[TAS] Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows any% in

Frame count: 127437
Re-record count: 26652
Done on the linux DRM-free version (3.3) using my own-made TAS tools (github.com/clementgallet/libTAS).
- The fastest way to move horizontally is by chaining ground bursts and double jumps. Bursting too frequently is slower as bursts have a 3-frames freeze.
- Big Boom upgrade was taken for an extra 25 seconds, but it saved time in the whole run, because of the possibility to break blocks without slowing down and faster bosses. Also, throwing a big boom at the beginning of a burst or a jump changes the trajectory by falling down faster.
- In almost every boss, you can get closer to the boss that the game expects by making a burst at the start of the boss room. For most bosses, you can do an input on one frame after the transition to the boss. Also, for all bosses, you can make a burst just before hitting the transition, and your inertia will be kept in the boss room.
- In Plains (01:29) is the only zip of the game, by triggering the transition above the screen. It is also possible by Shovel Knight using the bubbles.
- In the end of King Knight fight (07:29), I delay the last attack until the boss is on the ground because the fight ending triggers when the boss body lands.
- In Explodatorium (08:02), I managed to get hit to get less than 2 hp, so that the boss Shovel Knight will never use the Phase Locket attack (he gets invincible for a short time). Also, during this fight, I managed to skip his health refill, which is triggered when he lost more than 3 hps. To do that, I throw bombs in a very specific way to create an alcove inside the rocks. When Shovel Knight has a rock over him, he launches his horn attack, and hitting him during this animation can skip the refill trigger.
There are a few improvements in this TAS:
- During Specter Knight fight (04:32), it would have been faster to make boss body to land on one of the platform, because the ending triggers when the boss body lands.
- In Iron Whale (10:51), there is a 1-tile hole that I didn't know how to drop into.
Huge thanks to the Shovel Knight discord community for their feedback, advices and enthusiasm!

[@temporaltoast9692]

“Plague Knight are you oka-“
“ *_F U C K I N G E X P L O S I O N S_* ”

[@zegreatpumpkinani9161]

BUSTA WOLF

[@JayThePokemonMaster]

@@zegreatpumpkinani9161 Thank god for the translation!

[@HunterIsRad]

When you gotta collect the essence but Mona’s gonna teach you dancing in 30 minutes

[@sirhootsalot2343]

*40 minutes

[@williamhuynh869]

Be late

[@JetSetDman]

mona: hey plague knight wanna come over
plague knight: i can't, i'm busy
mona: my parents aren't home
plague knight:

[@danielmclatchie2053]

The moment I saw the gameplay I immediately thought of this, then saw this comment

[@demilad225]

Floors? Where we’re going, we don’t need floors.

[@itsnotpaul8548]

Shovel knight: Ok I need to get to Shield knight!
Plague Knight:

[@LicensedPaprbag]

24:18 imagine being defeated within the first few notes of your theme song
This post was made by the plague knight gang

[@chonglengli]

Imagine being defeated in one hit by something you made yourself
This post was made by the mobile gear gang

[@deleted4913]

Imagine having your own locket being used against you
This post was made by the Phase Locket gang

[@pastaopossum495]

Lol

[@wurtknurte7283]

Is it a bird, is it a plane, NO, IT'S A FLYING PLAGUE DOCTOR!

[@aPengwin1]

this is the only acceptable confusion of a bird

[@minerturtle45]

"Wow Plague, you're killing it with getting these Essen-oh okay bye i guess"

[@NeonWasInUse]

*"OKIGOTTHEESSENCECOOL?COOLOKBYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!"*

[@iamhorse9794]

Black Knight: *Gets Mona to leave Plague Knight*
Plague Knight: 19:20

[@chonglengli]

Plague Knight: *Worst. Wingman. Ever!*

[@scado5679]

"Wow, what was her probl--HEY OUCH OW OW STOP OW OUCH AAAAAAGH"

[@AcronymARES]

I can only imagine the absolute chaos that would insue had this run started off with the Pandemonium Cloak.

[@Vinegar436]

Victory:
Shovel Knight - epic pose
Specter Knight - cool tricks with scythe
Plague knight - *_FRIGGIN_* *_PARTAY_*

[@rayb4854]

SLUUUUURRRRRRP

[@zegreatpumpkinani9161]

King Knight - flex on the peasants

[@lucasbaum2228]

I've always loved the little jiggy Plague knight does when he defeats a boss

[@lilypad2252]

11:43 plague knight do be lookin' kinda fresh doe

[@MemeManMoi]

He's groovin

[@Funtermore]

Mona: Hey Plaguey, so I created this Potion to help collect the essences, it's a Speed Potion, i called "Meth"
Plague. K: Hum-mm...Let me Try
Plague. K after the Potion:

[@TheKenny2113]

29:08 - 29:54 100% blocks speedrun

[@bugsy0422]

(insert original “come over” joke here)

[@flameblade3]

Plague knight: Mona I’ve made a decision, I have decided to embrace my inner bird!
Mona: seriously plaguey...

[@TheTolnoc]

Less than two minutes in and we're already nega clipping through the nth dimension.
This is gonna be good.

[@jerry3115]

Best campaign change my mind

[@lucania101710]

I don't need to change your mind, it is the best one

[@darkanayer5867]

Sorry, i consider specter of torment better, specially because of his New game plus

[@jerry3115]

@@darkanayer5867 imo plague of shadows > king of cards > specter of torment > shovel of hope, but all 4 of them are 10/10 masterpieces.

[@coolkat3103]

@@jerry3115 yeah feel the same way

[@zegreatpumpkinani9161]

Sorry but I have to disagree HARD. Joustus is ****ing awesome, and King Knight and Spectre Knight movement feels great. Shovel Knight is a solid third. Plague Knight... my brain cannot comprehend charge moves and being unable to master the art of explosions I find his movement very clunky.

[@coolkat3103]

*_E X P L O S I O N S:_* the movie

[@blorgyschmorgy7556]

the best part was when plague knight played hole in the wall and changed his pose in order to fit in the “shovel knight only” spinning door (5:54)

[@Munimun]

PK: "I gotta make the ultimate potion so I can be the ultimate being and impress Mona"
Mona: "b- but you already are"

[@floatingf8783]

PK: My arms are not as insanely strong as my legs, Mona.

[@larscandland4072]

Well... color me impressed

[@M0mazosMissy]

1:31 A weapon to surprass speedrunner Mario

[@tree_sage3357]

Not possible

[@sla5891]

speedrunner mario: Finally, a worthy opponent, our battle will be legendary!

[@zeegamingbros9118]

this reminds me of plague knight in his boss fight.

[@israelrodriguez7975]

OMG ME TOO!

[@theivoryguy2476]

18:28
Holy shit

[@kirbyknife5885]

It feels like Plague Knight is now carrying special bombs to just blow himself up anytime instead of the usual slow charge

[@RetroRSP]

Detnators

[@nathanbattraw5803]

I've beaten every single mode and gotten all upgrades, but this still blows me away. Some seriously helpful hints in this and strat.

[@pjthemaster1]

Black knight after he talks to Mona for one frame: Why do I hear boss music?

[@LicensedPaprbag]

specter gets bullied timestamp: 4:22

[@ManohangProto]

I love how at 28:48 they intentionally take damage so they can flex on THE ENTIRE GODDAMN ORDER by beating them with 3 health at 30:05

[@mossymagicks]

23:05 those tactical damage boosts to land on the spikes are extremely cool

[@lilypad2252]

Alternate title: *A bird named plague knight fucking explodes 5 x 10^1000 times.*

[@Rappenem]

28:49 just for the heck of it

[@mdudegamer]

"Eh, I don't need that much health"

[@marmeg5238]

I know I'm late but this an important part of the speedrun. If you have more than one and a half health Shovel Knight will use his Phase Locket.

[@williamhuynh869]

@@marmeg5238 his ai should spam the phase locket. We all did

[@deleted4913]

^

[@IlSharmouta]

I thought oh he's just messing around cause he's knows there's a chicken at the end
He goes to the chicken, opens it, and walks away

[@deadakus]

37:47 heeeey so about that

[@aPengwin1]

I've always loved watching TAS's demolish bosses and this was wonderful

[@thenightjackal]

As I thought, a speedrun of Plague of Shadows would be way more cool than one of Shovel of Hope. Plague Knight's movement is so fun

[@omniscientomnipresent5500]

He can fly...

[@PlutiaHeart]

Seriously incredible work here.

[@lankymaccrazyhair264]

For when you are late to impressing your crush.

[@professorrafaelrodrigues219]

best love history ever

[@lemonl80]

21:33 Bruh

[@bigdaddynasty69]

He clowned that sucka

[@elecboy5126]

13:45
You didn’t mention this in the captions, but you threw the bomb because enemies don’t have hit boxes during the damage flash, right?

[@DarkEspeon40K]

Partially right. What you meant is "hurtboxes", the parts of the enemy that actually hurt you upon touch. For most enemies in SK they're almost identical in size to hitboxes. Enemies can't hurt you by touch when they're in a damage phase.

[@elecboy5126]

As I suspected.
However I believe you have hitboxes and hurtboxes reversed - if an enemy/projectile hitbox is intersecting with Shovel Knight’s hurtbox, then shovel knight is damaged

[@elecboy5126]

Ok after doing some research I found out that the hitbox/hurtbox distinction is only unambiguous in fighting games, sorry

[@deleted4913]

Your pfp disturbs me

[@Cyanopsia]

I love how they just flex during autoscrollers.

[@VentCrystals98]

Excellent run :D

[@essamxe4881]

You are so good ...good luck man😇

[@snazzy_w3315]

its a tas

[@pixelator5312]

you: hover meanies
me, an intellectual: jawas

[@scado5679]

At this point the Ultimate Potion would have been a downgrade.

[@kylie2867]

Plague knight is a freakin yandere

[@LunaMinuna]

It’s so series how much of a Jerk shovel knight is in the campaign makes you see that not all the heroes are who they appear to be

[@sam-vs4tm]

*floor? what’s that?*

[@SuctionCup_Man]

doctor: you have no more bomb injuries! that will be $475.
*card declines*
doctor: 19:20

[@hollowknightenjoyer]

Didn't notice but after shovel knight charge slashes you lhe starts teabggimg you. Pretty sure other people can relate

[@stetstetstitstreats]

look at he go

[@Zhukov1898]

Will you do King of Cards

[@waynetastic1746]

It's like healthbars don't even exist 0_0

[@pavtyler8405]

Avoid the chicken at *all costs*

[@genericfriend2568]

Garden Warrior: late for a recital

[@camillo3887]

When Mona is home alone:

[@zephyrmasterstormforger8687]

5:15 Mudvayne reference?

[@matthiassteigely211]

1:30 how he do that

[@dry90125]

Me going to the gas station to get my mom chips

[@raghabbaruah3317]

plaguey do be on a vegan diet tho

[@technicallyanaxolotl9613]

I thought you needed to find the shovel of hope relics to trade with chester to get the arcana

[@jordie6555]

pretty sure that's just to get the arcana for free

[@collarbones4511]

1:31 what the fuck was THAT???

[@deadakus]

Yeah yeah Plague Knight is fast, but can we talk about those minions at the start?

[@RetroCandyArt]

wait you can get the arcana without giving chester the relic? how have i never known this

[@rayb4854]

Oh wow youre here too huh

[@thankful.u.a.z9297]

You'll need to pay him a big amount of gold tho

[@itsnotpaul8548]

Show: Has one funny frame
Memers on their way to make a template:

[@german_engineering1449]

No need to fight if you can just fly over your enemies

[@phorchybug3286]

Fans: Plagues gameplay sucks
TAS: ♂️♂️💥

[@oyeh8908]

I just wish Plague Knight had more unique levels.

[@nills2099]

POV: you thought you were the best.

[@slima11NG]

35:23 here is the best part

[@blackdot105]

Shovel Knight TAS??

[@user-cs2pi5qz4g]

Tool asisted speedrun

[@blackdot105]

@@user-cs2pi5qz4g Don't worry, I'm well aware of what a tas is. I was surprised by the existence of a Shovel Knight TAS.

[@aPengwin1]

@@blackdot105 basically every platformer has a tas, I'm more surprised at the RPGs with tas's

[@tisc25]

What the fuck

[@darknessdevours5827]

This makes Plague Knight's campaign actually look good.

[@slima11NG]

39:17 here is the worst part

[@slycther2709]

Soni-Chan x Soniku Of the game or the speedrun?

[@killeroneninenine]

Let the little guy have his big tiddy goth gf.

[@RiverOfTheHeart]

Here's the worst part 40:02

[@isaacallen563]

Theres no way someone did this run without an input hotkey or something. Def cheating somehow

[@acorngnome]

I can smell your skill issue.

[@gigogrom216]

21:33 I love how snowball just bumbs into you