Knight & Damsel from MK Ultra, an indie studio with members from the Sound Shapes team, is a cute play on the damsel in distress trope. One player controls a knight on the top of the screen and player two is the damsel on the bottom. The knight runs from left to right while the princess runs from *right to left.* Eventually, both characters meet in the middle with a humorous "shocked to see you" expressions.
The goal is to dash and jump through more screens than the other player to win the round. Knight & Damsel’s levels have wooden crates that impede your path. You could smash through them or knock crates onto your opponent’s screen to slow them down. When I played Knight & Damsel I experimented with creating towers four crates tall, which basically forms walls the other player has to tear down.
Bombs are even more useful because if you can hit your opponent (rescuer?) with a bomb you’ll send them flying back one whole screen. During the hands-on demo, bombs were the ultimate weapon and landing a well-timed bomb blast felt quite satisfying.
Each round in Knight & Damsel ends with a mini-game where both players try to swoop each other off their feet. This didn’t have an effect on the outcome though since whoever cleared more screens was the winner even if the other player won the swooping game. MK Games is also working on a story mode for Knight & Damsel and I’m curious how they wrap a plot around the concept.
Knight & Damsel is in development for Ouya.
