Games with similar aesthetics?

[Pixel Peeper]

Shantae games are visually very nice. This one is high definition, which doesn't hurt at all, but it's not the core of it; it's more the way the characters look and move, thus pixel art works just fine too.

Are there any other games out there with similar aesthetics? More specifically, the whole "sexy but in a cute/cartoony sort of way" thing that this series has going on.

Rabi-Ribi might have qualified, but it doesn't really work for me. The visual themes are just too... standard Japanese pervert cliché, I guess? And dialogue is just insufferably slow.

I'm thinking more of something like Eroico. It may be excessively short, but it's awesome old school platforming with exactly the right visuals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fnHEghidY8

There should be tons of games using this kind of aesthetics, but I'm baffled to find that I can't think of any.

Suggestions? Hidden gems? Obscure titles that no one has ever heard of?

[Pixel Peeper]

Ah yes, I suppose Wings of Vi would qualify. The gameplay is a little too scripted for me, but despite most enemies being gross demonthings, the visuals are appealing enough.

I'm not familiar with Momodora. I'll look it up, thanks.

[musu]

Look up Monster World IV if you're not familiar with it. It's a Megadrive platformer that Shantae took a lot of cues from.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by musuxx:

Look up Monster World IV if you're not familiar with it. It's a Megadrive platformer that Shantae took a lot of cues from.

Hmm. I'd never even heard of that one.

I'll check it out. Hopefully, if it looks good, it won't be too difficult to obtain.

Thanks.

[Hammontron]

Try the Rayman games

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by The Player:

Try the Rayman games

Oh... I'm not completely unfamiliar with those games because I have a friend who's a big fan. However, from what little I've seen of it, it's very cartoony but not sexy.

I'll ask him about it.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by Typhoon:

duck tales

I'm starting to feel like we're straying off the "sexy" here.

I haven't played the remastered version, but in the NES version, there weren't a whole lot of female characters. In fact I only remember one, and she's a duckpersonthing, beak and all.

But maybe that's your fetish, I don't know and I don't judge.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by ShenWolf:

If existence on Steam is not a must;

Not needed, no, though ideally it would be playable on a computer.

I never owned a GBA, and my regular GameBoy is... in a box somewhere, assuming it still works.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by ShenWolf:

What about emulators?

I suppose that's an option. I haven't use those in a long time, I only ever used them to play old NES and SNES games that I owned without taking the old consoles out of retirement.

Looking at suggested computer games so far, well... maybe I'll get Mighty Switch Force eventually, I've actually been considering it for a while. I'd probably be less hesitant to grab it if it were available on GOG.

I guess for now I still have Eroico. The revised version just came out days ago so it feels new again. I just wish it weren't so very short.

I don't know why this kind of aesthetics are so damn rare. They make a big difference in making your brain happier while you play.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by ShenWolf:

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

I don't know why this kind of aesthetics are so damn rare. They make a big difference in making your brain happier while you play.

Yeah. I especially like the "female protagonist" tag on here.

Usually a good sign, the idea being that if the developers care about attractive visuals, they're more likely to use a female protagonist.

Eroico has a male protagonist, extremely rare for the genre, but this is of course mitigated by the fact that all other creatures in the game are female.

And the Desert stage boss is a dark-skinned, purple-haired Ifrit (Fire Genie) girl with a high ponytail... now who does that remind me of?

[Pixel Peeper]

I get an alert for a new comment in this thread... but no new comment.

Go home, Steam. You're drunk.

[hanisod]

Well, Axiom Verge is worth checking and if you like, Dust: AET is really good too, but I think you've already heard of it

I got Owlboy recently and I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it, I haven't played that game that much so I can't say


Now I know this is weird to say, but I would tell you to try "Thomas Was Alone" and "Monument Valley" on mobile, they're quite good (platforms ofc)

[hanisod]

Originally posted by ShenWolf:

@hanisod I came hoping someone suggested a game that I will enjoy as much as Shantae but you completely missed the "sexy but in a cute/cartoony sort of way" part :bolo:

Does anyone know WayForward's stance on fan games? I think what we need here is some fanmade engine using Shantae RR & PC graphics. Then people can make levels for this and share or something.

It's really annoying that we don't have that many options like this but I guess female protagonists aren't that common to begin with, especially in older pixel graphic days.

There are not so many games like Shantae tbh, especially in a "sexy but cute" way, and the ones I know are already mentioned

Another game which no one mentioned is Ori And The Blind Forest... but I guess, it's ONLY cute, though, you'll find it sexy if you're a furry (what on earth did I just say)

[Pipe Wife]

Um, dunno if this classifies as "sexy" per se, but what about the swordcraft story series? Though i guess they're RPGs not platformers...

[hanisod]

Originally posted by Tsukumogami:

Um, dunno if this classifies as "sexy" per se, but what about the swordcraft story series? Though i guess they're RPGs not platformers...

Is that a Nintendo game?