![Hollow Knight Beta [Gameboy Demake]](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzYwMzE2MjgucG5n/original/ItnoD5.png)
Hollow Knight Beta [Gameboy Demake]
An Unofficial free fan demake of the early beta build of Team Cherry's Hollow Knight. A new way to experience a masterpiece! Unofficially remade on the GameBoy.
Disclaimer:
I am in no way associated with Team Cherry, I am just a fan and an indie GB Studio Developer.
Hollow Knight is a property by Team Cherry. This is a free unofficial fan project and a love letter to the eternal masterpiece, Hollow Knight. Please support Team Cherry and their official titles.
This Fan Game is free to play, but if you want, please consider supporting me and my future projects by contributing to my other projects or by following me on itch or twitter.
I love Hollow Knight. This fan game is in development, and I am using GB Studio by Chris Maltby as an engine to make this game.
Follow me on my journey as we make this demake a reality.
Please support Team Cherry and their official titles.
Play the Demo
Controls
| Function | Keyboard | Console |
| Interact | W | Up Button |
| Focus | S | Down Button |
| Walk | A / D | Left / Right Button |
| Nail Strike | Z / J | A Button |
| Jump | X / K | B Button |
| Vengeful Spirit | Shift | Select Button |
| Access Map | Enter | Start Button |
Differences from the original game:
- Played on GB Hardware/Web browsers
- There are no Nail Pogo and Upwards Nail Swing mechanics in this game [I'm sorry, I do not know how to script such a mechanic in the current build (beta2) of GB Studio Engine]
- Pixel art in the style of most MS-DOS games
- Music is crappy/there are no SFX yet [I'm an artist so I don't have the knowledge to make music/bgm for this, let alone Gameboy specific .MOD files. You can help me make music though!]
- No Geos [Currency] to collect or spend
- No Charms/Nail Upgrades [Equip-able Power-Ups]
- Only the early beta build is planned to release
- Enemy Goams are changed to an original bug named Weelms [Due to actor size limitations, this is inevitable]
- Enemy Husk Guards are smaller [Due to actor size limitations and max frame limits, this is also inevitable]
- Boss before the Ancestral Mound is replaced [Yes, this is due to actor size limitations too]
- Enemy Elder Baldur is only an obstacle and if player doesn't have enough soul to use Vengeful Spirit an original soul totem-like bug called Soul Seeds will be near their area
- Soul meter [Soul Vessel] and Health [Masks] are limited [This is due to frame limitations and to simulate the illusion of a harder game]
- Bosses Brooding Mawlek, Vengefly King and Gruz Mother have limited attack patterns and a remade [demade lol] Health pools
I plan is to remake the whole game now [all DLC except God Home] IF AND WHEN the higher beings at Team Cherry gives me a go signal. I have mailed them asking for their permission. They are entitled to request this page to be shut down if they want to.
Thank you for understanding.
Updates:
Added an option to disable Dirtmouth music. Just interact with the "King's Idol" near ElderBug and boom! Annoying music gone!
Download
Development log
- Download / Play it now!Jul 20, 2021
- Guard Husk [Update]Apr 23, 2021
- Play the Prototype Demo Now!Apr 19, 2021
Comments
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Hi!! Im an huge fan of og Hollow Knight and absolutely love this game! I noticed that if I play the beta version 2 (gba) on analogue pocket under gba core the screen would be smaller. Any idea why?
On a side note, have you hear anything from the Team Cherry?!
the gba versions were gb roms wrapped in a gba emulator and was meant to play on actual gba devices so maybe thats why, man its been so long since this game, therell be a new demake of hk by someone, im sure of it and itll be better than this.. thanks for checking it out
on the side note, no, i havent heard from them, im just a silksong fan who waits for updates too, just like the rest of us XD
hey, I tried to run this on twilight menu on my 2ds xl, but it was a bit glitchy, any recommendations on what to run it on
any gb gbc emulator, preferably mgba or bingb or sameboy
any gb gbc emulator, preferably mgba or bingb or sameboy
Not sure if it's just me, but the game is SUPER fast when I run it on a gameboy emulator
excuse me, this is illegally good, I think i just suck though cause i die so much lol, very good remake!
theres a bug where on the web version it wont let me click new game
im clicked enter, space, shift, everything
try pressing down or up to reveal the arrow and xz or k or space to select an option
its z
What are the differences between the versions and which would you recommend?
this was made with gb studio 2b4 so its a little outdated, the newer gb studio versions have a variable jump height if thats what youre looking for, the attack script is pretty simple in newer versions too. u can go in the gb studio discord to know more advanced scripting if u havent already joined
Hi ! This is a very very good job. Only one thing is wrong for me is the music, but all the rest is almost perfect. I try this in part 2 of this video ( i'm french )
very cool game, I had no idea a project like this could be made in gb studio. Is there a way to download the gb studio proj file? would love to see more on how you were able to create this game.
sadly the original folder was lost so thats that, i do plan to remake this tho so you will ave to wait for that
very fun i have been speedruning it with my freinds, my record is 3:50.
thats cool, would love to see a video on it some time XD
how tf do i play i cant even download it
seems like an issue on your end. there's a browser version
the physics are all out of wack but other than that it's
a good demake
HOW How did you make this in GB studio?? Insanely impressive
thanks! tedious logic and scripts manipulations XD it's hard but happy it worked, not very well though
can this work on a gbc
hello, yes the file with [GBC] will work on a gbc hardware
This is cool!
Hey Elvies, Very interesting game, the map design is great especially! But I can't kill the Primal Aspid in the first boss battle, so I can't get through it, what should I do?
hello, you mean the aspids after u meet cornifer? that room is a battle arena room like in the original game, and im not quite sure on what caused the glitch for your enemy to be unkillable. does it take too many hits and not dying? does it die then spawn 2 more aspids? if u could give me a detailed explanation as to how the glitch may have occured maybe i can help? but overall the game is finished now and any updates i may do will be on a newer gb studio version so it may take some time, thanks for trying out the game, pls support the official game by TEAM CHERRY
Yes, I think I met a little bug just now. I just hit the first Aspid more than 100 times, but it is not dead. But now the problem has been solved after a restart. As an old fan of the Hollow Knight, I have bought it on PC and Switch and played it many times. I'm very interested in pixel-style games. I'm very happy to see the pixel version of the "Hollow Knight" you developed. However, the feel of this engine (GB studio) is too bad. Would you consider trying to use Unity to obtain the same control fell as the original Hollow Knight?
this demake aims to remake the original and make it work in the original game boy / game boy color, so the switch to unity is likely to happen since the original is already made using unity [i think]. gb studio may not be very powerful as some engines are, the limitation it has sparks creativity in making games like this work esp on the actual hardware. gb studio is growing and i dont plan on switching engines just to make the game "like hollow knight" its a demake for a reason, thank u again XD
Impressive! "limitation sparks creativity", just as FC games. Thank you for letting me look back at the CrossRoads again until I met Hornet: "THIS domain marks the end of your journey. I cannot allow you passage, now salvation... WE shall meet again ghost of hallowneast..."
Now I'm not saying that this game is bad in any way, it's on fact quite the opposite, but as somebody who has beaten radiance like once, the only thing I can say is that this is way harder than og hk. 3 hp, slow movement, no directional attacks, the controls make it feel like a completely separate game to hollow knight.
thank you! the game was mage using gb studio 2b4 so a lot of its "difficulty" is the result of the engine limitations, i plan on demaking the whole game [as ;long as its within my and the engine's capabilities] once new versions of gb studio comes out, but i do believe hk is best demake on gba. thank u for playing, happy that og hk players play this garbage i made too
Impressive game, I wish jump was also bound to Space though.
i cant play this i need help doing the start thing
how do i select stuff on the new game/load game screen?
revek will be coming for you if you dream nail anyone
Impressive!
Hiii, I've made a video about the game and wanted to share some feedback about, hopefully this is useful to you ^^
-The main concepts/ideas of the game are really well translated in the demake.-The gameplay mechanics are a little bit rough, but quite solid considering that it is a "beta".
-The visuals are quite good and I think that every important visual aspect of the game stills recognizable.
-I would like to see some more sound effects, and volume controls for the music.
Hopefully this is useful to you :D, also if you could subscribe that would help me a lot :)
Regards
this is extremely well made. I’m impressed :D
controlls wack
Elvies que trabalho massa vai ter Att ? to ansioso kkkkk. Vi o vídeo que vc posto la no canal aquele projeto vai sair pra gba tmb ?
this is amazing. the only things I would work on at least for the demo is the music ( would love to hear gameboy versions of dirtmouth and the main title theme) and I think I may be of help for slashing up. let me know if youd like to hear my idea, if you havent tried it that is.
sure, hope youre idea is gb studio friendly. yeah, music isnt really my best suit
i understand. I'm trying to learn music but the systems are so much harder than just fiddling about with a keyboard.
I'm thinking you could try something like this (any time i put{} everything inside is attached to it
If joypad pressed (B or a, I forget) {
if joypad is pressed (up){
attack item (make an up animation}
}
not sure how well that would work, but it should check to make sure your pressing both to do the up slash. may have to check the other way around, as in checking for up first. could be applied to down as well, but I'm not sure about the pogo. seriously dude I would pay for an entire game remake lol. I know its likely not possible to remake the WHOLE game, but a man can dream lol. if you have a patreon or anything, id love to contribute to the finishing of this when i get some money, as HK is my favorite game of all time, so to play it on GB is amazing.
yeah i tried that approach too, i think an entire game is possible with so much work around or fewer features. like some charms are permanent upgrades while others will be cut entirely, spells are hard to do too since gbstudio only allows few sprites and frames on screen. thanks for suggesting tho. sorry i cant really ask for payments as this is an established ip. but u can support the other og titles ive made [that'll be enough tp keep me motivated]. and dont worry, i do plan to demake the game eventually.
actually, thanks to the TPP1 mapper (which as far as im aware isnt supported by GB studio...), it would be possible to fit the whole game (TPP1 supports up to 1GB of data/cartridge). also, GBstudio is really limiting, if the game was written from scratch in asm, then maybe you could even come up with creative workarounds for certain limitations. (im not trying to insult the developer for developing the game in thier own way, just saying that the gray brick is more capable than youd think)
hi, could you share the part of the code to change the character's sprite during a jump or other action ? I tried to do it but never succeded
Hi, are you on the GB Studio discord? I'll help you out there, just yell at my name. XD
Hi, i'm not on it, but soon !
you should join the community, there are tons of king and helpful people there
Could you invite me if I give to you my ID ? It's Basile#4144
amigo por favor termina esta joyita
Really good DeMake, allot more than I expected, hope to see more def would support the project
That's really cool!
Ayy, really do hope ya end up hearing back from Team Cherry. This is lookin all kinds of amazing, and Cherry are from my town so I have a bit of a soft spot for Hollow Knight haha. Keep up the rad work.
I would love to play this game but prefer to use my handheld. Can you upload the gb rom at all?
I've uploaded roms for the Prototype Demo. I'll update it to the full build when I get the go signal from the Higher Beings. I hope you understand. Have a nice day!
I really hope Team Cherry approves this piece of art, i played through the original and i would love to see this completed
The plan is to have the beta build when I get their approval and eventually...a full build. So I hope they at least saw my email. Cross fingers my friend. XD
I've never played Hollow Knight before. I'd like this to be finished so I can play more!
me too man, me too. i just need the Higher Beings seal approval and ill release the game
Are you working on anything in the meantime?
yes, im currently working on 2 or maybe 3 project. why'd you ask?
Just curious what they are since this one is so good, I'd like to see them
One is a survival top-down, the other is metroidvania. I refuse to tell any more than this here to avoid spoiling my own game in case someone cares.
this was really good and well made! will there be more in the future?
Hello there! Thanks for checking the game out! The plan is to have at least the beta build of the original remade, but if Team Cherry decides to take this down then I'm not going to object to their decision. I have emailed them and if the beta gets more attention and if Team Cherry gives me the go sign then I might remake the entire vanilla game.
This was amazing, seriously. You made this with GB Studio?
Hello there, thank you for following. Yes, this is made with GB Studio and without much alteration on the codes except for animation frames for the jump frame. Have a great day!
Hey Elvies, I thought the game was a nice tribute to Hollow Knight! I like the palette and the art style of the game. I think the attacks could be punchier but otherwise, good job!
Hello there! Thank you for the feedback, sadly, due to frame/actor limitations I cannot add any more effects. Can you please elaborate on the "punchier" part? Have a nice day!
Hello! I just meant that because there's a small delay in the attack animation, I just thought it would be nice to have enemies pushed back a little more.
I'll be honest, I haven't played Hollow Knight haha. This is my first time playing it. So, if it's like that in the original, then not much I can say. I found your game in the itch discord server actually!
Ah, you should play Hollow Knight, highly recommended. Yeah, push back is like that on the OG game [not that powerful], I really want the effects to be much livelier, but that's limitations for you. Thanks for the suggestion though.