Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution

I had some problems with recent Shantae games, but this one does feel like a return to form. It's as good as the older games. Fun to play, appealing to look at, and the familiar comedy and sexy designs. It's fun to run around in the maps with the transformations you unlock, and there are many secrets to find.

Typical Shantae game. Fun gameplay, great visuals, good music.

Shantae Advance is as much curio and historical relic as it is a new game. The story goes that after the original GBC game limped out in 2002 to tepid sales (a year after the GBA had been on the shelves), Wayforward started working on the follow up. However, due to being unable to find a publisher the game was scrapped, and what we have here is that 2005 GBA game finished and updated. What isn’t clear is exactly how much of that 2005 build is present in this release – I’ve heard over the years that it was as much as 90% complete, but Matt Bozen himself is on record as saying it was as low as 10%. If it was genuinely that low this release is somewhat odd and I can’t help but feel like the time and resources would have been better spent on a new game – look, I love the GBA as much as the next grognard, but the low resolution and limited buttons were a problem even when it was new. And this game DOES run on a GBA – obviously you don’t get the high-res art and menus, but the core game is literally available for the GBA. With those limitations, in some ways Shantae Advance feels noticeably more dated than even Risky’s Revenge, which was built for the significantly more powerful DSi. T…

-3 HOURS long game -Extras hidden locked behin steep paywall: you will need to buy THE WHOLE game again as a deluxe edition

Overall a fun Shantae platform adventure game. I didn't find it difficult although there was a time I didn't know what to do next. Also it would had been nice if they included scanlines as an option.

Hands down the best Game Boy Advance game of this decade.