Shovel Knight was a game I knew I'd like as soon as it came out, but I held off until recently because of a backlog of other games. I'm so glad I finally purchased though as it is a fantastic tribute to some of the iconic games of the past while still maintaining an identity of its own.
First impressions were: 8-bit/NES look and sound, awesome and clean for those who remember those days. The map screen feels right out of Super Mario Bros 3, looks good and is easy to follow. Second, the play style follows a similar pattern to Mega Man (my personal favorite series from the old days) in that you go through a semi-linear (you can't choose whichever knight you want, only certain ones are open, defeat them to access the others, but you can choose which order to face the available ones); basically go through the level and battle the unique boss at the end. Unlike Mega Man, you do not gain the boss' power upon defeating him, rather, similar to the Adventure of Link you can find a unique weapon within the stages (or buy it later at a higher price), but these do not do extra damage to bosses, they just have their special abilities (very useful in most cases). Third, there's more to it than just boss levels as there are special 'short' stages and wandering fighters to engage along the way. The couple of towns feel like they are out of the Adventure of Link, too as does Shovel Knight's downward attack (downthrust), though this is also akin to the DuckTales Pogo stick move.
There is great attention to detail and a lot to find in each level making it worth coming your way through. The writing is clever and there is a lot of humor/puns mixed in the game. Controls are excellent and responsive.
Lastly, as of now the Plague Knight expansion is out (with 2 more expansions planned I hear), and it is a wonderful addition that makes playing the same essential game very very different, both in terms of play style and how you see certain characters. Love the game, check it out!
