Introduction
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is the third game in the Shantae series and a direct continuation of Shantae: Risky’s Revenge. After losing her genie powers, Shantae is forced to cooperate with her former enemy, Risky Boots, to prevent the return of the Pirate Master. The game replaces Shantae’s traditional magic abilities with pirate-themed equipment that she uses to explore multiple islands and confront enemies.
- Emulator: BizHawk 2.11
- Game version: USA (Rising Star Games Physical Release)
- Objective: Any% (Normal Mode)
- Heavy RNG Manipulation
- Out of Bounds Glitches
Techniques & Glitches
RNG Manipulation
The most efficient way to advance the RNG toward a desired outcome is by repeatedly switching menus on the touch screen, or jumping and hair whipping in some cases. This manipulation is used to control specific item drops or enemy behavior.
Risky Shuffle
After obtaining Risky’s Boots in the Oubliette of Suffering, Shantae can perform a dash attack by holding a directional input for 2 seconds. In smaller areas, the dash can still be charged by alternating directional inputs, as long as a direction is held continuously without any neutral frames. In RTA, this is typically done by alternating between the Analog Stick and the D-Pad.
Potion Drop and Food Float
With Risky Shuffle, items can be used immediately after entering a loading zone. When a Potion is used, Shantae enters a free-fall state where she can move while falling, ignoring collisions. By repeatedly jumping and using the hair whip, she can gain altitude and bypass walls to access certain loading zones early.
Since Risky’s Boots are not obtained until later in the run, Auto Potions are used instead. They have the same effect as regular Potions but are more expensive and require Shantae to take damage to activate. Unlike regular Potions, Auto Potions can be used immediately after a room transition, before the player regains control, to interrupt the screen change. In this case, there is a short window during which Shantae can jump and enter the free-fall state, ignoring collision, though she cannot gain altitude. This technique is used to skip a miniboss room in the Lost Catacombs.
If a Food item is used instead, Shantae begins gaining altitude rapidly after a single jump, making it useful for vertical rooms.
Animation Cancel
After obtaining a key item in the overworld, Shantae normally plays an item grab animation followed by a description. This can be skipped by jumping into the item and using a Food item or Potion immediately after landing.
Route
Burning Town
The main goal at the start of the run is to collect as many gems, food items, Pike Balls, and Monster Milks as possible. Monster Milks increase Shantae’s base whip attack by 5, allowing her to defeat some enemies faster. After the falling section, Sky and Bolo’s dialogue can be skipped with a simple jump.
Boss - Ammo Baron
The attack pattern is manipulated to always start with the red cannonball, exposing his weak point right away. With a Monster Milk and a Pike Ball, he can barely be defeated in one cycle.
Scuttle Town to Sequin Land Palace
The first and only Cacklebat fight in the run is manipulated to prevent it from jumping across the room, allowing it to be defeated in four hits with a Monster Milk. After obtaining the Magic Lamp, a void entry is performed to enter Sky’s home slightly faster. Later, in Scarecrow Fields, Scarecrow drops are manipulated again to get more Monster Milks, Pike Balls, and Super Pike Balls. In Tangle Forest, the Orcs are used to obtain Pirate Flares. At the end of the Sewers, the first Auto-Potion is used to go out of bounds and grab the Brochure early without the Pistol. After returning to Scuttle Town, I buy three Auto-Potions that will be used in the next section.
Saliva Island
An Auto-Potion is used to enter Spittle Maze early.
Spittle Maze
An Auto-Potion is used to skip the first key door. Then I farm gems until reaching 810.
Boss - Cyclops Plant
The first phase can be cheesed by standing on the edge of the platform, barely hitting it with a hair whip. In the second phase, it’s slightly faster to hit Cyclops in midair instead of waiting for the laser attack.
Spiderweb Island
Before heading to the next island, I take a quick detour to buy 3 Potions, 7 Auto-Potions, and all Pistol upgrades. Once there, thanks to the final Pistol upgrade, the Fossil can be collected early without the Scimitar.
Cackle Tower
I start by manipulating five Super Pike Ball drops from the Skeleton. After obtaining Risky’s Hat, a Potion Float is used to skip the main section of the dungeon.
Boss - Empress Spider
Her attack pattern is manipulated to prevent her from using the fire attack.
Tan Line Island
About halfway through, I skip the Tan Line Temple using a Potion Float and the Pistol upgrade.
The Catacombs
Two Potion Drops are used to get the Scimitar without opening the two key doors. Another Potion Drop is used to skip the miniboss room.
Boss - Squid Baron
Nothing noteworthy here. It’s Squid Baron.
Mud Bog Island
Upon reaching the Village of Lost Souls, I use a Potion Drop to reach the top room faster to grab the Green Coin. Another Potion Drop is later used to obtain the Manly Musk from the same room.
Oubliette of Suffering
The last Auto-Potion is used to get the Boots early. The rest of the dungeon is then cheesed with a Risky Shuffle.
Boss - Dagron
Nothing noteworthy.
Frostbite Island
In the final room, a Food Float is used to move through the vertical section faster. Another Food Float is used in Propeller Town to skip half the map.
Abandoned Factory
The convenient key at the entrance is used to obtain Risky’s Cannon. Then, a Potion Drop is used to enter the final room without opening the key door. This room contains two more key doors, which can be skipped with a combination of a Food Float and the last Potion Drop.
Boss - Steel Maggot
I manipulate the button combination and perform a quick kill using the Scimitar at the edge of the room.
Pirate Master's Palace
The final Food Float glitch in the run is used to completely skip the entire dungeon.
Boss - The Pirate Master
Ironically, the easiest fight in the TAS. I manipulate his teleport positions and defeat him before reaching the second phase.
Final Notes
Since this was my first completed TAS, there are still a few minor improvements I missed. Specifically, I ended up manipulating more items than necessary, and the movement could have been optimized further in the early sections, but I noticed too late and I didn't want to repeat the RNG manipulation for multiple 1% drops again. I believe that with these improvements, the run could be shortened by about 10–15 seconds. Also, since I kept running into desync issues, I had to load backup files quite a few times, so the rerecord count does not properly match. It should be +50k. I finished this TAS using Bizhawk 2.10, but I modified the final inputs for the submission in version 2.11.
