Oh wow, this gameplay is so much smoother than the first game... I really appreciate how the death pits are clearly marked with death clouds floating up out of them. The attack items are now tied to magic instead of inventory, so you can actually use them now. also this game has the same sorta thing as Wario Land VB and Kirby TD, where you go can through multiple layers of the Z-dimension.
But the biggest improvement is... This game actually has a built in overworld map. Just that is enough to make me want to play this completely blind without a walkthrough... If it turns out I'm missing some hidden stuff I'll use a walkthrough after beating the game to get everything.
11/11/2015
I started to notice this game was gonna be very short and easy compared to the first one... If there's really only 3 seals to collect and that map of Sequin Land covers every area in the game...
The first labyrinth was expectedly easy. It had the monkey transformation (which has much better controls now), and I think I got all the magic jams in the level. You need magic jams in addition to gems in order to buy all higher level magic powers.
The 2nd level wasn't actually a proper labyrinth.. It has you exploring a desert with lots of bottomless pits, and a fairly complex network of caves... Before going here though, the characters back in town hint you towards going to see the mayor who is currently near the lighthouse at the beginning of the game... He gives you the deed to the town and tells you to give it to the arms baron, which is the same person who has the next seal I need. On the way to finding the arms baron in the desert, you can find a genie fountain with the elephant transformation, as well as a powerup for the monkey that lets you fly/charge horizontally from any wall, AND after another loop around or so I also found the elephant powerup which lets you stomp. both of these give you access to various treasures with either gems or magic jams.
The arms baron gives you the 2nd seal in exchange for beating the "battle tower" which is located on the opposite side of the desert... Here's where I noticed the game's difficulty is starting to pick up. I'm actually having to use my magic a lot more now.
At some point after getting the 2nd seal, I ran into Rottytops's brothers, who want me to get them a coffee with a rotten egg in exchange for telling me where the 3rd seal is. Not much hints to go on now, but I went back to re-explore the forest with my new powerups, and found the ingredients for coffee there pretty easily. Sky back in town helped me make the coffee and gave me a rotten egg... Then I went to explore the Mermaid Beach, and gave the coffee to the zombies to gain access to the 2nd labyrinth.
This place has weird puzzles involving eyeball statues that can be changed to one of 4 directions or changed to opened/closed, which changes the doorway exits in some way... I got stuck after collecting 4 keys and finding a locked door that I'm unable to use a key on for some reason...
11/12/2015
Turns out that weird locked door needed a special skull key, found by setting the eyeball statues into a specific pattern...
Anyway, I got the mermaid transformation, beat the incredibly easy labyrinth boss, and then explored the water areas and found 3 golden squid babies... The next story part was at the lighthouse, where Sky and Bolo said that Mimic got captured by Risky, then the squid from the first level came and said he'll tell me how to get into Risky's hideout if I could find his 3 babies, which I already did...
After exploring everything, I was left with only 3 magic jams missing... I checked a guide to confirm there was 1 in the first labyrinth, 1 in the 2nd labyrinth, and 1 for beating the battle tower a 2nd time. the battle tower was actually very easy this time around.
Now I've found everything there is to get in this game, and the only thing left is to go to Risky's hideout and beat it... I'm not expecting much honestly... Overall I was very underwhelmed by this game... it seemed promising at first but at the end it feels very unfinished.
Time: 06:27:29
SPECIAL ITEMS: 34/34
That endgame section was even more underwhelming than I was expecting... just an underwater shmup section, then a pitch black room that wasn't hard to navigate at all... then the boss.
Risky took the 3 seals from Shantae, and then used the lamp to take Shantae's genie powers away from her. Now I had to fight the genie form of Shantae, who has all of Shantae's transformation powers and a projectile spam attack. I still had my hair whip and all of the item special attacks I bought from the item shop. Even with the super overpowered flamethrower, this boss takes a LOT of hits... Her pattern doesn't change, she just gets faster and faster as the fight goes on. I used up about 5 potions before finally beating her.
So, the first game Shantae had the opportunity to become a full genie, but declined... Now in this, Shantae becomes full human and discovers her human powers are stronger than her genie powers.
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