Let's talk Wayforward for a moment

I think this is a win-win no matter how you look at it. I'm sure the team at Way Forward are more than glad to help out seeing as the Shantae series is essentially a giant love letter to Igavanias. Hopefully they are being paid for their involvement though.

The game will be a much more polished experience thanks to their involvement that's for sure.

I think it's possible, though not certain, Wayforward is doing a lot of the work 'pro bono,' or at least not asking for especially lucrative compensation. These guys really, really love classic sidescrollers, and might have agreed to do IGA and his team some favors out of passion and affection for IGA's team. And if Bloodstained ends up being a success--a high-profile indie success, which is relatively rare, actually (the vast majority of successful Kickstarter games have been smaller affairs, most of the other big ones I can think of ended up failures), Wayforward will get a strong reputation for having rescued the project and turning it into a smash hit, which could lead to bigger things down the line.

Wayforward is actually my absolute favorite 2D developer.

I personally consider them flat-out superior to all 2D Japanese development houses.

Only Inti creates can touch them in terms of game design, but what they also have (that Inti doesn't) is kick ass 3D artists and mad technical skillz.

I would put Contra 4 (which was done by Wayforward) against any other Contra game out there.

A few things:

1) They're not working pro-bono. Not even nuns work pro-bono, because you have to be extremely rich to be able to do that, and they aren't (neither Wayforward nor nuns).

2) If they're working on quashing bugs, creating assets and improving shaders, they're basically bringing the game over the finish line.

3) To be fair to DiCO, they did rescue the project after Inti bailed, and brought the game close to the goal line. Also, not all of the improvement can be attributed to Wayforward's involvement, since the beta backer demo from last year had the shader's they'd been working on disabled. In other words, the game was never meant to look as bad as the beta backer demo does. On the other hand, if they helped quash the bug that was making their lighting too computationally expensive, then they helped make the game look how it was originally supposed to look.

Some thoughts:

I honestly think Wayforward could have handled this project alone from the start; if we do get a sequel, I would think 505 would hire Wayforward from the get-go next time. They bring not just technical expertise and game design know-how to the table, but an aesthetic sense that few companies can match.  You really need a good art director even when your assets are out-sourced: otherwise they will suck.

Also, though some people are upset that we're getting a Switch version instead of native support for apple and linux, I'm of the opinion that the Switch version is the most important one out there. It's where the game can find a market, its best hope to turn in a profit; and if it does, then a sequel will be likely, since it'll cost waaaay less than the original to make (asset reuse).

Finally, wouldn't it be nice if the game were a huge success and Nintendo decided to hire ArtPlay + Wayforward to do a 2D Metroid? Don't think it'll ever happen (and Nintendo is not known for working well with independently minded development houses it doesn't own), but hey, I never thought Nintendo would embrace indy games, either.

Yes, a chance, and my suspicion is that WF is doing more/additional things perhaps besides the stretch goals for Bloodstained soon or even currently.

For Classic and other stretch goal modes specifically though, I think that they would have been underway well before WF joined up, but they could be helping. My inclination toward them doing more than what we currently know is how Angel said something essentially to that effect.

Would be great if Nintendo could acquire the Bloodstained IP and Iga...though it would be sad to see Roberto go But you know it would be in good hands.

I would probably kill myself if I learned that these games would eventually be a Switch exclusive, due to Nintendo having rights to it. It's not a farfetched idea. It's just that I don't own a Switch. I own a PS4 and an entry-level PC...

Let's not get ahead of ourselves that just because Nintendo got the game on Direct that the future of the series is Nintendo. I've seen a similar response from people all wanting to change their platform version to Switch just because of that lol, I mean...it'll be basically the same game on all platforms, like they've always said, and that's not new information. There's nothing wrong with the version you already picked just because the current flavor of excitement is Switch. If you just didn't believe that the game would look good on Switch until now, well shame on you, that's your fault haha.

If I got a Switch, I'd never leave the toilet (aka, the only place in the house that I have 2, maybe 3, seconds before one of my children finds me to ask me something like, 'Do horses have faces for a reason?')

Or, as it seems in my case, taking a deuce with family...