Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight is a sweeping classic action adventure game with awesome gameplay, memorable characters, and an 8-bit retro aesthetic created by Yacht Club Games. You play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest. Shovel Knight has come to this valley with two goals: to defeat the evil Enchantress and save his lost beloved. He wields a ShovelBlade; a multipurpose weapon whose techniques have now been lost to the ages. Always honest and helpful, Shovel Knight is a shining example of the code of Shovelry: Slash Mercilessly and Dig Tirelessly!

Tropes used in Shovel Knight include:

• Anticlimax Boss:
  • The two stages of the fight against The Enchantress are not exceptionally challenging, and you are healed in between rounds.
  • Tinker Knight is particularly anticlimactic. Well, until the second stage of his fight, when he comes at you piloting a giant death machine.
• Boss Rush: Along your journey, you travel through eight lands controlled by gimmick-themed metal men and defeat them in combat. With this obvious parallel to the Mega Man series, it should come as no surprise that you would then have to school them all again just before the final fight.
• Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: For the most part, the biggest source of stress in a 'no-deaths recorded' run are the levels proper, as instant-death Bottomless Pits and Spikes of Doom can set you back by as much as 15 minutes of play. Meanwhile, most bosses lack instant-death attacks, and can be beaten with brute force and Ichors. The exceptions to this are Polar Knight (who can turn the floor into Spikes of Doom) and Propeller Knight (whose arena features bottomless pits).
• Mercy Invincibility: Taking damage even grants you temporary immunity to the instant-death spikes.
• Retraux: Unlike most modern games in the 8-bit style, which use the simple art style to cover up a lack of artistic talent, Shovel Knight's design is centered around the limitations of the consoles of the era.
  • Sprites are grid-locked to maintain the illusion of low-resolution gameplay.
  • Music and ambient sound was composed on the NES in order to maintain audio authenticity.
  • The fade-ins and fade-outs of the intro sequence are done via palette swaps, rather than simply adjusting the transparency.
• Shovel Strike: This is, naturally, Shovel Knight's main method of attack. Besides the Shovel Knight, the Black Knight also has his own shovel and he uses it to attack you.
• Shovelware: Actually, quite the opposite.
• Spikes of Doom: Stationary spikes will instantly kill you with a prick, be they on the floors, walls, or ceiling. This can be an infuriating source of Fridge Logic, as Shovel Knight can weather far deadlier-looking attacks and obstacles and suffer at most two pips of damage.