Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution.

"Shantae GBA in development:
Shantae's back in this adventure quest game for the Gameboy Advance, now in development by WayForward Technologies. The nefarious lady-pirate Risky Boots has rigged a subterranean carousel beneath Sequin Land, and is ready screw things up with a worldwide revolution. Shantae must lean more hair-whip attacks, belly dances, creature transformations, and magical moves than ever before if she hopes to defeat Risky and her host of evil minions! It's up to everyone's favorite genie girl to save the day!"
-Excerpt from Updated Wayforward website, Mar. 17th, 2003

www.Shantae.com#

On May 10th 2003, Bozon created the original Shantae website, and eventually came to add 12 "screenshots" of Shantae Advance, early box art, and more.

Most of these are pretty obviously mock-ups, while a few are actual screenshots.

First batch#

Shantae Advance: Are you ready for a Risky revolution?

Shantae makes her way to GBA!  Check out these first screen shots of Shantae's second handheld adventure! 

Shantae embarks on another grand adventure to foil the nefarious lady-pirate Risky Boots!
More magical transformations, labyrinths, monsters, and battles than ever before!
Play shifts between the front and back of each level, creating brain-teasing puzzles you have to see to believe!
Shantae must mix and match fronts and backs of each land to create new routes and discover the secret entrance Risky's lairs!
Up to four friends can get into the action with this Single-Pak battle mode!  Stun your foe and go for a spin!

The first 6 images in the set are the oldest, being .jpeg instead of .gif. At this point, only the battle mode seems to be working as an actual game, and anything resembling the main game is just a mock-up.

Image 1

• Shantae is seen using flash bolts, an item from the first Shantae. These don't end up making a reappearance in the final game.
• Scarecrows are shown, an enemy that was never implemented into any version of the game.

Image 2

• The Naga should be trapped on the other side of the hole.
• The screen ratio is 241x160, one pixel wider on the right than the actual GBA resolution.

Image 3

• This shot seems to have too many colors for GBA.
• The flame sprites aren't synchronized, and the glow effect is a transparent sprite rendered on top of them.
• An unused green outfit is seen for the first time of many here.
• The hearts aren't graphically capable of stacking in the demo or the final game.

Image 4

• The ground tiles are from Orc Orchard, Fog from "Forest", and the is sky from "introbay".
• This style of character portrait is never seen again. An attempt at putting a portrait of this style in game showed that it would break the text boxes, allowing sprites to draw on top of it.
• Risky is sitting farther up on the ship.
• Shantae isn't able to emote like this in either version of the game we have. Other sprites like this were drawn however, and are shown in the "The Art of Shantae" art book.

Images 5 and 6

• The Battle mode shots show an early HUD, being grey instead of Character colored, and the stars and hearts are drawn on empty slots.

Second batch#

Check out another batch of screen shots from Shantae's latest quest!
*Shantae embarks on another grand adventure to foil the nefarious lady-pirate Risky Boots!
*More magical transformations, labyrinths, monsters, and battles than ever before!
*Play shifts between the front and back of each level, creating brain-teasing puzzles you have to see to believe!
*Shantae must mix and match fronts and backs of each land to unlock the secrets of Risky's Lairs!
*Up to four friends can get into the action with this Single-Pak battle mode!  Stun your foe and go for a spin!

The next 6 images are comprised of slightly edited screenshots of the demo. They seem to be misnumbered, as there is no sh_SS_GBA_07.

Image 7

• Shantae is wearing the mysterious green outfit again.
• There doesn't appear to be an arrow showing the exit.

Image 8

• Shantae is using Fireballs whilst holding a potion.
• Cactus' shouldn't be able to jump, and one isn't meant to exist in this room anyway.
• The blocks being purple isn't possible, as this would make the door frame purple as well.

Image 9

• Nothing out of the ordinary.

Image 10

• Shantae is only getting hurt here, as she cant die in the demo.

Image 11

• Nothing out of the ordinary.

Image 12

• Shows the Monkey vision being used. This feature is broken in the leaked build, but the layer mask remains at the start of the graphics data. According to Matt during the kickstarter live stream, Monkey Vision was removed from the later build to make room for the wagon wheel test.
• There's a few small tile differences on the right.

Early box art#

This image was used as the basis for the finalized box art. Obvious differences include the art style, where Shantae looks like a digitized rough sketch. Other differences include the logo, which uses the same font as the first game, and Shantae's actual design, which has a golden sash instead of a red one.

Website Banner#

The banner on the website shows several enemies that never made it into the final game. The "The Art of Shantae" art book eventually showed that most of these were just single frame test draws, and were never implemented into the game in any way.

Cut enemies shown include:

• Wetman
• Wetgal
• Vinepot
• Scarecrow
• Unnamed caped enemy

Enemies that changed design include:

• Crab (Sprites carried over from Risky's Revenge)
• Spear Mole (hands were changed from purple to green)
• Bat (Sprites carried over from Risky's Revenge)
• Muck Pile (Sprites carried over from Pirates Curse)
• Spanky Joe (Redrawn for obvious reasons)

2003 IGN coverage#

Mar 14, 2003#

In 2003, IGN covered the game on their website. The first post only included the first batch of mock-up screenshots from above, along with a brief summary of the timeline of events so far:

"Handheld game developer Way Forward has revealed the first screenshots of its in-development Game Boy Advance game, a sequel to its Game Boy Color platformer, Shantae.

You may recall way back during the days of the Game Boy Color, the developer gave us a first look at the Game Boy Color version of Shantae, easily one of the most graphically advanced platformer to hit the Game Boy Color system. Unfortunately, it released after the launch of the Game Boy Advance, which most likely attributed to the game's limited release in the handheld market.

This GBA platformer is a follow-up to the GBC adventure, featuring a similar graphics style but utilizing the Game Boy Advance hardware's more powerful capabilities. This sequel, tentatively titled Shantae Advance, features a larger quest than the original, with more labyrinths, more enemies, and more locations to explore.

Shantae Advance will feature advance gameplay mechanics where players will have to move Shantae from the foreground to the background planes in this side-scrolling environment in order to accomplish specific tasks. And just like the original platformer, players will have to utilize Shantae's transforming capabilities to get through the challenges; players can change into a bird, elephant, monkey, or mermaid so they can fly, dig, climb and swim through the different levels.

The Game Boy Advance platformer will even include a four player battle mode that only requires one copy of the cartridge. Two to four players can compete and battle in the rotating environment, obviously putting the GBA's hardware special effects to use.

Way Forward currently hasn't announced a release date or a publisher for the game. We'll have more on Shantae Advance as the game progresses in development, but in the meantime hit the link below for the first shots of the game in action." 

-IGN writer Craig Harris, Mar 14, 2003.

Oct 28, 2003#

In the October update, They included a whopping 18 brand new screenshots, along with further details about what the game had in store:

"One of the hidden gems of the Game Boy Color library was a small Capcom-published title Shantae. The game spent well more than a year in off-and-on development as a pet project at WayForward Technologies. As the team found some time between developing other commissioned Game Boy Color titles such as Xtreme Sports, Sabrina: The Teenage Witch, and Wendy: Every Witch Way, the pocket team at WayForward hammered away to make its own creation as good as it could be on the 8-bit hardware. It eventually saw a limited release, and the final product was a wonderful, colorful adventure, despite its being released during the first few months of the Game Boy Advance's life.

Shantae's making a return to the scene as a native Game Boy Advance title, and like the genie girl's first adventure, the game for the GBA is being worked on without a signed publisher. That's not stopping the development team from taking her action adventure into new territories; WayForward let us tinker around with a demo build of what the team's shopping around to potential publishers, and there are some pretty clever gameplay elements going on in Shantae's sequel.

Shantae Advance, as the game's called in its current form, features the half-dressed half-genie gal in a side-scrolling action adventure that doesn't stray too far from the established gameplay formula of the Game Boy Color game. In the GBA adventure, Risky Boots, Piratess extraordinaire, has returned to the land to cause more trouble...and Shantae must head out to stop her evil plans of wreaking havok. The GBA sequel, like its GBC original, puts players in control of Shantae who can hairwhip enemies and fire magic to defeat enemies inhabiting the levels.

The demo version of Shantae Advance shows off many of the new enhancements to the level design. Level layouts can now feature both an interactive foreground and a background, and in many situations players will have to work through an area in both planes...the problem is, players can only go into the foreground or background using special gates. The demo also shows that the background level can detach itself an move independently from the foreground, creating many different puzzle possibilities.

Like the original game, players will be able to transform into different creatures with different abilities. Transform into a bird-like harpy to gain the ability to fly, or turn into a monkey to see the layer behind foreground objects. Players will also be able to dive from cliffs to reach deeper parts of watery locations.

New to the series is a unique four-player battle mode where only one copy of the cartridge is required for multiplayer action. Players battle in an arena that rotates in 90 degree increments, changing the entire level's structure around and just causing serious mayhem on players that weren't expecting it. Hopefully some levels in the main Shantae Advance adventure will feature similar designs.

Hit the media links to check out tons of screenshots and video from the game in action. As mentioned above, Shantae Advance does not have a publisher signed, so it may be a long wait before the mass public gets to play this promising adventure."

-IGN writer Craig Harris, Oct 28, 2003

IGN uploaded their playthrough of the original demo to their website the same day. Though the footage is cut up, it showcases a less broken version of the game.

• The face puzzles work properly here, resetting after getting it wrong.
• The camera actually puts Risky Boots in frame.
• Things added explicitly for testing, such as the wagon wheels and mode 7 overworld, appear to be absent.

Shantae Newsletter#

In Spring 2008, Bozon and WayForward released the first issue of "Sequin Land News"- an email based newsletter for Shantae. This first issue contains a small development story regarding Shantae Advance, detailing how the game was built from the technology of others, and it's eventual demise and planned semi-release.

The game development team at WayForward gets a lot of fan letters asking for a Shantae sequel. More often than not, it seems like a new game is right around the corner. What gives? Where's the game? Tease, tease, tease, right? Well, here's the scoop on the legacy of vanishing Shantae games.

While Shantae GBC was wrapping up, the Pocket Team as it was called back in the day was making the move to Game Boy Advance. The first game, the Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris, was the template for what would be Shantae Advance.....aka Risky Revolution. There were windy zones, crushing ceilings, sinking sand, and all of the core technologies that we had in Shantae GBC. The new engine, written by famed Boogerman co-creator Michael Stragey was honed to perfection over the course of the next dozen games, including Godzilla Domination, Billy Blazes, Tak 3, Looney Tunes, and yes, several Barbie and Spongebob games. With each new development contract came a new addition that would apply directly to Shantae Advance. By the time the Risky Revolution demo was up and running, the technology for another epic adventure was 100% in place.

But, the GBA market quickly became saturated. Friends at similar sized independent studios were voicing their concerns as well, and struggling to keep original games on the roster. Manfred over at Shin'en managed a masterpiece in Iridion 2, and after significant delays our friends at Orbital made good on their promise to deliver Scurge Hive (side note; Manfred did the music for Sigma Star Saga, and Jake Kaufman of Shantae and Contra 4 also composed Scurge Hive). We soon saw that original GBA titles from Japan were taking over, since they'd already weathered the Japanese marketplace and were easier for US publishers to get behind. Over here. budgets dropped and Shantae Advance was forced to be a smaller scale title, or not to exist at all.

During the GBA feeding frenzy, WayForward's handheld division, formerly two guys, had to split and grow into two new teams to accommodate the contract work that kept rushing in. Two teams became four, and four became seven. The leads from Shantae GBC and GBA changed roles as WayForward became a team training facility. And though there was no time for a Shantae game, the studio survived a narrow escape from the slowing PC/CD rom business. With the added strength of these new leads, WayForward grew into a handheld powerhouse, and finally achieved the long time goal of a pure gaming focus, with Nintendo as the host of choice. 

This growth kept the attention of Capcom, Konami, and Namco, and several other heavy hitting publishers for quite some time. Capcom strongly encouraged Shantae's development on Game Cube (incidentally just prior to the announcement of the "Capcom 5", oops), and at one point, we thought the game was announced due to a typo on an official website; the last GBC game ended up in the GCN stack. Rumors of a Gamecube game flew, and were substantiated since a demo was in the works, but no game came of it.

Eventually, Namco came around with a request for an original title in Sigma Star Saga, which welcomed the visual stylings of Shantae in space. In a way, that game took the place of Shantae GBA, being the expression of WF's originality on that platform. And all of this somehow landed us in striking distance of Contra 4, which in the end set a new standard for the company with its insane sprite based 2D art and killer gameplay.

Today, there have been over 40 Shantae games pitched, ranging from dance games to epic adventures, arcade style games, and RPG's. If you're a hardcore fan you may even remember speculation about PSP and N-Gage, and even the Nintendo Card-E Reader, WayForward went so far as to become one of the few, possibly only licensed E Reader developer in the US in hopes of creating a retro-styled Shantae NES game.

So why don't we throw in the towel? Because! Seven years later, we still get daily letters demanding more hair-whipping belly dancing action from fans. And, a growing number of extremely talented individuals keep believing in and contributing to the vision. So, we'll continue to try and try again.
-Page 2-3 Shantae Newsletter Spring 2008, Written by Matt Bozon

Shantae GBA: the 2 hour long demo of Risky Revolution exists in a near-polished state.
Because there is high demand for the release of this rom, our hope is to eventually
move it to a suitable platform and release it as bonus content, cleaned up and
presentable, able to stand on its own as a video game "short".
-Page 3 Shantae Newsletter Spring 2008, Written by Matt Bozon

2013 Kickstarter update#

After amassing a third of their $400,000 USD goal in funding for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, WayForward put out a small post with a timeline of various images to illustrate how the series' art style had evolved. The third image is of Shantae advance.

• Concept art of Shantae's slightly updated outfit
• One of the mock-up shots
• Early box art
• Cinematic Concept art
• Various sprites in abysmal quality

2014 Kickstarter stream#

Watch on YouTube

In 2014, WayForward showed off the original demo as part of a Kickstarter bonus stream.

• The build shown here matches ours. This is likely a later build than the one that was actually sent out, since its mentioned that the wheels on the title screen were the last thing added, and some things are broken.
• Matt states that "Shantae Advance" was just a code name.
• Shantae Advance is stated to have begun development immediately after Shantae GBC, though this is questionable.
• Matt reveals the purpose of the wagon wheels here, stating they were to test how wobbly the artists wanted them to be, and that they were the last thing added.
• It is revealed that the Battle mode became Mighty Flip Champs.
• According to Matt, the ocean background is stolen from Wonder Boy in Monster World 4, though none seem to match.
• According to Matt, Orc Orchard's grass tiles are stolen from ''Sonic Advance'M.
• Apparently, Rottytops was always planned to be a shop keeper.
• The Quiver Crystals were meant to be made into something, but Matt stops himself from saying what.
• Risky Chasm was originally made by Risky Boots, instead of being natural.
• The plot is apparently a giant DuckTales reference.
• Matt says that at some point, you could light the lamps in the labyrinths.
• Monkey Vision was removed to test the wagon wheel, apparently.
• Matt reveals that at one point, the dungeons were based on seasons, though concept art doesn't reflect this.
• The Face puzzle worked properly in an older build, but doesn't in ours, according to Matt.

The Art of Shantae#

In 2021, After the release of Shantae and the Seven Sirens, WayForward, Bozon, and Udon Entertainment released "The Art of Shantae", a somewhat comprehensive look at... the art of Shantae. Included in the back of the book is a large assortment of unlabeled concept arts and sprites, some of which are from Shantae Advance.

Concept art#

Concept art of the first Island, Orc Orchard, and an unknown cave area, likely the original second island.

• There are fallen trees, similar to the various woods areas from the first Shantae.
• There are only 4 layer gates, just like the final game.
• The Bramble Maze entrance is styled after a zombie head.
• A log is used as a bridge.

Concept art of the Bramble Maze entrance.

• Its likely the in-game art was traced directly from this sketch, as colored ink was specifically used for easy transfer.
• Generally smaller in scale than it ended up being.
• The water wheels seem to have originally been gears.

Concept art illustrating all of the gimmicks used in the demo version of Bramble Maze.

• As seen in the demo, the Monkey was originally the only form capable of climbing on rope-like things.
• Tongue bugs were once floating plants.
• Spanky Joe was planned to have a harder third variant, though this was never implemented into either the demo or the final game. All Spanky Joe fights are the same in those. Also, spanking.
• The floating platforms would have originally had a reason to re-flip, instead of it just happening on a timer.

Concept art showing us a glance at the original plans regarding the 6 Labyrinths.

• Each transformation dance would have had its own dedicated labyrinth, like the first game.
• The order you obtain the dances is different. In the final, its Crab->Monkey->Elephant->Spider->Mermaid->Harpy.
• Haunted and Metal/Ice would be reused in Pirate's Curse as Cackle Tower and Abandoned Factory, respectively.

Rough sketches of the opening Cinematic shot, and the Risky Chasm scene.

• The characters are all using their GBC designs.
• Uncle Mimic is present instead of Bolo.
• Both scenes seem to take place outside, and likely lead into each other. The "MISSING" screen in the demo mentions that Shantae & Co. would've learned about Risky's new plot in the first island's town, which was likely Scuttle Town.

Concept art of Sky and Shantae riding Wrench.

• This was used in the demo for the "MISSING" screen, which details what happens at the start of the game.
• Eventually, this would be totally redone to be used for the Level select screen in the final game.

Concept art for Rottytops' wagon.

• This is what the wheels on the demo's title screen are for.

Concept art of Pongo.

• Pongo, along with Mimic, Sky, Twitch, and Bolo, was originally conceptualized for one of several early PC iterations of Shantae GBC, but went unused. In his original form, he would have reflected enemy projectiles using his shield.

Sprites#

On the right side of the Risky's Revenge sprite page. Sprites include:

• Vases, Chests, and magic jars from the demo
• Bomb, Key, lock, Wingnut, and Magic key from the demo
• Seagulls from the demo
• Spear Mole and unknown caped enemy
• Caterpillar from the demo
• Early red jumping enemy
• Various Shantaes, including an emote that was never implemented.

Various enemies and NPCs, strewn around the page. Some of these are used in the website banner. Noteworthy ones include:

• Vinepot, who doesn't appear in this game at all.
• GBA style designs for zombie, muck pile, and Tinkerbat.
• Rottytops, wielding a large bone. This is the only sprite of Rottytops we have from the original iteration of the project in high quality.
• A rock.

Revival announcement#

On October 26th 2023, Following Limited Run Games' "LRG3" digital presentation, WayForward formally announced that development of the game (now with the finalized title of "Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution") had resumed after 19 years of being shelved.

The blog post contained a summary of all the events leading up to this point, an interview with Matt Bozon, along with 6 new(ish) screenshots.

The lost GBA game will be the last GBA game!

Shantae is back in a Game Boy Advance game 20 years in the making! We, alongside the folks at Limited Run Games, are thrilled to announce that Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution — the long-lost sequel to the original Shantae — is back in development after being put on the shelf for nearly two decades. Building off the original game code from the early 2000s, this once-canceled title will be completed and released physically on a Game Boy Advance-compatible game cartridge. A new behind-the-scenes video, as revealed at the LRG3 digital event, can be seen here!

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution reunites the design team of Shantae creator Erin Bozon, series director Matt Bozon, and programmer Michael Stragey, who are using GBA-era development tools to authentically complete the handheld experience that was planned so many years ago. Previously existing only in unfinished demo form, Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution will be released as a full game with all of the hair-whipping, belly-dancing action that Shantae fans have come to expect, along with multiple chapters, numerous towns and labyrinths, six creature transformations, fierce bosses, and a soundtrack by acclaimed composer Maddie Lim, plus a 4-player battle mode.

“Restoring the lost Shantae sequel has been an incredible adventure!” says Matt Bozon, Shantae series director. “After reuniting as a team, we restored the original game demo, and now are working hard to complete the full game on original hardware! This isn’t a demake or a new retro-style game, but an actual GBA-era title that was lost to time. We paused development in 2004, and now we’re back at it nearly 20 years later with the same tools, hardware, and Link Cables that we were using back then. It’s crazy, it feels impossible, but it’s happening! We’re on a time-travel mission to save Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution, and finally bring it to the fans!”

Filling in the gaps between the original Shantae (2002) and Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (2010), Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution sees Shantae protecting Sequin Land from a twisted new plot orchestrated by her nemesis, the pirate Risky Boots. Using a secret subterranean device, Risky is able to rotate and rearrange the continent, plunging it into chaos and giving her more coastal cities to plunder. Fortunately, by harnessing this technology and the knowledge of the Relic Hunters, players will be able to turn the tables on Risky, giving Shantae new paths through environments and a chance to thwart the villain’s scheme.

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution will be released as a physical Game Boy Advance-compatible game cartridge published by Limited Run Games with an estimated release date of early 2024. Additional information, including dates for the game’s preorder window, will be announced in the future. For the latest news, please visit follow @wayforward and @limitedrungames on social media, and be sure to check out limitedrungames.com and the rest of wayforward.com for other info!
-Wayforward official blog, Oct. 26, 2023

Interview#

Watch on YouTube

This video Showcases several prototype clips of the game, along with several shots of GBATool- with good looks at filenames, too.

• At this point, text boxes have broken palettes and no portraits are shown.
  • The mugshots from the demo have been removed, and it appears text formatting has already been adjusted to fill the new space.
• Risky Chasm/Tutorial 2 is using the multiplayer background
  • Monkey Vision is shown being used, which isn't possible in Risky Chasm.
• Intro bay still uses the demo map.
• Bramble Maze is still using its original palette.
  • Most changes to puzzles seem to be complete, such as adding platforms to make monkey only vases accessible and putting a key in the fountain room to make up for the removal of Spanky Joe.
• Orc Orchard appears to be complete layout wise.
  • The redrawn background has been put in, though its using a much brighter palette.
  • Risky doesn't have a dialogue box.
  • The Tremor Switch is using palette 4 instead of 5, making it bright yellow. This isn't an issue here in the demo or the final game, however it DOES use this palette in towns.
• ProMotion 5.1 is shown to be the program of choice for making the sprites.
  • Showcased here is one of the frog men, seemingly named "MineMaster" in the files.
  • Below you can see "MODEL69","SUBTIL01",and "Subscre02" open in the background.
• GBATool is shown. It appears to match the version found in the Sigma Star Saga source code that was preserved in early 2024.
  • The first map being edited here seems to be the demo version of Bramble Maze, with some differences.
    • There are 2 extra vases in the opening room.
    • The gems past the locked door don't match their colors in the demo.
  • The second map being edited is Orc Orchard.
    • Bolo is shown being placed here. He does not appear here in the final game, nor the demo. His sprite is finalized.
  • Rottytop's object file is shown.
  • The sketch for the Tremor Engine reveal scene is shown.
  • Hatchet's object file is shown.

The current object list is shown. GBATool shows every object currently imported into the project file. Most items in the first three columns can be made out, but the 4th is obscured.

Notes:

• The elephant does not exist yet.
• Objects for Chapters 2, 3, and 4 don't exist yet.
• Gem colors are not randomized.
• Multiplayer mode is not a separate project, unlike the shooter mode in Sigma Star Saga.
• Talismans don't appear to exist yet.
• Several unused objects from the demo remain, such as BOLO_OLD and RADIO...

Along with object names, all internal folder names at this point are seen.

• PROJECT
  • ANIMS
  • CAVES
  • CRYPTS
  • DIALOG
  • FILESELECT
  • FOREST
  • GAMEOVER
  • HUB1
    • HUB1_PAL
    • HUB1_SCN
    • HUB1_TS4
  • INTROBAY
  • ISLAND01
  • LAB00
    • LAB00_BG_TS4
    • LAB00_SCN
    • LAB00_TS4
  • LAB01
  • LAB02
  • LAB03
  • LEVEL_SELECT
  • LINK
  • OBJECTS
  • STATUS
  • STORYCARDS
  • SYSTEM
  • TITLECARDS
  • TOWN_LAVA
  • TOWN_MINE
  • TOWN_MUSEUM
  • TOWN_SCUTTLE
  • TUTORIAL1
  • TUTORIAL2

Notes:

• FOREST, INTROBAY, ISLAND01, and LAB00 are likely leftovers from the demo.
• Folders for Lava Town and Museum Town seem to be prepared, despite none of their objects existing yet.
• A folder for the crypts has been prepared, even though their entrances don't exist yet.
• All 3 labyrinths have folders.

Screenshots#

Lets get it out of the way- not one of these images is a real screenshot. Interestingly, images 1, 4, and 5 ended up being used on the back of the LRG release's box.

Image 1

• The background has been updated since the original demo.
• The sign welcoming players to the demo has not been removed here.
• No seagull is ever able to reach this spot.
• Shantae has a Heart Vial before opening the stairs. Presumably, debug mode is being used.

Image 2

• This shot matches image 3 from the first batch of 2003 screenshots almost exactly, with the exception of Shantae wearing her usual red attire.
• She also has black outlines not seen anywhere else.
• The Magic Vial is using an early sprite with no liquid inside, similar to the previous early mock-up shots. This was likely a placeholder sprite for ALL items, as Shantae can be seen using fireballs with it.
• Same general points from the version above.

Image 3

• This shot matches image 2 from the first batch of 2003 screenshots almost exactly.
• The redrawn forest background has been edited in.
• The Pike Ball icon has been edited in.
• Same general points as above.

Image 4

• This image is similar to image 9 of the second batch of 2003 screenshots in that there is a jumping Cactus.
• There is a worm on the wall. This is the opening room of Bramble Maze from the demo, so no enemies should be here.
• The sign telling players how to dance is still here.
• Yet another shot showing how Shantae can't die in the demo.

Images 5 and 6

• Exact match for images 5 and 6 from the first batch of 2003 screenshots. Refer to above for points.