I know I'm way late in writing this. But is still want to say it. I enjoy the backtracking in Shantae, and in similar games. I like searching for secrets using the new power ups I've obtained in later levels.

It seemed like Jo wasn't into Bayonetta.

I'm surprised we haven't gotten a MHW strip yet.

you should make a few bayonetta comics,you made like 2-3 in the early days of nerf now, and you stopped.
do you have any interest in her anymore?
it is not common for nintendo to publish games with fanservice since they usually try to be family friendly.

Loved Shantae to death, but agree about the backtracking. I have the complete edition with all the DLC, but haven't been motivated to play more after the main game.

If you're in the market for your next awesome action platformer, consider Dead Cells! Fast, furious, flowing beat-em-up goodness.

I have to admit, most of the strength in Shantae is the cute characters (and great music). The gameplay is usually pretty "meh" to "okay", though Pirates Curse was actually super fun and is still the best Shantae because it left out the animal transformations and just had the best moveset in general

I honestly think the issue is that Shantae games are Metroidvania-lite at best. They should embrace the design entirely, and go full-blown Super Metroid / Symphony of the Night, right down to the map UI. That would play to her gameplay strengths best AND would make the backtracking more natural.

Last countinue I swear: As for smash Brothers... it's looking she may pop in as a playble character...

Countinued: You cannot even attack with it till basically your last upgrade. They all should get an attack, and then gain more attacks or more uses. Plus bring back the dance moves you need to do to transform. Granted that does slow it down a bit, but makes it a bit more fun and exciting...

Countinued: presses down while in the air she just becomes and elephant and smashes down. But that would lose part of her identity: Dancing. However it is just a menu in HGH and some forms get barely any use. Kinda wish they could all attack sooner or had more attacks. Like spider looks great but...

Well with as much dancing trasnformations she has it is a little hard to do it without a menu. I suppose if they wanted the transformations to be more streamlined they would just happen as she does something, like as she jumps onto a wall she presses a button and boom she's a monkey, or if she...

@Jo Pereira: She does dance to transform. It is just that it have been dumbed down so it became a menu while she dances in the background instead of a different dance for each transformation

Pirate's Curse is still the best Shantae game. It uses the backtracking well enough (if you don't like metroid-vania then it won't be your type of game), and I loved the flow of movement. Half-Genie Hero was very pretty but not up to Pirate's Curse's standards.
BTW Shovel Knight is excellent!

@Teruo Hirai: You can put the dance on minigame, victory poses or... i dont know, full screen special attacks.

Afaik she doesn't even dance anymore to transform in Half-Genie.

Dance is a big part of Shantae's identity. Maybe if they made her movements look like dance on their own. Sort of like how God of War is manly violent artistic gymnastics... or maybe poses... (insert Jojo reference)