DuckTales is one of my favorite games on the NES. It played perfectly, with some of the best controls and level designs on the system, and it captured the spirit, look, and even music of the cartoon in a way that few licensed video games ever hoped to do. Naturally, I was excited to hear that the geniuses from WayForward are working on a game that features all of the exploring, pogo-jumping, and platforming from the classic title.

Huh? DuckTales Remastered? Oh, yeah, I'm excited about that, too. It looks totally sweet. But it's not what I'm talking about.

Recently, many of the programmers from WayForward left the company to start their own development house in Yacht Club Games. It's small and certainly doesn't have the resources and Capcom backing that WayForward has for DuckTales Remastered, but its Kickstarter project, Shovel Knight, got me excited.

I tried out Shovel Knight at the Indie Megabooth at PAX East, and I liked what I saw. While I'm looking forward to revisiting the classic locations of DuckTales with WayForward's high-definition remake, I'm looking even more forward to Shovel Knight. Which is appropriate, because the two share some interesting similarities beyond the WayForward programmer pedigree.

Shovel Knight is an 8-bit-styled platformer that looks as at home on an NES as Retro City Rampage does. Instead of high-definition graphics, everything is in the classic pixel art style of the 8-bit era. You play Shovel Knight, a knight who wields a shovel to fight other themed knights and defeat the evil Enchantress. The shovel is a dual-use weapon, able to jab at enemies and destroy blocks, as well as bounce on enemies and blocks from above. If that sounds familiar, it's because it feels like a more violent version of Scrooge McDuck's pogo cane. Shovel Knight has a jab attack that's much more active than Scrooge's golf swing, and can be used to more directly attack enemies from the side, but otherwise the shovel feels just like the cane, and that's a good feeling.

The level designs also feel like they're straight out of DuckTales (or the other excellent Capcom NES side-scrollers, like Darkwing Duck, Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers, and, of course, Mega Man), with jewels hidden behind every destroyable block and several secret rooms found only through leaps of faith and pushing on the edges of the screen. Multiple paths through levels make the action feel more like an adventure than a linear experience, and the combination of enemies and platforming elements like magical books that create disappearing blocks make every second feel like a well-crafted challenge. I even lingered on some some screens to position enemies so I could pogo off of them and jump onto high platforms to find secrets. It all culminated in a fight with the regal King Knight, who I defeated by pogo jumping off of repeatedly while avoiding his dashing cut and bits of damaging ticker-tape that fell from blaring horns announcing his appearance.

And this was just a demonstration level to show what the game will be like when Yacht Club Games actually makes the whole thing. I came back to it a few times at PAX East because I had so much fun with it (and to make sure my gamer initials, AGG, remained on the high score list). I'm very excited about Ducktales Remastered, but Shovel Knight was the game that really captured my 8-bit pogo platforming heart again at the show. Either way, programmers from WayForward, past and present, are working hard on making games that invoke that feeling.

At the time of this writing, the Kickstarter has raised just shy of $58,000, with 18 days to make its goal of $75,000. Yacht Club Games plans to release the game for PC, Wii U, and 3DS, with the PC version available for pre-order on Kickstarter for $10 and the console versions available for $15. The game is expected to be finished in September.

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