Steel thy Shovels! (Shovel Knight)

     In the year 2014, platformers were dying out. It seemed that the genre was old hat, and everyone wanted to play the latest Call of Duty or Battlefield game. Other than Nintendo, most companies had shifted away from or completely shut down whatever little focus they originally had on the genre that Mario had built. That is, until a little indie dev called Yacht Club stepped in with a new idea, built on top of several old ideas. Shovel Knight is a strange concept for a character, much less a game. He's exactly what you'd expect, a knight with a shovel. The story of the game is nothing special, though it still does a good job of making the player invested in seeing the hero proceed through tough trials to get to the end. The amazing thing about this gameplay is that it takes a lot of different moves and aesthetics from different NES era games, but combines all of these things to make them very unique and original.

    Shovel Knight's move set is genuinely fun to play around with. By combining Scrooge McDuck's cane hop, Mega Man's tight but short jump height, and Link's sword slash from Zelda II, you can basically synthesize Shovel Knight's moves. He pulls them off with such style and ease, however, it's possibly even more satisfying to use than it was in the original games with those ideas. All of the platforming chops are just the beginning of this knight's moves however, as you can also collect relics which allow you to throw anchors, shoot fire out of a magic rod (a la Zelda), punch through mounds of dirt over bottomless pits, or even turn invincible for a few seconds. When you combine all of these relics with the incredibly tight and responsive platforming already in the game and the incredible level design, it makes for an even more enjoyable and potentially challenging time.

    Now, like I said, the story is nothing to write home about, it is a few steps above your garden variety Mario or Zelda however. Shovel Knight and Shield Knight (his love interest/partner) were the greatest heroes that the land had ever seen. They would travel around and have all sorts of adventures until one day when the heroes entered the Tower of Fate and Shield Knight was swept away by a tide of darkness, leaving Shovel Knight alone and stricken by grief for his fallen friend. Years go by and Shovel Knight becomes nothing but a legend, as he took up a normal job of digging things for a living when a new evil suddenly emerges. The Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter arrive on the scene and take over the land, causing Shovel Knight to steel his shovel and launch into battle once again. Throughout the course of this game, you deal with 8 members of the Order of No Quarter, each focused on a different theme, from Specter Knight who resides over the graveyard, King Knight, who resides over a castle, and Treasure Knight, who lives in an iron whale and looks like a Big Daddy from Bioshock. It's a wacky set of characters, all of whom are incredibly unique and fun, with stages that really fit their themes (a la Mega Man and the Robot Masters). In addition to these servants of the Enchantress, there are three other bosses/eventual allies who were actually created by people who donated to the game's Kickstarter. They wander around the world map like the hammer bros in Mario 3 until you run into them, though in the first campaign none of them did much in terms of the plot.

    As I stated above, this game was the result of a Kickstarter, and I'm not sure on the numbers exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's the most successful kickstarter game ever. If not in original Kickstarter revenue, then certainly in sales at this point. Not only did the backers donate enough money to make the game as incredible as it was, they also raised enough money to make three new campaigns, and a Super Smash Bros style fighting game. Even more than that, anyone who bought the original version of the game (which would come to be known as Treasure Trove once all of the DLCs were released), those players would get all of the other DLCs for free. Each of the new campaigns focused on different members of the Order of No Quarter. The first one, focused on Plague Knight, was called Plague of Shadows, The second, focused on Specter Knight, was called Specter of Torment, and finally, the last one was focused on King Knight and called King of Cards. All of them are spectacular in their own way, though I think my personal favorite of the three would have to be Specter Knight. His story is definitely the most tragic, and his gameplay is extremely fluid and fun. All of the DLC protagonists have different move sets from Shovel Knight, of course, but his are the biggest departure from the original campaign, especially considering how in his boss fight in the main story, he's floating and appears to be much bigger than a normal sprite. Specter of Torment actually tells a prequel story and shows exactly how this character came to be the boss that we had to expel from the graveyard as Shovel Knight, and it does an incredible job with it. Honestly, every time that a new DLC came out, I would get excited all over again and then play all of the other content again because it's all just a lot of fun.

    An interesting inclusion came to the game along with the Specter Knight DLC. the option to play in Body Swap mode, which allows players to play as a Female Shovel Knight going after a male Enchanter (instead of Enchantress). It really doesn't change anything in terms of gameplay, it's really all just cosmetic changes, but it's a cool little feature that could potentially allow female players to identify more with the character. It also changes all of the order of no quarter, and I believe there's a switch that you can access for each individual character. It's just a nice little addition, and one that shows how interested the team at Yacht Club is in making sure that everyone can enjoy their experience as much as possible. 

    Throughout the four campaigns and Shovel Knight Showdown, there is a ton of content to go through, and it's been really exciting to see how new and different all of the content has effected the overall gameplay as well as the story. Now that the game is officially completely out (As of December 2019), Yacht Club has announced several new projects, the first is a Mobile focused game called Shovel Knight Dig which is being codeveloped by Nicalis, and something else that they haven't elaborated on yet, but may be in 3D according to some interesting hints. Either way, I'm always happy to see Shovel Knight appear in anything, as he's shown up all over the place in games since he came out. He's even an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, for crying out loud!

    I love Shovel Knight. It's been quite a while since I first played it, and it was a real pain the first time through since it is not an easy game by any means, but with each new play through, I get a little better, and enjoy my favorite retro shoveling boy all over again. Thanks so much for reading this post, I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think I should write about next, or tell me about a game that you really like that you think I should check out! Thanks again everyone, and I'll talk to you next Friday!