Gamers use a shovel to slash enemies, unearth treasure, and bounce around classic 8-bit environments in the side-scrolling platformer Shovel Knight. Players take on the role of the titular adventurer, who travels across the land battling the Order of No Quarter and their evil leader The Enchantress in hopes of reuniting with his love Shield Knight. Each stage has its own theme and offers unique enemies and hidden areas, and most levels include new sub-weapons that can be upgraded by collecting loot. The game also includes a mission-based Challenge mode and a more difficult NG+ mode.
The Wii U version offers Miiverse support to let players read in-game message left by others, it works with most Wii and Wii U controllers, and it supports off-TV play with the GamePad.