Mina the Hollower is a Game Boy throwback with a modern feel

Mina the Hollower is the new game from Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games. It is a throwback to Game Boy Color classics like The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, and it has the gorgeous, stylized visuals to pull off that homage. Yacht Club has launched a Kickstarter as part of an effort to build an early support community for Mina. That campaign has already raised nearly $1 million with about two weeks left with a goal of delivering the project by December 2023. I’ve spent some time with a demo version of Mina, and it definitely has me excited as someone who loves Shovel Knight.

The first thing I noticed is that the visuals are even more effective when you’re playing. Like Shovel Knight’s NES-style graphics, Mina the Hollower obviously couldn’t run on actual Game Boy Color hardware. Instead, it borrows from that aesthetic while also filling in some of the gaps. Yacht Club is paying extra attention to the animations, for example.