What happens when a developer decides to make a love letter to 8-bit platformers? Apparently, the answer is Shovel Knight.
I had gotten my first taste of Shovel Knight at Supercon (general geekery convention) in Miami a couple of days after the game dropped on the Wii U and 3DS. The developer, Yacht Club Games, had set up a booth with a couple of stations to play the game. I spoke to one of the art designers for the game with a couple of my friends about Zelda, how his game played, and what the influences for the game were. As soon as I finished speaking to him, I walked over to one of the consoles and began to play what I now know to be the King Knight stage of the game. I was instantly pulled in by nostalgia for a game I had never played before. That is something Shovel Knight does very well, it let's you have new fun using familiar ways. This game is an homage to the NES games that came before it. Does it do them any justice, though?
