Shovel Knight

[G.Silver]

Former Way Forward developers "Yacht Club" have their first game revealed, and it's called Shovel Knight and appears largely based on a DuckTales-esque enemy bounce with a downward stab of ye old shovel. At first glance in their trailer (and just the name of the game) I was all like "what is this, more Terraria-esque garbage?" </strong opinions> But nope, it's a cool-looking action-packed platformer that is exactly the sort of reason I am hopelessly addicted to video game news sites... that 1% payout or whatever, god I'm pathetic.

It's on Kickstarter and they're looking for 75k which I'm sure they'll have no trouble getting.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I didn't think WayForward was big enough to have an entire team split from it. Who's left behind, Guy Who Draws Tits?

I didn't read that whole thing, but it has that Henry Hatsworth je ne sais quoi I'm totally digging (Pun!). The manual incentive is totally something they stole out of my brain pan, too. The nerve!

[Dr. BUGMAN]

SO INCIDENTALLY! What're some good Ducktales-pogo-cane-like games already out there?

I'm aware of:

• Some of the Kommander Keen episodes
  Ardy Lightfoot (SNES)
  Blender Bros. (GBA)
  I guess those levels in DKC 2 & 3 with the snake-mount sorta count

Surely there's more than that.

P.S. I wasn't calling you Guy Who Draws Tits. Punctuation, y'know.

[G.Silver]

I have to say the clip you linked for Ardy Lightfoot doesn't make much of a case for it meeting the good criteria. Is Blender Bros actually any good?

I didn't think WayForward was big enough to have an entire team split from it. Who's left behind, Guy Who Draws Tits?

Looks like they left enough people to make a sequel to Mighty Switch Force, so I guess that's all the people they need! (Or the game was already done when they left..)

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Consider that "good" a typo. I was just rattling off any games with the mechanic that came to mind. Though, the comic I've learned its existence from argues in its favor. I've only played it on emulator so I didn't feel I was in a position to judge.

Blender Bros. was pretty meh (again: emulation). Its other gimmick of helper mons is poorly implemented; and in some cases causally leveling them up without foreknowledge can prevent you from attaining 100%. And the final boss can eat a syphilitic dick. But considering how dire original platforming was during the GBA's early years, I'm sure it looked good compared to Mario: The Game You've Already Played to Death now featuring Grating Voice Clips. And the main character's design looks like something Treasure would make (too bad it's pre-rendered).

[Rob-Bert]

People played Mario 2 to death?

[Protodude]

Between talk of Wayforward and games with a pogo-stick bounce, you'd think this thread was preemptively made for this instead

[Jingles]

Between talk of Wayforward and games with a pogo-stick bounce, you'd think this thread was preemptively made for this instead

HOLY SHIT I AM SO SOLD

[Yami CJMErl]

Between talk of Wayforward and games with a pogo-stick bounce, you'd think this thread was preemptively made for this instead

HOLY SHIT I AM SO SOLD

SECONDED SO GODDAMN HARD

[Rob-Bert]

What, no persnickety complaints about the rendered backgrounds? No skepticism about how well they can re-create the original's structure and flow?

[Dr. BUGMAN]

People played Mario 2 to death?

That was a jab a Mario Advance the series. And yes, I played 2 to death, you monkey brain.

[G.Silver]

What, no persnickety complaints about the rendered backgrounds? No skepticism about how well they can re-create the original's structure and flow?

Did you want them? I think mostly people are overwhelmed that the game could happen at all.

I don't know about the new money bin level but there's no reason to think the rest of the game won't be a completely accurate port, is there? Besides looking different, obviously. I am not at all wild about the 3D graphics, besides the storm and lighting effects they have a real blah look, and a cheap non-textured style compared to the original game. I really think if they'd tried to match a game like WarioLand Shake's 2D backgrounds they'd have a much better-looking game, but I'm sure some exec in some company (there are three involved here after all) felt that there HAD to be some 3D.

I have to say I think this is a kind of strange occurrence that WayForward has been working on this and sometime in there the Yacht Club guys also started doing a game that people just can't help comparing to Ducktales. I almost wonder if DuckTales has been sitting there finished for a while now and the guys doing Shovel Knight are just the ones who couldn't get it out of their system and really just wanted to make a DuckTales sequel or something. Kinda strange!

[Esrever]

I'm really looking forward to this. I'd have preferred a fully 2D take -- if only because WayFoward's Wii U port of Mighty Switch Force shows how beautifully they could have pulled it off -- but I think the 2D/3D style looks pretty good for what it is. Adding new areas to a classic is always a risky proposition, but I've really enjoyed a lot of WF's platform games, so I think there's at least a reasonable chance they can pull off it off.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I know I give WayForward a lot of flak for its dengeki ecchi doki bullshit.



ALL IS FORGIVEN.

Serious, honest-to-Cthulu stretch-and-squash. And done superbly.

[Rob-Bert]

For a moment there I honestly thought that was a snippet from the TV show. That's pretty damn amazing.

[Crazy Penguin]

WELL NOW. This is even more nostalgic for me.

[G.Silver]

Screen shots for the Castle of Illusion remake are up!

http://www.joystiq.com/screenshots/cast ... 813239/#/0

I think this looks very nice! Comparing with WayForward's Ducktales, there's a "Go all the way, or go home" kind of feeling. Castle, having picked a direction and gone all the way with it, looks really good. We're talking about remakes here so it's not as if there's going to be any mystery as to which is better (whichever you like, really!) but visually, Mickey makes a great argument for picking 2D or 3D and sticking with it, while Ducktales looks kinda dinky and as if it were made on a much smaller budget (I'm sure that's the case).

[G.Silver]

Video with some talk from the original developers of Castle of Illusion, and a lot of footage of the new game. Looks like it's going to be a bit different after all, but there's some pretty serious butt-bouncing going on in those clips, I approve!

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/02/castl ... latformer/

[Esrever]

I think a "re-imagined" thematic remake, rather than a block-for-block recreation of the original level layouts, was the right way to go with Castle of Illusion. The original game is still fun to play, but the stage design itself feels pretty simplistic and doesn't really age as well as something like DuckTales.