Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is quite easily the best platformer I’ve played in years. I laughed, I died, and I accidentally found a horrible exploit in an otherwise near-flawless game.
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse takes place on multiple islands, each with their own theme, boss, and enemy types. One of the first islands you find the map to is called “Spiderweb Island”, and its first area features zombies that spawn from the ground. Kill one, another takes its place. I can only assume it was meant to evoke a “survival horror” feel, and as with the rest of the events on the island, it pits you in situations where fighting is not possible or not encouraged.
These zombies, when first attacked, are decapitated. Their heads do not get destroyed, however, and if hit before they fly off and explode, will drop a single rupee. They drop another upon destruction. You can hit this zombie head up to three times with your un-upgraded hair alone for 4 rupees a zombie, or you can wait until you have a Scimitar and then the fun REALLY begins.
The Scimitar acts as a ground-pound attack, where if the enemy is not killed on the first strike, you bounce up and can hit it again and again, assuming it doesn’t hit you out of midair. One hit from the Scimitar and the zombie is decapitated. Bounce on the head in midair and it doesn’t fly off like it would with your hair whip. Keep bouncing, and you can hit this zombie head 9 times, meaning you get 10 rupees for every zombie killed. Upon decapitation, the headless zombie will fall over dead and another will spawn underneath you. Basically, you barely have to move at all.
Seeing how Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse caps the rupee carrying capacity at 999, the most expensive upgrade you can buy is 400 rupees, and your ability to get rupees from the head isn’t dependent on any upgrades whatsoever, you could theoretically max out your character’s stats before reaching the third island.
In other words, you can theoretically MAX OUT SHANTAE’S HAIR, SPEED, PISTOL, AND TECHNIQUE LIST IN UNDER HOUR.
I hit the 999 cap in under 15 minutes. Anyone else getting flashbacks to the Destiny Loot Cave?
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