| “ | Ahhh, hats, my greatest passion. Nothing I enjoy more than the crisp snap of a well-tailored brim. | ” |
— Mr. Hat, Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope | ||
Mr. Hat is one of the Wandering Travelers in the world of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. This character was created by Alexander "Hatman" Hatzikides as a Director for a Day.[1] He runs the Fancy Shop at the Armor Outpost and specializes in hats.
Official Bio[]
| “ | Mr. Hat is obsessed with hats, but for good reason! For although he wears a helmet, each hat that he places atop his head gives him the powers of that hat’s owner! Mr. Hat can switch from a charismatic foppish dandy to military genius in a moment, and he takes great pride in his varied fighting styles. Lately, though, there have been rumblings of an even greater warrior who wields a Shovel Blade; one with a wonderfully blue, horned helmet... | ” |
Appearance[]
Mr. Hat is a sophisticated man, wearing a large gray and brown trench coat, brown trousers, and brown shoes. He wears a golden helmet, hiding his face, and carries a wooden cane with a red jewel at the tip. When fighting, he puts a hat on his head, with each type of hat defining his fighting style. He then uses his cane either to displace himself or as a sword.
Relationships[]
The Baz[]
| “ | There are only two things that truly anger me. One is going hatless. The other.... is being stolen from!
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” |
After Mr. Hat's Fancy Shop falls into the Armor Outpost, Baz manages to steal his armor from the establishment and get away with it, until both are trapped in the Mirror of Fate and fight. In the end, Baz pays by cleaning the shop's floor until his debt is settled.
Goldarmors[]
| “ | Ooh, come give me a closer look, my gilded guardsmen. You wouldn't deny me a glimpse of such heady gear, would you?
|
” |
Mr. Hat is wanted by the guardsmen of the Pridemoor Kingdom for pilfering hats, and there are many "Wanted" posters of him in the Village. After being trapped in the Mirror of Fate alongside some Goldarmors, Mr. Hat steals a helmet from one of those to add to his collection, not worrying about his criminal record.
Story[]
Shovel of Hope[]
In Shovel of Hope, Mr. Hat is tending to his shop. However, as more hats are getting bought, thanks to Shovel Knight's generous donations to the otherwise penniless customers of the shop, he starts obsessing on refilling his stock. With the last customer gone, he addresses Shovel Knight about his helmet, and explains that each hat grants him the power of its previous owner. He then engages Shovel Knight in combat to take his helmet.
Mr. Hat finally regains his senses after his defeat, but still obsesses about Shovel Knight's hat. He leaves the shop after the knight makes him remark it is a helmet. Immediately after defeating Mr. Hat, he can be chased around the Armor Outpost, giving 
1000 each time he is spoken to otherwise, if the Outpost is left, he will immediately disappear. First he appears on top of the sign to his own shop, then he appears in the Aerial Anvil, the airship docked above the town. If the second wave of the Order of No Quarter has already been defeated, he can be found a third and last time, by the catapult located on top of the Aerial Anvil, resulting in retrieving the total 3000 initially paid to the mooching customers. Mr. Hat eventually grows unnerved after being found the third time, and leaves the Outpost by launching himself from the catapult while laughing maniacally.
Mr. Hat, alongside the other Wandering Travelers, is seen during the credits, working with the others to fend off a swarm of Liquid Samurai.
Plague of Shadows[]
In Plague of Shadows, Mr. Hat doesn't leave his shop after Plague Knight's attack on the Armor Outpost. He first feels insulted when the knight asks if he crafts hoods, which the salesman considers inferior to true hats, then, enraged by Plague Knight's belittling of hats, He engages him in combat.
After the fight, Mr. Hat explains how his power comes from the hats he wears. Plague Knight is impressed and wants to buy his hats, but he explains how the powers only work on himself. He then leaves the shop with no grudge towards Plague Knight.
Once again, Mr. Hat is shown with the other Wandering Travelers during the credits in their fight with the Liquid Samurai swarm, only this time Shovel Knight shows up to help, and Baz sports his new Plague Minion attire.
Specter of Torment[]
In Specter of Torment, Mr. Hat appears briefly in the ending, when the army of the Enchantress attacks the Armor Outpost. He flees from his fancy shop during the attack.
King of Cards[]
In King of Cards, it's revealed that Mr. Hat's shop was originally further up in the mountainous region of the Valley; his shop, known as the Fancy Shop, can be found in the Birder Kingdom. When spoken to in this location, Mr. Hat offers upgrades for King Knight that are so ludicrously expensive, they go over the gold limit and cannot be bought; thus, the only option for King Knight is to leave the shop and exit the level. However, as King Knight makes his way to the rat rope ring, Mr. Hat stalks King Knight and repeatedly asks him to come back and buy something. Finally, once King Knight tries to leave on the rat rope, the enraged Mr. Hat cuts the rope, preventing King Knight from leaving, and demands that he give up his "hat." He then engages in combat to take King Knight's crown, but is beaten. After his defeat, Mr. Hat explains that he tends to go crazy due to cabin fever since his shop is in such an isolated location where hardly anyone stops by. He then begs King Knight to let him on the Glidewing, and King Knight agrees after Mr. Hat also offers to fix the rat rope. Afterwards, the duo uses the rope to pull Mr. Hat's shop up and attach it to the Glidewing, after which Mr. Hat expresses his gratitude and lowers all his prices.
Mr. Hat initially has three upgrades available for purchase: the Display Overhaul, a Silver Plating for the Glidewing, and a Gilded Deck finish for the Joustus Deck. A fourth upgrade, the Gold Plating for the airship, becomes available after the Silver Plating is bought, and a secret upgrade, the Family Portrait, becomes available once King Knight accumulates 99999 (only in New Game Plus).
In the ending sequence, when the Glidewing is attacked by the Enchantress, Mr. Hat's shop is knocked off of the Glidewing, causing it to fall and land in the Armor Outpost, where several new customers including Baz show up to browse the shop, with the latter in particular being seen taking certain interest in an edgy-looking set of armor (which he would later wear as his signature outfit). Alternatively, if King Knight never recruited Mr. Hat, the merchant becomes so fed up with the lack of customers in the Void Crater that he manually drags his entire shop by himself to the Armor Outpost.
Showdown[]
In Shovel Knight Showdown, Mr. Hat is one of the numerous unfortunate souls who were kidnapped by the haywire Mirror of Fate.
Not particularly caring about his situation, Mr. Hat sets his sight on two goals - find new hats and new customers. He then encounters a Goldarmor, likewise trapped like him, who wants to arrest him due to his hat-pilfering activities, but Mr. Hat, delighted that someone recognized him, becomes instead enamored with Goldarmor's helmet and tries to steal it, resulting into a fight. They later encounter each other again, with the situation still the same, only now the Goldarmor is alone to battle Mr. Hat. After the Mirror is destroyed, Mr. Hat is seen in the back of his shop, having successfully taken the Goldarmor's helmet. He puts it on and tries its power. He is delighted and starts to think about how to further expand his collection.
While inside the Mirror, Mr. Hat also encounters the trapped Baz, and things turn sour quickly as the salesman recognizes him from the armor he is wearing, as Baz took it from his shop without paying, resulting into a scuffle between the two. Later they encounter each other again, with Mr. Hat offering mercy and a job for Baz if he repays his debt to him, with Baz refusing, since he is unwilling to work for "the man", and attacks. After the Mirror is destroyed and everyone is freed from it, Baz is seen inside Mr. Hat's shop, having finally accepted Mr. Hat's offer and having been put on sweeping the floor duty, eventually repaying his debt with the merchant; Mr. Hat seemingly have also hired a Rookie as a store clerk for his shop.
Pocket Dungeon[]
Mr. Hat makes a reappearance in the Puzzler's Pack DLC of Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon where, seeing an opportunity for business, he has opened a shop inside the confounded puzzle box at Castle Quandary. Once certain Quandaries are completed, Mr. Hat will begin to sell Hats that grants the same modifiers of the challenges while they are equipped, making it possible to continue to experience said changes even during a regular or endless Dungeon Run.
Furthermore, after equipping 1 Hat, each additional Hat stacked on increases by 5% the odds of Mr. Hat showing up in a side-room for an optional boss battle, with a Relic as reward. While the stacked Hats are visible in the adventure hubs, a game option (turned off by default) hides them during runs. Mr. Hat has different comments for when the Hats are visible or not during his boss battle.
Upgrades[]
These are the upgrades that can be bought from Mr. Hat in King of Cards (the prices shown here are the prices he charges after his shop has been added to the Glidewing).
| Upgrade | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Display Overhaul | 10000 |
Give your interface some regal flair! The very height of your status. |
| Silver Plating | 10000 |
A professional design refits the Glidewing to better suit you! |
| Gold Plating | 20000 |
An even more professional design refits the Glidewing to more perfectly suit you! |
| Gilded Deck | 10000 |
Your Joustus cards will receive fancier backs. The fronts change a little, too! |
| Family Portrait | 99999 |
A lovely painting fit for hanging above the hearth! Modest, but it has great sentimental value. (New Game Plus only) |
Battle[]
During his battle, Mr. Hat switches between two different hats that allow him to use different fighting styles. He starts the battle with a warrior's helmet, which has him run up to the player and use melee attacks with his cane-sword. He'll then throw some more swords in the air and have them fall to the ground, and then try to strike the player with his sword again. If Mr. Hat's sword strikes any of the other swords stuck in the ground, they'll get knocked upward and then fly straight ahead in the player's direction, ultimately flying off the screen. After this, Mr. Hat switches out his warrior helmet for a feathered beret, which allows him to bounce around on his cane and leap into the air, flinging plates at the player as he slowly descends to the ground. Then, he'll throw some teacups at the player and bounce around some more, before switching back to the warrior helmet and restarting the cycle.
In King of Cards, however, Mr. Hat has a second phase that he initiates when he's low on health. In this phase, he puts on a crown and pulls out a giant golden sword. He also regains all health. Aside from using this sword to deliver melee attacks, Mr. Hat can also attack by jumping off the walls of the room and then slamming down, creating sparks that roll a short distance across the ground before disappearing. Sometimes, Mr. Hat will go off-screen and return riding a horse carriage, trying to ram King Knight with it. After hitting the carriage three times, Mr. Hat gets knocked off and resumes his normal attack patterns. Once he loses half his health in this phase, Mr. Hat rolls out a red carpet which enhances some of his attacks; when he ground pounds on the carpet, it sends ripples that travel across the entire screen, and his horse carriage also sends ripples across the carpet when turning around.
Joustus Card[]
Mr. Hat has his own unique card, earned after his fight. There are double arrows up, left, and down. It also has the Cascade ability.
Dialogue[]
Treasure Trove[]
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Spin-offs[]
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Trivia[]
- His sprite model is named "Hat Knight".
- Mr. Hat is the only member of the Wandering Travelers not fought as an encounter on the map.
- Mr. Hat, Phantom Striker and Propeller Knight are the only main characters in Shovel Knight to use a sword as a weapon.
- During battle, Mr. Hat switches between two hats:
- When using his cane and tea set attacks, he wears a red chaperon hat with a feather in it.
- When using his sword and javelin attacks, he wears a pickelhaube emblazoned with a gold badge.
- He also wears these additional hats in specific games:
- A crown that lets him use an Excalibur-like sword in King of Cards and parry in Showdown.
- A shiny white magician's top hat that lets him summon enemies in the Puzzler's Pack DLC.
- A grey newsie cap when he refuses entry to his shop in the Puzzler's Pack DLC.
- His conversation after being defeated by Plague Knight hints that, just like Phantom Striker, he might be older than he looks.
- Interestingly, in Plague of Shadows, one of the Plague Minions that roam the now conquered Armor Outpost will mention something about removing the blast-proof lining on their hood, while on the other hand, Plague Knight himself asks Mr. Hat about adding one.
- The developers designed a Body Swap version for Mr. Hat, although only the main cast of Shovel of Hope had one added to the campaign.
- His artwork depicts him wielding his sword and cane separately, but his in-game sprite shows him turning his cane into a sword instead.
Gallery[]
See: Mr. Hat/Gallery
References[]
- ↑ Update: Almost there! and Director for a Day reveals! on the Kickstarter pages of Shovel Knight