Dig It | Shovel Knight Review

<p>As the Nintendo Entertainment System ages gracefully into its 30s&comma; so too does the gamer generation it spawned&period; So as these grown-up NES kids are making games themselves&comma; we’ve seen a recent surge in purposely retro-style games&period; We’re just as guilty as every other generation when it comes to nostalgia-clouded reverence for our childhood&comma; though&period; 8-bit graphics and chip tune music alone simply doesn&&num;8217&semi;t make a great retro game and&comma; truth-be-told&comma; many of the 700&plus; NES titles were simply terrible&period; What made great NES games truly great were the developers who viewed the console’s limitations not as restrictive&comma; but as motivation for creativity&period; After playing <em>Shovel Knight<&sol;em>&comma; it’s apparent that this frame of thought is readily understood by the crew at Yacht Club Games&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;63001" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-63001" style&equals;"width&colon; 1919px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093609&sol;Capture14&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-63001 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093609&sol;Capture14&period;png" alt&equals;"Shovel Knight - Bagogames" width&equals;"1919" height&equals;"1079" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-63001" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">I say&comma; &&num;8217&semi;tis a fine day for a bit o&&num;8217&semi; shoveling&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Backers who helped the title reach its Kickstarter goal in just a few short weeks after its initial 2013 announcement should be happy to know that <em>Shovel Knight<&sol;em> delivers on its promise of an authentic NES experience&period; As a loving homage&comma; the game openly cherry picks mechanics from the system&&num;8217&semi;s greatest titles&comma; including <em>Super Mario Bros&period; 3<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Mega Man<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Ducktales<&sol;em>&comma; and <em>Zelda I<&sol;em> and <em>II<&sol;em>&comma; to name a few&period; With its dedication to the original NES color palette and use of multilayered parallax backgrounds&comma; the game’s visuals are on par with some of the best looking&comma; late-generation NES titles&period; Coupled with a soundtrack by Jake Kaufman and Manami Matsumae &lpar;composer of the original Mega Man soundtrack&rpar;&comma; <em>Shovel Knight<&sol;em> pulls on pretty much every sensory heartstring&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;62993" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-62993" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093704&sol;screen&lowbar;102&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-62993 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093704&sol;screen&lowbar;102&period;png" alt&equals;"Shovel Knight - Bagogames" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-62993" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Does this overworld map look familiar to anyone&quest;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The game tells the story of the legendary Shovel Knight’s quest to rescue his long lost companion&comma; Shield Knight&comma; from the clutches of The Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter&period; While purposely cliched and riddled with self-aware humor and inside references to both video game and geek culture&comma; the simple narrative is quite touching and manages to paint the noble shovel-wielder as a bit of a tragic character&comma; tormented by the loss of his beloved&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;62994" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-62994" style&equals;"width&colon; 854px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093652&sol;campFire&period;gif"><img class&equals;"wp-image-62994 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093652&sol;campFire&period;gif" alt&equals;"Shovel Knight - Bagogames" width&equals;"854" height&equals;"480" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-62994" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Campfires are perfect for brooding&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Stale repetition is the enemy of the modern retro-remake&comma; but with it’s continual introduction of new environmental mechanics&comma; every level of Shovel Knight feels fresh and new&period; Take heed though&comma; <em>Shovel Knight<&sol;em> is tough&comma; even by NES standards&period; Compared to modern games&comma; it’s really&comma; really tough&excl; There are several sections that initially seem downright impossible&comma; but thanks to the demanding learning curve&comma; and the integration of modern fundamentals like reliable save files and a checkpoint system&comma; victory is attainable&period; However&comma; it would&&num;8217&semi;ve been nice &lpar;at least in the 3DS version&rpar; if the game allowed for actual game saves at a checkpoint&comma; instead of just restarting after dying&period; A tough boss battle with the added anxiety of a blinking red battery light is enough to make a nun drop a few F-bombs in public&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;63003" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-63003" style&equals;"width&colon; 1152px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093557&sol;Catures6&period;png"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-63003" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093557&sol;Catures6&period;png" alt&equals;"You know what really grinds my gears&quest;" width&equals;"1152" height&equals;"648" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-63003" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">You know what really grinds my gears&quest;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Shovel Knight<&sol;em> does not feature a limited number of lives or continues&comma; but instead takes a portion of your accumulated treasure when you die&period; Like <em>Dark Souls<&sol;em>&comma; the currency&comma; which is used to buy necessary uprgades&comma; gear&comma; and magic relics&comma; can be recovered if you’re able to make it back to the where you died&period; This is far easier said than done&comma; especially when your bags of lost currency are floating in an area impossible to reach without dying again&period; This devilish system does do away with an annoying life count&comma; but watching your hard-fought&comma; non-respawning treasure slowly dwindle down to nothing as you continually die adds maddening insult to injury&period; Luckily&comma; you’re able to replay easier levels to grind for gold&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;62997" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-62997" style&equals;"width&colon; 1919px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093644&sol;capture9&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-62997 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093644&sol;capture9&period;png" alt&equals;"Shovel Knight - Bagogames" width&equals;"1919" height&equals;"1079" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-62997" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Don&&num;8217&semi;t be intimidated by the size of my shovel&excl;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Adamantly sticking to the old-school formula&comma; the controls are exceptionally responsive when it comes to platforming and are actually mapped with an NES controller in mind&period; While I do have a personal obsession with this iconic controller&comma; even I admit that modern controllers have evolved for the better&period; In the heat of battle&comma; it’s all too easy to unintentionally activate your equipped relic&comma; especially when using the joypad instead of the D-pad&period; Luckily&comma; this default controller setting can be changed&comma; assigning relics to a shoulder button&period; While purists can pause the action to open the equipment menu via a button press&comma; the option to equip different relics on the fly via the touchscreen is also a nice&comma; modern inclusion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;63000" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-63000" style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093619&sol;WUP-N&lowbar;WKNE&lowbar;gameplay&lowbar;2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-63000 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;05093619&sol;WUP-N&lowbar;WKNE&lowbar;gameplay&lowbar;2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Shovel Knight - Bagogames" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-63000" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">His bubbles are worse than his bite&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Aside from accomplishing &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;feats” &lpar;in-game achievements&rpar;&comma; a limited Streetpass mini-game&comma; and the expected New Game Plus mode&comma; there currently isn’t much else to do after completing the lengthy campaign&period; However&comma; being the swell guys they are&comma; Yacht Club Games has announced free upcoming DLC that will include Battle Mode&comma; Challenge Mode&comma; Gender Swap and playable bosses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Made by a team that clearly loves and understands the 8-bit era&comma; <em>Shovel Knight<&sol;em> is one of the best NES games to never to actually grace the NES&period; Although it&&num;8217&semi;s few flaws and demanding difficulty may turn off some&comma; the excellent pacing&comma; tight platforming&comma; and self-aware humor makes <em>Shovel Knight<&sol;em> a title gamers of all generations can dig&period; Sorry&comma; I had to make at least one dig pun&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Shovel Knight is available now for digital download on Windows&comma; Steam&comma; 3DS&comma; and Wii U for &dollar;14&period;99&period; This review was based on a 3DS review copy&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;