Wow! Amazing write up thank you…
I’ve been following Shantae since the gameboy color released but never have played any of them. Are they all good, or if not, which ones are the best?
Shantae is, well, a Game Boy game. Impressive for its time, and it actually introduces practically every major element and gameplay quirk of the series, including many of the puzzles. But its short, clunky, doesn't control great, and is missing a lot of the humor and charm of later games.
Risky's Revenge was a downloadable DS game, and thus is also impressive for its time yet somewhat dated. It fares better than the first game though, and is perfectly serviceable. The map is small, but still a traditional Metroidvania style. If you care about plot it's a decent place to start, but is still a step below the other games.
Pirate's Curse is the first modern Shantae, albeit with pixellated graphics rather than the HD sprites of the next two games. This one eliminates the dancing/animal mechanic (Shantae does a dance and transforms into an animal which provides extra movement or abilities) in favor of more traditional MV powerups. However, that results in a much smoother experience overall, as you no longer are stopping every time you need one of your transformations. The game is also less Metroidvania-ish, being broken up into distinct islands that have an "overworld" and "dungeon" section. It's not a challenging experience, but it controls perfectly, has good puzzles, lots of humor, great setpieces, and thus ends up being my personal favorite.
Half Genie Hero is... small. It's a more linear game, albeit requiring you to return to previous levels multiple times to find new powerups and progression items. The moment to moment gameplay is fun enough, but this lack of space can make the game feel tedious at times.
Seven Sirens is basically the most traditionally Metroidvania-ish of the franchise. It controls well, mostly killing the dance animations while still keeping animal transformations, allowing for a smoother experience (and still having some dancing present for tradition that isn't quite as momentum-crushing). My biggest gripe at the time was that it was way too easy, with the game drowning you in restorative items. I hear they rebalanced it, so I may have to go back and try again.
Also, FYI, plotwise the first three games do work as direct sequels, while the next two are essentially standalone stories. It really doesn't matter. Plot isn't the driver here, the humor is better. I played them all completely out of order and it didn't bother me in the slightest.
So basically, Pirate's Curse is great, Seven Sirens is solid but easy (or at least was), Risky's Revenge and Half-Genie Hero are decent enough, and the only reason to play the original is for completionist or historical preference.
