Shantae
- The 4 Baby Warp Squids needed to unlock fast travel to each town are all found in dungeons. Each contains five squids (the fifth always requires an animal form you don't have the first time around) and it's always worth finding and returning the set of four to make overland travel much faster.
- Grinding enemies for money is very inefficient, by far the fastest way to make money is gambling in the Gecko Chamber in Oasis Town. If you're any good at rhythm games, the dance parlor (only open at night) in the starting town is also a better alternative for initial funds.
- Items are very useful overall. For example Flash Bolts are far stronger than normal attacks and Vanish Cream makes you temporarily invincible, making overworld travel far easier. Some optional puzzles also require using certain items.
- Getting a game over replenishes your life count, so it can be useful to get more lives by getting a game over intentionally after having saved.
- The input for item use (Up + Attack) can be a little finicky on the ground, jumping and using one mid-air is more reliable.
- Things you can break while in Elephant Form include stone blocks and impassable tree trunks.
- Some new attacks can be bought from the shop in Water Town, but arguably only the first two are useful as the last two rely on a very slow charge-up time and which you might trigger on accident at inconvenient times.
- After its initial appearance, the location of the Zombie Caravan is randomized and only appears at night. One option for reliable access is to save up 4 Warp Squids from an earlier dungeon and use them there on the first visit.
- The optional firefly collection quest can't be be completed without access to all four animal forms. The reward is nothing essential though - a dance that heals you with money.
- If the game is run on a Game Boy Advance, you can buy a handy but by no means critical bonus shapeshift in Bandit Town for 500 gems.
- When you're first tasked to travel to Mount Pointy, travel west past Oasis Town. Going east only makes for a long journey to an unscalable side of the mountain.
- At one point you're also tasked to "fly to the highest point" with no hints as to where that is - the point being referred to is actually located in Ladies' Desert.