

Of course, if you’re picking up Shovel Knight Showdown, you’re probably doing so for the multiplayer stuff. It can be overcome, but many will probably just choose to play through on easy instead of risking defeat at the final hurdle. I’m talking classic fighting game levels of end boss, as in, back when games were designed to eat your money. The only real downside of the mode is the incredibly noticeable difficulty spike once you get to the final boss. It also cycles between different rule sets, which means it serves as an excellent introduction to the game itself. It takes you through a different story and sequence of fights depending on the character you’re playing as.

It’s a great way of incentivising some single-player action, and it’s also pretty enjoyable anyway. Better still, you’ll actually unlock a new stage, probably some new music, and usually some new costume options. You see, if you complete it with one of the characters, you’ll unlock a new one. You start off with access to a handful of characters, but you can more or less double the roster if you’re willing to put a little bit of time into the Story Mode. It does differ in a few key ways, though: you have health that can be depleted, and one of the main win conditions is collecting gems. It’s a four-player local multiplayer game that is designed to be easy to play, and it’s definitely got the same energy as Smash does. It has a lot in common with the most famous of chaotic fighting games. Shovel Knight Showdown is Yacht Club Games’ version of Super Smash Bros. Well, the knight with a spade is branching out, not just into gardening and grave digging, but into secret fight clubs where the only rules are that you can’t be someone else’s imaginary friend. I think I’ve mangled that phrase enough now, shall we move on? It looked at innovation and said “no more” but in a good way, and we’ve all been dying our eyes with rose colouring ever since. Not only was it the first game to get a third-party Amiibo, but it also led the charge back into the old-school nostalgia trip that we now know as being such an integral part of indie gaming.
