Shovel Knight came out a couple years ago, and has since reached critical acclaim and multiplatform status. It won The Game Award for Best Indie Game and received generally high reviews across the board. The world record for running Shovel Knight stands at 43 minutes by Smaugy on any%. There are a ton of categories for the game, and Smaugy holds the gold in a handful of them. That’s great and all, but what about people who are just beginning to take interest in doing runs for themselves? What hope do they have of learning the strategies and techniques to compete with the big guys? That’s why we’re featuring a tutorial video designed to teach initiates the ropes. The video below by Maestro227 will help newcomers hit the ground running. Don’t worry, we’ve got the world record run itself to show you as well.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb5zCNCi2kY[/embedyt]
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There are several ways to run Shovel Knight, depending on the items you purchase. Maestro opts for a couple health upgrades rather than relying on Phase Lockets, though he points out when to use them if you have them. He stops to explain more complex strategies before demonstrating them in action, and during fast-moving sequences his instructions are concise and easy to understand.
Now that we’ve been educated, let’s watch the master at work.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBe7Vv3cIlU[/embedyt]
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Smaugy blazes through Shovel Knight’s levels, making the entire game look easy. All the while his demeanor remains casual and lighthearted, as opposed to the laser-sharp focus many record-attempting runners adopt when playing. You’ll notice some of the strategies used here are different from the ones in the tutorial – that’s because the latter is meant for beginners to get a foothold, whereas Smaugy uses more advanced techniques.
Need to play catch-up with Speedrun Fast? Here’s last episode’s run of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, which also comes with a tutorial video afterward.
