Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution (GBA)

Before the original Shantae had a sequel in the form of 2010’s Risky’s Revenge, WayForward started development on a demo for an alternate sequel for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). Due to Shantae’s low sales, however, prospective publishers wouldn’t pick it up and the project went on hold, with different story and gameplay elements recycled for other entries. In 2023, however, WayForward announced that development on the original demo would resume and they would release the finished game as Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution on physical Game Boy Advance cartridges, with modern console ports to follow, as part of their partnership with Limited Run Games. The long-awaited final game would receive mixed reviews from critics, though that’s par for the course with the series.

As a Shantae fan who loves physical media, I bought a copy of the GBA version and later a copy of the modern console port (pre-order still unfulfilled as of this writing). Although I received my GBA copy in a timely fashion, I wouldn’t get to it as quickly as I would have liked for different reasons, but when I did, I locked in and made steady progress in short bursts whenever I could. By the time I got to the end, I enjoyed myself and felt glad that Risky Revolution finally saw the light of day. However, either due to its prolonged development or other limitations, it’s sadly not without some jank.

Following the events of Shantae, and before Risky’s Revenge, Shantae assists with the creation of anti-pirate defenses around Scuttle Town, including Uncle Mimic’s Fan Cannon. As Shantae introduces her friends to Rottytops, Risky Boots appears with a new plan to take over Sequin Land. After pursuing Risky into a cavern spanning all of Sequin Land, Risky unveils the Tremor Engine, which will let her move any part of the land at will for easier pirating, and demonstrates by turning Scuttle Town into a desert. To stop Risky’s plan, Shantae must travel around Sequin Land and find three Relic Hunters to help Uncle Mimic come up with a solution to counter the Tremor Engine.

Shantae begins her journey.

Like other games in the series, the story is pretty easy to follow and moves at a good pace, with some good humor that doesn’t take away from the urgency or stakes of the plot. What makes Risky Revolution stand out, however, is that its placement in the timeline fills in some gaps. Rottytops is introduced to the group here, so we see them adjust to her presence and she has a larger role from the original Shantae, acting as the main shopkeeper. We get to meet the Sultana of Sequin Land, who drops some important lore about the region and the half-genies, which gets expanded on in other games. It’s also interesting how some elements from this game get recycled in “later” entries in the timeline, including, but not limited to, Uncle Mimic’s creation of anti-pirate defenses and traveling across Sequin Land by bird, which in this case involves introducing Wrench’s mother Hatchet, as Wrench couldn’t increase his size until Half-Genie Hero. This recycling makes sense from a production standpoint, but it’s nice seeing them all in their original context.

Existing characters felt consistent with their depictions in earlier games, likely due to the development time. As for the newer characters, I found them as interesting as ever thanks to their diverse backgrounds and personalities. The Relic Hunters are an odd mixture of people, but they play off each other pretty well and their relationship with Uncle Mimic feels believable. Even some of the side characters stand out, including the “Hot Bug Moms” from a later chapter. Speaking of the “Hot Bug Moms”, I noticed that the game could be “horny” in places compared to other entries, but I would attribute this to when development originally began.

I’m also happy to say that the gameplay turned out quite fun after all this time. Shantae fans will know what to expect here, but certain differences help give the game a unique identity. The big one is that levels can have a foreground and background, which Shantae can swap between through certain doorways. This mechanic shows up in certain boss fights, showing off more of its potential for level design. Complementing this is the Tremor Switch, which lets you alter the position of foreground and background elements at the press of a button, allowing access to hidden rooms and collectables or help Shantae solve important puzzles. Taking advantage of the Tremor Switch in tandem with Shantae’s transformations also helps with collecting the 50 Secret Squids, which the game tracks in the “Destinations!” screen.

Levels have two layers.

Certain adjustments also make Risky Revolution one of the more enjoyable entries, especially when it comes to the transformations. Just the act of dancing sucks in nearby gems and hearts, removing the need for a special upgrade and increasing the speed of gameplay. While dancing, each of the six transformations are a single button press away, making them far more accessible than in other entries and, subsequently, far more fun, even when redoing certain sections. This made me consider that, despite the original intended release window for the game, the developers had taken feedback over the years into account, as we also got a very efficient and effective tutorial that also gives the feeling of forward momentum.

As much as I enjoy the quality-of-life adjustments, especially compared with the original Shantae, and how the new mechanics open up more design space, I did still run into a couple issues. A minor one is that although there’s a mechanic where Shantae can dive off certain spots and try to swim underneath an obstruction by going underwater at the right angle, obtaining the Crab transformation right after the first instance immediately renders the entire mechanic pointless. Like some “later”/modern games in the series, Risky Revolution has an issue of imbalancing itself in favor of the player thanks to an abundance of Gems and how easily Shantae can attract them, as well as the short length, although it’s not as bad and I still struggled in places.

One issue I can’t ignore, however, is the lack of a map screen. I don’t know if hardware limitations had anything to do with that, but it’s a glaring omission in a metroidvania/search action title, especially when the dungeons can have multiple branching paths. I know the original Shantae didn’t have one, but Risky Revolution doesn’t have the excuse of running natively on the Game Boy Color. Granted, I managed to get through most of the game without a guide, but a map screen would have made the process much easier.

A map would have helped.

New to this game is the Battle Mode, in which up to four players can compete with each other with only one cartridge. The game itself explains the Single-Pak multiplayer and how it functions, though it neglects to mention that even if you only have two people, you still need a four-player link cable (I bought a third-party cable for this purpose). After dealing with a glacial data transfer speed, likely because I used a third-party cable, I managed to start a game and found it pretty basic. Players just jump right in without any additional options, including which character you play as (P1 was Shantae and P2 was Risky). Players jump around a square arena hitting each other with the goal of making them lose one of their three lives by hitting environmental spikes. The arena will occasionally rotate in ever-shrinking intervals, which will stun players unless they hold onto a grabbable wall. You can also charge an attack, which has a chance of dropping a Power-Up from the opponent. The last player standing wins.

This mode is a neat inclusion that really takes advantage of the GBA release, but it feels more like a novelty. There’s only one map and it doesn’t take long to figure out how to cheese a win if you’re playing two-player, which can result in rather short games. Plus, without a way to customize the experience, it can get stale pretty quickly. I wouldn’t say not to try it, but I would recommend playing with more than one other person for some variety. On the upside, it’s at least easy to start another round once you’ve finished one up.

Battle Mode may be more fun with more than two players.

As for the graphics, I can’t really complain. Some sprites are consistent with the original Shantae while others receive great upgrades that take more advantage of the system’s capabilities. Cutscenes also feature a more modern art style that looks impressive for the handheld and doesn’t feel out of place in that library. Risky Revolution also features great performance, with snappy animations, responsive menus and a higher framerate that helps the feeling of speed and power behind Shantae’s moves. The music and voice acting are also pretty good and capture the feeling of the original development window while fitting in with the rest of the series (Meagan Glaser even reprises her role as the original Shantae).

Although Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution didn’t release without issues, I enjoyed it enough that I would recommend it as one of the better games in the series. I’m also more curious now what would happen if other unfinished games finally saw the light of day with the aid of modern technology.