“Shovel Knight” will be coming out for the Nintendo Switch this week along with the “Specter of Torment” campaign. However, that’s not all that’s coming around, because simultaneously with “Specter of Torment” a body Swap Mode will be added to the game as well. So what exactly is the “Body Swap Mode” then? Well, it’s a cosmetic setting menu that lets you switch the genders of the title knight, Shield Knight, the Enchantress, Black Knight, and the Order of No Quarter. At any time during your playthrough you can switch the sprites from male to female and vice versa as well as the pronouns in English. You can change them individually and switch them in any manner; meaning you can have Shovel Knight fit himself in a set of sexy armor or have him do a complete sixty-three.
For the designs they steered clear from the Ms. Pac-Man “slap a bow on it” method. They redesigned the main cast, while fitting them in their hitbox, while keeping the looks and personalities of their male counterparts. Some were difficult than others. However, since most of them are covered head to toe in armor. It looks like they managed to pull, through, such as Plague Knight and his/her more bewitching attire and Shovel Knight’s sleek, hourglass body. Others had a more drastic look, such as King Knight’s Queen design makes him/her look like an armored queen (must be hard to fight in that dress, though). Mole Knight has a more obvious redesign, having based on a lady opera singer (complete with “fiery hair”). Body Swap Mode will be exclusive to the knights of the game, but that didn’t stop the artists from having some fun with other characters.
This mode was a little late in development since its Kickstarter campaign from march 2013 (as part of their stretch goals). They tried to work on it during the development of the “Plague of Shadows” update but they couldn’t finish it on time for that release. During the “Specter of Torment” project, however, they managed to focus on it and now we’ll get to switch it up when the update goes live.
Rule 63 (the Internet rule for every fictional character there’s a gender swap of them) has been popular for years, and now we get to see it in take form in “Shovel Knight”. You see, according to their article on the official Yacht Club Games, this was more of a response to adding a more diverse cast that was a little too late to fix by the time of the original release.
However, I don’t really see a cause for alarm since this is just a cosmetic option in design and pronouns; everything else (the story and core gameplay) will remain the same. “Shovel Knight”’s Body Swap is ready on the Nintendo Switch with the rest of the ports receiving the mode along with “Specter of Torment” in April.
And with that said, what’s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!
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David Lucas
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @GamerFoxem
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Tags: Indie games, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight body swap, Yacht Club Games