Having completed all four main campaigns, this week’s Shovel Knight stream could be considered “bonus content”. And what is the most “bonus content” thing of all? Your amigo, the Amiibo! Let’s look at the Shovel Knight Amiibos!
Shovel Knight
Released in January of 2016, Shovel Knight was one of the first non-Nintendo critters to get an Amiibo. Everybody thought this would mean he would be in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as more than an assist trophy, but nope! Never gonna happen!
Like all Shovel Knight Amiibo, he has a purple base with a shovel symbol. Come to think of it, for being such a carefully curated “retro” title, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove forgot to give everyone cool icons. Whatever! Moving on, Shovel Knight is rather squat, and super blue. His shovel is appropriately detailed, and those giant horns of his really stand out. A unique charm point is that his back almost has a face on it thanks to his… what are those back muscles called?… Latissimus Dorsi? It doesn’t matter. There is a little face back there. Enjoy it. Kiss it. Kiss the face.
Beyond Shovel Knight, this Amiibo will unlock a boss fight in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, and a related spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Gold Shovel Knight
Released at the same time as the trio below (but not packaged together with them), this is supposed to be Shovel Knight in his Ornate Plate Armor. I’ve always thought that was more of a yellow, though, so I’m pretty sure they are just justifying that gold paint everybody loved on the Gold Mega Man Amiibo. He isn’t all gold, though! The horns are silver, and the “tights” are brown. So, there is some extra detailing here. And are the eye slits larger on this helmet, or is it just an optical illusion? I may need to go get a ruler…
Gold Shovel Knight does not offer the same support in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or Pocket Dungeon/Shovel Knight Dig, but it is the same in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. And, to be clear, the different functionality in Pocket Dungeon/Shovel Knight Dig is that it summons a gold Shovel Knight. So… barely different.
Plague Knight
Plague Knight, Specter Knight, and King Knight were all sold as one 3-pack. They were first available for preorder in September of 2017, and later released in December of 2019. This is a fact that will always make me angry. Yes, I know Shovel Knight: King of Cards did not release until December of 2019. I had high expectations!
To my knowledge, none of these Amiibo offer anything but “generic” bonuses in other games.
All that aside, Plague Knight is my favorite of the trio. His pauldrons are cool, his bomb bottle is translucent, and the staff is detailed. The staff barely appears in the actual game, but it is such a delightful little accessory here! And those giant sleeves and pointy mask? I understand what Mona sees in this guy.
Specter Knight
On the other side of the (alchemy) coin, Specter Knight is my least favorite Shovel Knight Amiibo. He looks too… real? Like this is an actual guy who just happens to have a helmet. And his scythe is behind him! You barely see it! Could we get something more like a statue of the Grim Reaper? I really like that guy.
To say something nice, I appreciate that his cape is tattered in the rear. To say something weird, his pelvis armor bits look like leaves. Is that deliberate? Is this a reference to Adam from Bible?
King Knight
Our final Shovel Knight Amiibo is the regal King Knight. You know, I never noticed how much this dude’s helmet looks like a chess piece until this very moment. There is sophisticated frilling on the cape, black and red “puffy” sleeves, and a suitably exaggerated chest. Like Plague Knight’s staff, he has a regal scepter that barely appears in the actual game. Accessories are always good, even if he could have, like, a flaming sword.
All of the Amiibo look closer to the Mario Party style of Amiibo than the Smash Bros. line, but they still look unique enough to stand next to their Nintendo brethren and stand out. Seeing them all lined up, you know these dudes are distinct from anything involving Waluigi.
But who cares how they look, we are here to talk about how they play… Which… Isn’t much of anything. Co-op mode was initially unlocked with Amiibo, but that was granted across all versions by 2017. Past that, the Amiibo just unlocked extra challenges and costumes in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. Additionally, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, Shovel Knight Dig, and Pocket Dungeon all utilize the Amiibo to summon various faeries that are entirely cosmetic. They do nothing but fly around and be cute.
So, unless you absolutely must play as a Specter Knight adorned with skulls, the Amiibo are kind of useless. Except for…
Shovel Knight: Custom Knight
So this may as well be the secret “fifth campaign” in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
How does it work?
This is technically Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope all over again. Shovel Knight is venturing through the same levels, fighting the same bosses, and (arguably) pursuing the same collectibles. However, the big difference is that Shovel Knight now does not spend money, but “earns” his treasure like experience points. Shovel Knight starts at Level 0, and can eventually collect enough gold to work his way up to Level 50. At every level, Shovel Knight receives either a health/magic upgrade, a new relic, a new ability, or a cosmetic part. Like in any good RPG, each level up requires more and more “exp”, so advancing levels are quick in the early stages, but maybe happen once a level toward the end. And what are these extra relics/abilities/parts?
What are your relics?
Shovel Knight receives 12 relics over the course of his regular campaign (eight from the stages, one fishing rod, one chaos sphere, and two troupple chalices). Now that number is up to 21! Two of these new relics belong in Plague of Shadows (Fleet Flask and Bait Bomb… and, yes, Bait Bomb is still 10,000% faster than using the fishing rod), one is basically Specter Knight’s Shadow Mirror, and the other six are entirely new. And they range from “probably something that was intended for the base game” (the Buzzsaw Boomerang is a cool gear-a-majig that is used by enemies in Tinker Knight’s stage), “really useful in the right situation” (the Flareo Rod is a close-range explosive that can wreck some opponents), to “absolutely game breaking” (the Rising Dagger is basically the Propeller Dagger, but it moves vertically, so Shovel Knight can finally soar into the heavens). And one of the last relics earned is the Infinidagger, which allows Shovel Knight to fly forward forever (or at least until he hits something), which means our intrepid knight can skip some of the most challenging platforming in his world (I am talking about 70% of Propeller Knight’s Flying Machine). And that’s not the only way this campaign busts Shovel of Hope wide open…
What are your abilities?
Custom Knight has access to six innate “special moves”. One is the Shovel Blade Max, which is what you purchase in the traditional campaign’s Armor Outpost. There are also Dash Boots, which is a double-tap to run, and that is available through the Battletoads Toad Armor. And then you get to the good stuff: the Bounce Bomb adds Plague Knight explosives to your attacks. This is not an amazing add to Shovel Knight’s moveset, but having an infinite projectile on this knight does change things up a bit. Additionally, Shovel Knight steals the Glide Cloud from Plague Knight, allowing our hero to gently float down after any jump. And speaking of jumping, there is a double jump, too! That totally changes Shovel Knight’s odds of dropping into a bottomless pit. And just for funsies, there is the Diagonal Drop, which is basically a dive kick. Baz can have that one, but it probably has some useful purposes somewhere.
We’re not done breaking the game yet! Shovel Knight also gets access to Charge Moves that activate like his usual Charge Handle attack. Once again, Shovel Knight steals from Plague Knight, and can now sail through the sky with a Bomb Burst. Or he can utilize the Coin Capture to draw in nearby treasure (which, technically, can be used on lost money bags… even though doing so in this mode offers no advantages). Burrow Bomber is a dash attack, and Blink Dash is a defensive forward sprint. And there is the Flare Razer, which crashes shovelry to the ground to release flaming death. It is the kind of move you expect to see with a guy that spends all day pogoing, and it can definitely wreck some rival knights.
Can you make it pretty?
As Shovel Knight levels, you will gain something like 50 different color options. From there, you can custom-your-knight with the lady version of Shovel Knight, the Liefeldian Baron Set, or the possible answer to what is under Shovel Knight’s helmet: a giant fish head. With all the different costumes and colors, there are over 200 different ways to customize your knight’s appearance. No two Shovel Knights need be the same!
And to further be your own knight, there are gestures and special effects. Unfortunately, there are only four gestures and six special effects (and a few special effects will negate your Amiibo-given fairy), but granting Shovel Knight the ability to leave flames in his wake and then puke rainbows is worth its weight in treasure.
Should you buy an Amiibo just for Custom Knight?
Yes. If we stack Custom Knight against Playstation’s God of War or Xbox’s Battletoads, Nintendo 100% wins this round. Custom Knight marginally feels like a misnomer of a title (technically, since you are bound to this leveling system, you cannot allocate your gold to “customize” your purchases), but the Amiibo-based abilities are an amazing new way to play the base campaign. And, hey, special bonus, your new Infinidagger and Tow Anchor relics are a great way to die in new and interesting ways. Isn’t that what we are all looking for from Shovel Knight?
Let’s Play Shovel Knight Treasure Trove
Night 7
February 12, 2026
Random Notes:
- After all that talk of Amiibo and Custom Knight, none of that will be featured in this stream. What is going on here is that, due to the “variable” nature of the tasks I wanted to accomplish, this was a small group of regulars gathering on a Thursday. So enjoy a lil’ stream (that is still the regular length) with BEAT, Chromes, fanboymaster, and Edward the Cat.
- Let’s talk about roguelike, deck-building visual novels!
Every teenager story has been told. So we need more games about responsible adults, like Disco Elysium.- “Serving at maximum levels at all times in his life.”
- Batman! Frank Miller! Absolute Batman! Gotham Sirens! Webtoons! Robocop!
- The first big goal of this evening was conquering the “endless” climb of Specter Knight’s elevator challenge. For the record, that is officially defeated at the 38 minute mark. Woo!
- Our next task is King Knight defeating Cardia. Off-stream, I beat every Joustus challenge save the final Cardia battle, and now you get to see me win that hand… uh… handily.
- “We all gotta cry to restore health sometimes.”
- And once Giga Cardia goes down, we shoulder bash along to showcase the King Knight stages we did not see during last week’s stream. So the remainder of the evening is basically King of Cards EX.
- “Listen, there is an entire Doug episode about how he was scared to eat raw fish.”
- “Edward says no ICE.” “He’s very enthusiastic about his activism.”
- Listen to learn the fabulous history of the Garden State (because BEAT insulted it).
- Let’s talk about They Bleed Pixels and the base principles of masocore platforming.
- “There are no horse repair stores.”
BEAT and I are going clubbing and Chromes is the designated driver.- BEAT has opinions about Trigun? On Even Worse Streams? It’s more common than you think.
- Let this be a reminder to myself to pick up the Dethklok albums.
- “Well aren’t you cool?” “No! This is the opposite of cool.”
- And we close learning that Chromes has no concept of Killer 7. So guess what is going on the schedule…
Next trowel on Shovel Knight: Oh man, I cannot close out this project on a random Amiibo roundup. We don’t have any more video, but I do have some words to throw at Shovel Knight. Please look forward to it!