Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, stylized as Shantae: ½ Genie Hero, is a platform video game developed by WayForward Technologies, is the fourth game in the Shantae series (following Shantae and the Pirate's Curse), and is the first in the series to be specifically developed for high definition game platforms. The game was funded via Kickstarter, and although the campaign ended in October 2013, donations were still accepted via PayPal up to December 2014, bringing the total raised to over US$900,000. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Windows, and Xbox One in December 2016, for Nintendo Switch the following June, for Amazon Luna in October 2020, and Stadia in February 2021. Ports for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version were initially announced, but cancelled during development.
Like the previous installments of the series, the player takes control of Shantae, a half-genie who can use her hair as a whip to attack enemies. Throughout the game, she can obtain dances that allow her to transform into various forms, each with their own abilities that can access otherwise inaccessible areas. Along with returning transformations, such as the monkey and elephant, new forms include a bat that can cross long gaps, a crab that can maneuver underwater, and a mouse that can crawl into small mazes. Unlike past titles, which featured connected world maps that could be freely explored, this entry is divided up into several action stages, which can be replayed to obtain new items that become accessible with the use of certain powers, some of which are required to progress through the story.
Completing the game unlocks "Hero Mode", which gives Shantae access to several of her transformations from the beginning of the game in order to facilitate speedruns. An additional "Hard Core Mode", featuring more difficult enemies, was later added via a free update. Upon finishing any of the game's campaigns, the player is rewarded with bonus artwork based on their final time and completion percentage. This artwork can be viewed via an in-game gallery, which also features several pieces of fan art by higher-tier Kickstarter backers.
As part of additional stretch goals fulfilled during the game's Kickstarter campaign, additional story campaigns featuring alternate playable characters and gameplay styles have been added to the game as downloadable content (DLC). Players who supported the game's Kickstarter received all DLC for free, along with additional in-game rewards for higher-tier backers. The game's "Ultimate Edition" release includes all DLC expansions, including the content previously exclusive to Kickstarter backers.
Source: Wikipedia, "Shantae: Half-Genie Hero", available under the CC-BY-SA License.