Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a 2014 platform video game developed and published by WayForward Technologies for the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U.

The game follows the adventures of the eponymous half-genie Shantae as she once again has to save Sequin Land from a new foe, the Pirate Master, with help from her nemesis Risky Boots.

In place of transformation dances, Shantae can use a genie lamp to suck up nearby gems, as well as carry dark magic and other gaseous objects like smells.

Hidden across the various islands are twenty cursed Cacklebats, which the player must defeat and extract Dark Magic from in order to obtain the game's best ending.

Additional bonus artwork is unlocked based on players' final time and completion percentage upon clearing the game.

Risky deduces that the Pirate Master, a powerful evil tyrant and her former captain who was sealed away long ago by Sequin Land's genies, is trying to use the Dark Magic to revive himself.

Shantae gives chase back to Scuttle Town, and confronts the Pirate Master in the Sequin Land palace.

[22][23] A Google Stadia port was announced on May 14, 2021, and was scheduled to be released that summer,[24] but was postponed to an unknown date, and was eventually cancelled due to the service's closure on January 18, 2023.

[30][31] Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4.5 out of 5, saying "Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is another exemplary entry in a short but long-lived line of exploration-driven platformers.

"[38] Destructoid enjoyed the moment-to-moment platforming and combat mechanics, the dungeons' "interesting" layouts and hard-to-find secret areas, and the "funny" narrative, but lamented the replacement of a "giant, singular open world" like in Risky's Revenge with a "collective of islands" that were too small and found the removal of the previous game's quick travel mechanic made "getting from place to place ... a hassle.

"[37] With the game aided by "detailed, expressive sprites" and environments "bright and full of life", IGN found that Pirate's Curse "[stood] out from the glut of retro-inspired platformers", praising the world's division into "distinct-feeling" islands whose "smaller, more focused approach" kept the reviewer engaged, the occasional "inane, hilarious" puzzle scenario, and the "consistently funny" dialogue, but was annoyed by numerous enemies that constantly respawned while backtracking throughout the islands.