What I did in the game: 100% completed.
The One Picture I have taken: Ending Screen Reward.
This is an oddity. This Shantae game is actually some kind of lost media from the GBA era that Wayforward and Limited Run actually completed in 2025. I don't know all the details of the story, but basically after the first GBC game got pretty much ignored on its release thanks to Capcom pushing it back way too late, the planned sequel for the GBA got canned or something I believe. Years later, Risky's Revenge will release instead for the DSiWare service, and will weirdly enough put Shantae back on the map. But it seems the source-code for the original GBA sequel was not lost and this is what we're getting now. I don't know how much of it is brand new, but the end result is really a great experience.
The gimmick in this one is the "revolution" system, where at the press of a button, you can rotate the world 2 planes (the front and the background), giving you access to new places in the process. I admit, it confused me more than anything, and I was more stumbling upon new zones than anything else by trial and error. I don't feel the overworld was as well structured as in the others games, but that may be just me. The dungeons though were quite good in their design. Other than that, the game was truly somewhere in between the first game and Risky's Revenge in term of scope. It may be because it has been years since I've completed the original, but I feel like it was shorter than the GBC game, but still bigger than the small DSiWare game. But still, a perfect experience that you can complete in one long sitting.
As for the sound and graphics, both were amazing for the GBA. The story was also pretty silly, just the way I like it, with some laugh out loud moments. Really a great game with an even more amazing story behind its release. I would give it an easy 8/10. Really fun, with a few points lost because as I said, the world just feel incomplete and/or not well structured enough. But since it was an unreleased game, that may be why there is a little lack of polish there, so I totally forgive it. If you like Shantae, this is a must. There's enough replay value there to play it again and get more ending pictures while speed-running. But since don't like rushing my games, a standard 100% is good enough for me.
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