Year 2002: WayForward takes a chance with a new video game for Game Boy Color with no explicit intention of creating a new series. ‘Shantae’ becomes a critical success but remains in obscurity: the Game Boy Advance was already on the market, and no one was going to buy something new for the Color, which was part of the past. It sold barely 25,000 copies. Seven years later, it would receive its first sequel, but… What happened in between? Now we know… And in a big way.
The sequel sneaks in
At WayForward, they were convinced they had an incredibly fun platform game on their hands that could offer a lot, so they immediately began work on its sequel, ‘Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution’. Development for Game Boy Advance lasted two years before it was canceled for an indisputable reason: in 2004, no one was going to spend money to publish something like that. But time has allowed them to finally finish the game two decades later.
Now, ‘Shantae’ is a series with four sequels on the market and performing exceptionally well. With the help of Limited Run Games (the company that releases new games for retro consoles), WayForward has completed the creation of ‘Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution’, which will be released not only for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and Windows with higher quality but also for the console it was always meant for: Game Boy Advance.
The date will be 2024, and if you’re wondering who buys Game Boy Advance games nowadays, the answer is “a lot more people than you’d think.” What’s interesting is that to complete the game, they used a demo that was originally used to sell the game during their last crowdfunding campaign for ‘Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.’
WayForward’s heroine’s life hasn’t been easy, but in the end, just for giving the industry the finger, it has absolutely been worth it. Additionally, it comes with a uniquely interesting mechanic: being able to change the background and scenery to solve puzzles and find alternative paths. Shantae is back to stay. Long live Shantae!
