#Shantae gba mode series

What's even more impressive is that Game Boy Color games were almost never able to create characters or environments with any kind of personality, but WayForward was ahead of the curve then as it is now and Shantae is an example of the finest design the era could offer.' There's a sexiness and exotic quality to the design and environments, but in a way that isn't overly in the face. Games like Prince of Persia have achieved this over the years, and so too has Shantae. Because the stories tend to be loaded with sexual themes and a morality that is foreign to many of the main games markets, it can be difficult for developers to build an authentic fantasy Arabian tale without offending sensibilities. As I noted in my review of the 3DS Virtual Console port: 'At its core fantasy Arabia (and specifically the Arabian Nights that the genre mostly draws inspiration from) is a difficult one for many modern games developers. Now, with that out of the way, I still find this release of Shantae to be a delightfully refreshing thing, and the reason is simple: we don't get many games that share the aesthetics and fantasy trappings as this one.

#Shantae gba mode series

It's also a disappointing 're-release' given the opportunity that was there to bring the game that started it all for this series into the same ballpark as its sequels. This is still an excellent game and one of the best examples of early-era handheld platforming.

Of course, to do so would have been a bigger project, but I would have happily paid a premium for 'Shantae Origins Remastered' (or whatever it would have been called) since the strength of this series - the coquettish protagonist, the Arabian Nights-style aesthetics, and the tricky, Metroidvania-like platforming - are all enhanced with more modern game development and art. However, I also feel that as this Switch release is a 'new' project (whereas the 3DS Virtual Console port was really a matter of getting the game to run on the hardware's emulation), it would have been a wonderful thing for WayForward to actually go back and 'remaster' the vision so it better suited what we've come to understand as the qualities of Shantae since. Shantae is a cultural artefact that deserves to be looked at in the context that it was created. To be clear: under any circumstances, I would have wanted the original version of the game to be preserved. It's still the better way to play, but it doesn't address the smattering of issues that inhibit the developer vision with Shantae. However, that feature didn't stretch the aspect ratio to suit the GBA's widescreen, since that would have been an entirely different development project. This GBA Mode was an actual feature that 'enhanced' three Game Boy Color games (yes, just the three) when they were slotted into the GBA. What it doesn't do is change the screen ratio display. It cleans up the sprites and improves the depth of colour across the game. This release on Nintendo Switch does include the 'GBA Mode' of the original Shantae cartridge, which is a nice touch.

It wasn't what the creative lead, Matt Bozon, and his team really wanted to deliver with Shantae. To spin this around: Shantae on the Game Boy Color was an excellent game, but it wasn't the complete vision. The restricted number of sprites that the GBC could display simultaneously also meant development limitations that later Shantae titles were the better for being rid of. Because they wanted this to be a character-driven platformer, they needed to make the sprite appear big on the small, low-resolution screen, which meant that it was hard to see far around you as you played, and this both restricted the level design that the developers could throw at the players and, at times, made progress more difficult than it needed to be. Back on the Game Boy Color, the development team at WayForward needed to make compromises. Related reading: Our review of the most recent new Shantae title: Shantae and the Seven Sirens