The game, called Shantae, was said to feature some of the most advanced animation techniques ever seen on a portable game system. Anticipation for the title began building, unfortunately the Game Boy Color system's days were already numbered with the impending release of Nintendo's newest portable game system, the Game Boy Advance.
Capcom snapped up the rights to publish the game, but sadly the game would end up spending over eight months in the cue and wouldn't be released until June 2002, almost a full year after the release of the Game Boy Advance. By the time the game hit the market, many gamers were already heavily entrenched in the Game Boy Advance system and Shantae would go on to sell less than 15,000 copies.
Over the years, the original game has garnered quite the cult following among the classic gaming community and news of a Shantae sequel tend to pop up every time a new console or handheld game system is launched. Of course there's a good reason for this, as according to WayForward's lead game designer Matt Bozon, "Each time we build tech on a new platform, we'll demonstrate our abilities with a Shantae effort of some sort." Matt went on to name the Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, DS, and Wii systems as targets of these various Shantae demos.
Fans of the game have long been clamoring for a new Shantae title, and this was further fueled when Spencer from Siliconera reported that at the GDC 2008 conference he had run into WayForward founder Voldi Way, who mentioned that they were looking into the Nintendo Wii console as a possible home for a new Shantae title. When asked whether or not the new WiiWare service might be a possibility for the game, Way responded, "that's the plan."
Over the past few months, there hasn't been much in the way of new information on this possible Shantae WiiWare title, but like clockwork, speculation is once again running rampant since the first edition of the Official Shantae Fan Club Newsletter was sent out to fans yesterday that had an interesting excerpt mentioning the possibility of a WiiWare Shantae release.
Shantae WiiWare: informally (and inadvertently) announced at GDC, this is an ongoing experiment in 2D on the Wii. As it currently stands, the game is very traditional as an action/platform game (no Wiimote Wagging) with its main draw being 480P 2D artwork. If the project gets legs, well have more to say in the next newsletter. For now, it just looks cool!
WayForward is also asking that game fans who are interested in the prospect of a new Shantae game sign up for the Official Shantae Fan Club in an effort for them to gauge interest in a new title. Click on the link above and show your support for a brand new Shantae release on Nintendo's WiiWare service. We'll have more information on this hotly-anticipated WiiWare title as it becomes available.
Comments (16)
I wouldn't have guessed from teh screen that that's a GBC game!
It probably pushed the hardware about as far as it could go. It makes me wonder what Wayforward could do with the Wii if they were able to push the GBC that far.
Shame all of these greats hit when I was a skint kid. NINTENDO! GB/C GAMES ON VC, NOW!
This is great news! 2D platformers FTW
Yay, someone else who prefers 2D platformers
this look's fun! very intuvite to make a 2D platformer on wiiware in this genration! but why not!
@Demon212
Here Here.
And also I want my bloody Virtual Boy VC!!!!
Glares at Damo...
I haven't played the original... I hope I track it down sometime!
This game is a little expensive since it only sold about 15,000 copies, but it's worth the money. This game has some of the longest single levels I've ever played in a 2-D platformer. Great game!
Shantae was a great GBC game. We're talking huge levels filled with excellent puzzles and cool enemies. I don't think anyone could complain about a straight up port and I still own the damn game.
After Contra 4, I have very high hopes for Wayforward. Now, if only they'd reveal some more about Lit...
I was hoping this would happen. Shantae has been looking for a new home for a while now. With Toki Tori finding its niche, it seems like as good of a time and platform as any to roll out a new version of Shantae.
Yay for WiiWare! Bringing some of history's greats back to life!
I agree. It would be nice to see some of the 2-D hits of yesterday brought back to life via WiiWare.
I thought Wario Land Shake was going to be a WarioWare-style game for some reason. My goof. Thanks for the heads up Jupiter.
Wario Land Shake's coming out as a retail Wii game.
I tried to sign up for the fan club, and it didn't work. For some reason, when I go to the comfirmation email, the link takes me someplace that just says '404 ERROR not found on this server'. Has anyone else had this problem and/or know how to fix it? I certainly hope this doesn't happen often, otherwise no one would be in the fan club...
I sent them an email letting them know that some people are having problems confirming their registration to the fan club. If I hear from them, I'll post about it on here.
I didn't get to play the first one but if this turns out good, I will get this one. Hopefully more details will be released soon.
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