Adaptive difficulty makes the game harder for better players, allowing you access to tense arcade moments as quickly as possible without having to
replay earlier levels.
What is the same however, are the game locations, as the 3 alternate Shantae's must all explore through the same levels the Half - Genie Hero Shantae has to, except like with the Friends to the End DLC, there is no hub world, just a series of stages to be beaten, complete with bosses and a Stage Select option for anyone looking to
replay earlier levels.
That may not seem like a huge problem, but a few of these treasures must be collected by
replaying earlier levels after a later stage or world is completed.
A lack of saves means
replaying early levels, so your swear box might be fuller than expected.
Not exact matches
It's a delicate balance that occasionally results in requiring a
replay to
level up your Commander or to purchase a new slot, but once these upgrades are made available you can bump up the difficulty on
earlier levels to make the process easier and more exciting.
All of the
levels can be
replayed at any time once a
level is completed, which is necessary because some of the
earlier levels require heads or special moves gathered in later
levels.
The game has 24 singleplayer
levels, and adds to the
replay value by making some (non-essential) areas inaccessible until you get more powerful jump (and double - jump) abilities later in the game, giving you a reason to
replay some of those
early levels.
It also adds a lot of
replay value to
early levels for players who might not be able to complete later challenges.
You unlock further
levels based on the amount of medals you have, so, while you can skip tough
levels, or get by with a bronze, you'll find yourself
replaying earlier tracks to try to get a gold and unlock the next race.
That gives the game good
replay value as you'll want to go back to
earlier levels and try to gain all the stars.
The game doesn't feature any highscore or leaderboard options but as mentioned
earlier,
levels can be
replayed to try and earn medals.
And if I don't want to
replay the
early game again, other players have (of course) built a mod that lets me skip through the first few
levels.