The game has received many good reviews, has won many awards, and often shows up on best video games of all time lists. The game is even responsible for expanding the indie game market for Nintendo consoles. Before "Shovel Knight", Nintendo mostly released first-party and mainstream video games on its own consoles, but since the Wii U was struggling to sell, it allowed Nintendo to be more open to playing indie games on their own consoles. "Shovel Knight"'s success on Nintendo's consoles them more popular to make indie games for.