Shantae: All Games & DLC Ranked Worst To Best

Shantae is in this weird limbo of being popular yet not quite a household name. She got into Smash as a spirit and a Mii costume, but not as a fighter because she's well known, just not that well known.

Opinions on the series are divided as well. Some view the games as masterful Metroidvanias with great writing and even better gameplay; others view them as those weird titles where nobody wears much clothes. It makes sense that not everybody is a fan of the series, everything is a bit over-sexualised and not all of the entries are exactly masterpieces.

Now, no Shantae game is downright bad, you could probably pick up any entry and find something to enjoy but there is definitely a huge quality difference between the best games in the series and the worst.

So let's rank the games and DLC so those new to Shantae know where to start, and those who have played them can get mad at me for being wrong.

Oh, and if you want to get into the series then it's actually pretty easy as most of them are on every modern console, especially on the Switch where all five titles are available.

The DLC for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero in general is very hit-or-miss. They're all somewhat let down by the fact that they all tread the same ground as the base game yet at least some of them are fun alternative ways to experience it again.

Unfortunately, the free Jammies Mode DLC for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero isn't that. Jammies Mode is just playing the main game again but now it's boring.

You take more damage which you think would lead to this being a harder alternative to the main game but you also have the ability to fly over enemies right from the start so a lot of the campaign is a breeze, a really boring breeze. But then there will be a giant difficulty spike like the chase section with Wilbur which I swear is impossible in this.

At least the campaign is free. It's one of two free campaigns that have been added to the game since launch with the other being Hardcore Mode which won't be covered as it's just a difficulty option.