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Shovel Knight |OT| The 8-bit adventures of Butt Butt Goes to Europe & Australia

Shovel Knight |OT2| Keep calm and phase on

So OP? Beat three bosses first run and most obstacles you can go right past.
 

DooD1234

Member
Someone help me decide 3DS or Wii U? I kinda want it on Wii U so I can benefit from the digital deluxe program as well as play Shovel Knight on the big screen. There also off tv play if someone wants the TV. At the same time I kinda want it on 3DS so I can take anywhere with me and easily put it down and pick it back up on sleep mode. I wish 3DS and Wii U had cross buy like I have a feeling the Vita and PS3/4 will do.

Forgot to mention, any of them has exclusive mode like I heard 3DS has Streetpass stuff while Wii U has multi? Anyone could me in on that too plz?
 

linko9

Member
Looks amazing on 3ds, can't recommend it enough. Just played an hour, but this is the good stuff right here. Really liking it so far.
 

Five

Banned
Actually, I found it easy enough just to bounce on his head the whole time. As long as you can keep aiming properly, there's not a lot he can do about it. You can't hurt him when he's spinning his whip, and keeping up the bounce is tough when he goes airborne, but otherwise it's an easy way to start the fight out. When his pattern changes near the end it's not as effective, but by then I had such a health advantage that I could just trade blows with him.

Anything special you can do with him post-fight?
If you hit him when he's crying, you get a tiny bit of cash, but that seems to be it. Reize dropped a large jewel, so I wonder if there's a way to get one from him too.

Yeah, true. I got some good bounce trains on him. But when I fell off and he started attacking, I just phased through it all.

Also, no,
I bounced on him for about a minute and swatted him several times, but didn't ever get more than the first few blue gems.

For me it was a dozen cheap deaths and a way to make the boss needlessly difficult (though you can offset the latter with chalices). I'd rather play MM1 Iceman levels than play that stage ever again.

Oh, huh. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe it takes a different set of skills, but I didn't die once in the dark. A couple times to enemies in the light, and once to the boss in that stage, but never in the dark. I guess I'd probably want to call something unfair too if it was causing me to die that much.

Shovel Knight |OT2| Keep calm and phase on

So OP? Beat three bosses first run and most obstacles you can go right past.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
 

Voror

Member
Man, I have no idea what to buy. I kind of just want to hoard it to a point then buy a lot all at once. What route have people been doing? Mostly health at the start?
 

Five

Banned
Man, I have no idea what to buy. I kind of just want to hoard it to a point then buy a lot all at once. What route have people been doing? Mostly health at the start?

There's a feat for hoarding 50K, but you probably don't want to wait that long! The route I took was upping health until I got the phase relic, then upping magic. I replayed Pridemoor and The Plains a couple of times to get some extra money since they're both pretty easy, especially with the first two relics. I bought the chaos orb relic and the fishing rod after completing The Plains for the first time, but on a second run I'll probably only pick up the fishing rod. The chaos orb is super unwieldy and not all that powerful.
 
Man, I have no idea what to buy. I kind of just want to hoard it to a point then buy a lot all at once. What route have people been doing? Mostly health at the start?

I pumped it into health first, then started getting other stuff. I'm not very good, so that health has been helpful for just tanking through the bosses.

Also the two chalices are helpful, and the Troupple fills them up for free!
 

dkopman1

Neo Member
So I PM'd this guy offering to trade my 3DS code for his Wii U code, he agrees. I give him my 3DS code, and its been almost an hour later and he has yet to PM the Wii U code, after saying it will just take him a minute to get it. He did however thank me for the 3DS code. I just checked and sure enough, its been redeemed already. Thanks man. Didn't think GAF would be a place where I'd get screwed. I really hope this is just some error in communication.

I just want to clarify it was my bad. It showed that I had sent the code and I guess it didn't but was not paying attention to Gaf at all and didn't see that he had not received it. I am really sorry for this entire miscommunication. I should have checked to make sure he had received it
 
Can't decide which system should I get this for, Wii U or 3DS? Any suggestions?

I'm with this guy:

For those still on the fence about which version to get (at least between Wii U and 3DS), I'd recommend the Wii U version. I've played both extensively at this point, and while the stereoscopic 3D in the 3DS version does look really great, the way StreetPass is implemented in Shovel Knight isn't all that compelling in my opinion. Plus, a lot of people don't like the 3DS's 3D, and without it on, the game looks significantly worse on the 3DS's low-res screen than it does in HD on the Wii U.

Seeing the fantastic pixel art on a big, beautiful HD screen and having the stupidly awesome Kaufman/Matsumae chip music soundtrack pumped into your ears via legit speakers just takes the already great Shovel Knight experience to a whole new level entirely.

Plus, the Wii U Pro Controller is quite easily the best official controller to play Shovel Knight with. It feels perfectly good on 3DS and on the Wii U GamePad, but the Pro Controller is the way to go if you can swing it.

That said, I did find relic selection to be most convenient via the 3DS's touch screen, but that's not enough of an advantage to recommend the 3DS version more than the Wii U one in my opinion.

Go Wii U if you can. Otherwise, the game is fantastic on any platform you can play it on, so you can't go wrong either way.
 
Two more bosses down! First go using the same tactics....

I smell a "no phase run" category in the future, but I'm wondering if that will be more frustrating than fun.
 
I believe I'm very much leaning on getting the Wii U version. DDP and Digger's Diary is a plus and I figure the PC version will hit a discount faster than the eShop one...especially when the next Winter sale comes.
 

Brawl96

Member
Hey gaf,
I've been hearing a lot that this game is heavily inspired by the games of yore that kicked your ass. I will admit it, I'm not that good at games, especially not 8-bit ones. However, I do love the style of this game and the feel. From a difficulty perspective, would this game appeal to an average joe like me?

Also, what gamepad features are there?
 

RedBoot

Member
Two more bosses down! First go using the same tactics....

I smell a "no phase run" category in the future, but I'm wondering if that will be more frustrating than fun.

Well, so far I've only used it in the Phase challenge level, and I've taken down King, Spector, and Plague Knight (and two wandering bosses). It's tough (especially Spector Knight), but not impossible. Actually, now that I'm reading about people using it so much, I'm tempted to ignore it as much as possible.

I'm already thinking of lots of different categories/challenges for playing through the game though (there's even a few called out in the achievements). Also, it's probably because SGDQ is going on, but I can't wait to see people start speedrunning this game.
 
Hey gaf,
I've been hearing a lot that this game is heavily inspired by the games of yore that kicked your ass. I will admit it, I'm not that good at games, especially not 8-bit ones. However, I do love the style of this game and the feel. From a difficulty perspective, would this game appeal to an average joe like me?

Also, what gamepad features are there?

I'm pretty bad at games and I haven't found it too bad. The core gameplay isn't extremely easy (at least to me), but the game does several things to make it less punishing, such as:

- There are no lives. Rather, when you die, you drop some treasure. But if you make it back to where you died, you can reclaim that treasure, like in Dark Souls.

- Checkpoints are much more frequent than your typical NES game. However, if you want to make the game harder, you can actually destroy the checkpoints so you'll start at the beginning of the stage if you die.

- You can pretty easily pump your health up so you can take a lot of damage to make boss fights easier. But you don't have to, if you want to make the game harder.

I'd say give it a shot if you like the style.
 

Five

Banned
Well, so far I've only used it in the Phase challenge level, and I've taken down King, Spector, and Plague Knight (and two wandering bosses). It's tough (especially Spector Knight), but not impossible. Actually, now that I'm reading about people using it so much, I'm tempted to ignore it as much as possible.

I'm already thinking of lots of different categories/challenges for playing through the game though (there's even a few called out in the achievements). Also, it's probably because SGDQ is going on, but I can't wait to see people start speedrunning this game.

One of the feats (Hurry Up) asks you to beat the game in under 1:30:00. I wonder just how much further people will be able to take it.
 

nowai

Member
NRR.jpg

Third boss down playing with the best way possible.

Arcade style, naturally.

This game has everything that made Duck Tales great and then some. Items, powers, tight controls...and dat music!
 
- There are no lives. Rather, when you die, you drop some treasure. But if you make it back to where you died, you can reclaim that treasure, like in Dark Souls.

My issue with this is it isn't exactly like Dark souls, because your treasure drops where you die (rather than the last safe place a few seconds before). Because 99% of my deaths are dropping down a pit, this means you can't really get your gold back most of the time.
 

nowai

Member
My issue with this is it isn't exactly like Dark souls, because your treasure drops where you die (rather than the last safe place a few seconds before). Because 99% of my deaths are dropping down a pit, this means you can't really get your gold back most of the time.

Yes, the pit gold has made my sodium levels rise a few times.
 

RM8

Member
Still buying on 3DS. I don't care about HD on what is basically a NES game, was the sprite work even compromised other than looking expectedly smaller? Also, earbuds :p I'll be playing this on my way to work, then at work, then on my way home. Then at home!
 

EDarkness

Member
I'm pretty bad at games and I haven't found it too bad. The core gameplay isn't extremely easy (at least to me), but the game does several things to make it less punishing, such as:

- There are no lives. Rather, when you die, you drop some treasure. But if you make it back to where you died, you can reclaim that treasure, like in Dark Souls.

- Checkpoints are much more frequent than your typical NES game. However, if you want to make the game harder, you can actually destroy the checkpoints so you'll start at the beginning of the stage if you die.

- You can pretty easily pump your health up so you can take a lot of damage to make boss fights easier. But you don't have to, if you want to make the game harder.

I'd say give it a shot if you like the style.

If you hate jump puzzles, you might want to avoid. There's a lot of timed jump situations where falling into a pit is instant death. Honestly, I'm not enjoying that part too much. It's just reminding me of why I've always hated these kinds of platforming games.
 
Well, so far I've only used it in the Phase challenge level, and I've taken down King, Spector, and Plague Knight (and two wandering bosses). It's tough (especially Spector Knight), but not impossible. Actually, now that I'm reading about people using it so much, I'm tempted to ignore it as much as possible.

I'm already thinking of lots of different categories/challenges for playing through the game though (there's even a few called out in the achievements). Also, it's probably because SGDQ is going on, but I can't wait to see people start speedrunning this game.

I haven't given the bosses more than a once-over, but in just going through the motions and trying to beat them it's clear that they've been designed with shovel-only, no death (or even no damage) runs in mind. There's usually a tactic that keeps you fairly safe while letting you do consistent damage.

But yeah, it seems like the Phase Amulet is a deliberately overpowered item that's fairly analogous to the Yes Man Kablaam in God Hand. It's not exactly a free ride due to how resource intensive it is and that you need to use it wisely, but it's certainly a crutch to help players power through trouble spots and difficult bosses. It helps keep the game fun for those who have a bit of trouble keeping up with the difficulty curve, but playing without it can be more interesting once you really start learning the game. I myself try to avoid using it during bosses, but I don't feel too bad busting it out when I screw up by jumping into a pit of spikes and not wanting to bother running back from the last checkpoint.
 

RedBoot

Member
My issue with this is it isn't exactly like Dark souls, because your treasure drops where you die (rather than the last safe place a few seconds before). Because 99% of my deaths are dropping down a pit, this means you can't really get your gold back most of the time.

That reminds me. I died against one of the wandering bosses, and my gold dropped up in the air, well above jumping range. So not only did I have to go back and beat the boss, but I had to use him as a springboard to get my gold back. I thought it was funny, at least.

Anyway, there's ways to alleviate the gold loss.
One of the armor upgrades reduces the amount of gold you lose on death.
Or you could just do like one of the NPCs in town suggests, and just spend everything so that you don't have any gold to drop! :)
 

Rarity

Member
Fond of how this game seems to have its own version of Hammer Bros.

That was really the first part that truly sold me on this game. It was just a really nice touch.

Loving this game way more than I anticipated. Yacht Club has done everything right.

Anybody know what happens if
I don't catch Shield Knight? Can I replay that cutscene after defeating King Knight again?

As far as I know in my playthrough,
nothing happens if you miss her. And you're correct that there will be other opportunities to go through that dream sequence (if memory serves there were four or five total), but replaying King Knight's stage won't automatically trigger it. I missed her my first time too, so maybe there's an achievement for catching her in every sequence.
 

Halfmunch

Member
Got the 3DS version, it's so good! Like the 3D effect. Beat 2 bosses without health upgrades, after reading some posts I might keep it that way. I like the challenge died a lot... Hehe.
 

Hale-XF11

Member
My issue with this is it isn't exactly like Dark souls, because your treasure drops where you die (rather than the last safe place a few seconds before). Because 99% of my deaths are dropping down a pit, this means you can't really get your gold back most of the time.

Use your fishing rod to get any bags of gold that are floating above a pit.
 
Just finished downloading my 3DS version. I'm not gonna start tonight since I've gotta work early tomorrow, but I'm stoked to finally have the game. :)
 

AwShucks

Member
3DS version. God this game is great. I'm about three or four levels in. It looks great and plays wonderfully but holy crap the music is so good.

Sometime I'll have to pick up the PC or console version as my one complaint would be the small screen of the 3DS doesn't allow one to really appreciate the details.
 

Five

Banned
Did any other backer get the music yet? (edit: I backed at $100). I want to set it as my alarm for the morning. Though I suppose the trailer music will do...
 
D

Diggeh

Unconfirmed Member
That reminds me. I died against one of the wandering bosses, and my gold dropped up in the air, well above jumping range. So not only did I have to go back and beat the boss, but I had to use him as a springboard to get my gold back. I thought it was funny, at least.

Anyway, there's ways to alleviate the gold loss.
One of the armor upgrades reduces the amount of gold you lose on death.
Or you could just do like one of the NPCs in town suggests, and just spend everything so that you don't have any gold to drop! :)

You also get to look really spiffy. DAT RED ARMOR

Anyone else find it worthless to
fill the chalices with anything but the health/MP potion? Considering how you get the relic that makes you invincible for a short amount of time, and there's an armor for treasure IIRC.
 

Spiderduff

Member
I got to say this game is GREAT so far. I am enjoying the hell out of it. Got it for the Wii U and man am i glad I backed them. Glad to support these guys. They did a great job!
 

Andiie

Unconfirmed Member
I loved how in the first village that woman complaining about the buckets being heavy
you can then jump up on her back and weigh her down even more.
So many great little touches to this game.
 
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