Yacht Club Games Unveils Shovel Knight's Nemesis, the Black Knight

Shovel Knight is shaping up to be an intriguing release later this year for both the Wii U and 3DS eShop platforms; it's the first game release from Yacht Club Games, itself formed by former employees of WayForward Technologies. The footage and hands-on previews to date have been full of positivity, with its pixel-based old-school vibe attracting plenty of attention.

As the studio settles into a new office space and picks up work on the project, it's keeping its crowdfunding backers and the wider world in the loop with regular updates. Often used to reveal new characters, the latest introduces the Black Knight — pictured above — a relentless doppelganger that continually challenges Shovel Knight throughout the game. Below is the official description.

As the Yin to Shovel Knight’s Yang, the Black Knight calls nobody master. Clad in obsidian armor, he hounds Shovel Knight to the ends of the Earth, spoiling for a battle. The Black Knight’s skill with the ShovelBlade rivals that of Shovel Knight, or so the Black Knight hopes to prove! While Shovel Knight is confused as to why he has this mysteriously relentless doppelganger, no number of humiliating defeats by Shovel Knight could dampen the Black Knight’s spirit: he will always rise up to fight again!

Pros: persistent, confident, goal-oriented
Cons: slightly inept, squeaky voice

Rather humorously, the latest update also provides a papercraft that'll allow you to make your own Shovel Knight, assuming you have some relatively thick paper handy. We've included these at full size below for your convenience — which you can save to your PC with a right-click on the mouse — if you want to give it a go. If you do, be careful with that hobby knife while cutting out the shapes, will you?