Shovel Knight is a triumphant love letter to classic NES platformers. With its vibrant pixel art, chiptune soundtrack, and tight gameplay, it masterfully captures the spirit of beloved 8-bit adventures like Mega Man. The level design is ingenious, filled with secrets and clever challenges. Each boss battle feels unique, and Shovel Knight's versatile shovel-based combat opens up surprising possibilities. While it won't take many hours to beat the main campaign, Shovel Knight delivers a perfectly polished experience bursting with retro charm.

I never really got the hype behind Shovel Knight. Maybe it's because I first played it in an era where indie pixel platformers were a dime a dozen, but there was never anything about it that really stood out to me compared to its 2D platforming contemporaries.

That said, it does have some neat ideas, and while I don't think they were utilized to the fullest until later expansions, I have to appreciate how it laid the groundwork. And of course, I certainly respect what it did for indie games and for the industry as a whole.

I started playing this on the 3DS and then I just kinda forgot about it!

It was neat from what I got to play. I am planning on picking it up again but uuuh...It's not my priority right now I guess.

Shovel/10. Needs more grass.

Beating this game around 2015 as a kid who dabbled with games like Castlevania III and Mega Man 2 on the Wii felt like I was finally able to get the challenge those games presented. Although nowadays I’d say this is possibly the second worst game out of all the Shovel Knight games that come with it for free now (second worst out of a collection of games I find very enjoyable), it’s a very good starting point to appreciate the games as going from “this is a unique spin on things I’ve seen in different NES games” to it’s own thing that feels fun and so refreshing that this game feels stiff which says a lot yet I can still go back to it and have fun