Shovel Knight Dev Talks Switch, Yooka-Laylee, and More
By Dalton Cooper 17 March 2017
Selling over 1.5 million units and earning widespread critical acclaim, Shovel Knight is one of the most successful indie games of the last few years. Since its launch in 2014, the Shovel Knight experience has been expanded with two additional story expansions that have added new challenges and more playable characters. Now that all this content has been released, a compilation of it has been launched called Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
With Treasure Trove, game director Sean Velasco has not only brought all three previously released campaigns together, but he has also laid the groundwork for future expansions and content updates, and the game even helped usher in a new era for Nintendo as a Nintendo Switch launch title. With all this excitement surrounding Shovel Knight, we decided to reach out to Velasco to get his thoughts on the franchise’s future, the Nintendo Switch, Shovel Knight’s cameo in Yooka-Laylee, and more.
Are there any more characters within the Shovel Knight universe that you would like to see explored in a future game or DLC?
I think after working on Shovel Knight for 4 years, everyone would love to explore a brand new concept!
Can you see a future for Shovel Knight where the character expands beyond the platforming genre (a la Mario Kart, Mario Party)?
Definitely. From pinball to kart racing to dating sims, we would love to see Shovel Knight expanded in lots of weird ways!
Will the Shovel Knight amiibo do anything in Yooka-Laylee?
Nope! Everyone will get to see Shovel Knight in Yooka-Laylee: no amiibo required!
How was the experience porting Shovel Knight to the Switch?
It was not too bad! Every platform has its challenges, especially prepping a game for launch! Everyone is figuring it all out for the first time, so there are definitely some bumps in the road. But Nintendo was really helpful and accommodating along the way.
Are there any advantages/disadvantages to the platform?
It’s incredibly awesome to just grab your console and take it on the go with no hassle. Having two Joycons attached is also really cool – now you can bring cooperative Shovel Knight wherever you go!
Do you think the Nintendo Switch will resonate more with gamers and developers than the Wii U did?
I hope so! Maybe the Switch will get cool ports of some of the games that people missed on the Wii U.
There’s ample demand for Shovel Knight to appear in Smash Bros., what do you think the odds are of this happening and how would he stack up to the competition?
I think there is a .01% chance that Shovel Knight will appear in a Smash Bros. game. If he were in it of course he would be the best character – well, aside from Mega Man! No one beats the Blue Bomber- not even the Blue Burrower!
Based on Velasco’s comments, it seems like fans can expect Yacht Club Games to work on a new concept after it’s done with the upcoming King Knight campaign, the multiplayer Battle Mode, and whatever additional content it may have in the pipeline for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
However, that doesn’t mean fans will have to say goodbye to the Shovel Knight character. If Velasco has his way, Shovel Knight will continue to appear in other games of varying genres, starting with his upcoming Yooka-Laylee cameo in April.
Since Shovel Knight has his own amiibo and Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove was selected as a Nintendo Switch launch title, it seems as though Nintendo and Yacht Club Games have a healthy relationship. Considering this, some may think that one of the potential game franchises Shovel Knight could appear in is Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series, but Velasco’s comments seem to indicate that there have been no talks to bring the character to the mash-up fighter.
With Shovel Knight standing as the second-highest rated Nintendo Switch game, right behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, maybe Nintendo will reconsider bringing the character to Super Smash Bros. Fans may have to wait until the possible Switch version of Smash Bros. to see it happen, but with the last game adding Final Fantasy 7‘s Cloud and Capcom’s Mega Man, it seems like any video game character is at least a possibility for Super Smash Bros.
Shovel Knight is available now for 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Switch, Wii U, and Xbox One.
