According to Shantae co creator Matt Bozon, during development of the first Shantae game, publishers were having a hard time accepting the idea of having a female lead character rather than a male character.

''The most common reaction to Shantae back in the '90s was "Hey, great looking game. But who do the guys play as?" Like, we must have messed up and put the "Player 2" character in the "Player 1" spot. It felt like our work was being dismissed for no good reason, and it made no sense to me. But eventually I came to understand that these people genuinely knew their markets, and that the game would probably not sell, and that was even more irritating. So, I feel like Shantae had to exist, even if it was just to reach out and see if there was an audience reaching back."

Shantae was later picked up by Capcom in 2002 and was released on the Gameboy Color.