Shantae Advance: Dangerous Revolution (Nintendo Swap)

As a “misplaced chapter” restored, Shantae Advance: Dangerous Revolution has to stability the fact of being a 20-year-old sport that’s additionally polished and up to date to trendy sensibilities. It falls quick in that regard, however the sport nonetheless presents the kind of high-quality leisure I’ve come to count on from WayForward.

For the file, that is solely the third Shantae sport I’ve performed amongst the collection and its many ports. I’m an enormous WayForward fan, however not as a lot a Shantae one. Pirate’s Curse on the Nintendo DS was my first Shantae sport, and I loved it properly sufficient. The lack of her genie powers and needing to depend on her personal resourcefulness clicked with me. My subsequent one was Half-Genie Hero, which I ultimately grabbed on the Swap primarily as a result of it was our Wii U cowl story again in PNM #27. The method of that sport (much less “Metroidvania”, extra motion) additionally appealed to me considerably. I say this to not pad out a assessment, however as a disclaimer for these in search of complete comparisons to previous entries. I’ve my limits.

After all, Dangerous Revolution has each Shantae’s genie powers and the normal collection gameplay on the fore.  As a sidescrolling platformer, Shantae makes use of her ponytail to eradicate monsters of all types and even clear up puzzles. That is at all times good enjoyable. She’ll additionally use her aforementioned transformations when backtracking to prior areas to entry new elements, one thing I’m extra divided on. I blame an early bug after I was in crab type, for one. One way or the other, I fell beneath the extent, nevertheless it wasn’t exploration that led to a enjoyable secret. Finally, I heard Shantae scream, solely to respawn immovable. I’ve run into glitches in different Shantae video games, however this was most likely the earliest. One other replace patch can be helpful, although your confidence within the collection shouldn’t be shaken due to this, solely the land. 

Sure, this sport’s plot finds Sequin Land going through a singular basis-shaking menace. Dangerous Boots, the collection’ pirate provocateur, is utilizing mechanical gadgets to rock the city’s groundwork itself, twisting pillars to maneuver inland areas to the coast for painless plundering. The tales in these Shante video games are usually of minimal significance to me, however this is likely one of the extra intriguing tales.

Dangerous Revolution has an attention-grabbing issue. Hearts are beneficiant, and coronary heart holders enhance your well being. Save spots are conveniently frequent. The enemies are usually simple. Even the bosses’ patterns are shortly realized. The problem appears to stem extra from the hit detection being a tad off (at the very least in comparison with another entries) and the navigation itself. Backtracking is central, for higher or worse. Repeatedly, I entered a cave solely to find I’d been there earlier than and wasn’t due again but. Areas can look and play fairly equally. The sport began to remind me of an previous point-and-click sport the place some puzzles boiled right down to attempting every little thing. It feels a bit unbalanced, and even surprisingly boring every now and then.

It circles again to my preliminary point out of Dangerous Revolution needing trendy sensibilities, which wasn’t a private want that I pulled out of the air. Collection director Matt Bozon (whom PN has labored with greater than as soon as) stated that this sport can be “modernized with our present sensibilities.” This brings me to my elephant within the room, and no, I’m not speaking about Shantae’s elephant transformation. This sport has no map.

A map would’ve been so appreciated for a sport like this that straddles the road between intelligent and mazy. I’d argue it ought to’ve been anticipated, given not simply its subgenre but additionally previous video games within the collection. The argument that it is a GBA sport at coronary heart (Restricted Run even did a bodily launch cartridge, lengthy offered out) merely doesn’t fly as an excuse as a result of a scarcity of a map would’ve felt dated even when this had been launched on the GBA twenty years in the past. Right this moment, it feels antiquated. Mixed with the removing of city tips to nudge you in the suitable course, Shante’s latest seems like one among her oldest.

Don’t get me mistaken, even being left to your personal gadgets, you’ll nonetheless have some enjoyable as you “Spin and shift Entrance Yard and Again Yard playfields to create new routes and clear up puzzles!” It doesn’t take lengthy to get used to, reminding me of Digital Boy Wario Land (which I lined in PNM #35) and by curious coincidence, is coming again by way of the Swap On-line Nintendo Classics.) However Dangerous Revolution actually would’ve been higher with extra choices to stay as much as the sport’s full promise.

I’m assured I’d have gotten extra out of this sport had I skilled all the collection as a result of, on the finish of the day, that is each the second entry and the sixth one. Fans gained’t thoughts some conversations overstaying their welcome, as these characters are previous pals. If their consideration turns elsewhere, it’ll most likely be to different Shantae video games. They’ll wanna seek out each secret squid, and may not miss instructions within the type of a map or mild hints. That is seemingly the Shantae sport for them.

Nevertheless, a few the “Key Options” on this sport are huge letdowns for followers previous and new. One is the battle mode. Not solely does it not have on-line, it doesn’t even have the choice to problem laptop gamers! I can perceive the previous, however there’s no excuse for the latter. Even finances battlers provide the choice to problem the CPU. It feels incomplete. The opposite is the DLC. A Deluxe Version of this sport (for $10 extra) features a trio of costumes that may’t even be modified on the fly. Not too thrilling.

However aesthetically, the sport succeeds. The GBA model could be very nostalgic for a technology of avid gamers, and the common-or-garden {hardware} was able to producing some great-looking video games. Dangerous Revolution is not any exception. Simply keep in mind, Shantae earns her teen ranking by exhibiting ample pores and skin. Musically, I admit to lacking the Jake Kaufman compositions. Maddie Lim does some stable tracks, a number of being catchy, however I would want a few of her work on Vitamin Connection. That stated, the Lava City tune is nice. And that space as a complete is kind of humorous.

Shantae Advance: Dangerous Revolution is a well-made, high quality sport that’ll show principally entertaining for followers well-versed within the collection. However it displays loads of selections right here which can be powerful to wrap one’s head round, particularly when different Shantae video games surpass this one in each tempo and polish. The restrictive 4-player mode disappointingly fails to stay as much as the hype. And the inexplicable lack of a map (or any typical trace system) makes this sport really feel antiquated subsequent to its different entries. Thus, what needs to be a terrific sport is only a good one. Look ahead to a sale, and make this Shantae your Half-Worth Hero.