I had completely forgotten that this game even existed, but when I bought Shovel Knight on Switch, I was very pleasantly reminded that that also meant that I was getting the Smash Bros-style platform fighter that was released at the same time at King of Cards (but only included in console versions of the game). This was the final stretch goal that the original kickstarter campaign reached, and at the time (wayyyyy back in 2013) I remember being really excited that even though every character in the Order of No Quarter wouldn't be getting their own game, they'd at least all be playable. The game doesn't record your time spent in the Showdown game mode like it does with the individual campaigns, so I'm not sure exactly how much time I spent in it, but my guess is around 10-13 hours to unlock all the characters and stages.

Shovel Knight: Showdown is a platform fighter bundled in with the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove game. The narrative conceit is that, near the end of Specter of Torment, when Specter Knight is off to fight the Enchantress, his friends who also work in the Tower of Fate want to help him out. Hoping that Specter Knight will never have to fight the Enchantress in the first place, they heavily modify the Magic Mirror (which Specter Knight uses to teleport around to each of his stages) to attempt to use it to trap the Enchantress within it. This, of course, goes horribly wrong, and instead ends up trapping all of the main cast (and then some) inside this pocket dimension inside the mirror when it shatters and explodes. It's a narrative that's really just a framing device as an excuse for the fighting game, and it more than does its job.

The bits of writing that are more interesting are how each of the characters has a story mode. There's a 4-player multiplayer mode where you can play with friends or against CPUs in a ton of game modes (and you can have another 4 CPUs for an 8-player match), but there's also a story mode that is a lot like the Classic mode in Smash Bros. You go along 8 stages + a target breaking bonus stage (which you do need to win to progress past, it's not optional like in Smash Bros) + a final boss to win each. On stage 3, the chosen character will bump into their rival, and then this rival is fought at the end. Each character has their own rival, and this rival is usually who you unlock when you beat the current story mode. It's only little bits of banter at their first and second meetings, but it's really fun to see smaller characters like Treasure Knight (a new favorite of mine <3) or Propeller Knight get some more time to shine in the spotlight.

In total, the game has 20 playable characters (12 of whom are locked to begin with) and 29 playable stages (around 20 of which are locked to begin with, iirc). There are honestly way more characters than I ever expected there to be, and I just kept being surprised that I was STILL unlocking more of them. The main good guys and the Order of No Quarter are playable, of course, but then all the wanderers around the map, a couple normal enemies, and even an extra character who isn't even a fightable character in the base games are included. They play really differently from each other as well, which is nice considering there are generally only a few button commands for each fighter. The stages are all quite different from each other as well, and offer a really good variety of obstacles and hazards.

In a really cool move, Yacht Club Games published their own simple cheat codes online before the game even came out to unlock all the content. Even cooler, there's one to permanently unlock everything immediately, and another one that does it only temporarily (in case you just wanted to play it first with a friend and then unlock everything properly yourself later). It's an absolutely brilliant way to structure the unlockables in a fighting game (especially one that is ostensibly a party game, given that this game doesn't even haven an online mode) that I really with more games would take on as a feature. There are challenges to unlock everything, but alternatively you can also just play a bunch of multiplayer, and you'll slowly unlock more stuff as you do that too.

The game itself is similar to Smash Bros, but not quite. There are two base game modes: stock mode and gem mode. Stock mode is just "fight until the last person standing", but gem mode is about collecting gems that appear around the stages trying to reach the necessary target you need (first to 5, first to 13, etc). There are tons of variations on these as well, mixes and spins with different focuses on the types of usable items that appear in each stage and such, and there's even a setting in the multiplayer mode that has the game just pick randomly from the included modes (a little more than 20). It makes for a really fun experience, and I really enjoyed the more the time I messed around in just the random mode by myself.

The game's balancing, is... unbalanced but deliberate. This definitely feels more like a party game than a dedicated EVO-focused fighting game, and characters feel like they play how their in-game variations would be able to fight. It's not quite Guardian Heroes, but at the same time there are some very clear ability gaps between different characters. I found most characters have pretty good equal-levels of broken-ness compared to one another, but some are clearly far worse, particularly those with worse mobility. Not all characters have a double jump (or extra jump-equivalent), which makes them far harder to play as. Ironically, even though it's his game, Shovel Knight is one of the characters I found hardest to play as as he lacks any kind of extra jumping other than his pogo-ing ability. Compared that to the Enchantress, who can hover/fly for a really long time and has several extra jumps, and there's a pretty clear disparity in mobility depending on the match-up you're looking at. There's also a fairly big move disparity between characters at times as well, with characters like Mr. Hat having basically two whole move sets since he can swap hats for a melee-focused or range-focused move set.

Again, it's really silly fun since it fits into how the characters play in the actual game, but it can make certain story modes far harder than others. I imagine, if you were to get very very good, certain characters would rise even above those who seem very good and some (like the Enchantress) would end up being far worse since their attacks are so easy to telegraph and parry, but the single-player experience is quite varied as you come to grips with just how each character plays.

Verdict: Recommended. It's hardly a super deep or complex fighting game, but Shovel Knight: Showdown is a great thing to pass the time as a little party game or even by yourself if you just want some casual platform fighting. The way it plays takes a bit of getting used to if you're more used to something like Smash Bros Ultimate, but it has a really mind-blowing amount of content given that this is a free update that was just a kickstarter stretch goal. They didn't need to go nearly this above and beyond for this game, and I have to give it props for just how well it succeeds in doing what it's doing, even if it's far from perfect as a stand-alone product. As an addition to the Treasure Trove, it's an excellent experience.

"A 'Meh' Fighter..."

The “meh” entry for me, which is fine because it is sort of an “extra”. It's a fighting game combining various characters and stages throughout the series, and it takes some elements from famous fighting games to provide a decent package.

Overall, the presentation is neat, and the controls are solid, but it's not very compelling. It’s a nice addition but I wouldn’t buy it outside of Treasure Trove . I would Not Recommend it unless you’re a huge fighting game fan and would like to see these characters duke it out with various customization options and unlockables…

Final Verdict: 5/10 (Average)

Un spin off curioso, pero hasta ahí llega.

El mayor atractivo del juego es poder jugar con los jefes de los Shovel Knight, poco más para ofrecer tiene.

Es un Smash 2.0 con puntos de vida en vez de porcentajes, en mapas temáticos de varios niveles y con historias propias para cada personaje que complementan las historias de los plataformeros.

This game is not fun to play. The characters of Shovel Knight were not designed for a Smash clone like this. All of the little stories for each character is only a few levels long, but the combat system feels awful when in a match. Some of the stages that the stories use are full of hazards, making the game even more annoying. Also, the invincibility frames after getting hit don't last for nearly as long as they should, making it almost impossible to get out of being juggled in one spot.

I haven't tried the multiplayer part, but I imagine it would be better since you could play it with friends, but there are better games of this type to play with friends. Not worth getting unless you got Treasure Trove, which is why I decided to try it. Also, I hate the fairy mode with all my being.