Blaster Master Zero Will Soon Get Shovel Knight And Shantae As Playable Characters

Blaster Master Zero has been a fun little sleeper title for the Nintendo Switch over the past few months, but it's about to get even sweeter, as the developers behind the game have revealed that some new heroes are about to be added.

Inti Creates confirmed earlier today that Shantae, who previously appeared in the platforming game Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (which we loved, by the way), and Shovel Knight, who stars in the video game of the same name, will be available to play within the game over the course of the next month.

This will begin with an update for the game that will go live on July 6th, version 1.3. With that, Shantae will be available free of charge in the Nintendo Switch and 3DS eShops. Shovel Knight will be added at a later time, on August 3rd, and will also be free for a limited time.

The characters will be offered for free over the first two weeks of their arrival. Outside of that, you'll need to purchase them for $1.99 apiece in order to play as them, so you might want to jump on that quickly.

Shantae and Shovel Knight join the previously released Gunvolt and Ekoro characters for the game, who were also offered for free before becoming premium characters for the game.

As you can see from the gameplay video above, both characters have something cool to offer to the mix, with Shovel Knight bringing his trademark shoveling gameplay into the mix, and Shantae kicking butt in a rather sweet outfit, while also utilizing her transformation abilities to get around much more quickly. Shovel Knight looks like he's a lot more fun to play, but it's certainly up to you which route you want to take.

Blaster Master Zero is certainly worth checking out, especially if you remember the nostalgia that the original NES game and its subsequent sequels brought to the table. Between the open exploration and the fun top-down action, it's a good time – and a fairly cheap game to boot, so it won't hurt your wallet.

Blaster Master Zero is available now for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch.