WayForward Games sent out word that the half-genie hero, Shantae, is back and ready to take the gaming world by storm in her new crowd-funded game, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.

The game received its official launch trailer, featuring some 2.5D visuals running at an absolutely clean and pristine 60 gorgeous frames per second, and we get the full effect of Shantae as she jumps, shoots, runs and platforms her way through a variety of levels.

I simply have to say that this game has some amazing looking aesthetics. The animations are simply a pure slice of key-frame heaven, and the backdrops actually match the perspective and design of the game’s hand-drawn themes.

For instance, some games use 3D backgrounds while featuring hand-drawn characters, and it creates this really obvious dichotomy between the foreground sprites and the background layers. In the case of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, the 3D backdrops are shaded to look like cartoon sprites, so even while passing by the player’s perspective, the 3D depth doesn’t betray the hand-drawn elements of the game. It’s really good stuff and it looks marvelous in motion.

It’s hard to compare this game to other titles. The detail in the visuals reminds me of SNK’s old Metal Slug games made for a newer generation. However, the platforming is extremely fast-paced and liquid smooth, almost like the Rayman games.

The comment section is filled with praise.

The backers actually seem very proud of what WayForward accomplished and even non-backers are rushing to pick up a copy of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. I honestly can’t blame them. It looks like WayForward did what they promised they were going to do and make a fun platformer for the ages.

If you want to get your hands on a digital copy of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero you can pick up a digital copy for the Wii U from the Nintendo eShop. If you’re not rocking some Nintendoware, it’s okay because you can grab a digital copy from the PlayStation Store for the PS4, or from the Xbox Store for the Xbox One. And finally, if you’re a member of the Glorious PC Master Race, you can pick up a digital copy from the Steam store.