I kind of already bought the Xbox version anyway, but I'd certainly prefer it on the go.
About Shantae: if it's worth anything, the only one I've finished is Pirate's Curse. Which I guess means it's the most engaging one?
I've started Riskys Revenge over several times, but I've never gotten to the end for some reason. And Half Genie Hero I've only played a bit of on the Xbox (game pass), but a vertical part with a giant sand worm kinda annoyed me.
@NEStalgia Pirate's Curse is the perfect mix of Metroid-style exploration and linearity. Think something akin to Metroid Fusion in that respect. It's definitely not a game you get "bogged down in."
But I totally get avoiding games with Metroidvanian elements. They're a dime a dozen these days. It's the reason I've yet to touch SteamWorld Dig 2, which I hear is excellent.
@Delibheel
I found something Fishy about this user. 🤔
This user has uploaded 4 videos since 1 week ago. He used Nintendo DE (Nintendo Germany) as his user name. I wonder if those videos are Real or Fake. 🤔
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