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Cave Story
Nintendo Network
One Man's Vision
4.5/5 stars
“Cave Story” is the magnum opus of amateur game designer, Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya who initially released it as a freeware title for PC in 2004. Pixel spent 5 years working on the original game and fan-translator Andrew Davis assembled an English-language patch in 2005. I first became aware of “Cave Story” in 2006 and even went so far as to download a copy of the game and translation, but then never played it. Everything I'd read about “Cave Story” sounded brilliant: an old-school “Metroid” clone with endearing characters and a smart story, all painstakingly created and assembled by one person. Yet the simple fact that it was a PC game, and thus would deny me the experience of playing it on my TV with a controller, made me set it aside in an obscure folder filled with other freeware and fan-game projects. It just seemed that the PC, long home of ultra-high-end graphics, keyboard & mouse shooters, and point-and-click RPGs, was not an appropriate home for a game like “Cave Story.” Thus, when I heard that the game was coming to WiiWare courtesy of Nicalis, I became quite interested. Finally, a way to play “Cave Story” the way it was meant to be played… and the opportunity to pay for it? I'm not particularly a fan of paying for things I can get for free. Yet “Cave Story's” price (1200 Wii Points) did nothing to dampen my interest. Indeed, actually paying for the game would ensure that I would play it, just to get my money's worth!
Presentation
“Cave Story” looks old-school… because it is. The graphics are something that could have been done on ancient hardware and are emphatically 8-bit. This simplicity, though, just adds to the game's charm. Characters are all rendered as simple sprites, but have a variety of facial expressions and poses that allow them to sufficiently express all of the action and drama of the story. Each character has a portrait that appears in their respective dialog boxes, which gives a much better picture of characters' appearance than the sprites. Some hilarious attention to detail in the character portraits causes the character Balrog's portrait to show only his one eye, as he is too large for his entire face to fit. The environments really showcase Pixel's ability to create pixel-art, as they are expansive and very attractive. Enemy designs are likewise well-done and feature very little pallet swapping – a major flaw in many sprite-based games with many different types of enemy.
The sound is likewise old-school, and is very reminiscent of the chip-tunes we oldsters remember from our NES or Atari games. Most of the sound effects are good, though I found the gurgley noise for dialog boxes is a bit obnoxious. All of the enemy and weapon sounds are appropriate and high-quality for the level of technology used. The music is extremely catchy and well-composed. There isn't a single bad music track in “Cave Story.” The simple fact that Pixel was able to create not only the level and weapon designs, but also draw all of the graphics and compose all of the music speaks volumes about his level of ability in a wide range of diverse skills.
Two of the major enhancements to the Wii version of “Cave Story” (which supposedly warrant paying money for) are new graphics and sound, which can be turned off and on from the option menu on the title screen. I found the new graphics to be a significant improvement to the original ones, while still staying true to the original. It's a bit like the jump between 8-bit and 16-bit. The new audio is likewise an improvement. Unfortunately, both the new graphics and new sound suffer from glitches that make them not function in the way Nicalis intended. There has been talk of fixing them for the European release of “Cave Story,” and possibly patching the North American version. Unfortunately, Nintendo is hindering progress on this front. As they are, the new graphics are completely usable, with the exception of the map screen (which is useless even when using the original graphics just because it is so vague and doesn't show the player's location). The new sound is less well-off, with several instruments missing from several tracks. Basically, to get the “best” presentation out of “Cave Story” as it is now, it is advisable to use the enhanced graphics with the original sound.
Story
“Cave Story” begins simply enough with a character in a cave. He has no idea who he is or how he came to be in the cave, so he starts to wander around. Before long, the character, who is a silent protagonist, acquires a weapon and finds himself in a village of strange anthropomorphic rabbit-creatures called Mimiga. The character (whose name is only revealed in one of the game's many secrets) soon learns that there is an evil Doctor who is abducting and/or killing the Mimiga for his own nefarious purposes. The main character is soon swept up in the conflict between the Mimiga and the Doctor's agents, a witch named Misery and a robot… thing named Balrog. Both of these villains are quite well-developed as the game progresses, though nobody ever explains what Balrog is supposed to be. I have heard various interpretations that make him out to be either a toaster, a lunchbox, a microwave, or a concrete block. Regardless, he is one of the game's main sources of humor.
The new non-fan-translation done by Nicalis has a few differences from the original fan-translation that have long-time fans of “Cave Story” up in arms. Most of the changes are negligible, and Nicalis has even stated that the new translation is closer to what Pixel originally intended. I personally prefer one change, in which Balrog's battle cry was changed from “Huzzah!” to “Oh yeah!” in an obvious reference to the Kool-Aid Man (both characters have a propensity to burst through walls).
One of the amazing things about “Cave Story” is that it has three possible endings and a variety of in-game choices that actually make a difference in the way the game plays out. For a long time, games have presented choices that ultimately amount to nothing or send the player into an infinite loop until they chose the “correct” answer. Pixel obviously put a lot of effort into the layout of the game in order to give these choices meaning. Sadly, the branching story in “Cave Story” isn't perfect. Some of the choices required to get the “good” ending are obscure, with one even requiring the player to ignore a character completely. Also, the fact that the “good” ending is tacked onto the “normal” ending of the game along with a viciously-difficult bonus level guarantees that only the most skilled players will get the opportunity to experience it.
Also new to the WiiWare version of “Cave Story” is an option known as “Curly Story,” which allows the player to go through the game as supporting character, Curly Brace. I was hoping that “Curly Story” would be an all-new version of the original “Cave Story,” but sadly it is just “Cave Story” with a non-silent protagonist. All of the dialog is the same (except for gender-specific pronouns and the like), but Curly interjects her own little diatribes among other characters' dialog. Overall, it's not a very impressive addition.
Gameplay
“Cave Story” plays very similarly to “Super Metroid” combined with “Blaster Master.” The main character navigates a series of interconnected caves, defeating enemies and searching for story points and new equipment. The character can upgrade his life meter by finding life upgrades and can acquire an arsenal of powerful weapons, several of which can't be acquired in the same playthrough. The weapons use a power-up system in which they can be charged up to three levels by collecting orange power triangles from slain enemies. When the character takes damage, his currently-equipped weapon loses a bit of its power and can level-down if the character takes too much damage, which makes damage avoidance an important strategy.
“Cave Story” is played entirely with the Wiimote turned on its side, like a classic NES controller. The d-pad moves the character, A & B cycle back and forth between the weapons in the character's arsenal, the 1 button shoots the currently-equipped weapon, and the 2 button makes the character jump. Also, the + buttons opens the inventory screen and the - button displays the map screen. Like most of the best Wii games, motion controls don't figure at all into “Cave Story's” control setup. The Classic Controller is an option, but simple controls work perfectly with a Wiimote by itself, so it's not necessary.
The controls in “Cave Story” are quite precise, which is important for a game with as many platforming elements as this one. The character has a decent range for his jump and stops on a dime. The only negative thing I noticed about the controls is that steering one of the flight-related power-ups can be a bit finicky, as it makes the character move sideways instead of up and sideways when pressing left or right while activating it. I understand that this is how it's supposed to work, but I still found it extremely easy to fall to my death while using it.
Finally, the WiiWare version of “Cave Story” has a few gameplay additions. The most important of these is the ability to change the game's difficulty. In addition to the “original” difficulty, there are now options for “easy” and “hard.” “Easy” causes the main character to take half-damage from enemies and “hard” removes nearly all life increases and one important weapon. The other additions are optional modes that can be chosen from the title screen: Boss Rush and Sanctuary Time Attack. Boss Rush allows the player to fight all of “Cave Story's” boss monsters in a row, whereas Sanctuary Time Attack allows the player to attempt speed runs through the final level of the game. I wasn't particularly impressed by these additions, as I have never found boss rushes or speed runs to be compelling or fun in any way.
Overall
“Cave Story” is a game that should be experienced by everyone. The amount of passion and skill demonstrated by Pixel in creating this masterpiece is incredible. Despite being a one-man effort, “Cave Story” is also fairly long, lasting at least 5-6 hours for a single playthrough for the “normal” ending. First-time players will take significantly longer for their first playthrough, and those with the intestinal fortitude to try for the “good” ending can kill a lot more time in that endeavor. The enhancements by Nicalis are buggy and mostly useless, which is unfortunate, as they would have provided a “reason” to pay for the game had they worked as intended. Even without them, though, “Cave Story” is a free game that is well worth the money.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
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