Shantae: Half-Genie Hero delayed, game content now complete

Yesterday, WayForward posted a major Kickstarter update for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, with some good and bad news. The good news? Game content is now complete! You might be thinking this is cutting it pretty close, since the game is supposed to launch on September 27th… and you’re totally right!

That’s where the bad news rears its ugly head: the game has been delayed by about 6 weeks. The developers made this decision in order to spend some extra time bug fixing and adding additional polish… something they cannot really be blamed for! Besides, delays are pretty much in the very DNA of the Shantae series, and that’s not really a bad thing when all is said and done.

Here’s what’s left for WayForward:

• We continue for several weeks of intense testing on all platforms
• Once verified by our internal Quality Assurance team, it’s off to Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft (the 1st Party Publishers).
• The 1st Party Publishers will test the game for compliance. In most cases, this is done for each territory.
• When we get a green light from all 1st Party Publishers, we can build the digital storefronts and, in the case of retail versions, send the game to manufacturing.
• Finally, we can select a Release Date that works for all groups involved. At that time our “Target Release Date” will be updated again, and will become the actual Release Date.

Naturally, plenty of things could come and cause further delay, including a persistent crash bug, delays at lotcheck, and more. Should there be one, fan will be notified as soon as possible via the Kickstarter page.

In the Kickstarter update, WayForward also mentions translations. The game will be playable in the following languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese. As you can imagine, that also means extra testing for those languages, to make sure no text-related bugs found its way in. And of course, there’s age rating, which is a pretty complicated and lengthy process… especially with a worldwide launch.

Finally, WayForward talks about content proper. Here’s what’s included in the base game:

• the main campaign
• the bonus chapters funded as stretch goals, to be found within the main campaign storyline

All the remaining DLC (Risky Boots, Sky, Bolo, Rottytops, and also Ninja Shantae, Officer Shantae, and Beach Shantae) will be released after launch. The team has been working on those for a while now, and are currently playable in varying stages of completion. Make sure to check out the Kickstarter update for more details!

Our Upcoming Releases page has been updated!

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (Wii U) comes out later this year in Europe and North America.

Source: WayForward