Shovel Knight
Appeared in: Shovel Knight (2014)
Developer: Yacht Club Games
For those who are unaware, Shovel Knight is an NES-inspired platformer, taking inspiration from games like the Mega Man franchise, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and DuckTales (Woo-hoo!). The game follows Shovel Knight as he seeks to rescue his lost partner Shield Knight from the Tower of Fate. In order to get there and save Shield Knight, he needs to defeat the Enchantress and the eight knights known as the Order of No Quarter.
The game was one of the earlier examples of a Kickstarter success story. Funding began on March 15, 2013, and lasted for about a month – the initial goal was seventy-five thousand dollars, but it managed to raise roughly four times the amount that was needed, enough to cover all of its stretch goals! The game released in June 2014, but the developers weren’t done – not by a long shot. Over the next five years, they worked tirelessly to fulfill every stretch goal, producing three new campaigns and a Smash Bros.-styled multiplayer mode, along with amiibos, books, and various other forms of merchandise.
Shovel Knight has made a lot of appearances in such a short time frame. Aside from his own game, he’s appeared in Indie Pogo, Rivals of Aether, Blade Strangers, Runbow, Blaster Master Zero, Bit.Trip Runner 3, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Yooka-Laylee, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2… He’s even showed up in Super Smash Bros., for crying out loud! At this point, it seems almost contractually obligated that, if you’re making an indie crossover, Shovel Knight’s going to show up at some point, which is why he’s first on my list.
I’ll be drawing from his original game for moveset options, as well as
Rivals of Aether and
Indie Pogo. Seeing as he’s appeared in… what feels like half of the major indie games made since 2013, honestly, that means I probably won’t have to stretch too much to come up with what he can do.
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Shovel Knight’s default palette is his standard blue armour, but
alternate palettes can include the green armour that the Custom Knight defaults to, the red Final Guard suit, the purple Conjurer’s coat, the silver Dynamo Mail, the black and red Mail of Momentum, a brown palette based on the Shovel Smith, and of course, the golden Ornate Plate. Unlike in Shovel Knight, these won't change his abilities for the sake of simplicity. (I'm not sure if they'd be able to directly reference Kratos or the Battletoads through the armours that he gets from them, so I left them out)
For Shovel Knight’s stage, there are quite a few options to work with. As the first stage associated with the Order of No Quarter, I think I’ll go with
Pridemoor Keep, the lair of King Knight. I’m not sure how invasive the stage hazards are in this game, though to keep it simple, I’ll go with Propeller Rats flying onto the stage and trying to run into players.
Shovel Knight arrives on stage the same way that he does at the start of each level in Shovel Knight – he leaps on-stage before raising his shovel in the air as a little jingle plays.
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BASIC ATTACKS
I’m working under the assumption that the game plays similarly to Smash games post-Melee – regular and Smash attacks determined by directional inputs (though I assume Smash attacks will be called something else), five aerial attacks, four special attacks, and a throw. I’m not sure if characters will have more than one throw, ledge climbing attacks, or attacks when they get up from being knocked down, but I’ll assume that those are in there.
Shovel Knight’s neutral attack has him swinging his shovel horizontally – pretty straightforward. His forward attack has him pull out the Dust Knuckles to punch twice, moving himself forward slightly as he does so. As for his up attack, Shovel Knight thrusts his shovel straight up into the air. His ducking attack has him swing his shovel at the ground, like he’s digging up dirt.
Shovel Knight’s forward smash equivalent is the charge slash – he charges up before swinging with greater force and range than normal. For his up smash equivalent, he lobs a clod of dirt into the air, which acts like Snake’s mortar from Smash Bros., minus the explosion. As for his down smash equivalent, he faces the screen and digs, pulling up clods of dirt and gems that fly to either side of him. (unlike in Rivals of Aether, the gems are purely cosmetic)
Shovel Knight’s neutral and forward aerials are similar to their grounded counterparts – he swings his shovel horizontally and punches forward with the Dust Knuckles, respectively. His back air attack has him turn around and swing his shovel downwards, smacking whoever he hits towards the ground. For Shovel Knight’s up air attack, he holds the propeller dagger above his head, launching himself a bit higher into the air. His down air attack is, of course, the pogo motion that the entire game was based around. Holding his shovel beneath him, Shovel Knight bounces off of whatever enemy or projectile he hits. (or some stage hazards, like the barbecue on Octodad's stage or the Propeller Rats on his own stage)
If Shovel Knight attacks while dashing, he launches himself forward with a headbutt,
like he does when using the Battletoads armour, only without the giant ram horns. As he climbs back onto the stage, he jabs with the Dust Knuckles. If he attacks while getting to his feet, he pulls out the Flareo Rod, creating a close-range series of explosions around himself to knock enemies away. (the explosions don’t damage Shovel Knight)
For his grab, Shovel Knight grabs the opponent with his free hand and pummels them by smacking them with the Shovel Blade. Shovel Knight isn’t much of a grappler, and neither Rivals of Aether nor Indie Pogo has throws, so these will be based on
Blade Strangers for the most part. Shovel Knight’s forward throw has him ram into his opponent shoulder-first. His back throw has him scoop his opponent up with his shovel and toss them over his shoulder, while his up throw has him fling the opponent into the air with his shovel like they’re a block of dirt. As for his down throw, he slams them into the ground.
While it's not technically an attack, it's worth mentioning that when Shovel Knight dodges or rolls, he uses the Phase Locket.
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SPECIALS
When it comes to Shovel Knight’s specials, I’m going to try to keep them simple. Rivals of Aether added a whole currency system just for Shovel Knight, but I don’t know how crazy or in-depth Fraymakers is going to get with its gimmicks, so I’ll play it safe.
For his neutral special, Shovel Knight uses Flare Wand. It’s pretty straight forward – he shoots a fireball directly ahead of himself. It’s Shovel Knight’s special move in Shovel Knight Showdown, and the first relic that he gets, so it seemed fitting to include it here.
Shovel Knight’s side special uses the Propeller Dagger. This move can be charged to increase its distance and range, though charging it for too long can easily send you flying off of the stage! It’s pretty much the same as it was in Rivals of Aether.
For his up special, I’m going to use one of the Custom Knight relics, which is also used as a recovery in Rivals of Aether. Swinging the Tow Anchor, Shovel Knight hangs onto it and rides it into the air. He moves in an arc, hitting whoever gets in his way, and he won't let go until he hits the ground or falls down a bottomless pit.
For his down special, Shovel Knight throws the Buzzsaw Boomerang, another Custom Knight relic. Throwing it out, it loops around in a circle around Shovel Knight before returning to his hand. When he’s on the ground, the boomerang travels above him, while in mid-air, the boomerang travels below him.
For Shovel Knight’s Super Attack… I’ll be honest, we don’t know much about how Super Attacks will work in Fraymakers at this point, but I’m assuming that they’re going to act like Final Smashes in Smash Bros. With that in mind, I’m going with the Relic that costs the most magic, which happens to fill the same sort of role in Indie Pogo and Blade Strangers – the War Horn. Pulling out the horn, Shovel Knight blows into it, creating large circular shockwaves that launch anyone who’s hit off in all directions.
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MUSIC
It’s unclear how they’re handling music in this game, but with three different composers, I’m assuming there’s going to be at least three different tracks? Maybe I’m wrong and it will turn out that we only get one track that’s remixed three different ways, or more than three tracks, but for now, I’ll stick with three.
There are a lot of options to choose from when it comes to Shovel Knight, but if I had to pick three of them, I’d go with the following.
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Main Theme
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Strike the Earth! Plains of Passage
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In the Halls of the Usurper
Assuming that Fraymakers has victory screens similar to Smash Bros., Shovel Knight’s victory theme will be For Shovelry, the tune that plays when he defeats a boss.
For possible victory animations, Shovel Knight could raise his shovel into the air similar to his intro, which he does after beating a boss in the original game or winning a match in Shovel Knight Showdown. Alternatively, he could catch Shield Knight out of the sky, like he almost does during dream sequences or actually does at the end of the game. For a third win screen, he could lie down near a campfire and fall asleep, which he does after each boss battle.
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Shovel Knight's moveset was pretty easy to make - it helps that he's been in at least three different platform fighters already, if you include Shovel Knight Showdown, so it's not like I was short on material. I'm concerned that I borrowed a bit too heavily from Rivals of Aether, though I think I changed enough that it didn't wind up being an exact copy. (I couldn't help it for the up special - the only other move that gives Shovel Knight vertical movement, as far as I can tell, is a variation on the Propeller Dagger, and I didn't want to have that take up two specials) Honestly, I'm a little surprised that he isn't in this game already.
