Line #4 YMMV/Shantae


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3	%% If an example is specific to a single game, please put it on that game's page.
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7
8	!!Individual games
9	[[index]]
10	* ''YMMV/Shantae2002''
11	* ''YMMV/ShantaeRiskysRevenge''
12	* ''YMMV/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse''
13	* ''YMMV/ShantaeHalfGenieHero''
14	* ''YMMV/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens''
15	[[/index]]
16
17	!!Examples
18	* {{Adorkable}}: Shantae is already cute herself, but her occasional dorky quirks that have been with her since ''Pirate's Curse'' take the cuteness up to eleven. Examples include pretending to be a pirate and getting overly excited over staying at an island for a vacation.
19	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: While there's no doubt that Shantae is a good person, one has to wonder if she's just snarky or a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Is she really [[IncorruptiblePurePureness as pure and kind-hearted as she seems]]? Or, considering the way [[LudicrousGibs she kills some enemies]] and how cruel she can be to people like Bolo, is she more of an AntiHero? ''Friends to the End'' offers more fuel to the fire -- some of Shantae's memories aren't particularly flattering in regards to her friends, and it's unclear how much of that can be chalked up to her being twisted by dark magic.
20	* AluminumChristmasTrees: Yes, there is such a thing as egg coffee like what Poe enjoys drinking. However, most recipes don't call for a ''rotten'' egg to be used.
21	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Which you can listen to [[http://www.biglionmusic.com/category/music/game-soundtracks/handheld-soundtracks/shantae here]], [[http://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shantae-riskys-revenge-original-soundtrack here]], [[http://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shantae-and-the-pirates-curse-ost here]] and [[https://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shantae-half-genie-hero-ost here]] ''for free'', courtesy of series composer [[AwesomeMusic/JakeKaufman Jake "virt" Kaufman]].
22	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
23	** Depending on the fan, Squid Baron is either the funniest character in the series or the most annoying.
24	** Either you love Sky for being the group's OnlySaneMan, her gimmick as a [[TheBeastmaster War Bird trainer]] and her sibling like relationship with Shantae, or you utterly hate her for being a {{Jerkass}} to Bolo and Rottytops (who are ''very'' popular with fans, see below), her plots of trying to find a boyfriend being stupid and pointless and her refusal to help out during most of ''Seven Sirens''.
25	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: While the games are certainly fun Metroidvanias, a lot of discussion surrounding the games are less about the games themselves and more about how attractive Shantae and the other female characters are, what with their [[{{Stripperiffic}} incredibly revealing outfits]] and [[MsFanservice gorgeous looks that come with them]].
26	* CommonKnowledge: For a while, lots of fans assumed that Shantae was sixteen years old due to a post on [=WayForward=] Technologies' Website/{{Twitter}} account saying so, which led to some discomfort due to the fact that Shantae was known to have worn revealing outfits and had a story on her CharacterBlog that involved her [[GoneSwimmingClothesStolen losing her clothes while skinny-dipping]]. James Montagna, a level designer for several of the games, was eventually asked about the issue of Shantae's age and clarified that [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/2ce8ae30-d895-427d-af19-cabc25da6f24 Shantae was never intended to be a minor and that the tweet that said she was sixteen was made by an intern who came to that conclusion without the developers' knowledge.]] As such, it's now firmly established that while her exact age is intentionally vague, she's definitely an adult.
27	* CrossoverShip: While Shantae is no stranger to [[LauncherOfAThousandShips being paired with many,]] ''[[LauncherOfAThousandShips many]]'' [[LauncherOfAThousandShips characters]], one especially popular ship for her is with [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Pit]]. Given factors like them being the leads of two [[CultClassic obscure-but-beloved series of games]], their similarly [[EndearinglyDorky dorky, playful]], [[NiceGuy kind-hearted]] and [[MediumAwareness Fourth Wall-conscious]] personalities -- while both [[BadassAdorable still being total badasses regardless]] -- and their mutual love of health-replenishing hot springs and using [[MagicKnight lots of different weapons and magic spells]][[note]]Shantae being half-genie, and Pit an angel[[/note]] on their adventures, it makes a lot of sense.
28	* CultClassic: The first game bombed on release, and the sequel spent years in DevelopmentHell because publishers didn't want anything from [=WayForward=] that wasn't a licensed game or a casual downloadable title. Even so, the ''Shantae'' series still manages to have a sizable fanbase most other smaller games could only dream of, to the point that it was successfully crowd-funded to become one of the sleeper hits of 2016.
29	* DemonicSpiders: The Wetmen present in every game except for ''Risky's Revenge'' are amongst the toughest enemies in the series because of one ability, their blocking. Simply attacking them by button-mashing has no effect as they can efficiently block Shantae's hair, and their dash attack while predictable can be hard to avoid depending on the room they're fought in. Even worse, a [[EliteMook red variant]] with even more health and aggression appears in ''Seven Sirens''.
30	* DracoInLeatherPants: Risky Boots gets this a lot, especially in fics that ship her with Shantae. While ''Pirate's Curse'' does reveal a softer side to her, she also makes it clear that she is not going to reform. Most fans, however, will have her make a HeelFaceTurn from Shantae's influence.
31	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
32	** Everyone seems to love Rottytops, to the point that, for ''Half-Genie Hero'', the additional backers managed to push the final total ''just'' over the stretch goal to add her to the game.
33	** [[CuteMonsterGirl Tuki]], a lamia shopkeeper that you run into occasionally in levels, has a decent amount of fanart dedicated to her.
34	* FanNickname: One of the planned enemies for ''Shantae Advanced'' was an undead EliteMook who attacks Shantae by spanking her repeatedly whenever he catches her. When the demo of the game was shown to the public for the first time, fans were quick to dub him as Spanky Joe.
35	* FanworkOnlyFans: One of the main appeals of the series, as told by the fans, are how charming and diverse the cast of characters is, all with standout designs, memorable personalities, and fantastic humor. Those who aren't frequenters of the indie scene or outright don't like the gameplay style of {{Metroidvania}}s often find themselves engaging with fan work as a way to grow attached to the characters, which isn't a hard task, as fanwork for ''Shantae'' is very abundant on the internet, safe for work or... otherwise.
36	* FoeYayShipping:
37	** Invoked between Shantae and Risky. The opening scene of Pirate's Curse alone, with the bathtub, seems to indicate Risky has an interest in Shantae. Shantae, on the other hand, keeps trying to turn Risky to her side. While such personal level interest is part of the genre, Shantae and Risky seem to cross the line. Especially as Risky's very plan in Pirate's Curse seems to hinge on Shantae being Shantae. Indeed, the ending of Risky's Revenge seems to play with the concept. Risky is talking about stripping Shantae of her powers, but with the line break being where it is, it becomes "Strip you(line break)of your powers." That has to be intentional, since there is more than enough room to put the line break anywhere else.
38	** While barely anything of the sort occurs between Shantae and Risky in the story of ''Half-Genie Hero'', the very first two pictures in the first Fan Art room of the art gallery features the two of them and are quite shippy.
39	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
40	** The games have a not-insignificant Japanese fanbase despite the fact that it took them a long time to come out in Japan. The combination of {{Animesque}}-[[{{UsefulNotes/Kawaisa}} Kawaii]]-{{Fanservice}}-{{Metroidvania}} likely has something to do with it. There's even an official [[http://www.volks.co.jp/en/charagumin/chara139.html/ Shantae Chargumin]] figure that specifically mentions how she has "passionate fans in Japan also."
41	** And then there's [[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=166997203328510&set=a.157273437634220.37060.149435571751340 this piece of fanart]], released in hopes of encouraging [=WayForward=] to get hopping on the worldwide release of ''Risky's Revenge''.
42	** Ken Sugimori -- character designer of '''[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]''' -- is a fan of the series.
43	** Taken to its logical conclusion with [[Creator/StudioTrigger Studio Trigger's involvement]] [[https://twitter.com/WayForward/status/1145769578154405889 in animating the opening for Shantae and the Seven Sirens]]. Some of their works include ''Anime/KillLaKill'' and ''Franchise/LittleWitchAcademia'', among a plethora of other anime including ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' and ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' when they were part of Creator/StudioGainax.
44	* GoddamnedBats: The snakes present throughout the games are a real pain. They die in one hit from either Shantae’s hair or her tools, but almost always come in packs or alongside other enemies, taking focus away from more important threats. They also respawn frequently and infinitely, so you’re often better off ignoring them unless you need a few extra gems to buy an upgrade or potion.
45	* HarsherInHindsight: Back when the [[Website/{{Kickstarter}} Kickstarters]] for both games were first up, [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/0ab008eba03eba0c00b72820506c537e/tumblr_mtajazO9g41rjv5flo1_500.png two]] [[http://31.media.tumblr.com/8832ef98c53b8312507ab5ff23abb734/tumblr_mtajazO9g41rjv5flo2_1280.png pictures]] of Shantae high-fiving [[VideoGame/MightyNo9 Beck]] were made by both [=WayForward=] and Comcept. This led to backers of both games becoming FriendlyFandoms, and along came a slew of fan-art between the two. Unfortunately, ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'' fell into a bunch of [[OvershadowedByControversy controversies]] (two of the most infamous being the constant delays and the "Masterclass trailer"), and soon both ''Shantae'' fans and ''[=MN9=]'' backers started to grow disgusted towards the game, leading the once-friendly fanart turn to Shantae trying to ignore Beck. With this in mind, this makes the above two pictures extremely awkward.
46	* IKnewIt:
47	** Some fans accurately suspected that the half-genies' kidnapping in ''Seven Sirens'' was done mostly through someone deliberately aiding the Sirens, specifically [[spoiler:the mayor of Arena Town]]. [[spoiler:Played with in that the mayor wasn't actually real in the first place and was an elaborate disguise by Risky Boots, which took everyone by surprise.]]
48	** As soon as she was shown off, nearly every fan called that the zombie half genie, Fillin The Blank, was [[spoiler: Rottytops wearing a costume.]]
49	* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: The series has a fun and colorful cast of both heroes and villains. In fact, the BigBad [[PirateGirl Risky Boots]] is a big fan favorite and several other villains are nearly as popular. However, many fans utterly loathe [[MayorPain Mayor Scuttlebutt]] for firing Shantae for [[InsaneTrollLogic little to no reason]] in almost every game and being completely shameless about it, [[EasilyForgiven yet getting off with almost no problem every single time]].
50	* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Shantae has been shipped with many different people, both from her series and [[CrossoverShipping from others]]. Some popular ones include [[FoeYayShipping Risky]], [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Bolo, Sky]], [[PseudoRomanticFriendship Rottytops]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]], and [[VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising Pit]].
51	* LGBTFanbase: Considering how every main female character is extremely attractive, it was a given. And even for the guys, characters like Bolo and the Ammo Baron aren't exactly hard on the eyes.
52	* MagnificentBastard: Risky Boots is the self-proclaimed Queen of the Seven Seas and Shantae’s ArchEnemy. Seeking power and riches, Risky has made a habit of letting Shantae do the hard work before reaping the rewards. She has managed to disguise herself as a Guardian Genie to trick Shantae into giving her the Elemental Stones and kidnapped her uncle Mimic to force Shantae to give her the Magic Seals she needed to steal Shantae’s power and make an evil copy of her. When the Pirate Master returned, Risky enacted a bold scheme by teaming up with Shantae and manipulating her into regaining her powers without anyone knowing so she could destroy the Pirate Master for good. Returning to her ambitions of conquest, Risky feigns defeat so she could leave Shantae a blueprint she stole but had secretly tampered with which uncle Mimic uses to build a machine that corrupts genies. While suffering occasional bouts of anger, Risky always bounces back as fierce and cunning as ever and is feared for good reason.
53	* MemeticMolester: The Hypno Baron is often depicted as such in fetish works relating to [[{{Brainwashed}} mind control]], despite [[NonIndicativeName having nothing to do with hypnotism]].
54	* MemeticMutation: [[http://twitter.com/Spoopy_Potatoes/status/1173941794276552704 Shantae fucking dies]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]Edited footage from ''Shantae and the Seven Sirens'' of Shantae falling into a hole, followed by the start of the credits from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. People followed this up by making their own videos with different endings after she falls, like [[http://twitter.com/DoctorG_14/status/1174496053674094592 the Game Over screen from]] ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', [[http://twitter.com/Pixelga69018982/status/1174110351492898816 the downed noise from]] ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'', [[http://twitter.com/JLuis_Joni/status/1175509078199742464 the intro screen to]] [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Hidden Palace Zone]], [[http://twitter.com/YungYiff/status/1174780248489189381 GAME OVER YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH from]] ''VideoGame/SegaRally Championship'', [[https://twitter.com/DoctorG_14/status/1174141007803428864 the Game Over screen from]] ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', [[http://twitter.com/TerminalCaesura/status/1174226660511670273 the Too Bad! screen wipe from]] ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', and [[Series/ICarly Gibby]] [[http://twitter.com/Duplighost_/status/1174888384327647234 falling from the ceiling]].[[/labelnote]]
55	%%ZCE; note doesn't do anything to add context ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n52MADpXYT8 The love child between Old Spice and the ''Run Run Rottytops!'' segment]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]]IT'S ME![[/labelnote]]
56	* {{Moe}}: Cited by Destructoid in their review of ''Risky's Revenge'': Your first instinct on seeing the female main cast is probably not so much "Whoa, that's hot" as "Aww, that's cute".
57	* MoralEventHorizon: Risky seems to have crossed it in ''Half-Genie Hero'', [[spoiler:when she tricks the heroes into building a machine that, when activated, corrupts Shantae's magic, allowing her evil-aligned genie-half to take control and putting her friends and everyone in Scuttle Town in grave danger. Risky then makes off with the Dynamo and leaves Mimic, Sky, Bolo, and Rottytops at Nega-Shantae's mercy, while planning to subject the inhabitants of the entire Genie Realm to the same fate. It's only thanks to ThePowerOfFriendship that Shantae returns to normal, and even that was evidently something Risky didn't see coming.]]
58	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The little eight-bit squeaky noises Shantae makes when she's crawling on the ground are surprisingly catchy and pleasant to hear; telling when they've appeared in every game to date, even on stronger hardware! Likewise, the satisfying chime that plays when the game is successfully saved.
59	* TheScrappy: You won't be surprised to find that many fans despise Mayor Scuttlebutt, due to his habit of repeatedly firing Shantae on the stupidest imaginable pretexts. It doesn't help that at one point he sells the entire town to the Ammo Baron, just so he doesn't have to deal with the Baron's forces and Risky at the same time, [[KarmaHoudini and gets away with it]]. It says about how hated he is when one of the most widely agreed upon positives of ''Seven Sirens'' is that he makes no appearances.
60	* SelfImposedChallenge:
61	** Play through the game without any of items/spells you can get at the shop.
62	** Play through the game with no health upgrades.
63	** Play through the game with only your starting set up. This means no upgrades to your hair whip and no buyable spells.
64	* ShipMates: Shippers of Shantae/Risky tend to get along with shippers of Rottytops/Sky.
65	* {{Squick}}:
66	** Rottytops, a zombie, manages to break into a ruin by ''tearing her leg off at the knee and picking the lock with her exposed shin bone.'' Still cute, but rather disturbing.
67	** How Uncle Mimic explains how he prevented triggering a pressure trap: by switching the treasure with the contents of his bowels.
68	** One of the fishermen:
69	--->"When I was a little boy with a full beard..."
70	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: One of the things that was praised about ''Pirate's Curse'' was how it managed to take the {{Cliffhanger}} from ''Risky's Revenge'' and weave it into an overarching narrative. However, ''Half-Genie Hero'' ended up going back to the episodic story approach that the first game took, which carried over into ''Seven Sirens'', thus leaving the connections between games as very thin.
71	* ToughActToFollow: Kaufman's soundtracks for the first four games is consistently praised as one of the series' strongest points, so when it was revealed that he wouldn't return to work on ''[[https://twitter.com/WayForward/status/1206821094239305728?s=20 Seven Sirens]]'', people naturally became worried that the composers hired wouldn't live up to his work. After release, the soundtrack while considered decent to good by most players with a few standout tracks, has also been criticized for being more "generic" and relying too much on chiptune notes in comparison to what the previous games had.
72	* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Bolo is often treated with disdain from nearly everyone in-universe, and generally written off as nothing but an idiotic screw-up and pervert. [[EnsembleDarkhorse The fans tend to view him in a much better light]], to the point where [[FanPreferredCouple he's actually one of the most popular characters to ship with Shantae]].
73	* UncertainAudience: The series is missing a clear target demographic and embodies WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids and WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids at the same time, with creator Matt Bozon stating in regards to the first game that it's "[[AudienceAlienatingPremise too sexy to be a kid's brand, and too girly for a male gamer brand]]". As a whole, the franchise mixes a cute art style and simple, lighthearted stories with generous doses of [[BlackComedyBurst dark and sardonic humor]], [[ParentalBonus jokes that would go over a child's head]], and a bevy of sexy character designs. The best comparison for the game's tone might be ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'': broadly speaking, it's all-ages friendly, but there's enough present aimed at older audiences that would make you pause at giving the games to a child. Later games would avert this by going from E10+ to a Teen rating.
74	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Some attribute the commercial failure of the first ''Shantae'' game to this, among other factors. Shantae's cutesy, colorful graphics, goofy humor, E rating, and being on the kid-friendly Platform/GameBoyColor lead to the assumption that it's a kid's game. The problem is, it's also strangely...sexy for something aimed at kids, and also more difficult than your average kid's game. Later games avert this more and more by adding some darker humor, among other content, to the point that ''Half-Genie Hero'' (and later ''Shantae and the Seven Sirens'' as well) is given the ESRB of T for Teen in North America.
75	* TheWoobie:
76	** Shantae. Despite coming off as super cute and cheerful, it won't be long before her shell cracks. Shantae has a bunch of insecurities about herself and beats herself up whenever something doesn't go as planned, even when there was nothing she could have done to stop it. Building on this is that she is often fired from her job as guardian, even when she does her best when dealing with the attacks. It's at its worst in ''Half-Genie Hero'' when she is fired for not being able to prevent the attack in the first place and in ''Risky's Revenge'' when the mayor launches a smear campaign against her. In the former game, Mimic even tries to help her by building a machine to keep evildoers away. The end result is [[spoiler: her being turned evil due to Risky's sabotage, nearly being erased, and having to watch her body try to kill her friends]]. It's pretty telling when the worst that she ever gets in ''Seven Sirens'' is some stage fright when her new half-genie friends suddenly get taken away during a performance, and it's still not nearly as bad as what she goes through on her other adventures.
77	** To an extent, Shantae's friends are also woobies; the most prominent being [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Bolo.]] Despite not being that bright, his heart is clearly in the right place. However, nearly everyone talks down to him and treat him like he's nothing, and solely refer to him as an idiotic pervert who can't do anything useful; including [[ChildhoodFriends Shantae.]] Even when he '''does''' prove himself (like in ''Friends To The End''), people still make snide remarks at, hurl insults at and have even physically attacked him for extremely minor things. It almost makes you wonder ''why'' Bolo still [[WithFriendsLikeThese sticks around his so-called "friends"]] -- and by extension, the rest of Scuttle Town -- if they keep perpetually proving time and time again that they actually hate him.
78	** In the first game alone, you learn that none of the other zombies even so much as ''like'' [[CuteMonsterGirl Rottytops]] and her brothers. Things get worse for her in ''Risky's Revenge'' when she [[spoiler:sells out Shantae to Risky]] but gets nothing out of it, causing the poor girl to run off in tears. Her [[spoiler:human soul in ''Pirate's Curse'']] even tells Shantae that she really wants to be friends with her, but feels like she keeps screwing things up. ''Seven Sirens'' even made it clear that she was so insecure in her friendship with Shantae that she was convinced Shantae wasn't going to invite her on the trip so she stowed away in her luggage, making it all the more painful to learn that [[spoiler:Shantae ''was'' going to invite her, but couldn't find her because she was hidden in the luggage]].

Context YMMV / Shantae