Shantae Now Has Her Old Skin Tone Back In Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

When WayForward Technologies debuted Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, those familiar with prior Shantae games noted that the Shantae character’s skin tone was lighter than it had been in previous titles, now leaning closer to a more pale skin colour, as opposed to Shantae’s original brown-ish complexion.

Recommended Videos

 

WayForward have taken note of the feedback, and are presently trying out new colour palettes for Shantae’s main sprite. Above is a look at their current progress. You can compare this new sprite’s skin tone with the previous one here.

 

WayForward have also provided an explanation regarding how colours work in their game, and other details regarding Shantae’s more stylized and exaggerated design:

 

The night time colors are meant to be like the underwater or nighttime scenes in shows like 1980’s GI Joe and Transformers, or like the night time scenes in many Animated Disney Classics (like Aladdin) .

 

Regarding some other design elements, these were arrived at by drawing the character large, looking something like the pixel sprite. Then it was shrunk down until it was tiny on screen and edited at a micro-sized view. Body parts where exaggerated until you could clearly see her eyes, face, navel, and hip-tilt direction even at a great distance from camera. Then it was enlarged again, and cleaned up. This is the reason for the bowling pin shaped body, the very tall eyes, the long torso, and black triangular pants. She was designed for maximum contrast and readability on screen no matter how far we pull back the camera. This way we could have her battle a boss that’s truly colossal, or solve a puzzle that requires an extremely zoomed out view (think Harmony of Despair).

 

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is in development for PC, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. A separate game, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, is in development for the Nintendo 3DS.


Siliconera is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article Genshin Impact Neuvillette and Kazuha Rerun Banners Detailed
Genshin Impact Neuvillette and Kazuha Rerun Banners Detailed
Read Article How to Start a New Game in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Read Article How to Get a Metal Smelter in Lego Fortnite
Read Article How to Sign Up for the Marvel Rivals Closed Alpha
Read Article Overwatch 2 Venture Voice Actor and Kit Detailed
Related Content
Read Article Genshin Impact Neuvillette and Kazuha Rerun Banners Detailed
Genshin Impact Neuvillette and Kazuha Rerun Banners Detailed
Read Article How to Start a New Game in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Read Article How to Get a Metal Smelter in Lego Fortnite
Read Article How to Sign Up for the Marvel Rivals Closed Alpha
Read Article Overwatch 2 Venture Voice Actor and Kit Detailed
Author
Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan specializes in game design/sales analysis. He's the former managing editor of Siliconera and wrote the book "The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History". He also used to moonlight as a professional manga editor. These days, his day job has nothing to do with games, but the two inform each other nonetheless.