Genre: Action platformer
Developer: Yacht Club Games
Publisher: Yacht Club Games

Shovel Knight utilizes pixel art work that is roughly Famicom-era in terms of technical attributes. While the main character's use of a shovel is a little obnoxious, on the balance it's very refreshing to find a game with such a so-called "retro" aesthetic that isn't causing this reviewer's "pretentious meter" to read off the charts. The graphics are only so-so when it comes to implicit imagination capturing, but the characters and baddies are well animated, and each world has a bright, appealing color scheme.

If the graphics were imitating the Famicom, then the music definitely is, with samples-- especially the white noise percussion sounds-- seemingly coming straight from Nintendo's aforementioned market juggernaut. The compositions, compliments of Jake Kaufman and Manami Matsumae, are melodic, but a little too busy sounding to be truly memorable. The game's sound effects are distinctive, with the various-tone "character speaking" noises reminding this reviewer of "Shining in the Darkness" on the Mega Drive.

Shovel Knight is an action platformer that borrows from many places-- sometimes for good, other times for bad. On the good side: the Mega Man stage structures work well. The "Demon's Souls need to re-obtain money after death" mechanic is sound. On the bad: there are tons of needless and distracting mechanics seemingly added simply to add artificial length and to tick the obligatory Kickstarter boxes (it's surprising that this game doesn't also have crafting, and parkour). The physics are good, although the character's weapon range and stiff movement can be frustrating. The level design follows textbook principles, and feature some very novel mechanics as well.

Shovel Knight is what you get when you combine the ludonarrative and implicit aesthetic of 80s and early 90s video games, with the soundly developed level design mechanics of today-- sort of. The core experience-- the playing of the actual stages-- is fantastic, but everything around that experience totally disrupts the game's pacing, and actively makes the game less fun. Eliminating the cumbersome Super Mario Bros. 3 overworld map altogether would do the game wonders, as would cutting out the pointless upgrade systems, needless "side" bosses, and scrapping the terrible, contrivance boss rush at the end of the game. Shovel Knight has the pieces to be a classic, but absent some tweaking and streamlining, it falls instead to the status of "momentary diversion."