There has been an increasing interest in the last few years in the idea of the "retro game": games made using 8 and 16 bit graphics, chiptune sound tracks, and very old school sensibilities in game design. And while the idea of new videogames looking back on their roots and using the old style of game design to create an interesting mash of old and new, isnt a bad one, there seems to be a lack of innovation in the design, especially with platformers. Game designers sometimes seem to look back on those games with such fondness that they forget that newer game design implementation is also important for the industry to grow, change, and become more meaningful so that one day a new generation can look back on these games and remember them as fondly as we remember the games of our past. This is a problem that Yacht Club Games hopes to resolve with Shovel Knight.
Shovel Knight is the culmination of over a year long Kickstarter campaign to create a "hot mashup of new and old that may remind you of Mega Man, Castlevania, or Dark Souls", and while you can definitely see those influences in game, their are also many more homages and inspirations throughout, including Ducktales and even Super Mario World. But the game does not merely rely on older mechanics, instead using them as a base to create a wholly new experience that is at once both new and familiar, made even better by the fantastic control scheme. Your be-spaded champion controls like the best Mega Man game in existance. All of his movements are very tight, his jump is controllable, and the ability to use his shovel as a pogo-stick ala' Scrooge McDuck allows for some of the best platforming I have had the pleasure to experience since Super Meat Boy.
The game is scored by an amazing musical soundtrack provided by both Jake Kaufman, who also did a fantastic remake of the Ducktales theme, and Manami Matsumae, who did the original music for Mega Man, and its a testament at how great the score is that I can't definitively say who's track is who's. The entire score sounds like the composition of one incredibly talented artist. The sound effects aren't anything too spectacular, but the 8 bit graphics are some of the best that could never be possible on the NES. Particularly the last level of the game has some of the best backgrounds I have ever seen in a video game period, with gorgeous rain, thunder and lightning.
The only small issue is the bosses, which feel a bit easy when compared to their levels, but their personality and Mega Man-esque designs give make them incredibly memorable. Plus the inclusion of New Game Plus ups the challenge of the bosses by increasing their damage and severely reducing the number of checkpoints you receive, ramping up the difficulty to potentially brutal levels.
Shovel Knight took me 6 hours to complete, and ranks as the best 6 hours of my weekend, owing to its fantastic pacing, level design, and music. It wonderfully balances the nostalgic retro game feel by providing its own creative twists on tried and true formulas that work in ways that can only make me smile, even if it's through gritted teeth as I die for the eighth time while navigating Propeller Knight's airship. At 15 dollars on PC, WiiU, and 3DS anyone who is a fan of old-school platformers should definitely give this game a try, you will not walk away disappointed.
(Originally written 06/30/2014)
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