With the Plague Knight add-on, Shovel Knight is now in my all-time top 5...

[Rev]

Thank you! Do you happen to know about if God of War/Battletoads is on the physical release? I haven't paid my 5000 to get into the Hall of Heroes yet so I haven't found out.

I beat the Hall of Heroes. It seems like the Sony version as the God of War bonus in it. I'd assume the Xbox One version would have the Battletoads stage then (a much better deal as the Kratos fight is okay but you get a whole new level with the Microsoft one). That also means that if you're looking for an extra boss fight you don't want the Wii U/3DS version. Also, as cool as it is to get the Kratos armour, it kind of sucks since the fast drop makes Pogoing off enemies much harder, which almost all stages require you to Pogo your way across platforms.

[CaptainCruch]

Thank you! Do you happen to know about if God of War/Battletoads is on the physical release? I haven't paid my 5000 to get into the Hall of Heroes yet so I haven't found out.

I dunno about that - of course it's not in the 3DS version, that I own. I thought it was a Sony-exclusive, but do not know if it's on the physical releases.

[Rev]

Spoilers:



Well I beat Shovel Knight. I thought it was an excellent game and when I finally rescued Shield Knight I was really happy. I wish there was a 2 player co-op mode you could unlock after saving Shield Knight, in a new game+ feature. Their gameplay together is pretty fun. One thing I might have missed was whether or not Shield Knight was possessed by Enchantress... After you beat the first form, Shield Knight is set free. I wasn't sure if Shield Knight was the Enchantress. Of course, after she gets saved you fight the final form together, which is really cool.

I'm going to play the Plague Knight campaign next. I played a little bit of it and he's so different then Shovel Knight. I'm glad that they decided to redo the stages with his own skills in mind. I'm excited to see what sub-weapons he unlocks and how he's implemented.

[Rev]

After downloading the free Plague Knight upgrade last night and playing for a while, I am officially putting Shovel Knight somewhere in my unofficial top 5 games of all time. There is not a game on this green Earth right now than I would rather be playing than Shovel Knight with this new reason to play, and that is really saying something. Even though the Plague Knight character is more difficult to control, he adds a new dimension to the control that I think is a fun challenge. And playing through the first few levels only served to remind me how absolutely incredible the core game is. The music is absolute, AUTHENTIC 8-bit bliss. I have been humming the first level tune all day now. It seriously is as catchy as anything to come out of the 8-bit era, and it sounds like it COULD HAVE come from the 8-bit era, not a modern tune done in 8-bit style.

Now that I'm on the Plague Knight campaign as well I have to say that Shovel Knight is also one of my favorite games I've played in a while. Plague Knight's campaign starts off quite a bit harder then Shovel Knights (IMO) as he controls wildly different, can take less hits, and there seems to be early spots on the beginning stages that are much harder to get through. For example, on the first level there is this annoying crab you have to either take out or jump over on a single platform. Since you don't have any sub weapons yet and you only have the bouncing bomb he is ridiculously hard to jump over or take out. I died like 20 something times trying to land on the platform and then I finally figured out if a throw bombs, after the bomb burst, I can get more air time and land to the ladder.

Plague Knight's abilities are something you become more familiar with the more you play and it requires a lot of experimentation to figure out the easiest ways to get around. The funny part is, that I feel like his campaign gets easier the more you play, while Shovel Knights gets harder. Plague Knight's mobility increases with each weapon you unlock and each sub-weapon you find. He also gets different bombs, which with careful planning, you can snipe out most enemies on the screen as long as you experiment. He also seems like a character that could be utilized with speed runs since there are several methods you can jump across large portions of the map. Definitely a fun character.

It's also worth mentioning that he gets his own story and locations that you visit with Shovel Knight, are radically different then his. In Shovel Knight's quest you access the Village and never realize there is this whole villain location below ground. NPCs that you interact with Shovel Knight, get whole new perspectives and are actually in cahoots with Plague Knight.

Apparently, there will be 2 more character quests playable (for free) with DLC in the future. With that in mind, Shovel Knight will probably be getting updates for the next couple of years and if they're of this high quality, Shovel Knight will only become even better.