Welcome to the world of Shovel Knight Showdown!
Shovel Knight Showdown is the ultimate platform fighting experience, where you can duel with up to 4 players and scramble after gems as your favorite heroic or villainous knight from the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove saga. Gather your pals for endless multiplayer clashes, or choose from more than 16 playable characters in Story Mode, each with their own unique story to tell. Master every move, explore a vast array of items and locales, and discover new revelations in Shovel Knight Showdown!
When a magical catastrophe creates a world of never-ending battle, the heroes and villains of the Shovel Knight saga must discover the source of the disaster and fight to set things right! Play as your favorite character (alone or with a friend in co-op battles), face off against powerful rivals, and perfect your platform fighting skills in full-featured practice and target modes on your way to an all-new final encounter. Unlock new content and revisit Shovel Knight Showdown again and again as you dig into an immense variety of single-player and local multiplayer modes, features, and customizations.
If you want to read about a different game or feature, go to the main Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove manuals page.
The Legend Begins!
All was not well at the Tower of Fate. A terrible truth had been revealed. Specter Knight stormed off, filled with rage at The Enchantress. Their final battle was imminent!
The residents of the tower gathered. They boldly decided to rebel and help their friend. Hastily, they hatched a plan to modify the magic mirror. Perhaps they could trap The Enchantress inside!
With the preparations complete, the ramshackle contraption sprang to life. But something went terribly wrong…
Getting Started
Just choose “Showdown” from the Treasure Trove Title screen. You’ll be whisked to the Showdown Title Screen!
Controls
Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the controls. Each character has a different move set, but the buttons are the same across all characters!
- Tip: To customize your controls, choose “Allow Custom Controls” in the Title Options . You’ll be prompted to create a custom control layout at the Character Select menu.
Essential Mechanics
From attacking, hitting, parry, recovery, clashing and more! Check out the Essential Showdown Mechanics for an in-depth look.
Moves List
Access the Moves List by pausing during gameplay. You can view the moves for each player’s character. Scroll the list using the Control Pad.
Characters
You’ll see your available fighters on the Character Select Menu. There are all sorts of fighters, so pick whoever seems like they’d fit your style! As you play the game, many more combatants will be unlocked! However, there may be a way to unlock the characters instantly…
For details on each character, please head to the Shovel Knight Showdown Character Guides page!
Stages
On the Stage Select Menu, you can choose from a variety of stages to explore. As you play the game, many more stages will be unlocked! However, there may be a way to unlock the stages instantly…
For details on each stage, please head over to the Shovel Knight Showdown Stages page!
Game Screen
- Health HUD– All players have the same amount of health- 4! You’ll lose a bubble every time you get hit.
- Stock HUD – If playing with Stock, this shows how many stock are remaining.
- Gems HUD – If playing Treasure Clash, this shows how many gems have been collected.
- Goal Banner – This banner appears at the beginning of the match, giving you info on the goal and any special rules.
- Mini HUD – The mini-HUD shows you your info at a glance. A crown will appear above the winning player/s.
- Goal / Timer – The goal or gem display will be displayed here, as well as the remaining time!
- Tip: Playing on teams and out of lives? You can ‘borrow’ your teammates’ stock if they have a spare!
- Tip: The HUD of the winning player will flash. Get that player!! It might even help if you call it out so everyone will target them!
Battle Mode
Play against your friends or battle AI opponents by choosing BATTLE on the title screen!
Joining the Game
Up to 4 players can play together. Just press a button to enter, choose a character, and press confirm. You can change your costume too!
- Tip: Unlock more costumes by playing multiplayer battles and/or completing objectives in Story Mode!
Adding CPU opponents
You can easily add an AI-Controlled CPU character to battle with or against.
On the Character Select screen, Press the add CPU button.
Choose a difficulty level and character, then confirm. A CPU will be added!
Now just choose your characters and play!
If you want to add or edit your CPU, just press the add CPU button again.
Battle Options
There are a wealth of battle options! You can play any way you want!
Some options can only be accessed from the Character Select Menu:
- Game Type – Covered in more detail under Game Types
- Time Limit – Set the total match time. ‘Stage Default’ picks the time based on the stage, ‘Unlimited’ lasts until someone wins.
- Stock – Set how many times each person can withstand KOs here! Unlimited means you’ll always remain in the match.
- Gem goals – (Tip – Gem goals like ‘2x’ mean twice as many gems as the stage default. Try them out for longer matches!)
- Sudden death – When the game is tied and the time runs out, the winner will be decided in Sudden Death! You can turn it on/off here.
- Teams – You can team up in any way you like, or assign CPUs to teams too. (Tip – Try team shuffle to have the teams randomized every match! It’s a fun way to play with friends.)
- Auto-balance – Auto-balance gives the winning player or players increasing handicaps! Health, stock, or gems may be lower than other players. You can see the current auto-balance handicap on the Character Select screen.
- Stage choice – Who gets to choose the stage? (By default, anyone can choose.)
- Hazards – Set hazards to off for more basic versions of some of the wackier stages.
- Items – Choose how often items appear, and which ones may appear. There are lots of options here so mix and match at your leisure.
- Cheats – There are lots of cheats available, from fast movement to giant characters. Try them out!
Game Types
Treasure Clash
In Treasure Clash mode, players compete for gems! Collect the amount on the gem goal to win, but don’t lose all your stock first!
Each stage has its own default gem goal amount.
Sometimes gems appear in bubbles that must be broken first. Sometimes they appear two at a time! It all depends on the stage.
Showdown
In Showdown mode, you battle to be the last one standing! Set the number of stock and timer in the options.
Chester’s Choice
Chester’s Choice is an ever-shuffling roulette of fun! Teams, modes, and setups are mixed around to create a new experience each time. Here are Chester’s Choices!
Tip: Want to play or tweak certain game type found in Chester’s Choice? All of these modes can be setup in Showdown’s option menus too! Check out Options, Cheats, and Items to create your own ultimate mode!
Targets!
Everyone’s favorite equine equation enthusiast, Percy, is on deck with an intense new target game! Try to last as long as possible and rack up a high score by destroying an endless procession of targets! Your high scores are recorded and displayed on the Character Select Screen.
Scoring / Rules
- The timer begins with 30 seconds. When it runs out, the game is over!
- Targets appear in groups from the sides of the screen. Hit all the targets in a group to get a “Chain Bonus” score and earn some more seconds on the timer. Getting chains is the best way to a earn a high score!
- As you destroy targets, your combo meter fills. Each time it fills up, your score multiplier goes up to 2x, 3x, all the way up to 5x.
- If you take damage or hit a bomb, your combo goes back down to 0!
- As your score increases, the stage begins to become more perilous! Try survive the many hazards that Percy tosses your way!
- Tip: You can play Targets with a friend in co-op mode too!
Target Types and Hazards
Story Mode
Battle across the Mirror of Fate, defeat your rivals, and see each character’s ending. You’ll unlock some goodies as well! Story Mode is different for every character, so you’ll want to experience them all to see the whole story!
At each difficulty level, your opponents become much tougher and you will have fewer continues. Playing at a higher difficulty will earn you a shinier medal on the Character Select screen.
If you lose all of your continues, it’s game over! Steel yourself and try again from the beginning.
Practice Mode
Showdown has a full-featured practice mode for you to train your gem-getting skills. Choose your character, opponent, and stage, and customize to your liking.
Practice Options
- Moves list – View your character’s moves here.
- Spawn item – You can make any item appear in front of you!
- Player – Change your player without going back to the Character Select.
- Health – Choose between normal and infinite health.
- Enemy Options – Choose your opponent, as well as a wealth of AI options. You can even have another player control the enemy!
- Hazards – Set hazards for the current stage on or off.
Unlockables!
Shovel Knight Showdown gets bigger as you play because you’ll unlock new Characters, Stages, and Palettes!
Some methods to unlock content:
- Finish Story Mode with each character!
- Achieve certain Feats with each character. You can see these goals in the unlocks menu.
- Just play in Battle mode! After playing for a certain amount of time, you’ll obtain more unlocks.
Items Galore!
During play, you’ll see items floating onto the screen in bubbles! Hit the bubble to pop it, then collect the item inside! Items can really turn the tide of a match!
You can adjust the appearance rates of items or simply turn them off in the options menu.
Secret Showdown Tips!
- Want to listen to all the music from all across the Shovel Knight saga? Then BGM Shuffle Mode is for you! Just set BGM Type to Shuffle within Showdown’s audio options menu.
Thanks for reading a little bit about Shovel Knight Showdown! With this information, you should have all the tools you need to become a Showdown champion. Now get out there and enjoy the game!