TBC 021: Shovel Knight Treasure Trove

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Now that Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is finally complete, it’s time for the TBC team to get their opinions on the record. Join us as we discuss Shovel of Hope, Plague of Shadows, Scepter of Torment, King of Cards, and all things SHOVEL KNIGHT!

Ready for more TBC Podcast? We are an ad-free show, and you can support us on Patreon: http://patreon.com/twobuttoncrew

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“Exit the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Hands-on with King of Cards & Shovel Knight Showdown!


Some big expansions are coming to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove! Namely, the King of Cards campaign (with card game bonus mode) and Shovel Knight Showdown. The latter is a Smash Bros. like party fighter where you pick from the large cast of Shovel Knight characters and battle it out for gems and K.O.s. It’s a great time, so enjoy the footage and our impressions!

“Exit the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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TBC 012: Kickstarter Vs. Gaming Industry

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This month’s podcast is all about Kickstarter, a website that has made many modern video games possible. Thanks to Kickstarter’s crowdfunding model, fans have had more of a say than ever before in which new gaming projects get greenlit. However, there have been more than a few Kickstarter horror stories as well (including our own), so we’ll dive into all of that and discuss if crowdfunding is really good for the gaming industry, or if we’d be better off without it.

Ready for more TBC Podcast? We are an ad-free show, and you can support us on Patreon: http://patreon.com/twobuttoncrew

Get Your Daily Nintendose of Fandom on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/TwoButtonCrew

“Exit the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Shovel Knight – Co-Op mode!


What do you get when you have two friends, two controllers, a Switch, and Shovel Knight? You get an awesome co-op romp through an amazing 8-bit indie game! That’s right, Simeon and Scott are donning their helmets and hefting their shovels as they raid King Knight’s castle—the villain that will soon be playable in the next update from Yacht Club games.

“Exit the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Switch) Review

Look what gem we dug up.


Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is available on Nintendo Switch, including the timed-exclusive Specter of Torment campaign! Ryan has been playing the title for review, and has completed the game and assembled all of his thoughts. Watch to see what he thought of this villainous twist on Shovel Knight!

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Home of the Indies: Nintendo Switch

After an incredible Indie Showcase that Nintendo aired before the launch of their new platform, the Nintendo Switch, I’m still left thinking about that reel of stellar indie software. The lineup looks fantastic, and in an otherwise barren stretch without software between Zelda and Mario Kart, the indies are going above and beyond in filling in the gaps.

Nintendo really stepped up their game in the way that they are courting independent developers this generation. You can tell. You can feel the excitement emanating from these smaller, self-publishing game creators. Not only is a slew of great games coming to Switch, but the indies are providing exclusives and timed exclusives by the handful.

Nintendo Voice Chat Indie Special

Recently IGN’s Nintendo podcast took a week off their normal format and interviewed some fine folks. They sat down and talked with many of the creators that were featured in Nintendo’s showcase, but also interviewed the employee of Nintendo in charge of managing these releases, all in one informative episode.

While you should definitely give the full show a watch or listen, I took two very important facts away from it:

1: Expect indie games to be enhanced with unique Switch features. Nintendo is helping indies implement the latest and greatest into their titles, and helping make these games more attractive on the Nintendo platform as well.

2: More selectivity is determining what appears on the eShop. It’s not an open invitation for indie developers anymore, but only the best of the best are being let in to the new eShop. This might seem like a step backward in Nintendo’s indie relations, but they’re really just taking an active step in keeping the shovelware out and wooing the best developers in. Damon Baker is the man in charge of Nintendo’s “portfolio management,” so he’ll be making a lot of calls, taking people out to golf, and not taking no for an answer when it comes to getting Nintendo fans access to the smartest indie titles.

Technology Implementation

Nintendo isn’t the only company taking advantage of HD Rumble or the other technologies packed into the Joy-Con controllers. Indies are crazy about this technology, and have reported that Nintendo’s documentation is off-the-charts helpful…

Let me say that again:

Nintendo’s development documenation for Switch is insanely good.

I know – sounds boring to you or me, but developers are going crazy about this. And it means we get better games, faster, so there’s that!

In one example of rapid technology implementation, Tomorrow Corp’s games (World of Goo, Human Resource Machine, Little Inferno) already take advantage of the IR-free Motion Pointer technology before it’s been seen from any other developer, first-party, third-party, or otherwise.

Indie games that allow full iPad-like touch-screen only controls as an option are also on the way.

Convenient Porting

Indie developers are having extremely efficient experiences in getting their existing games running on Switch hardware, which has historically not been the case with Nintendo platforms. In the IGN interview above, devs stated times between a single hour to two weeks when discussing port timeframes.

Not to mention that development kits are actually on the cheap end of the spectrum for indies! At approximately $450 per kit, it’s hardly a barrier of entry for anyone hoping to see their game running on Nintendo hardware. Finally, the Big N seems to have created a win-win situation with their development environment.

Support Them!

Switch is the perfect console for indie games. It’s easy to develop for, fully-featured hardware, that we can take with us anywhere! Let’s show independent developers that we respect their time and appreciate their efforts by voting with our wallets.

Watch for these upcoming (and some newly released) games:

  • Runner3 from Choice Provisions
  • SteamWorld Dig 2 from Image & Form Games
  • Yooka Laylee from Team 17 and Playtonic Games
  • Blaster Master Zero from Inti Creates
  • Pocket Rumble from Chucklefish Games and Cardboard Robot Games
  • Flipping Death from Zoink Games
  • Mr. Shifty from tinyBuild and Team Shifty
  • Wargroove from Chucklefish Games
  • Stardew Valley from Chucklefish Games and ConcernedApe
  • Shakedown Hawaii from vBlank
  • Graceful Explosion Machine from Vertex Pop
  • Tumbleseed from aeiowu
  • Overcooked: Special Edition from Team 17 and Ghost Town Games
  • The Escapists 2 from Team 17 and Mouldy Toof
  • GoNNER from Raw Fury and Art in Heart
  • Kingdom: Two Crowns from Raw Fury and Noio
  • Dandara from Raw Fury and Long Hat House
  • Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove & Specter of Torment by Yacht Club Games
  • World of Goo by Tomorrow Corp
  • Human Resource Machine by Tomorrow Corp
  • Little Inferno by Tomorrow Corp

Did Switch Have Enough Launch Software?

Not only did we MOSTLY forget Just Dance, we COMPLETELY forgot Skylanders. I guess that tells you we are definitively not their target audience…


Another Nintendo console launch has come and gone! New systems are neat, but at the end of the day, it’s the games we care about. We buy our new hardware for the unique experiences that can be had on them. With that said, we are turning our scrutiny to the launch lineup of games that Nintendo and a few third parties prepared for us. Did it cover the bases for a variety of gamers? Is there enough to be satisfied until another batch of releases? Find out our thoughts in today’s episode, and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Best Switch eShop Games at Launch

I love shopping… eShopping, that is.


Don’t forget the downloads! There are some stellar titles on the Switch eShop, even if the launch seemed a little sparse. Quality over quantity, right? Indies and 3rd parties are strongly supporting Nintendo’s efforts right out of the gate this time around, and it’s our responsibility to let them know that their support matters. Vote with your wallet and play these awesome titles!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Initial Switch Impressions + Early Reviews

Similar to how “we” was suddenly a buzz word after the reveal of Nintendo Wii, it is now off limits to use the word “switch” without a wink-wink nudge-nudge to accompany its use!


We’ve only had a handful of days with the system, but BOY has it left an impression on us! There’s really something special about Nintendo’s Switch console/portable hybrid platform. And having a huge open world Zelda game on it sure doesn’t hurt! It’s very early to have a full review but we’re happy to provide our thoughts so far, and we’d love to hear yours in the comments below. Tell us how your experience has been!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Making Sense of Shovel Knight Versions

Remember the simple old days where a whole game was just on a cartridge?


Shovel Knight, once a humble Kickstarter campaign, has snowballed to become a massive undertaking for its developers. Stretch goal upon stretch goal were smashed by the game’s enthusiastic fanbase of supporters, ultimately leading to some bloat and confusion as the project ages. True to their weird, developer Yacht Club games is keeping their end of the bargain by updating the original purchaser’s games with the new features, campaigns, and modes, but THAT is precisely where the simplicity ends. Watch on to see what we mean.

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Best 2017 Indie Games to Watch For!

If you’re reading this, and you’re an indie developer, get in touch with us on the Contact page. <3


We love independent video game developers (affectionately referred to as “Nindies”). Why? Because they’re the underdogs – the small studios that are going toe-to-toe with giant corporate competitors. And oftentimes, they’re the ones that innovate and bring us the most interesting experiences, the ones that deserve further pondering and reflection after their completion. And so, going into a new console generation on the Nintendo Switch without stopping to examine the indie offerings would be a big mistake! These are the games to watch for in the coming months – don’t miss them!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Top 10 Most “Batman” Pantendo Characters

BECAUSE I’M BATMAN


Proceed with caution. The footage you are about to view may scar you. You won’t walk away from this episode the same. It may well be the weirdest thing we’ve ever done (and YES, that includes our Octodad skits). Today we’re taking a look at who the most “Batman” characters are that have graced Nintendo consoles. You’ll see what we mean!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Game of the Year Awards (2015)

And the award for most inappropriate advertising goes to… Yo-Kai Watch!


2016 looks pretty promising for Nintendo, but before we get ahead of ourselves, the Crew gives out its rewards for best games this year!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Reformat” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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Shovel Knight Plague of Shadows and Amiibo

Shovel Knight is truly a classically designed modern classic.

The Plague of Shadows expansion has arrived, AND a Shovel Knight Amiibo will be bringing us co-op mode and additional challenges. There’s never been a better time to be a Shovel Knight fan!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Reformat” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/