Developers nowadays have many more liberties they can take when creating their games compared to when video games were first starting out. Whether a realistic first-person shooter or a turn-based hand-drawn RPG, developers in current times can make nearly anything thanks to the vast array of tools and technological improvements in game creation. However, retro games often had strict limitations to work with, often due to the hardware’s inability to run anything more advanced. Due to this fact, developers had to get very creative and were able to make the renowned retro games known and loved today. However, when Yacht Club Games created Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, they decided to use the best of both worlds by utilizing modern game creation capabilities to create possibly the greatest contemporary retro game ever.
The first instance of Yacht Club Games’ genius is in their world design for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. Following the conventions of many 8-bit games of yore, every level in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is themed around the final boss of said level. For example, the level “The Iron Whale” is set entirely underwater, with its final boss being Treasure Knight, a large man in an old-timey diver suit. While having themed areas is certainly not unique to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, modern gaming hardware makes every area unique. Enemies are hardly ever recycled, every level has its gimmick, and every boss is an incredible fight. Compare this to something like the original Super Mario Bros. games, which mostly have the same enemies across most of the game and only a couple of unique environments, and the benefits of modern development become readily apparent. Current capabilities also allowed Yacht Club Games to artistically develop every level to a point much further than anything possible during the advent of video gaming, with an easy example being every level’s parallax backgrounds (parallax backgrounds allow the background to be composed of multiple layers to make it seem as if the player is genuinely moving across an area). They were able to do this all while remaining inside the conventional limits of the era where 8-bit games were the cutting edge, limiting sprites to specific sizes and numbers of colors. Every part of the game is accompanied by Jake Kaufman’s exceptional soundtrack, elevating the title to even greater heights.
However, Yacht Club Games did not stop with a single game after creating the original campaign Shovel of Hope. Over the course of 5 years since its initial release in 2014, Yacht Club Games would release three additional campaigns and a battle mode reminiscent of the Super Smash Bros. series of games. Each of these would iterate on the last, introducing entirely new mechanics and systems for every new campaign. The combat of the first campaign is reminiscent of many original NES or SNES games, while the later campaigns became more and more creative. The second campaign focuses on the player creating explosives with different effects depending on the situation, the third requires the player to dash attack through enemies and create combos, and the fourth requires the player to bash enemies and bounce off them to reach new platforms. Yacht Club Games also created a brand-new story for each entry, giving every character in the battle mode a mini-campaign as well. The cherry on top of this already incredibly impressive cake was that all new updates were delivered free to those who had already purchased, something that would have been entirely impossible to accomplish at the time that this game’s design emulates. All of these examples prove Yacht Club Games to be the master of their craft.
Overall, Yacht Club Games created an incredible title with Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove and were able to stick to the design confines of the 80s while still using modern techniques. This game is truly a masterpiece of game design, containing not only hundreds of hours of content across its four campaigns and fighting game, but many captivating stories and refined game mechanics. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is an instant recommendation to anyone, and is an experience which should not be missed.
Photos
Cover. hero.avif by Nintendo. https://assets.nintendo.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1200/q_auto:best/f_auto/dpr_2.0/ncom/en_US/games/switch/s/shovel-knight-treasure-trove-switch/hero
Fig 1. Plains by Josiah Long.
Fig 2. Cheat code by Josiah Long.
Fig 3. Showdown by Josiah Long.