Shantae: Half-Genie Hero - Ultimate Edition

It's time to broaden the horizons, but in the meantime, Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition is as good as platformers get on the Nintendo Switch.

This game is fun for all ages and provides you with the opportunity to play as a female heroine for once in a while. She uses her hair as a weapon and transforms by belly dancing to save the world. Yes this is awesome.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition offers an extensive menu of DLC. In some cases, these new contents change the plot. Other contents are focused on the gameplay. However, the player will find the same worlds that the original story offers, but all of them are free in this Ultimate version. It is a version that will not disappoint anyone.

It is not that this game has undergone a new change to its visuals or gameplay, but that it has become a complete adventure containing all of its expansion in a unique physical edition. Besides, this represents its arrival on Nintendo Switch, which means that it is in a position that allows for it to get new players.

​Shantae: Half- Genie Hero Ultimate Edition includes the basic version and all the numerous additional contents of the last few months.​

A treasure trove of tantalizing trials for players of every possible persuasion. [Issue #34 – July/August 2018, p.72]

As a whole, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition is literally the complete package for fans of the series and genre enthusiasts. It's not the best platformer around, but it is a fun journey, especially with the additional DLC characters. I wish the developer would've embraced the Metroidvania aspects more, gotten more creative with some platforming segments, and included a few more environments for the DLC, but there is not much else I can hold against this truly fun platformer.

There’s definitely a Frankenstein’s Half-Genie of ideas at play here though; as much as the game does right none of it is original or groundbreaking. Still, I did enjoy playing through it a whole lot, its light and fanciful approach offering a nice break than some of the heavier games of late. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is more than the sum of its parts, but I just wish a few of those parts were original concepts.

While the bonus modes didn’t hold my attention for long, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition still comes highly recommended based on the strength of the two primary campaigns alone.