Shovel Knight Is Modern Nostalgia Done Right

This isn't something personal. I have no problem with just this game in particular - I'm sure it will be decent if not good. I'm against this whole movement of re-creating 8bit style side scrollers instead of doing something interesting and new like Shadow Complex or Mark of the Ninja - both games that are obviously inspired by retro titles but go forward and do something new.

Well, if you're telling these developers to NOT make a game, that's pretty silly. As if they would create something truly groundbreaking and new if they didn't make Shovel Knight.

totally. But that's a good thing.

This is the first game with the '8-bit' aesthetic that actually makes me thing of NES games instead of late era SNES / early era PS1 games.

Impressive.

@lordofultima: yes I'm specifically out to ruin your fun by advocating more creativity in game development.

safe to say I hate you. I could play these games over and over again. So if something isn't made for you, it simply shouldn't be made, right?

Just another sidescroller with a small gimmick.

I'd rather play Völgarr and Rogue Galaxy, at least they are fleshed out and don't look cheap.

gotta admit on a no so great day that brought a real smile back to my face i hope this ones out soon and does well.

old school game with shovel for the main character weapon ... awesome !

As much as I am fundamentally over retro 8-bit and 16-bit games, this one looks pretty good. Kinda like how I was over modern military shooters and then Medal of Honour: Warfighter came out.

Wait, that didn't happen.

+1 for the pretty good music.

That sure is another retro-themed platformer. Wake me up when we start imitating Full Throttle, mmmkay?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was really impressed by the logo. The game looks great, too.

I had to rewind and watch that Yacht Club Games studio logo about three times. So gooooood.

gimme gimme gimme.

GIMME.

I really love how everything has pixel perfect proportion.

Can you dig it???


Get it?..... Yeah I'll just leave now....

I don't get how Darksiders was knocked for "stealing" from Zelda and a bunch of other games when stuff like this is just a "homage".

EVERYTHING MADE NEEDS TO FIT EXACTLY MY NEEDS AND DESIRES HURRRR DERP

Cool music. The game looks a little... how can I put this nicely... old.

I'm going to buy this and wake up early on a Saturday morning to play it, just like I did with my NES games as a kid.

@humanity said:

There are plenty of games that are not like this. I can understand someone not being interested in this sort of game, but I don't understand not wanting it to exist. Stop being selfish!

Probably the first and last Kickstarter I will ever back. Pretty excited to get this on my 3DS.

i dont know why i dont have fun with these retro games. the charm is there, but maybe its cause i never had a SNES or anything as kid, so i just dont have much appreciation or nostalgia to draw from. cool that people are still doing stuff like this though...more power to em.

I'm not usually into all these retro platformers, but something about this one looks like I might enjoy it

Hello, new ringtone.

Oh no, I caught Tuberculosis and died!

You can easily do this - just grab any round ball object and kick it. Authentic 1908 fun guaranteed and you don't need to pay a dime!

I want to play a game from 1908. Sorry for being a dick.

Looks good! Glad to see a mix of Zelda 2 and Mega Man.

@assinass: There are plenty of cool indie games and the few you mentioned are great examples. I just wish this strange fascination with emulating the 8bit era would finally come to an end. Also I'd count Rogue Legacy and Volgarr to be part of the 8bit club while Swapper, Fez or that Time Force, Quadrilateral Cowboy are all much more interesting games. Sure no one is forcing me, but then we get into the whole argument of no one is forcing you to read my comment and then it dissolves into no one forcing anyone to do anything and a world where message boards don't even exist.

While I agree this game doesn't seem to be doing anything new, you should play Volgarr the Viking. Full Bore. Rogue Legacy. Gunpoint, Guacamelee, The Swapper for examples not trying to ape older game aesthetics or mechanics but are unique by themselves. These are just examples from 2013 alone.

Then there are 2D horror games like Neverending Nightmares, Lone Survivor, Home, and Knock Knock where I haven't played those kind of games back in the past.

Also, there are games with "revolutionary new ways to play sidescrollers" (Braid, Fez, Atum, And Yet It Moves, Closure) and probably dozens more that I can't remember off the top of my head.

If you're not into these nostalgia-driven games, just don't pay attention to them. Nobody forcing you to.

Yes, and it essentially handles like a a shovel. You can even trip and fall from one of its attacks.

They lost me at the stupid "hard because we're cool" part where he had to shovel jump on a ball that was moving or just fall to his death with a bunch of enemies in the way.

That's one badass shovel. *looks over at shovel* why can't you be more like that!

Weird, the wiki blurb says Mega Man x Castlevania x Dark Souls, but I got more DuckTales out of it after Mega Man. I mean, treasure chests, shoveling treasure, shovel hopping?

Please just stop, enough.. we don't need to keep remaking games from the 8bit era. With all this technology and innovation it is so depressing to see yet another 8bit era inspired platformer whos main point of interest is "it plays like a game from the 1980's." Enough with clinging to the past as some sort of golden era of gaming that we simply can't improve upon.

For the love of games, do something new, set yourself apart. Come up with a completely revolutionary new way to play sidescrollers. Just stop aping Mega Man or Mario with some quirky new spin.

That is some amazing sound work right there. Love it.

BOAT DRINKS!

The first rule of Yacht Club is to tell everyone about Yacht Club, because we wanna brag about having Yacht's.

The closest you can get is a pitchfork from the DLC.

@the_vein said:

My guess is like a shovel full of minced raw garlic; it burns going down, but leaves you with a pleasant aftertaste and the pungent aroma of JUSTICE for all to whiff.

Proud to have backed this on Kickstarter.