Topic: Episode 139: Shovel Pun

[Jonnyboy117]

Listener mail, a whole lot of Shovel Knight love, and a new space bonus segment!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/37955/episode-139-shovel-pun

Hello and welcome to episode 139 of Connectivity! Don't tell the other episodes, but I really love this one.

Kicking the show off, Alex, Zach and Scott answer your listener mail. The guys answer questions about the future of E3, their favorite Game Boys, multiplayer-focused games and a whole lot more.

After that, Zach, Andy, Neal and Alex discuss Shovel Knight, the Kickstarter-backed indie game from Yacht Club Games. This retro-inspired platformer has quickly become a critical darling, and the gang goes over what makes Shovel Knight so unique. Best of all, this segment is spoiler-free up until the last 10 minutes or so, and plenty of warning is given before veering into spoiler territory.

After the show, Scott and Jonny return with a new space bonus segment. This week, Jonny discusses his secret favorite space-related topic: space suits! Jonny discusses the history and evolution of space suits while reminding us that being able to survive out in space is equally amazing and terrifying.

Be sure to click here to send us your listener mail, whether you've got thoughts about Shovel Knight, questions for Jonny about space and space suits, or any other thing to share. We'll see you next week!

[ClexYoshi]

at around the 8:10 mark, I just kept saying the word "Bayonetta, Bayonetta, Bayonetta, Bayonetta, Bayonetta..." over and over and over again. Seriously, what does Platinum have to do to get that game in the conversation for you folks?!? I seriously feel sorry for poor Kamiya-san, who makes these amazing games and then nobody gives a crap unless a pre-existing IP is attached to it. Possible more comments later, but I had to get that out of my system.

[Neifirst]

I couldn't disagree more on the need for a journalist 'filter' between companies and consumers.  90%+ of what sites post are just regurgitated PR statements (or rumors taken from reddit and NeoGaf) anyway.  With the availability of twitch to see actual gameplay, and forums where actual users report on their experience, 'professional' sites are fine, but certainly not necessary. 

[Jonnyboy117]

Bayonetta is already a pre-existing IP. Some of us have played the first one and don't care for it much.

As for the role of media, especially at an event like E3, there's a lot more discussion of that on the new RFN as well. Might provide a different angle for you.

[ClexYoshi]

Bayonetta is already a pre-existing IP. Some of us have played the first one and don't care for it much.

I suppose you do have me there, but it's something for 2014 and it's something I feel is an important stop-gap between now and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

I also want to say that I very much enjoyed the Space Suit discussion and all. that puffer for it was especially interesting.

What I actually want to make the main body of this post about though is Shovel Knight, and your rousing discussion of it. it's just good to get a segment of gushing about it! I ended up playing through most of the game in the Conjurer's armor because taking increased damage will not deter me from badass purple armor! I believe I had 43 deaths by the end of my new game playthrough, with most of those being accounted to The Final Boss, and Propeller Knight. It wasn't so much that I had trouble with his stage, but I just could NOT get his pattern down...!


I didn't back the kickstarter because I had mostly plugged my ears to the crowdfunding thing, and only heard about shovel knight in the last couple of it's days during a time I was broke. I didn't follow it all that closely either. I kinda freaked out when The Baz from Dive Kick randomly showed up. I was not expecting that.

In response to the panel wanting Shovel Knight to pull off his helmet and be a girl, I actually would prefer if He pulled his helmet off and he was a miniature Bull furry, because that'd totes work considering the countless furries that are wandering around the towns.

Alex's (I think it was Mr. Culafi, sorry if I'm wrong about this) rant about indie games having stupid pretentious meme/meta jokes in it kinda perplexed me. I guess Shovel Knight did a good job hiding some of it's jokes, then? I've caught at least 3 jokes directly relating to the fact that the game was crowd funded, and the first level very distinctly makes a Monty Python and the Holy Grail joke when you encounter the Black Knight for the first time. that I specifically pointed out in Daan Koopman's Shovel Knight video.

Anyhow, the game is pretty great. I'm really looking forward to those free add-ons. particularly Plague Knight mode and having to grenade my way through piles of dirt. Still kinda sad that the folks on the kickstarter voted for King Knight  to be playable over one of the more interesting bosses like maybe Tinker Knight or Propeller Knight.

[Webmalfunction]

Alex's (I think it was Mr. Culafi, sorry if I'm wrong about this) rant about indie games having stupid pretentious meme/meta jokes in it kinda perplexed me. I guess Shovel Knight did a good job hiding some of it's jokes, then? I've caught at least 3 jokes directly relating to the fact that the game was crowd funded, and the first level very distinctly makes a Monty Python and the Holy Grail joke when you encounter the Black Knight for the first time. that I specifically pointed out in Daan Koopman's Shovel Knight video.

Referential humor doesn't bother me for the most part. Arrow in the knee, shoop-da-whoop, doge, o rly, me gusta, or any of those stupid lazy non-jokes that reference internet humor do. Even if it was an okay game, I ended up kind of hating Guacamelee's guts as a result. If Shovel Knight does this, I'm happy they kept it down to a minimum and hid it well enough that I didn't have to see it. Subtlety is a wonderful thing.

[azeke]

Cross-buy and fully featured account system have NOTHING to do with platform architectures. Even cross-saves should are largely agnostic to architectures because after all it's all emulated anyway.

There needs to be enough accumulated will from within company to stop with the BS, and turn the switch on. There are no technical obstructions left.

[azeke]

Batman: Brave and the Bold

Oh, man.

This is one game you rarely see mentioned. You always get your regular Boy and his Blobs and Shantaes when people start discussing Wayforward's output, but never this game.

It's a really cool two-player beat'em up game. Looks great and they made a great job transferring show's cartoony art style into the game. Banter between Robin and Batman was pretty amusing.

[azeke]

Space Talk was amazing as usual.

You really need to tag these episodes somehow so that people could find them.

And Dinosaur talk.

[Jonnyboy117]

Glad you liked it! The NWR search function might help a little, but the easiest way to find all the Space Q&A segments is at Crosstawk. I always cutout that part and release it separately about one week after it runs on Connectivity. On the website, it's listed under Crosstawk Presents (used for special/irregular shows).

[Halbred]

Dinosaur Talk will happen next time there's a significant dinosaur news story or I come up with a good angle. Jonny talked about space suits for 45 minutes--I could probably talk about ceratopsians for that long. It's an idea I've kicked around.

Jonny & I are scheduled to record an interesting bonus segment next week, though.