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December 14, 2019 6:05 AM   Subscribe

The Seven-Year Saga Of Shovel Knight Is Finally Over [Kotaku] “This week, Yacht Club Games launched Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight: Showdown, the final two entries in what’s become a five-game saga. As part of a now-finished compilation, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, they mark the end to an odyssey that started nearly seven years ago. And now, in December of 2019, Shovel Knight is finally complete. The compilation, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, contains all four campaigns and the multiplayer mode. It’s over. Done. No more widening the scope, no more adding just a few more levels here and there. “We promised ourselves: Nothing after this,” said Velasco. “We’ve gotta be done, move on to something else.”” [YouTube][Game Trailer]

• Why Shovel Knight was the right game at the right time [Polygon]
“Shovel Knight served as a vessel for the spirit of 8-bit gaming from the halcyon days when the NES reigned supreme in millions of living rooms. That spirit moved Dan Adelman. A graduate of Columbia University, Adelman spent four years at Microsoft helping to lay groundwork for the business side of the Windows publisher’s original Xbox console before joining Nintendo of America as head of digital content and development in November 2005. “When I joined Nintendo, there were already some plans for digitally distributing the classic NES, SNES and N64 titles via Virtual Console, but there was no strategy for how to expand digital distribution to include new games,” he said. [...] “Everyone was saying, ‘There will never be a Mega Man game again. I’m so sad,’” D’Angelo said. “And then here we come storming in with this game that feels much like a Mega Man experience.” Yacht Club’s campaign oozed 8-bit charm and rekindled veteran players’ nostalgia. Rather than reveal all their information on day one, the team unwrapped their Kickstarter over the month-long period. Every week brought exciting reveals such as silhouettes of the Order of No Quarter, the bosses players would face in the game.”
• Shovel Knight: An Indie Masterpiece [Den of Geek]
“One of the most important things Yacht Club Games did in developing Shovel Knight was honor 8-bit platformers without getting sycophantic about it. There’s really nothing in the way of overt references to other games. Shovel Knight’s shovel drop isn’t outright ganked from anywhere. Instead, it’s a combination of Link’s down-thrust from Zelda 2 and Scrooge’s pogo cane from DuckTales. The bosses feel very Mega Man-esque, but beating them is based more on general combat skill than on figuring out which power-up is most effective against which boss. The awesome world map looks a lot like the one from Super Mario 3, but the way more of it gets gradually revealed by a moving storm cloud is inspired by a Capcom game I’ve never even heard of called U.N. Squadron. The intent was never to stuff in specific references to other games, but rather, as Yacht Club puts it, to go with a “distilled idea of what we remembered” of 8-bit gaming. This is how to do homage properly: show reverence to your influences, but also show off your awareness of how important the ambition in those titles was by trying to improve on these concepts you so respect. Interestingly, Yacht Club’s ability to meaningfully improve upon and move beyond tired attempts at emulating 8-bit gaming is hugely dependent on how utterly dedicated they are to it. I mean, they’re so into the NES they actually took into consideration whether or not to recreate the ugly sprite flickering many NES games suffered from (they wisely decided not to).”
• Shovel Knight: King Of Cards - Royal Refinement [Gamespot]
“King of Cards, the third (and final) Shovel Knight expansion, feels almost like a full-blown sequel. Starring the memorable King Knight, it harkens back to the gameplay of the original Shovel Knight adventure in both structure and execution. It's filled to the brim with varied and challenging levels, each more refined and focused than before by building on the many established strengths of this enduring franchise. [...] Whether you're challenging foes at a table in a tavern or bashing them into oblivion with your scepter, King of Cards is like comfort food if you already have a taste for Shovel Knight. It doesn't stray from its established formula and often sticks closer to the format of the first game in the series rather than the more experimental expansions that came after it. And while its well-balanced platforming and demanding combat are a treat, its use of existing boss fights and enemies with little to no change in their mechanics saps some of the surprise out of these exciting encounters. It's been a persistent issue in each of Shovel Knight's expansions, but the King of Cards' attention to level design and deeply engrossing gameplay do help mask it better than before. If this is meant to be a farewell to Shovel Knight's first adventure, it goes off with all the spectacle and confetti it deserves.”
posted by Fizz (10 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
For anyone who has ever wished for the olden days of platforming, who has fond nostalgia for the original MegaMan series. Do yourself a favor and find a way to play this game. It's available on pretty much every platform (😉). It's also a game stuffed to the brim, like there is just a shit ton of content, it'll keep you busy for a long while. So many secrets, hidden places to explore, and treasures to find.
posted by Fizz at 6:10 AM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Truly perfect. I'm not even massively into the genre and I loved it.
posted by ominous_paws at 6:14 AM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Also, the music, dear lord, THE MUSIC!! Jake Kaufman is the composer and does the sound-design for Shovel Knight and he's a name that should be remembered. You can download the entire album for free here via his bandcamp page.
posted by Fizz at 6:23 AM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Metafilter's own Jake
posted by Television Name at 7:38 AM on December 14, 2019 [5 favorites]


I just bought Treasure Trove for the Switch as a Christmas present for my son. I can’t wait to play it!!! Oh, also, can I recommend Valfaris here? Heavy Metal Contra with Giger aesthetics.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 9:24 AM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


I am grading papers and can't play King of Cards yet so you guys suck
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:55 AM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]


Yeah this game is a classic but I didn't even finish the original adventure! Gonna get the collection on Switch and get into it soon!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:31 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


This is so very good overall and everyone just... go play it! All of the Shovel Knight games are so good
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:46 PM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]


Been keeping my Wii U around specifically for this final DLC. Had to rejigger the wifi, because apparently I've upgraded routers since I last used it. Also, apparently Miiverse is shut down, or we'd have some black/white art floating around I imagine.

I'm honestly surprised they Yacht Club kept announcing DLC. Sure, it keeps clowns like me from selling off the physical copies to compete with their sales, but at the same time, I assume it would have been easier to fund development with new games sales specifically for new game content.
posted by pwnguin at 7:58 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


Presumably they’re still doing fine on Shovel Knight sales as-is
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:01 PM on December 14, 2019


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