Let’s go back to the 80s and very early 90s, the golden age of the 8-bit era and simple games on the visual side of things. Wasn’t gaming great back then? Wasn’t the point of games being fun and getting your ass handed over times and times again before you’d beat them, that is when there was an ending? Games back then often came alive into the vision their creators wanted exactly, for the simple reason that not so many people were involved in them, so it was easier to get exactly where they wanted. (Note that this is an unproven theory I just made up, but you have to agree that it makes at least a small bit of sense). When you have teams of hundreds with different people working on each corner of the game, what you end up with isn’t often anything close to what was originally imagined.

Fast-forward to 2004, Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya, a Japanese doujin (independent/amateur) game developer release this little gem called Cave Story, which with what I was lead to believe, was mainly done by him alone. Now keep in mind that I haven’t completed this game yet. I’m at the final boss part, after going through the tough version of the last “cave”. And after that, there lies apparently bonus content that’s going to kick my ass, to congratulate me on taking the high road.

Two things I want to set straight first:

1. The reason I mentioned 8-bit graphics, well you guessed it, this game uses old-school visuals. Don’t go ahead and call the creator lazy for it, it did work for Megaman 9 today, so why not on PC 4 years ago? Did I mention the game is a freeware? Like as in it doesn’t cost anything?

2. I only heard about this game recently because it is was supposed to be re-released on Wiiware sometime this Fall (it might actually be out already). It seems like it will feature updated graphics and remixed music or something, with the option to revert to the 2004 pc version.

Now it’s time to present the game itself. Cave Story is a run and gun, similar to the old Metroid and Megaman games, which uses items and weapons upgrades. Some have been comparing it to Castlevania too. The game spawns a storyline quite deep for this kind of games, and uses a lot of humor too. Which guarantees never a dull moment, as you’re always either making your way to your next goal, fighting enemies, or searching for some item or someone to make the storyline move on.

The game heavily relies on platforming and using your different weapons to take out monsters. I found the design quite well made and fun to go through all the way from beginning to end. While the first half of the game tends to be easy, you eventually get to a part where it’s no more a cakewalk and more like tap-dancing through a minefield. What’s also interesting, is that you can always backtrack and go back to where you’ve been before, giving a more thorough feeling of freedom, while still keeping a linearity in the game, which is still an important element in any game. (I’m talking to you GTA)

As for the story, you basically play the part of a robot, an amnesiac robot who apparently fought in the war in the past. A terrific war that ended not so well, where the Minigami, some kinds of rabbits humanoids, have been used as a lethal weapon. Pretty standard stuff, but the plot development and different plot twists makes for an interesting ride through the game. I don’t want to present the characters, simply because, it would kind of ruin the experience for those who plan trying it on the Wii when it comes out.

I want to focus more on what is at the heart of the game, the weapons. I played about half of the game with a keyboard, and it was fine up to one particular boss, who kept kicking my ass, which required me to switch weapons too often. From that point on, I knew I had to use a controller (well I’m 100% sure it can be done without a controller, but what the hell..), so I plugged in my PS3 controller and was able to play more comfortably and kick that bastard’s ass. Now I’m deviating a bit much, but yes, the weapons. Those use a levelling system. Each weapon has 3 different levels, which are labelled 1 to 3, 3 being the strongest, (in most cases). The first weapon you find is a pretty standard gun. While level 1 is pretty weak, level 2 doubles the mini laser beam, while level 3 makes it shoot strong laser beams. Now about leveling up weapons, you do so by collecting golden triangles (Tri-force anyone?). The real downside to this weapon is really its range. It does get better at higher level, but nothing amazing. Now the catch here is, while most weapons are quickly maxed out to level 3, whenever you get hit, you lose experience for the equipped weapon. It makes boss fight more intense in that sense, since you really don’t want your trump card to be leveled down. I didn’t really was bothered by this system, I think it was a good punishment system and would make you pay attention not to just rush through some parts.

The second weapon you find is a rocket launcher. The first level launches one rocket at a time, while the second launches a bigger one, which does more damage. The third level launches 3 rockets, while weaker then the level two (stronger then the level 1) individually; they in total make more damage. At one point in the game, you get to upgrade to a different version of the rocket launcher, which simply change the look of the rockets and the damage output of each different levels. At first you can only hold 10 rockets at a time, but throughout the game, you find expansions that let’s you hold up more each time, to a total at endgame of 30. Then there’s the Fireball Weapon, which rolls and bounce on the floor (*cough* flower power *cough*), which is good at first when you get it, especially the third level for the damage output (this is pretty much all the changes this one gets, other then the color). The fourth weapon is the bubble shooter, which holds 100 ammos at a time with auto-replenishing really fast, which sucks at level 1 and 2, but rocks at level 3. At level 1, it shoots small bubbles, with little impact. At level 2, the bubbles are bigger, and can 2 some damage, but the range is just too lame. At level 3, it’s simply is awesome. A lot of bubbles pop-out around you and can be used as a damaging shield. Not only that, but when you release the shooting button, they are all fired at the same time. And when you’re holding for long enough, the bubbles constantly fire small laser like bullets. Definitely the weapon I’ve had the most fun with.

Next is the last non-optional weapon, the sword. Now this doesn’t act anything like I’ve expected. I mean, a sword, you’re going to use it to slash and dice right? Nope, you throw it at level 1, you throw it stronger, faster and more at a time at level 2. And at level 3, hmm, it’d kind of be a spoiler to tell you. But it’s a strong attack where once again you throw the sword, but you get extra hit for stuff around what got hit by the sword. Now I don’t think I’ve missed any of them, so I’ll move on to the next part.

Many items in this game are awesome. One you’ll find will let you take half the experience lost when getting hit by enemies. Two of them (you can only get one of those), are jetpacks called Booster. Version 0.8 is available earlier in the game, but doesn’t rock half as hard as Booster 2.0. The other items you’ll find will update your stats (rocket expansions like I mentioned earlier) and heart containers, which will boost your max health. There’s also an item that can be used to refill your health, but you can only carry one at a time, and are only available at one place in the game’s world. One last item I want to mention is probably the Minigami mask, which at some point plays an important role in the game. Ok not THAT important, but without it, you’d be screwed.

Now one thing I skipped when I talked about the weapons is the optional ones. Four times in the game, you are given the option to give up some of your weapons to trade against a different one. The first opportunity can give you the machine gun in exchange for your main gun. This one I barely tried, as I decided I wouldn’t take it. The level 1 was quite good really, but I didn’t want to miss out on the other options. (Yes, I knew beforehand what the weapons were.) A bit later in the game, you can give away the main gun (again) and the Fireball, against the snake gun, or something like that. It shoots through walls, which can be really good to take out enemies without facing danger in a lot of places. At that point in the game though, I thought the Fireball was still very useful and didn’t want to lose two weapons to gain one. Although I hear it is a really good choice, unless you want to go through the extra areas and bosses, which at that time I thought I would want to. The third one was my choice, and is probably the best weapon in the game. For one, it doesn’t require leveling, so it doesn’t level down, and two, it’s a charge weapon. So you hold down your attack button and the weapon quickly charge up to level 3 (and then max out). When it is maxed out, it shoots a really powerful beam, about the height of the character, and basically the whole screen in length. Once you get that weapon, you rarely re-use the older ones except on specific occasions. The damage output on this one is worth it, and the fact that it doesn’t rely on level is a big plus. Especially if you’re going through the hidden last cave, which resets everything to level 1 once you go in. That weapon (called the spur) is actually the complete version of your original gun which you got before it was complete. Note that you’ll need the booster 2.0 (which is worth the not very long wait) if you’re aiming for that one.

One last weapon is available, through a side quest, and the exchange of the sword. Now this one is really a personal decision. Since the sword is a strong weapon. But the Nemesis is kind of worth it. While it takes only one exp to level up to level 2, and another one to level 3 maxed out, that’s what you don’t want with this weapon. It is far stronger at level 1 then any weapon in the game in terms of pure damage output. At level 1 it shoots an electric burst. At level 2, it shoots a small electric burst and at level 3… it shoots ducks! Now the tricky part is that sometimes you’ll pick up experience points even if you don’t mean it, especially in boss fights with minions. Otherwise, if you can manage to not level it up, (or you can always get hit once or twice to get it to level down), it’s a good weapon.

Overall, Cave Story is an experience everyone should have, simply to remind them where games come from. Not that there aren’t games with more archaic style released even today, but I think this one represents well a golden age of gaming long gone. On this note, I’m looking forward to Pixel’s next project. I won’t talk more then that of that game, I think you need to experience it for yourself for the rest, and don’t stop at the 8-bitness of the graphics and see through the deep experience this game has.

*note I’ll be adding pictures of the game later tonight*

David A. Games, Review