Also for some reason what I want next for this series is a full theatrical movie about Plague Knight called plague Knight out of the shadows, where it takes place after plague of shadows where plague knight is now seen as a hero, so now he has to follow through on it and fights a threat that leads to him dealing with insecurities that relate to him before being accepted by society, and it would have the main cast be the same as plague of shadows just with voice actors, I think I just want the nostalgia of seeing a franchise/character I love go through a animated movie based character arc while a bunch of jokes play out because of it
I see a lot when smaller developers or companies get a hit like this, they tend to make way too many spin offs or sequels; when they already have the fanbase to make something entirely new and expand their catalogue a bit. Not that a sequel wouldn’t be amazing, I’m sure it would, but I worry about over-saturating the same IP.
king knight's room has a mirror where you can practice joustus against people you beat, just go to the homestead and break the high secret wall on the left using bubble frog or tornado and you'll get into king knight's room
you can buy the glide explosion in plague of shadows to literally give you control of every jump,also the fact that you can make your own platforms and use the purple shoryuken to gain height the game has the best mobility but you refused to use any of it's tools
Yeah, of anything that's exactly my issue with plague knight. Once you understand it, it's far too easy to basically just fly over large segments of the levels due to how good plague knight mobility is
But that's kinda the problem. If you need upgrades to make the main mechanic of the campaign actually good to work with, that's not good. Plus, it makes the other burst basically useless because they give you the default burst, basically. And that's one issue of main with Plague of Shadows. It's still not bad, but it's the least good campaign.
I just want to say that plauge knight's campaign is underrated. The challenge is no longer stage design, but your unwieldly moveset. If you can learn how to control it, stages become jokes. (unless you have the pandemonium cloak, which randomizes your loadout every so often.)
I plan on continuing to do runs of these games, so I hope to get the guy down at some point. I've played a lot of platformers, but I think this is the first with such a wild playstyle, so it's a bit of an adjustment.
yeah, same here. i found plague knight's controls super weird at first, but once you understand how to use it to your advantage it becomes an absolute blast (no pun intended) to play. i wound up liking it more than shovel of hope when i was finished with it
i wouldnt say its underrated, its ok its fun to play with plague knight once you start getting your hand with how he works but is still the most lazy campaign
@@Dreinack you know, that's true, it is pretty lazy if we speak objectively, but i'm personally willing to give it a pass since this was their first attempt at DLC, and the campaign is still really fun to play if you get the hang of it
Plague knight controls amazing if you just learn about 2 things: the first one is using your jump, burst and double jump, in this specific order. The second one, and cooler one, is being able to freely change your loadout by holding rb. I think it might be my favorite in the list, precisely because of this: I loved changing my burst and bombs to benefit the situation and don't think any other character has as much freedom and capability to break every level as he does. Between it and king of cards, which is basically smw, it's a really close fight
In my opinion I’d swap Shovel of Hope and Dig because of Dig’s true ending alone. Getting the true ending of Shovel Knight Dig is a nightmare to say the least. Other than that though these are perfect rankings.
RE: Plague Knight. He’s def the least intuitive control wise but there’s certain things I do that make it easier. In you gameplay you use the double jump before the burst blast which leaves you in the crazy burst trajectory. If you save the double jump for after the burst you keep more control. In my play through I also get the Float Burst and Vat asap for more arial control (honestly a little broken but with the Phase Locket, Will Skull & Healing Tears there‘a broken stuff in all campaigns). Totally fair ranking though because if the game didn’t get you enthused enough to test out the different upgrades then that’s a failure on the games part.
I wouldnt say that healing tears are broken: they are strong, yes, but they cant win you the game. Here is why i think that: phase locket and will skull can be used anytime, lots of times. Once you press the button, you are invincible/healed, and nothing can really stop you. With healing tears though, you have to stay in place for a pretty long time, and you can only heal 5 hearts per life. That makes it so its kind of hard to use in battle, and you can lose even more health trying to use it. Healing tears work best as an extra apple at will: you survive a battle with low health, and once its safe to use, you heal some and get on with the level. Healing tears also are better at the start of the game, since they can heal most of your health near the beggining of the game, but only half near the end. This nicely complements the fact that you play worse when you are a begginer.
@@screensmile3026 Good point, yeah it's an over-exaggeration on my part to say Healing Tears are broken (esp compared to other campaigns). It's just that I think when you already have the combo system for replenishing health Healing Tears feels overkill sometimes.
Pretty good ranking! I found myself agreeing with most of the placements. One thing to note about Dig, it has a true ending that is difficult to achieve, so there's more going on than just beating Drill knight.
Knew that was a thing with Pocket Dungeon but somehow missed that for Dig. And here I thought I did such a good job beating Drill Knight and getting my thing back.
@@ExploDjinn Yeah, its really obscure that their even is a true ending, and while they've made it more obvious with updates, its still something most players miss. The way to start a true run is also obscure, so as a slight hint, you have to do something at the surface before jumping down in order to start it.
the best thing shovel knight showdown spawned was an inside joke between a friend and myself because I kept hitting her with Mole Knight's swipe and I kept saying "mole slap" so Mole Slap has become a phrase we use when something has bullshit balancing
Showdown can be super fun if you get a good ruleset. I play one on one showdown matches (not with gems, those suck, I agree), a few stocks, no items, and no stage hazards (on actually good stages). If you get the ruleset right, the game can be incredibly fun. I’ve played so, so many hours of matches under those conditions, and it can be so fun like that. (Though the character roster is still wildly unbalanced tho…) Despite having to be very selective with how you play it and the ruleset you use to have fun, and despite it’s MANY flaws, I still think it’s one of my favorite parts of Treasure Trove.
Treasure trove is one of the best game collections ever. I thought I would hate joustus as I'm not really a card game person but I got hooked fast. I love how king of cards has 2 games in 1 basically. I have a save file with 18 hours.
S.O.T. is seriously a blast of a game. Skating on the scythe is ridiculously fun and the slash dashing makes for some really quick maneuvering. I'm trying out King of Cards or w/e it's called right now and let me say, It feels SO weird. The bash to spin thing confused me so much. But I'm sure once I get used to it, it'll be pretty fun too.
Mine is: 1 Pocket dungeon 2 Specter of Torment 3 King of Cards 4 Dig 5 Showdown (mostly because it made me discover this wonderful franchise) 6 Shovel of Hope 7 Plague of Shadows
Nice list! Mine is 1: Dig 2: King of Cards 3: Pocket dungeon 4: Spectre of torment (The story carries the placement) 5: Shovel of Hope 6: Showdown (Also how I discovered shovel knight) 7: Plague of shadows.
Plague of shadows has 2 main things to criticize: - it gives you way too many upgrades that are not really that useful. - it uses the same levels as Shivel if Hope. And it made me think the other campaigns would do the same so I almost didnt pkay them
Important thing with Plague Knight is you get your double jump back after bursting, and also throwing bombs to stall midair (you still get to "throw" 3 even if your current powder allows less). I'm having fun using the quick select menu to try different things out on my current playthrough, though I think the default stuff is definitely the most reliable in the end.
Plague knight feels amazing to play. Its got a learning curve, but its so much fun once you fully understand it. That being said, id probably rank it somewhat lowly as well. The game, as you said, recycles a lot from shovel knight. The result is that you dont have to engage with the levels as much. High level play for the other 3 campaigns involves platforming skills that seem insane to a first timer, but high level plague knight play often just involves flying over large segments of the levels and ignoring them completely. The levels just arent designed around him as well as the other 3 are designed around their respective characters.
I think that's exactly the point ycg was going for: plague knight is the most customizable character and the freest from level restrictions, as in if you want to go higher or farther you most likely can. It's a bit of a power trip through shovel of hope's world with how much damage you can do, how much healing you can have, and how much mobility you can exploit, but it's not esy to do so. The knockback he takes and the difficulty in controlling the burst is the way to balance it since even if you could fly over the entire stage like speedrunners do, it's usually harder than just doing it normally
My personal ranking of Treasure Trove is probably: 1. Plague of Shadows - All the fun of Shovel of Hope but with a character I ADORE playing as, blasting through levels is so god damn fun and I love how it rewards exploration. The story is adorable and I love Mona and that little Plague asshole so much. 2. Specter of Torment - The only one that genuinely made me emotional. Shovel of Hope has a decent enough story, doing it's best to mimic stories of the era the game's trying to replicate, while putting a few interesting twists on it. It pulled at my heart strings once or twice, but Specter of Torment actually REALLY got to me. I knew how it had to end from the beginning (as is the intent) but it didn't make it any less painful to go through, and I admire that. In addition, Specter Knight's moveset is a ton of fun for me, feeling very kinetic. It almost feels like a rhythem game at times, slashing through enemies and bouncing off walls. It's a ton of fun. 3. King of Cards - A really fun, Wario-esque experience, and definitely the funniest of them all. King Knight is an unbelievable tool the entire time and I love it, he's the fucking worst. A lot of the sub weapons you get this time around are a lot of fun, his moveset is really interesting, I like the shorter take on levels, and I quite enjoyed Joustice. 4.Shovel of Hope - Fantastic game, but after Plague of Shadows it feels too slugish for me 5.Showdown - The singleplayer is TERRIBLE, every other game I beat twice (Once on new game +), and got every achievement, and every challenge... Showdown I've barely touched outside of dicking around with some friends in multiplayer. I think it was one of those things that just sounds better on paper. Also, as a tip: I know a few people have commented it already, but for Plague Knight, the best way to do it is to jump, burst, then jump again to get insane airtime. It takes a bit to get used to, but once you get it down, you blast through the levels at insane speeds that make the OG shovel knight hard to go back to for me.
pocket dungeon below dig... mfw... but i can understand that kind of game not really clicking with everyone, just for me dig's fundamental design issues would by and far put it in the bottom two for me good video!
Uncommon opinion maybe, but I actually love showdown personally. Being able to play all the characters is amazing, and it's actually fun unlike pocket dungeon Also WHAT, dig over the original??? No way, it's basically Downwell with a shovel knight coat of paint
THATS WHAT IM SAYING! For both points actually. Showdown is really fun. No questions asked to me atleast. Also DIG is NOT better than Shovel of Hope. Or any of the four campaings. Yes plague of shadows is much much much better than dig and pocket dungeon.
Here's my ranking of the games/campaign things (having collected everything in each one and not playing dig) Puzzle Dungeon. As someone who plays a lot of Crypt of the Necrodancer and really enjoys puyo this kinda doesnt work. As someone who naturally tends to learn games to exploit stuff (like learning how to control your luck in rougelikes) it just is too easy to figure out and become a godlike figure in this game Shovel of Hope. Shovel of hope is a good campaign but in reflection to the rest of the series it doesnt have nearly as much depth as the other entries Showdown. I have put a lot of time into learning showdown for probably little reward. I wish there was an online but i fully understand how unbalanced and not great it is. Lets just say i understand how people love smb melee after really loving showdown Plague of Shadows. Plague of shadows is an exercise in awkward level design but in a fun way. All stages are so clearly not designed for plague knight which makes it way more fun for me, your moveset is very odd but once you learn the intracies of how it interacts makes going through the game very satisfying in a sisyphean way but i fully understand why someone else wouldnt enjoy it much. Shovel knight amiibo campaign. Far better shovel of hope with many fun things to interact with and feels personal due to customization King of Cards. I used to not like this one very much but then i tried to speedrun the stages and i immediately fell in love. Going as fast as possible is just aaaaa, the gyro boots, turn coat and etc makes it so fun with nice tech while still being accessible. I do probably have more room in my heart for plague of shadows but this is just better Joustus. I love joustus. Please release physical joustus trading packs i beg of you Yacht club, or at least printable pdfs, i would pay so much Specter of Torment. Yeah its excellent, pure speed, pure intensity. Not much to say that hasnt been said. Screw will skull tho for breaking balance entirely.
I actually found away to improve these games, get reshade and use a nice crt or scanline filter and the hdr filter. It looks SO MUCH better. It's like the shaders in retroarch, but it works for any game. I like King Knight the best, his design and kit are the coolest.
I’m hoping the sequel to Shovel Knight is like Mega Man X & Super Castlevania - 8 new Knights with all the graphical tropes from hits from that era. That or take us the Super Metroid route.
I think plague knight is a lot better then you're giving it credit for. The challenge behind the game is thinking through each situation and taking your time, generally every situation has a bomb combination that will make it trivial provided you can figure it out. In that way I see plague knight as much more of a puzzle platformer then a traditional platformer. Thinking on the fly should be your last resort.
I played the first one (before the expansions) on PC years ago. Now i regret not buying on PlayStation when it was cheap 😢 The price sky rocketed after the updates. I'm just waiting for a sale so i can finally grab it. The last time it was on sale on ps store were on november 2023 (more than 6 months ago by the time i'm posting this comment).
Plague of shadows does go sooo hard. I will agree with ya, but I just think that the game was made with that intended. Just real wonky and wack, matching his character
More seriously, I also have a very strong opinion on how the Shovel Knight campaigns stack up and they are the exact opposite of yours. The most important thing for me in a game is how it feels to move my character, how much control I have, and how much I can do. Also note that I have played through each campaign at least twice and have gotten all the achievements with all the characters so I don't think my opinions stem from not spending enough time with the game. Specter Knight is my least favorite because I really hate how he controls. I hate how he can't cancel his wall run, even when I didn't want to start one. I hate how he is clearly capable of dashing through the air but refuses to do it unless he thinks a target is close enough. I hate how I can't control whether the dash goes up or down. It also really upsets me that he won't do the normal aerial attack when an enemy is close, instead *almost* always doing the dash instead. What I'm trying to say is that I think they just went way too quirky with this one and should have left control in the hands of the player. Let me cancel the wall run without jumping, put the dash on a separate button and let me just use it once per jump (maybe refunding it if I dash through something). For me, these problems are so huge that this campaign was just dead on arrival for me. And yes, I still played through it twice and got all the achievements. The new level layouts are mostly cool and I do like grinding as a mechanic. I didn't care much for the story in this one, but that's also not why I play Shovel Knight so it's not a big deal. King Knight is pretty fun, though it's definitely the weirdest campaign. The story was really funny in this one, and seeing King Knight just unapologetically be an ass throughout was great! King Knight's moveset is very limited, but that's not necessarily a problem. The only thing I don't like is his spinning move he goes into after tackling something. I wish you could go into a spin on command (maybe down + jump) and I wish it was visible whether you have your air tackle available. You know how in Celeste you can always see if you have your dash from the color of Madeline's hair? Something like that. Even at the end of the campaign it was a recurring problem for me that I thought I had my tackle but didn't. I don't have any strong opinions on the card minigame. It does lead to King Knight's best boss fight but they also could have included that fight without the card game... idk, maybe it really was a waste lol. The short levels make this a very low-stress campaign for me, despite the increased difficulty. Shovel Knight! The OG, baby! This campaign is extremely solid and has so much love put into it. It also gets full credit for bringing this world and all its characters into existence. Shovel Knight has a very basic moveset but it's one that works very well. The only major problem with Shovel Knight himself is that the phase locket is super overpowered and wins every fight for free if you use it. I think of it as an optional easy mode. Shovel of Hope gives you a really neat introduction to all the knights but doesn't have much in terms of story until the very end. It's a sweet little moment but nothing to write home about. Still, this campaign is a modern classic for a reason and holds up very well. Plague Knight is my personal favorite. He's just extremely OP in all the best ways. He is initially pretty tricky to control but once you experiment for a bit it really feels like Plague Knight can do anything. He can even do most of the item-specific challenge levels without having the required items, just because his movement gives you that much expression! This character rewarded me for trying to understand how he worked and I like that. I like that a lot. Like you said, it's easy to shoot off too far with the burst jump, but Plague Knight gives you tools for dealing with this. If you use your burst jump before your double jump, you can use the double jump to stabilize in the air, also giving you enough time to charge a second burst if you want. You can also use some subweapons to instantly stop in midair and then use your bombs or double jump after. This sort of freedom just doesn't exist for any of the other characters. This campaign is also the only one where the story contributes in a meaningful way for me. I don't want to put any spoilers here but I found the ending really beautiful, alchemical exploits and all!
If you'd have told me Showdown was your favorite, I might have raised an eyebrow, but for the rest, I think it comes down largely to preference. Specter and King really gel with me, whereas Plague works better for you, which I think is really cool. And I get what you're saying about some of the Knights' limitations, though I think the games were designed with most of them in mind. I know there were a few times with King Knight where there was something I wanted to spin into but had to find a way to set it up first.
@@ExploDjinn That's fair! I don't care much for Showdown to be honest so I didn't even include it lol. I realize my comment was pretty critical, but for the record I think all campaigns other than Specter are very good, with the exception being merely ok in my opinion. I think your video is good too, even though I don't share your opinion.
@@FabulousJejmazeI think specter's mechanics aren't good in a vacuum, and it leaves a bit disappointed especially if you're coming straight from plague's campaign if you play in order, but they're used really cleverly throughout his campaign and I've grown to appreciate them more over time. What sets it below is just that it feels way more shackled to the level design than plague
Anything specter knight does is cool, i mean look at king knights campaign, imagine getting FOLDED like a mattress by king knight and STILL having aura, have you SEEN his change into phase 2?? i dont even like that form of specter knight and i STILL think they cooked
I'll put my own ranking in as a kinda disagreed with his also I haven't played dig 6showdown 5 specter if torment 4shovel of hope 3 king of cards 2pocket dungeon 1 plague of shadows
Personally I’m not a huge fan on dig. I feel that unlike pocket dungeon, or other roguelikes such as hades, there isn’t much you can actually do to improve your abilities outside of the rng of the levels. Yes you can buy more slots for following items, and yes at a certain point you can get armor, which is a massive upgrade, but besides that it seems to me you’re kinda just at the whims of luck
My hatred for Shovel Knight Dig is so immense I don't think I can even put it into words. There is some stupid fun to be derived from Showdown even tho it sucks, but I genuinely cannot have fun with Dig.
I loved all the main campaigns BUT king knight in order to 100% you have to do the stupid card game. Now for me 100% each game would take about 2 hours, probably a little less, for king knight it’d be around 7+. I hate the dumb card game
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Shovel Knight Kart is a logical future step for the series.
oh hail nah
Seeing what they did with pocket dungeon, I would love that
Also for some reason what I want next for this series is a full theatrical movie about Plague Knight called plague Knight out of the shadows, where it takes place after plague of shadows where plague knight is now seen as a hero, so now he has to follow through on it and fights a threat that leads to him dealing with insecurities that relate to him before being accepted by society, and it would have the main cast be the same as plague of shadows just with voice actors, I think I just want the nostalgia of seeing a franchise/character I love go through a animated movie based character arc while a bunch of jokes play out because of it
In my opinion, they should make a Shovel Knight 2 with 8 more knights.
Wouldn't mind a return to basics sequel at some point, though whatever they do, I'm here for it.
That’s already a thing, Team Fortress 2
@@Wuddizzup Doesn't count
I see a lot when smaller developers or companies get a hit like this, they tend to make way too many spin offs or sequels; when they already have the fanbase to make something entirely new and expand their catalogue a bit. Not that a sequel wouldn’t be amazing, I’m sure it would, but I worry about over-saturating the same IP.
Yes
king knight's room has a mirror where you can practice joustus against people you beat, just go to the homestead and break the high secret wall on the left using bubble frog or tornado and you'll get into king knight's room
hold on you actually can do that with the mirror?
The way I got to it was with the charge dash and falling through the chimney
If I remember, going to the fairy glade also places you in that room
you can buy the glide explosion in plague of shadows to literally give you control of every jump,also the fact that you can make your own platforms and use the purple shoryuken to gain height the game has the best mobility but you refused to use any of it's tools
Yeah, of anything that's exactly my issue with plague knight. Once you understand it, it's far too easy to basically just fly over large segments of the levels due to how good plague knight mobility is
But that's kinda the problem.
If you need upgrades to make the main mechanic of the campaign actually good to work with, that's not good.
Plus, it makes the other burst basically useless because they give you the default burst, basically.
And that's one issue of main with Plague of Shadows. It's still not bad, but it's the least good campaign.
Wait he played with only base moveset?!? Omg that dumbass
@@thevenomspinoYou're talking like king of cards doesn't exist. I'd rather have this than bootleg Wario.
@@BaslightBatekeepBoyboss
Yeah, we like Wario Land, so King of Cards was fun
I just want to say that plauge knight's campaign is underrated. The challenge is no longer stage design, but your unwieldly moveset. If you can learn how to control it, stages become jokes. (unless you have the pandemonium cloak, which randomizes your loadout every so often.)
I plan on continuing to do runs of these games, so I hope to get the guy down at some point. I've played a lot of platformers, but I think this is the first with such a wild playstyle, so it's a bit of an adjustment.
@@ExploDjinn if you're speedrunning, standing completely still for plauge of shadow's first phase may be faster than combat.
yeah, same here. i found plague knight's controls super weird at first, but once you understand how to use it to your advantage it becomes an absolute blast (no pun intended) to play. i wound up liking it more than shovel of hope when i was finished with it
i wouldnt say its underrated, its ok
its fun to play with plague knight once you start getting your hand with how he works but is still the most lazy campaign
@@Dreinack you know, that's true, it is pretty lazy if we speak objectively, but i'm personally willing to give it a pass since this was their first attempt at DLC, and the campaign is still really fun to play if you get the hang of it
Plague knight controls amazing if you just learn about 2 things: the first one is using your jump, burst and double jump, in this specific order.
The second one, and cooler one, is being able to freely change your loadout by holding rb. I think it might be my favorite in the list, precisely because of this: I loved changing my burst and bombs to benefit the situation and don't think any other character has as much freedom and capability to break every level as he does.
Between it and king of cards, which is basically smw, it's a really close fight
In my opinion I’d swap Shovel of Hope and Dig because of Dig’s true ending alone. Getting the true ending of Shovel Knight Dig is a nightmare to say the least.
Other than that though these are perfect rankings.
RE: Plague Knight. He’s def the least intuitive control wise but there’s certain things I do that make it easier. In you gameplay you use the double jump before the burst blast which leaves you in the crazy burst trajectory. If you save the double jump for after the burst you keep more control. In my play through I also get the Float Burst and Vat asap for more arial control (honestly a little broken but with the Phase Locket, Will Skull & Healing Tears there‘a broken stuff in all campaigns).
Totally fair ranking though because if the game didn’t get you enthused enough to test out the different upgrades then that’s a failure on the games part.
I wouldnt say that healing tears are broken: they are strong, yes, but they cant win you the game. Here is why i think that: phase locket and will skull can be used anytime, lots of times. Once you press the button, you are invincible/healed, and nothing can really stop you. With healing tears though, you have to stay in place for a pretty long time, and you can only heal 5 hearts per life. That makes it so its kind of hard to use in battle, and you can lose even more health trying to use it. Healing tears work best as an extra apple at will: you survive a battle with low health, and once its safe to use, you heal some and get on with the level. Healing tears also are better at the start of the game, since they can heal most of your health near the beggining of the game, but only half near the end. This nicely complements the fact that you play worse when you are a begginer.
@@screensmile3026 Good point, yeah it's an over-exaggeration on my part to say Healing Tears are broken (esp compared to other campaigns). It's just that I think when you already have the combo system for replenishing health Healing Tears feels overkill sometimes.
Pretty good ranking! I found myself agreeing with most of the placements. One thing to note about Dig, it has a true ending that is difficult to achieve, so there's more going on than just beating Drill knight.
Knew that was a thing with Pocket Dungeon but somehow missed that for Dig. And here I thought I did such a good job beating Drill Knight and getting my thing back.
@@ExploDjinn Yeah, its really obscure that their even is a true ending, and while they've made it more obvious with updates, its still something most players miss. The way to start a true run is also obscure, so as a slight hint, you have to do something at the surface before jumping down in order to start it.
the best thing shovel knight showdown spawned was an inside joke between a friend and myself because I kept hitting her with Mole Knight's swipe and I kept saying "mole slap" so Mole Slap has become a phrase we use when something has bullshit balancing
Pocket Dungeon is my #1 so far.
Maybe i just really like those weird gimmicky experiment games.
Showdown was near the top of my list. I definitely don't see it as a poorly done fighter. It's incredible to me.
Spector of torment and showdown are definitely my top two favorites
Shovel knight is my second favorite video game series. Of the main treasure trove games, my personal ranking is:
1 Spectre
2 King
3 Shovel
4 Plague
Showdown can be super fun if you get a good ruleset. I play one on one showdown matches (not with gems, those suck, I agree), a few stocks, no items, and no stage hazards (on actually good stages). If you get the ruleset right, the game can be incredibly fun. I’ve played so, so many hours of matches under those conditions, and it can be so fun like that. (Though the character roster is still wildly unbalanced tho…)
Despite having to be very selective with how you play it and the ruleset you use to have fun, and despite it’s MANY flaws, I still think it’s one of my favorite parts of Treasure Trove.
Treasure trove is one of the best game collections ever. I thought I would hate joustus as I'm not really a card game person but I got hooked fast. I love how king of cards has 2 games in 1 basically. I have a save file with 18 hours.
Ayy Specter of Torment is also my personal favorite.
S.O.T. is seriously a blast of a game. Skating on the scythe is ridiculously fun and the slash dashing makes for some really quick maneuvering. I'm trying out King of Cards or w/e it's called right now and let me say, It feels SO weird. The bash to spin thing confused me so much. But I'm sure once I get used to it, it'll be pretty fun too.
I played Pocket Dungeon thinking it will be ok.
But damn it's perfect
Mine is:
1 Pocket dungeon
2 Specter of Torment
3 King of Cards
4 Dig
5 Showdown (mostly because it made me discover this wonderful franchise)
6 Shovel of Hope
7 Plague of Shadows
Nice list! Mine is
1: Dig
2: King of Cards
3: Pocket dungeon
4: Spectre of torment (The story carries the placement)
5: Shovel of Hope
6: Showdown (Also how I discovered shovel knight)
7: Plague of shadows.
@@goatsanimations4480 pretty similar to mine, I didn't put Dig that high simply because it's fricking difficult
Plague of shadows has 2 main things to criticize:
- it gives you way too many upgrades that are not really that useful.
- it uses the same levels as Shivel if Hope. And it made me think the other campaigns would do the same so I almost didnt pkay them
My top 7 would be:
7. Showdown
6. Dig
5. Plague of Shadows
4. Pocket Dungeon
3. Specter of Torment
2. King of Cards
1. Shovel of Hope
Important thing with Plague Knight is you get your double jump back after bursting, and also throwing bombs to stall midair (you still get to "throw" 3 even if your current powder allows less). I'm having fun using the quick select menu to try different things out on my current playthrough, though I think the default stuff is definitely the most reliable in the end.
Plague knight feels amazing to play. Its got a learning curve, but its so much fun once you fully understand it.
That being said, id probably rank it somewhat lowly as well. The game, as you said, recycles a lot from shovel knight. The result is that you dont have to engage with the levels as much. High level play for the other 3 campaigns involves platforming skills that seem insane to a first timer, but high level plague knight play often just involves flying over large segments of the levels and ignoring them completely. The levels just arent designed around him as well as the other 3 are designed around their respective characters.
Every time I give it a go, I hope that Plague Knight will finally click with me, but it never seems to take.
I think that's exactly the point ycg was going for: plague knight is the most customizable character and the freest from level restrictions, as in if you want to go higher or farther you most likely can. It's a bit of a power trip through shovel of hope's world with how much damage you can do, how much healing you can have, and how much mobility you can exploit, but it's not esy to do so.
The knockback he takes and the difficulty in controlling the burst is the way to balance it since even if you could fly over the entire stage like speedrunners do, it's usually harder than just doing it normally
Surprised to see so much hate for Showdown here. It's one of my favorite platform fighters of all time.
My personal ranking of Treasure Trove is probably:
1. Plague of Shadows - All the fun of Shovel of Hope but with a character I ADORE playing as, blasting through levels is so god damn fun and I love how it rewards exploration. The story is adorable and I love Mona and that little Plague asshole so much.
2. Specter of Torment - The only one that genuinely made me emotional. Shovel of Hope has a decent enough story, doing it's best to mimic stories of the era the game's trying to replicate, while putting a few interesting twists on it. It pulled at my heart strings once or twice, but Specter of Torment actually REALLY got to me. I knew how it had to end from the beginning (as is the intent) but it didn't make it any less painful to go through, and I admire that. In addition, Specter Knight's moveset is a ton of fun for me, feeling very kinetic. It almost feels like a rhythem game at times, slashing through enemies and bouncing off walls. It's a ton of fun.
3. King of Cards - A really fun, Wario-esque experience, and definitely the funniest of them all. King Knight is an unbelievable tool the entire time and I love it, he's the fucking worst. A lot of the sub weapons you get this time around are a lot of fun, his moveset is really interesting, I like the shorter take on levels, and I quite enjoyed Joustice.
4.Shovel of Hope - Fantastic game, but after Plague of Shadows it feels too slugish for me
5.Showdown - The singleplayer is TERRIBLE, every other game I beat twice (Once on new game +), and got every achievement, and every challenge... Showdown I've barely touched outside of dicking around with some friends in multiplayer. I think it was one of those things that just sounds better on paper.
Also, as a tip: I know a few people have commented it already, but for Plague Knight, the best way to do it is to jump, burst, then jump again to get insane airtime. It takes a bit to get used to, but once you get it down, you blast through the levels at insane speeds that make the OG shovel knight hard to go back to for me.
pocket dungeon below dig... mfw...
but i can understand that kind of game not really clicking with everyone, just for me dig's fundamental design issues would by and far put it in the bottom two for me
good video!
So wrong about Plague Knight
Uncommon opinion maybe, but I actually love showdown personally. Being able to play all the characters is amazing, and it's actually fun unlike pocket dungeon
Also WHAT, dig over the original??? No way, it's basically Downwell with a shovel knight coat of paint
THATS WHAT IM SAYING! For both points actually.
Showdown is really fun. No questions asked to me atleast.
Also DIG is NOT better than Shovel of Hope. Or any of the four campaings. Yes plague of shadows is much much much better than dig and pocket dungeon.
Here's my ranking of the games/campaign things (having collected everything in each one and not playing dig)
Puzzle Dungeon. As someone who plays a lot of Crypt of the Necrodancer and really enjoys puyo this kinda doesnt work. As someone who naturally tends to learn games to exploit stuff (like learning how to control your luck in rougelikes) it just is too easy to figure out and become a godlike figure in this game
Shovel of Hope. Shovel of hope is a good campaign but in reflection to the rest of the series it doesnt have nearly as much depth as the other entries
Showdown. I have put a lot of time into learning showdown for probably little reward. I wish there was an online but i fully understand how unbalanced and not great it is. Lets just say i understand how people love smb melee after really loving showdown
Plague of Shadows. Plague of shadows is an exercise in awkward level design but in a fun way. All stages are so clearly not designed for plague knight which makes it way more fun for me, your moveset is very odd but once you learn the intracies of how it interacts makes going through the game very satisfying in a sisyphean way but i fully understand why someone else wouldnt enjoy it much.
Shovel knight amiibo campaign. Far better shovel of hope with many fun things to interact with and feels personal due to customization
King of Cards. I used to not like this one very much but then i tried to speedrun the stages and i immediately fell in love. Going as fast as possible is just aaaaa, the gyro boots, turn coat and etc makes it so fun with nice tech while still being accessible. I do probably have more room in my heart for plague of shadows but this is just better
Joustus. I love joustus. Please release physical joustus trading packs i beg of you Yacht club, or at least printable pdfs, i would pay so much
Specter of Torment. Yeah its excellent, pure speed, pure intensity. Not much to say that hasnt been said. Screw will skull tho for breaking balance entirely.
why does the random small youtube channels have the best videos? xdd holy, good job.
I actually found away to improve these games, get reshade and use a nice crt or scanline filter and the hdr filter. It looks SO MUCH better. It's like the shaders in retroarch, but it works for any game. I like King Knight the best, his design and kit are the coolest.
I’m hoping the sequel to Shovel Knight is like Mega Man X & Super Castlevania - 8 new Knights with all the graphical tropes from hits from that era. That or take us the Super Metroid route.
7. Plague of shadows
6. Showdown
5. Pocket
4. Dig
3. Specter of torment
2. Original
1. King of cards
I just hate the feel of how plague knight feels when playing with him.
I think plague knight is a lot better then you're giving it credit for. The challenge behind the game is thinking through each situation and taking your time, generally every situation has a bomb combination that will make it trivial provided you can figure it out. In that way I see plague knight as much more of a puzzle platformer then a traditional platformer. Thinking on the fly should be your last resort.
I played the first one (before the expansions) on PC years ago. Now i regret not buying on PlayStation when it was cheap 😢 The price sky rocketed after the updates. I'm just waiting for a sale so i can finally grab it. The last time it was on sale on ps store were on november 2023 (more than 6 months ago by the time i'm posting this comment).
Thanks for the help to pick which game to buy, :D
12:13 havent played king of cards but i sure do know what a sigma boss is like 💀
Plague of shadows does go sooo hard. I will agree with ya, but I just think that the game was made with that intended. Just real wonky and wack, matching his character
What's that waltz Music in the outro?
Post credit scene in Plague of Shadows.
Is the Wii U edition different than the switch version? I have Treasure Trove on my Wii U but haven’t beat it yet… I will tho
I thought Showdown was new for it, but looking it up, people are just saying it's all the games in one place.
15:45 the series is terrific? Isn’t that bad? Idk but I’ll take it as a compliment
Yeah, english is wierd. terrible = bad, terrifying = scary, but terrific = good
@@screensmile3026I only speak English and still hate it for stuff like that
Good video, but kinda strange how you fit 7 different box-arts on the thumbnail, considering youtube only allows your thumbnail to be 2MB large.
There are programs out there that can simplify the file. I typically google, Shrink PNG.
Shovel knight needs a sequel one of these days
Like a legitimate sequel instead of a rouge like game
Shovel Knight DX🔥🔥🔥
I was deeply hurt with showdown
if u do not rank plague best i want my money back
edit: what the fuck
More seriously, I also have a very strong opinion on how the Shovel Knight campaigns stack up and they are the exact opposite of yours. The most important thing for me in a game is how it feels to move my character, how much control I have, and how much I can do. Also note that I have played through each campaign at least twice and have gotten all the achievements with all the characters so I don't think my opinions stem from not spending enough time with the game.
Specter Knight is my least favorite because I really hate how he controls. I hate how he can't cancel his wall run, even when I didn't want to start one. I hate how he is clearly capable of dashing through the air but refuses to do it unless he thinks a target is close enough. I hate how I can't control whether the dash goes up or down. It also really upsets me that he won't do the normal aerial attack when an enemy is close, instead *almost* always doing the dash instead. What I'm trying to say is that I think they just went way too quirky with this one and should have left control in the hands of the player. Let me cancel the wall run without jumping, put the dash on a separate button and let me just use it once per jump (maybe refunding it if I dash through something). For me, these problems are so huge that this campaign was just dead on arrival for me. And yes, I still played through it twice and got all the achievements. The new level layouts are mostly cool and I do like grinding as a mechanic. I didn't care much for the story in this one, but that's also not why I play Shovel Knight so it's not a big deal.
King Knight is pretty fun, though it's definitely the weirdest campaign. The story was really funny in this one, and seeing King Knight just unapologetically be an ass throughout was great! King Knight's moveset is very limited, but that's not necessarily a problem. The only thing I don't like is his spinning move he goes into after tackling something. I wish you could go into a spin on command (maybe down + jump) and I wish it was visible whether you have your air tackle available. You know how in Celeste you can always see if you have your dash from the color of Madeline's hair? Something like that. Even at the end of the campaign it was a recurring problem for me that I thought I had my tackle but didn't. I don't have any strong opinions on the card minigame. It does lead to King Knight's best boss fight but they also could have included that fight without the card game... idk, maybe it really was a waste lol. The short levels make this a very low-stress campaign for me, despite the increased difficulty.
Shovel Knight! The OG, baby! This campaign is extremely solid and has so much love put into it. It also gets full credit for bringing this world and all its characters into existence. Shovel Knight has a very basic moveset but it's one that works very well. The only major problem with Shovel Knight himself is that the phase locket is super overpowered and wins every fight for free if you use it. I think of it as an optional easy mode. Shovel of Hope gives you a really neat introduction to all the knights but doesn't have much in terms of story until the very end. It's a sweet little moment but nothing to write home about. Still, this campaign is a modern classic for a reason and holds up very well.
Plague Knight is my personal favorite. He's just extremely OP in all the best ways. He is initially pretty tricky to control but once you experiment for a bit it really feels like Plague Knight can do anything. He can even do most of the item-specific challenge levels without having the required items, just because his movement gives you that much expression! This character rewarded me for trying to understand how he worked and I like that. I like that a lot. Like you said, it's easy to shoot off too far with the burst jump, but Plague Knight gives you tools for dealing with this. If you use your burst jump before your double jump, you can use the double jump to stabilize in the air, also giving you enough time to charge a second burst if you want. You can also use some subweapons to instantly stop in midair and then use your bombs or double jump after. This sort of freedom just doesn't exist for any of the other characters. This campaign is also the only one where the story contributes in a meaningful way for me. I don't want to put any spoilers here but I found the ending really beautiful, alchemical exploits and all!
If you'd have told me Showdown was your favorite, I might have raised an eyebrow, but for the rest, I think it comes down largely to preference. Specter and King really gel with me, whereas Plague works better for you, which I think is really cool. And I get what you're saying about some of the Knights' limitations, though I think the games were designed with most of them in mind. I know there were a few times with King Knight where there was something I wanted to spin into but had to find a way to set it up first.
@@ExploDjinn That's fair! I don't care much for Showdown to be honest so I didn't even include it lol. I realize my comment was pretty critical, but for the record I think all campaigns other than Specter are very good, with the exception being merely ok in my opinion. I think your video is good too, even though I don't share your opinion.
@@FabulousJejmaze Appreciated. And I really like hearing different opinions on games, so I don't feel like you were too critical at all.
@@FabulousJejmazeI think specter's mechanics aren't good in a vacuum, and it leaves a bit disappointed especially if you're coming straight from plague's campaign if you play in order, but they're used really cleverly throughout his campaign and I've grown to appreciate them more over time. What sets it below is just that it feels way more shackled to the level design than plague
Anything specter knight does is cool, i mean look at king knights campaign, imagine getting FOLDED like a mattress by king knight and STILL having aura, have you SEEN his change into phase 2?? i dont even like that form of specter knight and i STILL think they cooked
I'll put my own ranking in as a kinda disagreed with his also I haven't played dig
6showdown
5 specter if torment
4shovel of hope
3 king of cards
2pocket dungeon
1 plague of shadows
why plague of shadows so high
first one i played, and i really like the wild movement@@Dreinack
Dude plague knights combo is charge, jump, release, jump,charge and release. Ur doing it all wrong
Just FYI, but "gypped" is considered a derogatory word and should probably be phased out of your lexicon.
Personally I’m not a huge fan on dig. I feel that unlike pocket dungeon, or other roguelikes such as hades, there isn’t much you can actually do to improve your abilities outside of the rng of the levels. Yes you can buy more slots for following items, and yes at a certain point you can get armor, which is a massive upgrade, but besides that it seems to me you’re kinda just at the whims of luck
My hatred for Shovel Knight Dig is so immense I don't think I can even put it into words. There is some stupid fun to be derived from Showdown even tho it sucks, but I genuinely cannot have fun with Dig.
If i rank,i will rank poket dungeon at 1# cuz i love playing statregy game(Sorry i'm not English so maybe my word not right)
I can understand what you're saying. Thanks for watching.
9:03 - Hey, just a heads up, you probably shouldn't use that word. It comes from the similar slur for the Romani people.
Never really thought about the word origin before. I can probably find an alternative, going forward. Thanks for the tip.
Np, thanks for listening
For me, all the games are on 1-st place.
The ONLY correct ranking
I loved all the main campaigns BUT king knight in order to 100% you have to do the stupid card game. Now for me 100% each game would take about 2 hours, probably a little less, for king knight it’d be around 7+. I hate the dumb card game
dig isnt on console😓
It is on Switch, which is how I played it. Didn't realize the other two didn't get it, though. That's weird.
My List:-
7) Showdown
6) Pocket Dungeon
5) Dig
4) Plague
3) Shovel
2) Spectre
1) King
Your Joustus complaint sounds like a skill issue
Everyone kinda hates on Plague of Shadows, but it's honestly more fun if you play it before Shovel of Hope. It's still my least favorite tho
I knew showdown would be at the bottom 🤣
Stopped watching after your plague knight excuse. Bro, just get good