Cave Story Review (洞窟物語 - doukutsu monogatari)

Imagine a complete game made by a single person - will you assume that the graphics will be horrible, the musics are boring, and the gameplay are monotonous? Try Cave Story, a game created by a Japanese called Pixel, released in 2004. It has everything you expect from a great 2D platformer game - various secrets, hidden passages, memorable background music, detailed pixel-art graphics, and level progression that encourages you not to stop playing.

In this game you play as Quote, a creature that does not know his origin or purpose. The level starts at a cave with some bats and spikes to let you get used to the controls. You have a single weapon, Polar Star which is a familiar gun you'd encounter in a shooting game. When you kill the bats, sometimes you see triangles - these are your experience points. After gaining some points, your weapon will upgrade to level 2, higher attack and longer range.

The joy of having more powerful weapon makes you want to play this more. Afterwards, you will encounter not less than 6 kinds of different weapons, some of them are slow, rolling, needs charging, has limited ammo, etc. Not to mention that each level has different characteristics.

Don't expect a Mario Bros-like game where your task is only to kill enemies. One of the most lovable thing in Cave Story is the Story. This game really puts the story as the main element of the game. The background story is about fragile creatures Mimiga that are located in this island, they are being pressurized by some kind of doctor that experiments with red petals to make them a powerful being - not on earth exactly, but revealing that more will spoil the story. Along the game, you will find out more about yourself, your purpose of existance, and the parties that pushes you to fulfill their ambitions.


You don't play this game linearly like from Stage 1 to Stage 2 to Stage 3 with 3 lives to spare etc. Instead you have a HP, once your HP reaches zero you restart from your last save point. The world itself is a single big world, with many places to revisit, and they are not compulsory to revisit. You may get special items, extra weapons, side stories when you visit past places. In many places you get to choose Yes or No in dialogs - and mind you, your choice really matters.


Enjoy one of the town music. (Hint: this is not made using sophisticated music editor, but the maker's own song composer: OrgMaker)
Originally in Japanese, Cave Story has been translated into English by Aeon Genesis, with permission of the maker. You can enjoy the English version on your PC or Mac. Or even better, there is a PSP version that lets you choose between Japanese and English.

TV Tropes says:

What makes this game notable, however, is how good the gameplay is. A great difficulty curve that keeps it just challenging enough all the way through, a myriad of weapons with unique styles, and frequent, hectic, and exciting boss battles that are exhilarating and rewarding are just some of its better qualities.

What's also notable about this game is that only one person wrote the scenario, drew the artwork and scenery, animated the sprites, designed all of the levels, composed all of the music, and programmed the entire game engine, all over the course of five years. And it shows, in the best way possible.

For some action-packed goodness you can expect to find, see this trailer!