Episode 136: Shantae's creator recounts the series' origins

WayForward's Matt Bozon goes WayBack to the Super NES era to recount the history of everyone's favorite half-genie hero.

Jeremy Parish January 29, 2018 7:00 AM Read + Mission control for ; former EIC of http://1UP.com and http://USgamer.net ; taking dapper (and frogs) back from the Nazis.

Looks like there's just no stopping this "Retronauts forces the people who work on games to talk about their games" train we're all on together. This episode marks a pretty significant milestone for me personally, as I've been hoping I could make this episode for a very, very long time. Finally, it took me flying down to L.A. (a day before raging wildfires would have forced me to cancel my trip!) to make it happen. But it happened! And so, I am pleased to present to you the (complete?) origin story of Shantae, as told by the man who, along with his wife, bears the brunt of responsibility for her existence: WayForward's Matt Bozon.

In this episode, Matt takes a trip back through the mists of time to the early ’90s, when he and his wife first came up with the character Shantae, and the decade-long trip involved in bringing her to Game Boy Color in a game that, due to unfortunate timing and retailer apathy, you may never have actually seen in stores! But those few who were tuned in to this sort of game release found a lot to like in what might have been the world's last great licensed 8-bit video game, and a cult classic was born. More than 25 years after Shantae's initial conception, she appears to be doing better than ever, with the final chunk of Half-Genie Hero DLC having just hit a few weeks ago. You can enjoy learning about her history this week while letting your mind race to wonder what it might have been like if plans had actually come to fruition for Shantae on Super NES… or Game Boy Advance… or GameCube!?

MP3, 46.5 MB | 1:37:46

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Episode description: Shantae creator Matt Bozon recounts the history and challenges involved in designing indie darling Shantae. From the game's Super NES prototype to the recent Half-Genie Hero add-on Friends to the End, that's almost 3 decades of exploratory belly-dancing!

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