Shovel Knight: King of Cards Launch Trailer, My Thoughts

In 2014, Yacht Club Games released the Kickstarter-funded game Shovel Knight, a game inspired by 8-bit platformers for the original Nintendo Entertainment System.

The game would be ported to numerous consoles as well as Linux and OS X. I own it on 3DS myself. The game told the tale of the eponymous Shovel Knight, who must save a medieval land from a group of evil knights known as the Order of No Quarter. Shovel Knight's adventure would be retroactively called Shovel of Hope as Yacht Club updated the game with new multiplayer campaigns that focused on various members of the Order of No Quarter: Plague of Shadows focusing on the bomb-throwing Plague Knight, and Spectre of Torment which focused on the wall-crawling Spectre Knight.

The game has been given critical acclaim, being praised for its gameplay, graphics, music, and characters. The game has sold over 2 million units on its various ports. Shovel Knight himself would get to appear as a playable character in various other independent games (including another favorite of mine, Blaster Master Zero), and got to be an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I love the game myself, and I highly recommend it, as it's also coming to the Nintendo Switch.

One more campaign is being added to Shovel Knight's treasure trove. It focuses on King Knight and his quest to become King of Cards. Let's take a look!

LEAP TO GLORYYYYY-!

...Ouch.

He's okay!

Behold the might of his fancy royal spin!

Pie for the King!

Yeah, this campaign introduces a card game: Joustus. I wonder if the developers got the idea from Triple Triad.

TASTE THE ROYAL HAMMER, FIEND!

And King Knight doing his best Tazmanian Devil impression.

Ooh, those attacks look awesome.

What're you crying for? You the king!

NO DOOR SHALL HOLD BACK THE KING.

This looks like a ton of fun to play. I am a bit nervous about Joustus, though. These kind of card games were never my thing, so I'm hoping it's not something insanely complicated. I do love Shovel Knight, so I will be playing this. I'm also happy the Shovel Knight game is coming to the Switch. It's a fantastic game, and everyone should give it a play. If you love old-school games, this will be right up your alley. Heck, it's a fun game to play even if you're not a retrogamer.

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