I took a few hits to get a better screenshot. I promise.

Shovel Knight: Actually as Good as People Say It Is

Shovel Knight gets it. It doesn’t follow the cargo cult routine of indie games who use sprite-based graphics instead of good game design; it groks its favorite NES games but also aims to improve on them instead of miring in dead memories.

You know how I’m always griping about phony indie games that pander to lazy nostalgia instead of living on their own merits? Unlike most indie game creators that claim their work is “8-bit” and “retro”, Shovel Knight’s team poured their souls into their game’s creation. It is clearly inspired by the later NES games, especially Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse and the second through sixth Mega Man entries. Instead of making the game look like a jittery Commodore 64 reject and calling it good, Yacht Club Games went out of their way to recreate the look of an NES game but also made it play much like one. This alone would make Shovel Knight noteworthy, but the game itself is also a blast from start to finish.

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