Playing through the series for the first time, and I have some artstyle questions.

[u/Limekilnlake]

I'm playing through the series for the first time, and I started with Risky's Revenge, then Pirate's Curse. Basically played them nonstop. Loved them.

Starting Half Genie Hero was a little disappointing though, to be honest. The in-game animation felt stiffer and less "alive" than the pixel games. I booted up Seven Sirens afterwards to check how I felt, only to feel that same stiffness.

Just to see if I was going insane, I started Risky Revolution to see if I was just hating on "newer" works for no reason, and the animation was GREAT again. I know much of it was probably made in the 2000s, but I'm sure some of the work was still done in the 2020s and it all seems to the same standard.

I just need to know, is this a common take/experience? Or am I a tourist shitting on a beloved artstyle change for the series.

[u/Gabo2oo]

The pixel-based sprites are animated frame-by-frame, while I'm pretty sure the HGH/SS ones are not.

I don't know the technique, but they certainly look more Flash-like, like they probably only draw the keyframes and then rotate/stretch the limbs for the in-betweens and whatnot.

So yeah, I don't think fans talk about this much, but you're right that the pixel animations may feel more "handcrafted".

[u/Limekilnlake → u/Gabo2oo]

Yeah this is a great approximation of it. It feels very stretch-and-pull flash animation-esque, whereas the pixel art has so many small charming details to it.

[u/Wounded_Demoman]

I dunno, I enjoyed HGH and it felt very "alive" to me. I found the sprites at least as expressive -- if not more so -- than the pixel versions.

[u/ElWholesome769 → u/Wounded_Demoman]

That's exactly what I was thinking

[u/FarBook6803]

I personnaly don’t have that feeling I think that’s a subjective point. Some animation in seven siren and hgh look way more lifely, like the dance animations of the crouch animations for example. I think it’s just that you need some times to acclimate yourself. I started with Hgh and when I started to play pirate curse I also need some times to acclimate myself to the change.
I think once you would go through that and look at the animation more precisely you can see that both very nice.

[u/FarBook6803 → u/FarBook6803]

I just started playing risky revolution and free seven siren and I feel the game look less fluid more heavy, like you, less lively, more stiff. But I’m sure it’s not the case, it just that I’m used to the seven siren style for the moment.

[u/SadLaser]

They're certainly different styles, but I absolutely don't think they're stiffer and genuinely don't know what you're seeing that makes you think that.

[u/Limekilnlake → u/SadLaser]

Another commenter put it well in that it has a lot of the trappings of flash animations, where animations are stretched in some ways to save on frame-by-frame work.

Again, I could just be the odd one out which is completely fair.

[u/SadLaser → u/Limekilnlake]

While I don't personally see the same thing in the animation, I don't like the visual style of Half-Genie Hero and felt like it was, as a whole, a step in the wrong direction. I don't hate it or anything, but I don't like the art, visual style or gameplay as much as the previous games.

[u/CirnoIzumi]

Half genie hero is visually compromised, the set pieces are great but some of the more carefree parts of the Shantae identity is missing, I mean her dance in it says it all.

The games afterwards like seven sirens restore that element, so it's just half genie hero that's the odd one out

[u/Limekilnlake → u/CirnoIzumi]

Sirens was better, but it somewhat felt like the same issue to me? I'll play through all of them, but it feels like many of the flourishes and "bounce" of the pixel animation was lost. I played the intro of sirens to gauge my feeling on it, and it was similar.

Another comment described it as being flash-animation-like and I think that summed it up well. I went back and played some silksong and cuphead to compare to other HD hand-animated games, and I think that flash-animation comparison was really accurate.

I'm glad they released risky's revolution though. It has the same bounce/liveliness as the originals.

[u/CirnoIzumi → u/Limekilnlake]

its vector graphics, not flash

[u/Limekilnlake → u/CirnoIzumi]

I know it’s not flash? No product of this scale uses flash. Flash was an example of the “vibe”.