WayForward talks cancelled Shantae prototypes, differences between Pirate’s Curse and Half-Genie Hero
In an interview with Siliconera, Shantae director Matt Bozon touched on the different prototypes that the studio experimented with in the past but never saw the day of light. Among the projects include “a polygonal Shantae that could be run around in three distinct gameplay ‘gyms’”.
Bozon’s full comments:
“We had a polygonal Shantae that could be run around in three distinct gameplay ‘gyms’. One was a spline-scroller (like Namco’s Klonoa), one was a free-range 3D like Mario 64, and the last was an isometric 3D platformer. We’ve done a lot of exploration in this area… Shantae was a sprite/3D hybrid for PlayStation and PC, and was free-roaming on the PlayStation 2. She even rode a river raft on the GameCube. It’s possible that we’ll see a polygonal Shantae down the line, but only if it serves the style of gameplay we want to create at the time.”
Bozon also spoke with Siliconera about WayForward’s upcoming Shantae games. Speaking about the differences between Pirate’s Curse and Half-Genie Hero, he said:
“The games are fairly different. The teams have no real crossover besides me and Jake (Virt) Kaufman. Half-Genie Hero is more about dancing, over-the-top spectacle, arcade action, and some light quest elements to keep it true to the series (and it’s still in development, so anything can happen!). It’s like a Shantae TV show come to life!”
“Pirate’s Curse has a deeper narrative and is more rooted in 16-bit stylings, even though it has higher resolution paintings and occasional voice over. Pirate’s Curse expands the original gameplay and takes into new territory. Half-Genie Hero goes back to belly dancing and magic, but adds a ton of variety with more playable characters and HD visual design.”
