A lost sequel finally playable
Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is a 2D side-scrolling action-adventure that was in the works for around 20 years before being restored and released. You play as Shantae in Sequin Land, where the pirate Risky Boots plans to rotate the continent itself, dragging towns to the coast so she can plunder them easily. Shantae fights back by taking control of the land, shifting and twisting it to reach places that would otherwise be cut off. The game keeps the series' colorful pixel look, with towns, monster-filled crypts, labyrinths, and scrambled stretches of land to cross.
Fighting and transforming
Combat leans on Shantae's hair-whip, backed up by magic items you pick up along the way. Belly-dance transformations are the other half of the toolkit: six creature forms, including monkey, elephant, and crab, each with their own movement style for reaching new areas and getting past obstacles. Boss battles punctuate the exploration, and towns let you buy upgrades and grab collectables. Familiar faces show up too, including Rottytops, Sky, and Bolo.
Playing together
The signature trick is the multilayered playfields. Front Yard and Back Yard layers can be spun and shifted, so you swap between them to open routes and solve puzzles — the same mechanic Risky is abusing, turned to your advantage. On top of the campaign, four players can compete against each other in Battle Mode, which is a first for a Shantae game. Battle Mode needs controllers for everyone taking part. Remote Play Together is available, so someone with the game can host and others can join in over a connection.
Before you start
Expect a Metroidvania-style structure: exploration, backtracking with new transformations, and upgrades that open up earlier areas. The layer-swapping puzzles are the core of progression, so a route that looks like a dead end may just be waiting for you to shift the playfield. If you're gathering a group, the versus mode is the piece that needs planning — get controllers sorted before anyone shows up.