The reason why I deleted Shante: The Pirates Curse

[luigiFTW]

in this forum i will be talking about the so-called “fan service” in shante:the pirates curse, though in actuality I would call it pornography, which is not ok in a game rated E 10+. If you don’t like this topic fill free to leave, but I would also advise not to play this game either as that is what this article is trying to warn you about. There will also be many spoilers for the game.

Spoiler: Be warned of shante.

Let us start at the beginning, where signs of fanservice are at thier lowest. (I will be using “fan service” in replacement for “pornography”)
First off, the way the diolouge plays out. When someone says something in a conversation it usually shows a full body picture of that character. This allows people to see the ‘fan service’ in higher detail. Shante herself isnt too big of a problem, she wears classic arabian princess clothing similar to what Jasmine from Aladdin wears but red. But trust me, the further you get the bigger the fanservice becomes. The first boss, one of the few men in the game, before the fight asks shante to become a dancer for him, and it makes sense why. Shante’s idle animation involves her bouncing around and waving her hips, which is very distracting. She also wags her bootie around when crawling.
Later you meet risky, who i assume is the villan from riskys revenge, who has a similar outfit to shante, but purple and shows a bit more chest. I almost forgot that at the beginning shante is in her pajamas, and at another point she takes a bath, so yeah. Fanservice is a large part of this game. Every time you meet a female character, you can expect too much chest and alot of skin. There is even a part where there is two girls in bikinis, and I don’t think there was any reason why.
Now lets move on to the biggest offender in this game and the reason you should avoid this game if you are like me and try to avoid fanservice as much as possible.
So you have played through 3 levels and met a very fanserviced female in each level. You arrive in a desert and walk into a large fortress. You are soon surrounded and somebody says “my queen has finally returned!” When shante try’s to tell him he is incorrect he just says “she must have bumped her head and lost some of her memory. Take her to the dressing room. The screen goes black, and when it lights up again shante is dressed in the most fanservice outfit possible. It’s probably 95% skin and 5% clothing. It wouldn’t cover anything on a real person but this is cartoon so it’s possible to censor things like that. If you don’t believe me that its that bad here is a screenshot

Spoiler: Click at your own risk

This game is rated E10+.
What makes this worse is that this is a gerudo desert level, so you have to sneak out, but later you learn that EVERY major female character you have met so far also got captured and is wearing the same outfit. Its pretty obvious that they are doing this on purpose.
The thing is, this game is a really good platforming zelda game, but if you want to avoid fan service stay away from this game, because it will draw you in with its good gameplay and stick a bunch of porny images in your face.

 

[Duffy]

I don't know I wouldn't call it pornography. I think fan services is exactly as it is. I will say I am surprised this game is E10! It should definitely be T for Teen because of suggestive themes, or M for Mature because of strong sexual themes. The ESRB gave this game a E10 for "Mild" Suggestive themes... I don't know about that. To be honest the game is pretty raunchy, but maybe I've gotten more used to stuff like this since college, but at parties and even in dorms girls were skimpy clothing like the screenshot posted (albeit maybe not quite like that, but bikinis, bras, revealing clothing, etc.). The ESRB's rating summary states "This is an action-platformer in which players assume the role of a dancer named Shantae as she solves puzzles, searches for items, and battles pirates. Players use Shantae's hair to whip various enemies (e.g., demons, skeletons, scarecrows); players also use a 'cartoony' gun that shoots small balls of light. Jewels/hearts usually appear when enemies are defeated. Several female characters wear bikinis or bikini-like outfits that reveal large amounts of cleavage; one scene briefly depicts Shantae in a bubble bath." And I think that's accurate.

 

[luigiFTW]

Yeah. The description of what is in the game is accurate but the rating given for those things is not. I actually remembered the outfit in the desert being alot worse, but maybe im like you and have gotten more used to it from various things, though I still try to avoid it because I don’t think its good and my instant retaliation being gone doesn’t mean that it isn’t still bad.
I was gonna tell this story in the main post but i ran out of time: after beating the game i had a conversation with my brother in which he said “do you know what the majority of the shante fanbase is like?” I had my assumptions and he showed me this:

Spoiler: A video

Confirming my theories.

 

[TribstyAnn]

Wow! Somebody's sheltered beyond belief. Are you homeschooled by any chance?

That is a huge stretch to call pornography. Nothing explicit is shown. While you may not like fanservice personally, calling it pornography is an extreme exaggeration, and trying to convince people not to buy it because of that is also silly. You've obviously not never been to the beach before, you probably see worse than this. You also must never watch any anime either. I can see that this game should've maybe had a higher rating, but definitely not M.

We no the developers did it on purpose. So what? Is it wrong to have sexy female characters in a game? They have the right to put whatever they want into their game. If you don't like it why did you buy it? Just delete it, but don't try to force your opinion onto others.

Honestly it seems like you are the only one putting so much attention on this fact. It kinda sounds like you almost feel a little guilty and want to cleanse your conscience a bit with this rant.

And about that video, people do that with literally every franchise. You can't judge a game by it's fandom. The video isn't even that bad.

 

[luigiFTW]

Ok, i might be overreacting a little bit, but some people try to avoid stuff like this. (I played it During puberty, so it probably bothered me more) The bigger problem i have with it is how obvious it is that they are trying to show as much cleavage as possible. There is plenty of evidence for this claim. First, the fact that they had every female character in the game show off plenty of cleavage. Second, they had four characters also be captured in the desert level even though it makes no sense at all that they would be there and clearly they just wanted to show off more cleavage in those skimpy outfits. Third and last evidence is the mighty switch force games. Wayforward must have a really hard time making games with female characters, because these games suffer from similar distractions, but just on a lesser scale.

Btw if somebody was on a beach with clothes as skimpy as the desert princess outfit i would not be okay with it. It shows alot.

 

[Duffy]

Yeah. The description of what is in the game is accurate but the rating given for those things is not. I actually remembered the outfit in the desert being alot worse, but maybe im like you and have gotten more used to it from various things, though I still try to avoid it because I don’t think its good and my instant retaliation being gone doesn’t mean that it isn’t still bad.
I was gonna tell this story in the main post but i ran out of time: after beating the game i had a conversation with my brother in which he said “do you know what the majority of the shante fanbase is like?” I had my assumptions and he showed me this:

Spoiler: A video

Confirming my theories.

Lol I'm sure some of the fanbase is like that. But your evidence is just one video. You can't say the enitre/majority of the fandom is like that based on that one video.

Wow! Somebody's sheltered beyond belief. Are you homeschooled by any chance?

That is a huge stretch to call pornography. Nothing explicit is shown. While you may not like fanservice personally, calling it pornography is an extreme exaggeration, and trying to convince people not to buy it because of that is also silly. You've obviously not never been to the beach before, you probably see worse than this. You also must never watch any anime either. I can see that this game should've maybe had a higher rating, but definitely not M.

We know the developers did it on purpose. So what? Is it wrong to have sexy female characters in a game? They have the right to put whatever they want into their game. If you don't like it why did you buy it? Just delete it, but don't try to force your opinion onto others.

Honestly it seems like you are the only one putting so much attention on this fact. It kinda sounds like you almost feel a little guilty and want to cleanse your conscience a bit with this rant.

And about that video, people do that with literally every franchise. You can't judge a game by it's fandom. The video isn't even that bad.

Specifically in relation to the part I bolded, just google search any game's name and then rule 34 after it. That is pornography. Video game fandoms do stuff like that pretty often.

In relation to the part I underlined, I think the answer to that question is more of an opinion. Most people would agree that having sexy women in video games is fine, but not necessarily everyone. You do go on to say that if you disagree you should not buy it, which is exactly how I feel about the matter. If you don't like it don't buy it.

I don't know if I'd say it's wrong to try to convince others not to buy the game though just because it is an opinion. As long as it is factual then I think it's probably ok. Example: telling people there is a lot of fan service in Shantae I think is pk, but telling people there is a lot of pornography in Shantae is not ok, because there isn't any. After that if someone decides not to buy Shantae because they do not like fan service that's their decision but that's ok because you prevented them from buying something they probably wouldn't like anyways. But make sure not to mislead someone as to what or why you don't like something. That comes off as deceitful.

 

[Duffy]

Ok, i might be overreacting a little bit, but some people try to avoid stuff like this. (I played it During puberty, so it probably bothered me more) The bigger problem i have with it is how obvious it is that they are trying to show as much cleavage as possible. There is plenty of evidence for this claim. First, the fact that they had every female character in the game show off plenty of cleavage. Second, they had four characters also be captured in the desert level even though it makes no sense at all that they would be there and clearly they just wanted to show off more cleavage in those skimpy outfits. Third and last evidence is the mighty switch force games. Wayforward must have a really hard time making games with female characters, because these games suffer from similar distractions, but just on a lesser scale.

Btw if somebody was on a beach with clothes as skimpy as the desert princess outfit i would not be okay with it. It shows alot.

My reaction to the Bolded part: . People wear stuff like that to the beach extremely often. I don't even live near a beach and still...

 

[luigiFTW]

Wow! Somebody's sheltered beyond belief. Are you homeschooled by any chance?

That is a huge stretch to call pornography. Nothing explicit is shown. While you may not like fanservice personally, calling it pornography is an extreme exaggeration, and trying to convince people not to buy it because of that is also silly. You've obviously not never been to the beach before, you probably see worse than this. You also must never watch any anime either. I can see that this game should've maybe had a higher rating, but definitely not M.

We no the developers did it on purpose. So what? Is it wrong to have sexy female characters in a game? They have the right to put whatever they want into their game. If you don't like it why did you buy it? Just delete it, but don't try to force your opinion onto others.

Honestly it seems like you are the only one putting so much attention on this fact. It kinda sounds like you almost feel a little guilty and want to cleanse your conscience a bit with this rant.

And about that video, people do that with literally every franchise. You can't judge a game by it's fandom. The video isn't even that bad.

I am homeschooled.
I believe fanservice to be a lame excuse to create pornography. Real service to fans would be making an interesting and honorable character with a personality people can learn from.
Its fine for games to be made with sexy females but the rating doesn’t reflect it and the game is shown off more by people for it being a classic Nintendo character from the game boy color. I made the article because some people might not know about it till they have allready bought it.
I probably watch more anime than you do, but i try to avoid the fanservicey ones.
I do feel alittle guilty about the fact that i finished the game despite these things and wrote this article so anyone elso who would also feel guilty wouldn’t have to feel guilty. The gameplay is very good so even with the fanservice it was hard to stop.
The video was a joke.
This article was clearly not written for you, as you are perfectly fine with this.

 

[Duffy]

I am homeschooled.
1.I believe fanservice to be a lame excuse to create pornography. Real service to fans would be making an interesting and honorable character with a personality people can learn from.

2.Its fine for games to be made with sexy females but the rating doesn’t reflect it and the game is shown off more by people for it being a classic Nintendo character from the game boy color. I made the article because some people might not know about it till they have already bought it.

3.I probably watch more anime than you do, but i try to avoid the fanservicey ones.


4. I do feel alittle guilty about the fact that i finished the game despite these things and wrote this article so anyone elso who would also feel guilty wouldn’t have to feel guilty. The gameplay is very good so even with the fanservice it was hard to stop.
The video was a joke.

This article was clearly not written for you, as you are perfectly fine with this.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_service
I think you misunderstand the term fan service so here's a link to the wikipedia article on it. Fan service is about giving the fans... uh, as wikipedia puts it "exactly what they want." IE-Sex sells.

2. Sure, you may not think the ESRB correctly rated the game, and maybe they did not rate it correctly but I think it's relavent to mention the ESRB is a voluntary service. The game's publishers didn't even have to do that, but they went out of their way and spent more money to do so for the consumers.

3. You weren't talking to me on this point so I'm gonna ignore it

4. The game play is honestly probably the most compelling part about Shantae, and that's the game's selling point not the fan service. That part is also there because most gamers want it too.

A few more things, because this seems to be an isolated incident that came out of no where. Fan service like this is every where in games... How do you feel about Zero Suit Samus in smash? Or rather how do you feel about her in her original game series, Metriod? Did you know the faster players beat Metroid the less clothing Samus wears at the end of the game? Furthermore I wonder how you feel about Shulk in smash, specifically his bathing suit? Both Samus and Shulk are sort of different types of, but still, fan service (and in an extremely popular game like Smash too).

 

[Duffy]

Wow! Somebody's sheltered beyond belief. Are you homeschooled by any chance?

That is a huge stretch to call pornography. Nothing explicit is shown. While you may not like fanservice personally, calling it pornography is an extreme exaggeration, and trying to convince people not to buy it because of that is also silly. You've obviously not never been to the beach before, you probably see worse than this. You also must never watch any anime either. I can see that this game should've maybe had a higher rating, but definitely not M.

We no the developers did it on purpose. So what? Is it wrong to have sexy female characters in a game? They have the right to put whatever they want into their game. If you don't like it why did you buy it? Just delete it, but don't try to force your opinion onto others.

Honestly it seems like you are the only one putting so much attention on this fact. It kinda sounds like you almost feel a little guilty and want to cleanse your conscience a bit with this rant.

And about that video, people do that with literally every franchise. You can't judge a game by it's fandom. The video isn't even that bad.

I am homeschooled.
I believe fanservice to be a lame excuse to create pornography. Real service to fans would be making an interesting and honorable character with a personality people can learn from.
Its fine for games to be made with sexy females but the rating doesn’t reflect it and the game is shown off more by people for it being a classic Nintendo character from the game boy color. I made the article because some people might not know about it till they have allready bought it.
I probably watch more anime than you do, but i try to avoid the fanservicey ones.
I do feel alittle guilty about the fact that i finished the game despite these things and wrote this article so anyone elso who would also feel guilty wouldn’t have to feel guilty. The gameplay is very good so even with the fanservice it was hard to stop.
The video was a joke.
This article was clearly not written for you, as you are perfectly fine with this.

Also, holy heck that's a coincidence... @TribstyAnn

 

[luigiFTW]

Here is my response to all of that. Fanservice is what some people want. Not all. I consider it a lame excuse for porn because it is intentionally showing something sexually arousing and using the fandom as an excuse. Most likely a large amount of people really like stuff like that, but i know im not the only one who doesn’t. I have gotten so annoyed so many times when watching a really good anime and they suddenly go to a bath scene or a swimsuit scene, and start zooming in on the cleavage and junk.
My personal reason for avoiding it is because i feel it makes it harder to not think of women as “people to have sex with.”
And yes, i know that Nintendo has stuff like this. I just didn’t expect this much in this game where yes, the gameplay is the games selling point. It was what sold me on the game. The fanservice was not the selling point and not something i has expecting when i got it.
Anyway, this is for people who agree with me and also want to avoid porn. Its a hard thing to avoid nowadays.

 

[Marc]

I'll chip in here..

I've never played Shante and the Pirates Curse but:

1. Fan service isn't exactly pornography (it's alright if you consider it as such but when you're reviewing a game, it's misleading).

Shante can dress up in sexy lingerie/clothing which is what some gamers want, but I bet she isn't stripping and showing her private parts anywhere in the game, especially since it was published on Nintendo consoles.

Telling someone it's pornography is kind of misleading them.

2. I live on an Island so I've been to beaches A LOT. People wear bikinis all the time and they look just like the desert outfit you showed (but not that stylish). If you walk up to a girl in a bikini and you call her a pornstar, she's going to slap you hardcore

3. Being homeschooled, you might be less exposed to certain things

 

[Duffy]

Here is my response to all of that. Fanservice is what some people want. Not all. I consider it a lame excuse for porn because it is intentionally showing something sexually arousing and using the fandom as an excuse. Most likely a large amount of people really like stuff like that, but i know im not the only one who doesn’t. I have gotten so annoyed so many times when watching a really good anime and they suddenly go to a bath scene or a swimsuit scene, and start zooming in on the cleavage and junk.
My personal reason for avoiding it is because i feel it makes it harder to not think of women as “people to have sex with.”
And yes, i know that Nintendo has stuff like this. I just didn’t expect this much in this game where yes, the gameplay is the games selling point. It was what sold me on the game. The fanservice was not the selling point and not something i has expecting when i got it.
Anyway, this is for people who agree with me and also want to avoid porn. Its a hard thing to avoid nowadays.

Honestly everything you said is mostly fine if you change "porn" to "fan service." I stick by the fact that this is not porn. There is no sexually explicit content shown. It's fair enough if you don't like the game for what it does happen to show, but of course it is not porn.

Objectifying women as sex objects is something we can all agree to condemn (I think). But saying that a strong female lead character in a video game is pornographic because of the way she dresses/acts/how her body or boobs look is almost as bad. I think females should be able to dress however provocatively (or non-provocatively!) they want (as long as they aren't showing any sexually explicit part of the body) without it being classified as pornography. If you have a problem with this it comes off as if you are a "nice guy" and not someone who actually cares about them (not to mention it comes off as deceitful because it is not pornographic).

I think that is the main issue I have here. Your use of the word "porn" is just too liberal. Shantae is not porn straight by the definition (http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/P/Pornography.aspx): "The portrayal of sexual acts solely for the purpose of sexual arousal." The point of the game is platforming, not sexual arousal. Furthermore it would be not classified as porn under United States (or probably any country's) law, as it shows no sexually explicit content. So the claim this game is porn has no basis to stand on.

Tl;dr (Too long, didn't read): You really don't like the game because of the fan service, but you want to classify it, and blame it on/as pornography when that simply isn't how it is.

 

[Marc]

Furthermore it would be classified as porn under United States (or probably any country's) law, as it shows no sexually explicit content. So the claim this game is porn has no basis to stand on.

You missed the "not" ;-;

How do you feel about Zero Suit Samus in smash?

I consider half naked Shulk to be worse between the two .-.

Spoiler: Half naked Shulk from Smash

 

[Duffy]

You missed the "not" ;-;

I consider half naked Shulk to be worse between the two .-.

Spoiler: Half naked Shulk from Smash

Edited my mistake!

Yea shulk is pretty bad but I completely forgot about Bayonetta! Who is now a Nintendo exclusive character after Nintendo saved Bayonetta 2 from cancellation. I mean both of Bayonetta's entire games are fan service... Even in smash she's pretty raunchy but maybe not as naked all the time as shulk here is. But I mean Bayonetta still sort is always naked? I mean here standard black costume is apparently just her hair... so her hair covers her lady parts, and when she attacks it goes away. Also to add to the fan service element of Bayonetta's games, her first game (maybe other? I haven't played bayonetta 2) had a "one hand mode" where you could control the entire game with one hand which leaves your other hand free to ... do other things... You get what I'm saying I think.

Edit: "One hand mode" is actually called "Very Easy Automatic" mode, but it is obvious what it can be used for.

 

[Dowhat?]

We need female’s opinion on this. Idrk about this scenario. Stuff like this does bother me in games. I don’t know why they put it in but hey I don’t have to play certain games.

 

[luigiFTW]

Ok, i guess it probably isn’t porn. But, i do feel it is a minor form that is in the sense that the game seems to want people to look at (and probably enjoy) women with less than modest clothing.

We need female’s opinion on this. Idrk about this scenario. Stuff like this does bother me in games. I don’t know why they put it in but hey I don’t have to play certain games.

So true, so true. Maybe i am being a insecure noob at life. I haven’t even gone on a date yet, though i did ask somebody yesterday.

 

[TribstyAnn]

I am homeschooled.

Also, holy heck that's a coincidence... @TribstyAnn

Nah! I'm homeschooled myself. It was pretty obvious from the way he was posting. He had a weird rant that exaggerated things and gave the appearance of being raised in a sheltered environment, but he also typed fairly well, had a well structured post, and used basic grammar rules. I'm also homeschooled soooo.....

I probably watch more anime than you do, but i try to avoid the fanservicey ones.

Idk about who watches more, that's besides the point, but honestly I do the same thing. I'm personally not a fan of fan service. I avoid ecchi harem shows for that reason. If a show has some elements of it I won't throw it out, for example I loved Maid Dragon even though Lucoa was in it, but I avoid the ecchi centric anime. But if you are THIS EXTREMELY opposed to fanservice or slightly sexualized elements, I can't really believe you watch a lot of anime as stuff like that is everywhere.

I have gotten so annoyed so many times when watching a really good anime and they suddenly go to a bath scene or a swimsuit scene, and start zooming in on the cleavage and junk.

Lol we all know every good anime needs a beach or hot springs episode.

My personal reason for avoiding it is because i feel it makes it harder to not think of women as “people to have sex with.”
And yes, i know that Nintendo has stuff like this. I just didn’t expect this much in this game where yes, the gameplay is the games selling point. It was what sold me on the game. The fanservice was not the selling point and not something i has expecting when i got it.
Anyway, this is for people who agree with me and also want to avoid porn. Its a hard thing to avoid nowadays.

Yeah. This pretty much confirms it, this isn't about other people as much as it is trying to convince yourself that you're good. Be honest with yourself; You Enjoyed It! If you didn't you wouldn't have finished the game! And now you feel bad and are trying to cleanse your conscience by lambasting the game. Don't get me wrong, I've done the same thing where I've feel bad or gross after watching a show, but I didn't stop watching it at first. If you really feel bad about it I'd suggest talking to somebody IRL, rather than random people online.

Also if you don't like fanservice, maybe avoid the "Suggestive Themes" ESRB descriptor.

 

[luigiFTW]

Like i said before, I wrote it for people who try to avoid stuff like this who might not know about it. The internet is the easiest way to spread that knowledge. I finished it because I enjoyed the gameplay and have an obsession with completing games. The fanservice just made me extremely uncomfortable.

Its very difficult to watch as much anime as i do when your like me. I mainly avoid anime that show off cleavage often, zoom into cleavage, has perverts, people talking about sex, and stuff that makes me uncomfortable.

I might just unwatch this thread though because i seem to be the only one here who didn’t know about this. you guys seem to be saying “why did you get it then?”
I was going to beat hyrule Warriors but then they made cia a playable character so I can’t beat the game 100% because i would have to deal with having her on my screen for a very long time. Fanservice may not be porn but it probably has some of the same negative and addictive effects as it.

 

[28142]

I'ma just gonna throw my 2 pence here. But like others have said before, age ratings are these for a reason, and games are heavily reviewed under to make sure the age ratins are what those games are supposed to have. There's also a list of reasons behind why games are rated what and "Suggestive Themes" is one of the things games are rated for. "Suggestive Themes" means this kind of fan service and it was rated suitable for children so it's ok.

Its very difficult to watch as much anime as i do when your like me. I mainly avoid anime that show off cleavage often, zoom into cleavage, has perverts, people talking about sex, and stuff that makes me uncomfortable.

Tbh, I cannot think of a single anime that I've watched that doesn't have at least 1 of those things you've mentioned. Though, I tend to not shy away from ecchi tags and things like that since I don't mind (And sometimes even makes the anime more interesting lol). Anime is known for having a lot of fan service, and that's why it's known that most "ecchi" tagged animes are normally a bit more then what western people would call fan service.

But yeah, if you have an issue with how games are rated then feel free to take it up with ESRB or whoever I guess.