Shantae: Risky's Revenge

If you're a fan, as I am, of open-world side scrolling platformers like many of those in the Castlevania and Metroid series', you might want to take a look at Shantae: Risky's Revenge. Since I don't own a DS, its released slipped by me in October of last year, but I recently discovered the iOS port while poking around the app store and have been having a blast.

Shantae is an adventurous half genie with a distinctly nineties attitude and a tendency to solve her problems by embarking on epic journeys. Her friends include a sexy falconer, a stern-faced sparring partner, an eccentric treasure-hunting uncle, and a zombie girlfriend who keeps trying to convince her that puppies are delicious.

Risky Boots is a pirate in the fine tradition of Saturday morning cartoon villains whose list of misdeeds includes stealing stuff in big, conspicuous heists in front of lots of people, saying mean things, and employing a gang of faceless, bumbling minions whose primary function seems to be serving as targets for her insults.

These two conduct their capers in a colorful cartoon world full of floating platforms, quirky bad guys, helpful townies and ancient temples that, for all that they're ostensibly forbidden, seem to have been built for the sole purpose of being a blast to explore. Shantae is as agile and fun to control as any of the best platform mascots from the SNES or Genesis. She can run, jump, climb, duck, crawl, swim and even dance backward to avoid sudden attacks. Her primary weapon is her huge ponytail, which she uses as a whip, but she can also learn to fling fireballs, summon storm clouds, wield a morning star, and perform magical dances that will turn her into a monkey, elephant, or mermaid. This all comes spread with a thick layer of 16 bit flavor in everything from the character design to the art style to the sound effects and music. In a fun little twist, it utilizes parallax scrolling in game play. Layers that look like background scenery are actually separate play fields that Shantae can move to at specific points around the map. Can't figure out how to jump over that huge chasm? Maybe you don't have to. Hop into the background layer and see if you can find a way around it.

All of these are familiar elements to any veteran gamer but they're solidly executed with style and charm. The characters and environments have a Sonic-like appeal in their banter and presentation that evokes memories of childhood Saturday mornings spent losing oneself in an upbeat fantasy after a week of homework and teachers. There aren't enough of this kind of game anymore and as an example of the form, Shantae is as classy as they come. It's also inexpensive, at 11.99 for the DSiWare version and 4.99 for iPhone/iPod/iPad. On iOS, you can even go ahead and grab it for free, start a game, then pay to unlock the full version with your save file intact if you like it.