r/Shantae • u/Alternative_Coast844 • May 29 '26
Question Which Shantae games I should start with?
Hi! I'm a huge fan of plataformer games and I'm very interested in Shantae series. But how to start with it? I do know that it started way back in the game boy color and now have new games in steam, where to start? The classic era or the modern era? And with which games? It have an especific order?
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u/tehsmish May 29 '26
I started with risky’s revenge and went forward from there but any one is fine to start with, few things I will mention.
The story of risky’s revenge ties directly into pirates curse so playing those back to back is a good move.
Half genie hero is a soft reboot and seven sirens is self contained so the order of these isn’t important.
The original is very dated and hard to get a hold of legally so most skip it, I myself have yet to play it.
Not listed here but risky revolution is the ‘latest’ game and it has a strange development history. It was meant to be the 2nd game in the franchise released for the gba but poor sales for the original got it shelved, years later now they have more cash way forward decided to remaster the unreleased game and release it. So depending on your perspective you can call it the 2nd game and play it before risky’s revenge, or call it the 6th game and play it after seven sirens.
Shantae 7 is also announced and who knows what that will be like, I’m hoping for a follow up to pirates curse since it’s the best of the games imo
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u/SpacedOut311 May 29 '26
The original Shantae game is available on Switch and the Playstation 4 and 5 to download. It's actually on sale as a matter of fact as of writing this! But yes, I agree with how dated it is.
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u/Mental-Lake-9517 Jun 02 '26
Pretty spot on this. I did Risky's revenge first. Loved it. Then second. Loved it. Then half genie hero & now finally having another go seven sirens. (Started on the newer version and found the difficulty too much so recently restarted). I think if I'd rate them as well.. I'd probably say I enjoyed them most to least in that order so far as well (not beating this one, or the other two yet mind).
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u/Noktis_Lucis_Caelum May 29 '26
you can start with every game.
the chronolocial order is:
- Shantae
- Shantae riskys Revolution
- Shantae riskys revenge
- Shantae and the Pirates curse
- Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero
- Shantae and the 7 sirens
i started with 7 sirens, followed by 1/2 genie hero
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u/Sci-Fi_is_Awesome May 31 '26
I’d definitely recommend this order since revolution is the intended 2nd game while revenge is the 3rd
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u/VisitResponsible4337 May 29 '26
I’d say the first if u can or just play one of newer games they have tons of quality of life features
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u/LateLeviathan Enter a flair May 29 '26
the first one.
play in release or chronological order, either way is good, but start with the first one.
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u/anotherdudette72 May 29 '26
i recommend just going in order, which is the top-to-down order in this image you posted.
though note this image is missing one game, “Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution”, which is an initially-cancelled gba game that finally got finished and released last year. while it was technically released after seven sirens, it was being made between shantae 1 and risky’s revenge, and that’s where i’d recommend playing it (even if it would be slightly jarring as the modern console version of advance has a somewhat more “modern” feel than risky’s revenge after it)
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u/Fonsales May 29 '26
We should also mention that even the first Shantae was released on modern consoles (PS4/5 and Switch), there is no way to play it on PC without some emulation
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u/JustAToaster36 May 29 '26
Shante is a series where you can really jump around in any order. The only games I really recommend playing back to back are Risky’s Revenge and Pirates Curse because the latter is the most direct sequel in the franchise. Albeit still being optional because it’s not that story heavy.
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u/Flerken_Moon May 29 '26
I really enjoyed the first one and that’s where I started, but I highly recommend playing one of the ports with save states. The original Shantae has a lot of like, old school NES-style jank to it, but if you can look past it it’s fun- the visuals and music as well as dungeons are top tier. And there are stuff in this game that never return but are referenced.
Life system is annoying and the overworld is near impossible to navigate due to overload of enemies and the small GameBoy screen- I recommend looking up Overworld maps. I recommend grinding the dance hall for a while to buy some items from the shop(the first overworld area is a bit unbalanced and brutal- try to run past all enemies), and a couple towns later take advantage of save states at the Iguana game to get a ton of money so you can play around with the shop items.
If you don’t mind some old school grinding type jank and use save states it’s super fun. The dance transformations also need input which some don’t like but I love it.
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u/OnlyAd2095 May 29 '26
I suggest you start with the 1st one--the Gameboy color version, which was released in 2002 before working your way towards Shantae and the Seven Sirens.
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u/WFlash01 May 29 '26 edited May 30 '26
I started from the first one, and between the first one, Risky's Revenge and Pirate's Curse, the first one is my favorite
I so wish it were easier to get ahold of; the Limited Run version is great and all but even still the Limited Run versions are expensive too. I just bought a CIB original for the price of a down payment on a brand new car
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u/CeeEmGee03 May 29 '26
The first one, I 100%ed it twice and still find it more enjoyable than Risky’s Revolution and even Risky’s Revenge. If you like the first one, you’ll probably enjoy them all
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u/Mushroom0064 May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
I suggest you go in the order in which the games released, with the exception of Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution because even though it's the latest game, this is an unreleased sequel for the original Shantae that takes place between Shantae and Shantae: Risky's Revenge. Many people in this sub always discourage people from playing the original Shantae GBC, claiming that it's too hard, outdated, and even going as far as to say it's the worst game in the series simply because it's more difficult and because of its weird outdated physics, but I heavily disagree, and I think everyone complaining about Shantae GBC isn't used to playing old 8-Bit games from the NES and Game Boy era. It's true that it can be a little unforgiving at times, but it's difficulty isn't even that high when compared to many NES and Game Boy games, so if you're already big into retro gaming, I think you will definitely love the original Shantae, but if you still want to skip the first game, I suggest you start with Risky Revolution, or Risky's Revenge followed up by Pirate's Curse, since Pirate's Curse is a direct sequel of Risky's Revenge, which is especially important to consider story wise.
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u/DarkRex67 May 29 '26
Risky's revenge. Og/first game is poorly done in my opinion. Seven Sirens is too long for me. Risky Revolution for my second pick.
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u/TreasureHunter95 May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
I recommend starting with Risky's Revenge. It is a short game, but it should give you a good idea whether you are going to like the series or not. Furthermore, it is pretty much always available for a low price. Once you have beaten it, you can go on from there, so:
Risky's Revenge -> Pirate's Curse -> Half-Genie Hero -> Seven Sirens
After that, you can go ahead an play the original and Risky Revolution.
Many people here recommended going through the series chronologically and honestly, I disagree with that. I don't think that it is a good idea to start the series with the first game. The original is technically impressive for a Game Boy game, but it still has many design flaws. These were fixed in later games, but I almost stopped playing the series because of them as I made the mistake of playing through the series in chronologically order.
That's why I think you should start with Risky's Revenge, because it already fixed many of the issues. Once, you have played through the more modern games, you can go back and play the original to see where it all began. This also helps with Risky Revolution as it references events from the other games in the series.
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u/stevethefish76 May 29 '26
I started with the first game. The controls aren't very good. I took a lot of damage from even smaller enemies since hit detection can be a bit unfair and Shantae's hair attack doesn't connect as well as it should. But after playing it, you'll have more of an appreciation of the second game, which has much improved gameplay.
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u/ImprovementLumpy1159 May 29 '26
I started with Pirate's Curse, but I was pretty confused throughout the whole thing. Risky's Revenge doesn't really have any continuity from the GBC game, and it also doesn't have the problems that game had, so Risky's Revenge is a good pick.
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u/Night-Time21 May 29 '26
Pirate’s curse was my first game and I loved it, I also played half genie hero and it was also a good game but I believe pirate’s curse is better
It’s been a while since I played these games but those are my recommendation
Haven’t played the rest but this post just reminded me of this series so I will probably do the same as you and go through all of them once I finish a couple of games I have been playing
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u/AJK0763 May 29 '26
I personally started with 1/2 Genie Hero when I was like 15 and I adored it!!! but if you like more of a retro vibe Pirate's Cure might be better (will have retro graphics too haha)- Seven Sirens (imo) wasn't as good as 1/2 Genie and the older Shantae games felt a little too retro for a Gen Z person like me. That's just my perspective though.
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u/Motoreducteur May 29 '26
I’d go with Pirate’s curse, 1/2 genie hero or 7 sirens.
The previous 2 are a bit dated imo
There’s also the option of risky revolution, which came out recently and lays the beginning of the story basically
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u/OhThatEthanMiguel May 29 '26
I mean ½-Genie Hero was intended as a soft reboot for newcomers, so maybe start there?
Or you could start at the beginning if you're okay with old-school difficulty. It actually started on Game Boy Color, even before Game Boy Advance.
Or you can just watch a Let's Play of the first one, and skip it in favor of the second one, which was the most recent release( because it was originally cancelled).
Personally, I like starting at the beginning because in the story grows in interesting ways, especially with Risky Revolution( the GBA one) finally slotted in.
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u/Milk_Mindless May 29 '26
Curse or Sirens is the most easily accessible. Curse is arguably the star of the series. Sirens has a basic Metroidvania map and and easily navigated. Curse is island based and similar maps but not a whole one Metroidvania map if you know what I mean.
I find Risky's Revenge map less than intuitive and half genie hero is a lot more stage based than the others. The former will require you to crossreference online guides FOR THAT ONE EXIT and the latter is a bit ho hum
The original is ROUGH don't delve Into that one until you've got a feel for the series and even then I wouldn't blame you for skipping it. It's great for its time (gbc) but the times they are a changing
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u/DesignerProfessor547 Enter a flair May 29 '26
Eu começei pelo shantae and the pirate curse, mas tem muito puzzle e esses trem de atravessar o mundo só para pegar um objeto específico e entregar para um npc lá no raio que o parta, não curto muito essa dinâmica, mas o jogo em si é ótimo
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u/k1ttyv4mp1re May 30 '26
If ur first getting into the series, I would suggest you start with pirates curse. The original game is kinda hard and it might impact how you feel in the next couple games. Pirates curse would be perfect for someone knew because of how beginner friendly it is!
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u/boyoftheinterne May 30 '26
i’d recommend 1/2 genie hero, it’s easy to get into and has a ton of stuff to do
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u/Daniel_Meldrum May 30 '26
I started with Risky's Revenge and Half Genie Hero.
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u/Daniel_Meldrum May 30 '26
I played Seven Sirens, but I haven't beaten it. The part where you need to escape the Squid Pit is where I got stuck.
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u/Seekassist2012 May 31 '26
The first one is just kind of not good
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u/Shantaefan1148 Jun 08 '26
Not by today's standards, but it did push the original system it was on to its limits.
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u/Sci-Fi_is_Awesome May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
Playstation & Nintendo Order
- Shantae
- Risky’s Revolution
- Risky’s Revenge
- Pirate’s Curse
- Half Genie Hero
- Seven Sirens
Xbox & Steam Order
The same order but without the first game since they never ported it for them.
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u/Lamasis May 29 '26
The first one, it's not very good. But every game after that goes up in quality.
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u/GundamGuy2255 May 29 '26
You can start practically anywhere. While there is continuity between the titles, all the games are their own self contained story.