I played Shantae: Half Genie Hero

Let me start with one of my favorite things about this game: The sound track. I'm actually listening to Dance Through The Danger as I write this. I really wish this song came up in more than just the first run through the first part of the first level. In particular I would have loved it to return at some point in the last level.

Okay, so Half-Genie Hero is the fourth game in the series, where you play as the titular, belly dancing heroin Shantae.

She wakes up in the middle of the night in her pajamas and goes to investigate a mysterious voice. In her Uncle's workshop she finds a path down and continues on until she finds the source of the voice. After a brief message Shantae is standing in the middle of Scuttle town where she determines that everything that just happened was a dream resulting from a late-night comic and ice cream binge.

You can look around the town a bit, but you eventually find your way to Uncle Mimic's workshop, he asks you to find your friend, Bolo, who was supposed to get an item from the shop.

Messing up isn't uncommon for the poor oaf.

You find Bolo in the bath house, ogling the proprietor. He doesn't help you much, but talking to the woman running the bathhouse gets you the receipt for the item your uncle wanted so you can collect it in Bolo's place.

The item is a large magnet, attached to the side of a box of hard drives.

Mimic is a tinkerer and loves to create devices and this time has plans to create one that should help lessen Shantae's work. The Dynamo. It will produce enough power to light up Scuttle Town and reduce monster and pirate attacks.

Cue the Pirate attack.

Now you get to go to the first level and kick butt to the awesome music. After you get through the second area you find the Pirate Queen herself: Risky Boots. She is somehow simultaneously better and worse at naming things than I am, and you fight the first boss: The P.O.O.P.T.O.O.T.

Okay, so about the controls. This one get's tough because I got the Ultimate edition and there are several games with different controls and mechanics.

Even just the main game, it gets tricky to explain as Shantae has multiple forms, each capable of different things and control different.

Her Elephant form is slow, has low jumps, and is unaffected by wind, but has a short range dash that works as an attack and destroys some blocks and pushes others. You eventually get a special item that gives you an attack that slams you down to the ground.

Her Monkey form moves faster, jumps higher, and has no attack until you get a special item. (Like most of her forms.) And it can fit through small areas.

Her Crab form moves better underwater, though sinks slowly unless you hit down, then she plummets. On the ground if you press down she ducks into a shell that prevents damage. You get an item that gives you a claw attack, and another item that lets you shoot up certain waterfalls.

Her Bat form flies in a straight line and can fit through small areas. That's it. You get an item that's useful on one room in the game, and I got that item AFTER I got through the room it was useful in.

Her Mermaid form moves easily through the water in any direction, and starfish fall in love with her. And you get an item that gives you a ranged attack that destroys certain blocks and is really useful in the auto scrolling shooter near the end of the game.

Her Harpy form flies as you tap the jump button, but she does not stop sliding/drifting. She gets an item that lets her throw feathers for a ranged attack.

Her Spider form has a low jump, but it you hit jump again she shoots web upwards where she might grapple onto the bottom of a platform that she can crawl across, and so doing can fit into small areas. With an item she gets an arking venom attack.

Her Mouse form Jumps really high … for a mouse, but not getting higher than her normal jump. But it can fit through tiny areas. In these tiny areas it's kind of like Pacman, you move in a straight line until you hit something or change direction. You get an item that gives the mouse a bite attack. So a little more like Pacman.

Her Blobfish form bounces happily about. It smiles.

Her Gemjug and Driad forms are both immobile and produce money/oranges in exchange for magic. Use this in the bathhouse for infinite of both, just invest time.

Her Tinkerbat form moves slowly, fights with a sword, and has a decent jump, if you hold jump down/press it again a propeller gives you a smaller boost akin to a double jump.

Her Sohpia III form, She's a car with a gun. She moves quick, jumps well, and has a gun that shoots forward and up. It's fun to play with this one and was quite useful to me for a couple bosses.

And her normal form has a moderate jump, she crouches and crawls, whips her hair to bash enemies (You get shampoos and conditioners to improve damage and speed of attack.) She dances to access the menu of forms.

And this is just the main game. There are 6 other game modes I haven't finished yet. And they all have different mechanics. I've at least tried them all.

These other Games modes include:

Friends to the End, where you play as Shantae's friends (Bolo, the half-wit hero. Sky the Bird Wrangler. And Rottytops the Perky Zombie Girl.)

Pirate Queen's Quest, where you get to play as Risky Boots on the other side of the game.

There's Ninja mode where Shantae got a costume and you play through the game as a ninja.

Beach mode where Shantae wants to get a tan at the perfect beach, and you have to pay attention to how long you've been in the sun, collect sunscreen, jump in the water, and get inside. It's harder than it sounds.

Officer Mode where Shatae is a space police officer and you go through "solving crimes" (IE beating up creatures and going through the game with different mechanics) and collecting escaped convicts.

And Jammies mode, where Shantae wants to have the ultimate sleepover and you go through the game inviting everyone.

There's two variations on the main game mode: Hero Mode, where you start with all the main transformations. (I got through that in three hours.) and Hard Core mode, as described by the game itself “A classic, tough-as-nails difficulty setting for those craving an “old-school” challenge.”

So one thing this series has always excelled in is it's art, and this game is no exception. The animation is nice and fluid, the character portraits are fun and expressive. And there's an entire fan art gallery in the game. Not to mention bonus art for completing the game; 100% completing the game; getting the fastest time; and getting the fastest time 100% complete. For every game mode I think, at least the two I got through. Definitely at least completion for every game mode.

They have a lot of fun in the game, it's enjoyable just to read their interactions. And there's plenty of references to boot.

There's even a bit of voice acting, and it matches perfectly with each character. Sometimes they emphasize a line or two, sometimes it's just a snippet. But it's still nice to hear them speak.

This game was a Kickstarter project, and one I was very glad to see make it's goal. They didn't phone anything in and it shows. It's a fun platformer that while difficult in places, and insanely so in other places still brought me back for more. I may have to see if I can beat my best time. If you do get this game, definitely opt for the ultimate edition. It's worth it. It's on Steam, as well as PS4, Xbox, Wii U, and the Switch. As well as GOG through the Humble Bundle.