Indie platforming darling Shovel Knight arrived five years ago.
In retrospect, I dont really know why I did it.
The fact is I never owned an NES.
My contribution to this Kickstarter was a moment of weakness derived from a misplaced nostalgia.
Revolution Software managed to get enough old-timers to empty out their pockets in support of a newBroken Swordpoint-and-click adventure.
Independent developer Zeboyd Games has basically made a career out ofDragon Warriorclones.
Theres definite foolishness to funding reheated versions of gaming artifacts.
Nostalgia is a dirty liar.
Some of the design was bound to come out wonky.
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But my funding of this pixel-knight-bouncing-about-on-a-shovel nonsense is a uniquely absurd situation.
This is no fluke.
How did they accomplish this?
Should we abandon pixel art altogether?
Pixel are is a perfectly valid style that has the potential to be truly lovely.
Or what about the surreal, dramatic presentation of huge boss battles against black backdrops?
With that in mind, Yacht Club approachedShovel Knightby asking, What if development for the NES never stopped?
There are also occasionally more particle effects than the NES could manage because, well, it looks cooler.
And the battle with Tinker Knight pretty well resembles those black-backgrounded boss battles of old.
Shovel Knights soundtrack is some awesome throwback work, too.
Basically,Shovel Knights audio is Nintendo-authentic when compared to the system at its absolute best.
However, the goal, again, was a rose-colored 8-bit experience.
There would be no point adhering to NES limitations that would mar the experience.
But in modern gaming, its worthwhile to take into consideration the actual purpose of difficulty.
TheSilent Hillseries downplays its combat elements in favor of providing a moody experience.
TelltalesThe Walking Deadhas some action elements but is essentially a story-driven interpersonal relationship simulator.
Others dont require the same level of muscle memory but throw seemingly insurmountable odds your way.
Furthermore, what concepts of challenge are we attempting to recapture here?
As such,Shovel Knightis a decidedly difficult game.
One of the most welcome features borrowed from the past is a distinct absence of handholding.
You dont even realize the game is teaching you anything when its actually doing that constantly.
Death inShovel Knightis a major overhaul of old-school mechanics as well.
Lives and continues are very much things of the past.
IfShovel Knightdies, he drops bags of gold.
This is incentive to be all the more careful after dying once.
This is really a having-and-eating-cake-too mechanic.
And the system allows for customizable gameplay beyond that.
One could choose to set off one checkpoint after a particularly difficult section, but destroy another later.
In Jim Sterlings review ofShovel Knight, he seemed a bit obsessed with Medusa Heading.
There are other, more subtle inversions of old mechanics and quirks.
Instant-respawn enemies were a side-effect of hardware limitations.
However, its done with calculated thought.
Larger, particularly tough enemies do not respawn.
Further, throughout the game you must use the shovel drop to bounce off enemies and reach higher areas.
Clearly, the use of respawning enemies was done strategically.
The old platformer standby of bottomless pits also gets reworked a bit.
InShovel Knight, the vertical levels are relatively forgiving.
I feel that Yacht Club overcompensated just a tad.
The relics, for example, can make quick work of enemiesmaybe too quick.
The Phase Locket, which makes you invulnerable from everything (even spikes!)
Overall,Shovel Knights difficulty is derived from its platforming far more than its combat.
But whats really great about it is how it tells its story and establishes its tone through gameplay.
I expected my stats for the level might pop up or something.
It helps that Shield Knight herself is a pretty cool character.
We dont know a ton about her, but we do know she isnt just a love interest.
This is yet another simultaneous homage and inversion of an old concept.
Yacht Club has even said that originally Shield Knight was the standard damsel in distress, a McGuffin princess.
While the distressed damsel is a useful storytelling equipment, Yacht Club also recognized it as outdated.
Shield Knight feels like a far cry from Princess Peach.
Instead, its a combination of Links down-thrust fromZelda 2and Scrooges pogo cane fromDuckTales.
ButShovel Knightmakes a convincing case for revisiting what did work in those early titles.
No medium has evolved and changed so rapidly over such a short time.
However, theres also no point in glamorizing this mediums past mistakes.
In other words, they went through the design process necessary for making an awesome new game.
Joe Matar is a freelance contributor.
Read more of his workhere.
