Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, the fourth entry in developer WayForward's flagship franchise and the first to debut on home consoles, was successfully crowdfunded via Kickstarter in late 2013, with the company releasing the acclaimed Shantae and the Pirate's Curse the following year to make the wait easier. While continuing to provide small details, and even letting backers vote on character designs, WayForward has remained relatively vague about when they hoped for the game to release.