Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is a platform adventure game, finally made after a troubled past of getting published for release. After several decades and several generations of gaming later, players may now finally experience the missing adventure of our delightful and most titular half-genie Heroine.
Exploring many regions discovered through the use of maps and a large flying beast, the world is Shantae’s oyster. However, like all great adventures, a worthy adversary is needed to complete this tale, and the dreadful pirate Risky Boots once again makes her appearance known to Shantae and her ragtag group of friends, including the cute zombie girl Rottytops!
Join us in Niche Gamer as we explore the treasures within the many colorful lands in this latest, or rather, belated installment of the Shantae series.
This is a review coupled with a supplemental video review. You can watch the video review or read the full review of the game below:
Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution
Developer: Wayforward, Limited Run Games
Publisher: Wayforward, Limited Run Games
Platforms: Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
Release Date: August 19, 2025
Price: $24.99
Risky Boots immediately bombards Shantae and her close friends. She plans to use a machine that will essentially terraform the coastal regions of Sequin Land. Soon after, you immediately take control of Shantae. Her primary attack involves using her long purple hair to dispose of all threats, including wild monsters and Risky Boots’ crew.
With the use of grinding jewels, more abilities will become available when you speak to Rottytops, who takes the role of a shopkeeper. One ability I find myself enjoying quite a bit is the quintessential fireball spell found in most of her games. It’s Ranged and does more than usual damage, which can also be further upgraded with sequential purchases.
Offensive spells aren’t the only upgrade available to our cute half-genie, but exploration requires something a bit more than just destroying everything in sight! Finding special coins hidden in dungeons will allow Shantae to throw them in wishing wells, granting her the most important abilities of all: Dance magic.
With the use of this indispensable feature, Shantae can transform into different creatures, allowing the traversal of unreachable rooms and regions. One particular transformation, the Monkey, will enable her to climb walls, jump higher, and jump horizontally further between walls.
Dungeon exploration truly feels like Wayforward did their homework, using things like the Zelda series when designing each area. In some cases, due to its side-scroll-like nature, it emulates more of a 2D Metroid game, having you hug hidden walls for secret items, such as the elusive Secret Squids scattered in each world.
While exploring is quite vast in this entry, a map of some kind would have been appreciated, as rooms tend to repeat their design frequently, and it’s very easy to forget where critical rooms are after passing them several rooms back. In one instance, I found a wish coin but could not for the life of me remember where the well was, taking me some time backtracking to find it.
A simple map feature, found in most open-ended side-scroller adventures, would have certainly made that situation far less tenuous. However, this issue can also be seen as a boon to the game’s design, as repeating through areas gives Shantae an ample chance to build up more jewels from foes, allowing her to restock on potions for further use and upgrades to her kit.
Boss fights feel like health sponges, but this feels intentional, as every boss is designed with a move pattern where memorization and repetition will put your gamer skill to the ultimate test. While nowhere near as difficult as something like Cuphead, it often feels very similar to what the boss fights feel like in practice.
Shantae and even her many hottie female friends all come packed with their cleavage showing as well as their midriff completely exposed! A staple and alluring design that surprisingly has yet to be cancelled. The game allows even more pleasure for girl players by allowing the player to choose between four different outfits, selectable from the start of a new game, all equally revealing.
Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is a game that needed to come out during the time it was meant to; however, that does not detract from how refreshing it is to once again play a game from a long-gone era. Hearing and looking at that Game Boy Advance engine made me feel warm, thinking back to when I was in middle school playing on my Gameboy Advance SP during the bus ride home and to school.
While the game could benefit from a map to view where you have been for the constant need to backtrack, there’s not too much to detract from this well-polished and delightful adventure platformer game. I question the decision to clash pixel with HD art. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is a game I would recommend to not only fans of the series, but to people interested in having their wish granted for a good adventure game.
Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by Limited Run Games. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is now available for Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Gameboy Advance (via LRG), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
