Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution Review

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution! was originally developed way back in 2002 by WayForward with the Game Boy Advance in mind. However, the developer had to shelve the project after failing to find a publisher interested in releasing this product. Fast forward to 2023 where WayForward teamed up with Limited Run Games to ressurect this project. The story of this entry takes places between the first game, Shantae, and 2010’s Shantae: Risky’s Revenge.

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution features another return of Shantae’s main antagonist, the nefarious pirate Risky Boots, has a devious that will leave Sequin Land spinning. Risky devised a contraption that allows her to rotate the continent at will and move from city to city for easy plundering. As usual, it’s up to Shantae to put a stop to it.

Shantae Advance is a 2D action platformer where players Shantae needs to find three relic hunters to help solve the Risky problem. For each dungeon, you’ll need to find a map that will unlock the dungeon to which you can fly to. Each dungeon is a mini-Metroidvania in itself. You’ll explore every area; sometimes coming across dead ends that will be accessible once you’ve found the necessary upgrade.

Throughout your exploration you’ll find special charms that can be used at fountains. This will give Shantae an ability to change into an animal/insect: monkey, crab, spider and elephant. The monkey can climb walls, crab can go under water, spider can climb through spiderwebs and the elephant can dash through rocks.

You’ll also be able to pick upgrades for said animals. For example, the monkey can highlight hidden areas and the crab drops small bombs. Shantae can also find Heart capsules that will increase her max health. As you kill enemies, you’ll collect gems and diamonds that can be used at the shop.

At the shop, you’ll be able to pick up items to refill your health, magic, increase your hair attack power, additional attacks such as a fireball or a spike ball; these will consume magic from your magic meter, but can also pack an additional punch. Through certain levels, you’ll able to go through a door that brings you to the background of the level to reach new areas. You’ll find special machines, left by Risky, that will shuffle the level around.

The game includes both the original Gameboy Advance version but also a newly visually revamped version. Additionally, each dungeon and area is uniquely designed with its obstacles and hazards. They will also require a combination of all of Shantae’s animal powers. Enemy design is fine; they also get progressively harder as you go through the game. The usage of the foreground vs background is quite unique. The soundtrack is fine; nothing really special and very much forgettable.

One of the problems is the lack of maps. While yes you get maps to unlock new areas, but when exploring each dungeon, you don’t have access to one; which can be frustrating when you need to backtrack to move forward. Another issue are the boss battles. While ingenious to combine some of Shantae’s forms, it makes the battles clunky and irritating.

Hate to say it, but I can understand why WayForward couldn’t find a publisher back in 2002. Shantae Advance is one of the weakest entries in the series. Irritating boss battles, lack of maps, boring levels and the “where the fuck do I go” kind of approach sucks the fun out of it. However, it’s great that WayForward and LRG were able to finish this project for long time fans of the Shantae series, but if you’re looking to dive into the purple hair protagonist’s adventure, try Shantae and the Seven Sirens instead.