Shovel Nights 8: Never The End

Shovel Knight: King of Cards was released as the final campaign in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. In addition to the platforming hijinks that we had come to expect over the five years that Shovel Knight had been updating, this campaign contained an extensive card game, Joustus. And this was not just Go Fish with a new skin. This was a whole new game with unique rules, parameters, and “cheats” that could drastically change gameplay from one match to the next. And every card features a different protagonist, boss, NPC, or generic baddy from across the whole of the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove experience. And those cards’ abilities match their characters! Pogo-prone Shovel Knight has a mighty “down attack”, and the cards of Mona and Plague Knight compliment each other. There are nearly as many Joustus Cards (148) as Pokémon in that franchise’s premiere (151). This is an intensive, complicated game that is the clear culmination of a half-decade of loving effort.

And the point of Shovel Knight: King of Cards is that, since King Knight solves his problems with shoulder bashes, you/King Knight never have to play Joustus once on your way to being the King of Cards.

I’m pretty sure that is an appropriate metaphor for this whole project.

Said it before, I will say it again: this website is an excuse for me, Goggle Bob, to play videogames. There are other factors, too! Gogglebob.com and Even Worse Streams are gigantic gestalts of a myriad of moving pieces. But, end of the day, this site endures because I like to play videogames and then talk about ‘em. And, as you can literally hear me say on previous streams, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove was the focus of the last eight weeks because I wanted to replay Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. Mina the Hollower was releasing soon! Relatively! Time to replay the last Yacht Club Games mega-jaunt before it gets compared to the new hotness! And, since the last time I seriously played Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove was five (or so) years back (I may have played a level or two for random reasons), this whole project would be simultaneously new and nostalgic! I forgot the locations of all those red skulls! It will be fun to find them all over again…

And it was fun to find them all again! Hooray! Everything went super well while playing Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.

But a few weeks into the project, I started putting in the research. I looked into the version differences, the various updates that had occurred over the years, and even auxiliary stuff like the Amiibo support. I learned that all of the NPCs had names. I saw how different opponents reacted to different knights. I discovered there were additional models intended for body swap mode. And, somewhere around when I was saving small children as Specter Knight, I realized something horrible: I could stream this game for the rest of the year.

Last week’s article text was primarily about Shovel Knight: Custom Knight Amiibo-mode, and I genuinely lament that I did not take an entire week of Even Worse Streams to showcase that. What did get showcased that week was the Specter Knight endless elevator, and the final card battle of King of Cards. I did not stream every other card battle that led up to that challenge (mostly because fanboymaster demanded no Triple Triad), nor did I stream the literal hours I spent grinding the lesser challengers and collecting treasure to claim all the available Joustus cards (mostly because that would have bored the audience into a coma). And I never even came close to addressing or streaming Shovel Knight Co-Op mode, which takes a game that was very balanced for one single Shovel Knight, and adds a buddy. That should lead to some hectic times! And we do not have a single second of it!

And do not get me started on all the random trivia that exists in even the smallest of the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove campaigns. Specter Knight never fights a clone or boss based on his own powerset, nor can he battle a single optional boss. What does that all mean? I have no idea! And could we spend an entire night bopping around campaigns to examine all these fun little facts? Sure! Even Worse Streams could be responsible for the next great Encyclopedia of Shovel Knight! A volume this world certainly needs!

And… uh… sometimes you just have to call it when you’ve beaten every level in the game over the course of approximately 20 hours.

Replaying Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove in 2026 confirmed one thing: this was an amazing game from top to bottom. It was a clear labor of love for everyone involved, and everything from the individual challenge stages to the occasional horse lady all exude the kind of care and fastidiousness that is unexpected in anything but the most AAA of AAA gaming. I once called Shovel Knight my game of the decade for the 2010-2020 period, and, in replaying this six years later, I stand by that assessment more than ever. It was a game that was kickstarted thirteen years ago (!), and delivered more “game” than could ever be imagined back in the same year that saw Bioshock Infinite. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove may be the most intensive 2-D videogame ever created.

However, at some point, you just have to shoulder bash the fish king. I have enjoyed playing seven weeks of Shovel Knight, but, for the good of the kingdom, it is time to move on. I am happy to have been reminded that Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is a stunning, generationally unique experience, and now we must move on to… Sonic the Hedgehog? But he sucks! Dammit!

Next time on Even Worse Streams: Before we go fast, we have a few random streams to get through. Could I interest you in a duck? Or perhaps a turtle? Turtles are known for their speed, right? And if you want more Shovel Knight, why not check out the FGC article coming this Friday. Whatever you want to see, please look forward to it!