Long before Bloodborne, the Blood-Stained Sanctuary of Cave Story consistently spiked my heart rate in a way no other video game had before. I remember staying up past my bedtime on my DSi, feeling so much pride the moment I finally beat it and got the true ending, the concept of which was also pretty new to me. There is something so personal, beautiful and tragic about this story and world, and all throughout my time with the game I remember thinking how unbelievable it was that just one person made it. I don't think I realized how profoundly inspiring that thought was to me until writing this.

This was the first indie title I'd ever played. It's the (rather unfair) standard I hold all the rest to in one way or another.

I hate to say it but I think I kind of missed the window for when this game would have meant something to me. It was certainly not for lack of trying. I wanted to love this but for my personal tastes, the game is overall far too short and the difficulty of the last level just seems like a bandage to attempt and patch this issue up. I don't find much enjoyment in having to trepidatiously slog through upwards of 9 minutes just to have another shot at fighting the last boss again. If I have bad or cringe taste for not liking this one, whatever. So be it.

I've been hearing praises for this game for years already and now finally beat the PSP port. It's a solid indie game and I can see why it's so loved.

While the gameplay is really simple, it's been executed beautifully. Some people don't like the floaty jumping, but I personally don't mind and it's fun to explore around trying out where you can actually reach. The game also has a wide variety of weapons serving different playstyles, but you'll do well using just one or two of them during your whole playthrough. It also has some metroidvania flavor with gadgets and powerups you can use to reach places not reachable before, but these are often just sidemissions and are not required for progression.

The game is also mostly on the easier side if you play casually. Some of the bosses can get challenging, but they are often generous with pickups to refill your health and weapon xp, so you never feel completely helpless. With the normal ending, I never really felt challenged until the final bosses. Going for the true ending is a whole another story and the difficulty ramps up considerably, but you still don't feel like it's unfair. Ever challenge can be beaten with knowing your moveset and careful tactics.

This game also features a rather complex story and a beautiful soundtrack. The story is mainly told through dialogue with the npcs and you don't really have to fill anything in yourself, just play the game and focus on what people are telling you to uncover the mystery. While I appreciate "show don't tell" style of storytelling better, this type of serves it's purpose well enough and does it's job. The characters have all been made well and are interesting and I can't say I remember any boring cutscene and I was invested in the story fully.

It's a good game with a great cultural impact. If you haven't played it already, I can well recommend checking it out.

Cave Story immediately pulls your attention with its charming retro style and simplistic, but tight gameplay. Controlling Quote feels great and through the early level design, it teaches you the very basics of Cave Story's platforming and combat. For me, it all felt very nostalgic to play a game like this again.

Although the core gameplay of the game is quite simple in execution, it revels in that simplicity through its more complex level design. While using level design to further enhance the gameplay and the way you have to utilize your movement and controls is nothing unique to Cave Story, it is one of the better examples to do it out there. This feels especially true for some of the boss fights that ask more elaborate movement than your regular levels.

And while there's not too much to say about its actual story, it's fun and creative enough to keep you engaged with its plot and characters. Through its silly dialogue and message of kindness, it's clear how this is one of Undertale's many inspirations.

I'm glad I took the time on the OG of indie plateformer. Totally impressed by the fact that it's the sole creation of one man: what generosity. Like any great game, Cave Story has several layers that one discovers gradually, making the experience truly unique.

Layer 1: 'Wow, charming graphics and incredible music.'
Layer 2: 'Very good gameplay, the progression of armor and upgrades is really well thought out.'
Layer 3: 'Ah, but the level design works like a metroidvania.'
Layer 4: 'The bosses are really interesting and sometimes really brutal.'
Layer 5: 'There are really a lot of secret areas and parallel quests.'
Layer 6: 'The story is really gripping and it seems like my choices have consequences.'
Layer 7: 'Oh no :( this part is sad. In fact, I'm really attached to the characters.'
Layer 8: 'Okay, 4 end boss phases and I only got the easy ending?'

In short, I feel like I've only scratched the surface of this great game.

Cave Story: an indie game that needs no introduction, but I'll give one anyways. For those who don’t know, Cave Story isn't just another indie game, it's THE indie game. Sure, it's not as successful as Minecraft or have a fanbase like Undertale or the Five Nights series, but without Cave Story, the other games debatably don't exist. While it isn't the first indie game to exist, it was the first indie game to hit widespread success, and looking at the game’s humble beginnings, it’s no question why it was the first indie game to hit the big time!

Now, wait a minute, lemme slow down there. I know why most of you are here and it’s for the game itself! For Cave Story! After all, the game itself is what started all this, this game must be amazing! And you’re DAMN RIGHT IT IS. But I truly feel like we should start at its creation purely because the story before the cave is part of what makes it so special. Plus, to many, this is a story that has inspired careers.

Allow me to tell you about Daisuke Amaya, someone now more commonly known by his online name “Pixel.” Pixel was simply a young college student who had an interest in programming. This interest in programming would eventually lead him to making small games over the years. Some of these include Azarashi, a reflex game that gives you a score based on how fast you can tap on seals after they fall, or Ikachan, a game about a small squid living in an ocean plagued by earthquakes trying to escape.

Eventually, after getting some more experience, Daisuke Amaya would make his way to begin a project that would become way bigger than he imagined. In 1999, he would begin working on what would eventually become Cave Story. Funny thing is, Cave Story actually was way different in its early years of development. Pixel clearly put a lot of time into fleshing out an entire world, characters, and even rules within said world. It was clearly becoming a passion project of his, but something wasn’t right. The game wasn’t running as smoothly as he’d like and he wasn’t satisfied with what the game was becoming. This led to Pixel scrapping almost everything after nearly 3 years of developing the project.

Now, I truly don’t know how much people realize Pixel was doing for the game. Keep in mind, Pixel is making everything for the game, and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. He was making the art, the engine, the music, hell even the tool to MAKE the music! This game was truly going to be PIXEL’S game! He made sure of it.

Thankfully, despite him not being satisfied with the project, he wasn’t going to simply throw in the towel. Pixel gave the project another go, only keeping a few elements from the now infamous beta. Roughly 2 more years of development and Pixel would complete what is the final version of Cave Story! Pixel went through a lot during this time, even starting a family during development, and was more of a perfectionist than ever with the project and it paid off. Cave Story would be released in 2004 and would soon be translated by a small team known as Aeon Genesis, a team known for translating niche Japanese games for an English audience. The team even went as far as talking directly to Pixel about translating the game, as he was able to provide a few tools that he believed would help with their endeavor. From here, Cave Story spread like wildfire as this wonderful indie darling with secrets galore!


And I’m sure we all know the story from here! Cave Story would officially be picked up as the first title to be published by Nicalis Inc, who would remake the game for the Nintendo Wii in 2010, further skyrocketing the game into the video game space! From WiiWare, it’d hit the DSi, DSi to Nintendo 3DS in both the forms of a remake and revamped re-release, and to this day Nicalis still sells official merchandise and physical copies of the game for Nintendo Switch!

As you can see, the game came from incredibly humble beginnings. It’s the first time where an indie game, one made by a single person, was able to shake up the industry and open the door for many, many other developers to take their turns! Cave Story would go on to inspire the developers of games such as OneShot and Undertale. Pixel is still very thankful for Cave Story as well as everyone who still loves and plays the game to this day. This is truly one of the most humble stories to ever come out of the gaming industry and it’s one that brings a tear to my eye every time I truly think of the scope on how far Cave Story and Pixel have gone since then. Pixel still works on and releases games to this day and is constantly posting art and screenshots of games he is or was working on to Twitter.

Now, I’m sure this story is quite a lot to take in and think about, but we still haven’t even begun to cover the main topic of this video, that being Cave Story itself! This is quite the build-up for some indie game and clearly must be a massive deal when it's inspired THIS much of modern gaming! Well, yeah, it is that good. That’s why we’re here! But before I dig into the game’s plot, I really urge every person watching this video please go experience the game. If you haven’t played it, it’s truly a game best experienced as blind as possible. Hell, Pixel himself even stands by this, hoping players first experience it knowing as little as possible, so I’d like to respect his choice and even I believe this is how the game is best experienced. GO PLAY IT NOW.

Back? How was it? AMAZING, RIGHT? Well, now, we’re going to experience it all over again, starting with where the game begins.


--FIRST CAVE--

Incoming transmission: We begin the game with the introduction of a man named Kazuma. Kazuma has apparently escaped from somewhere. He’s attempting to reach someone by the name of Sue. This scene will be elaborated on soon. Something I never see discussed is why this scene is brought up. I like to believe that these messages are being received by our protagonist, simply known as Mister Traveler.

Mister Traveler is a robot who has awoken in our first setting, The First Cave, with no memory of their past. Within moments, we’re given plenty of scenarios where the game forces you to learn how it’s played. When you start off the game, we’re shown two interactable blocks, the Save and the Regenerator. Both of these are almost pseudo-tutorial items. They clearly are meant to be interacted with, after all, you HAVE to save. Usually, in 2D platformers, games use the up-direction for interaction, but in Cave Story, you have to press down for interaction. W hile a small change, this is something that was a huge hurdle for my younger self. Not only does the game teach you that the down-direction is for interaction, but shortly after the game also teaches you that this isn’t your usual platformer. The game has you start off by going left to progress instead of right, teaching you that this isn’t your normal platformer. This is a platformer for cool gamers.

As you progress, the music of the First Cave, titled Gestation, seems to begin to rise in volume and notes. While the music isn’t tied to gameplay, the song still feels so natural to anybody's playthrough. It’s a song that starts from nothing but ambience but slowly brings in the actual song. I like to think this was done with intention. Both the player and Mister Traveler are starting from nothing, but both don’t take long to figure out the game’s mechanics and temporary goals. You’re building up a foundation and Gestation subtly builds up this feeling subconsciously. It’s not something you notice at first, yet thinking back on it, it was an amazingly put together opening song.

Making progress in the game itself, you find yourself stealing your main weapon, a gun named the Polar Star, from a hermit living in the cave and also stumbling along some brief breaks from gameplay with more attempts from Kazuma trying to reach Sue again. Within these breakaways, we learn that Kazuma is Sue’s brother. After making your way past an odd killer door, we get introduced to the first characters Mister Traveler gets to properly meet the first in-game characters: King and Toroko.

--MIMIGA VILLAGE–

We begin to snoop on their conversation, with King demanding Toroko give him a key to her home so that King can get to a person named Sue. Toroko denies and is constantly defending Sue. We eventually crash in on their arguing, literally, and Toroko uses the ruckus to run away from King. On first impressions, you’d think King is some form of bad guy given how easily aggressive he gets, but he’s actually a pretty good person. Talking to him reveals that he, as well as many others within the area, are a creature called Mimiga. While it’s unknown why at the moment, another character simply called “The Doctor” has been taking Mimiga one-by-one and King would like to turn in Sue in hopes that he’ll stop. Something we also find out from King is that Sue is apparently another Mimiga, which is odd given that Kazuma is also actively searching for Sue.

Anyways, Toroko runs off and we get to discover Mimiga Village itself, and man, what a setting. Mimiga Village serves as a pseudo-hub world in the game, as it’s the most visited location in the game by far. The whole area feels like a world robbed of its people as there’s plenty of locations, including homes, that you can visit within Mimiga Village, yet with barely any Mimiga left. Despite this, the world couldn’t feel more fleshed out. Each room and area feels like it has its own purpose within the village and each character is given their own personality. One such case is the Village’s very own “Yamashita Farm”, where we meet a nice, young Mimiga named Sandaime. Sandaime is a farmer who claims to tend to all sorts of flowers, except red ones. They’re apparently bad news to Mimiga. Another area is a local reservoir, where we meet the best Mimiga in the game, Kanpachi, who’s a Mimiga who just loves to fish. Its music is also very humbling compared to the rest of the game’s soundtrack. It’s very jaunty, yet slower when compared to the rest of the OST and I feel this is almost reminiscent of the Mimiga themselves. They’re very peaceful creatures that only really fight if they truly have to. This sentence comes with an asterisk, though, and we’ll get to that soon.

Getting back to the game, after being able to get some items to help us on our unfolding quest, we find Toroko hiding in a shack, believing that we’re some form of weapon sent by The Doctor. The timing of this statement couldn’t be more perfect as the actual Doctor’s goons enter in the form of Balrog and Misery. We don’t get proper introductions to these characters, as their real personalities unfold as the game goes on, but we do get the introduction of their relationship. Misery and Balrog have a very straight man and comic style relationship, with Balrog being the latter and Misery the former. With Misery’s magic abilities and Balrog’s brute force, the two are ready for almost anything.

As for their appearance, we find out that they are also searching for Sue. A lot of build-up for one Mimiga, eh? The game’s main plot comes with this confrontation as Misery, without any hesitation, collects Toroko in an instant believing that she’s Sue. This kidnapping is where the main plot of the game lies, as Toroko serves to be our damsel in distress. Misery flees with Toroko captured, leaving you alone with Balrog. Funny thing is, Balrog really doesn’t want to be forced to fight, instead leaving it up to you. Regardless of what you choose, you eventually leave the shack and report Toroko’s kidnapping to Jack, a Mimiga who serves as King’s right-hand man. He leaves his post, allowing you entrance to the Graveyard.

The Graveyard is very peaceful and calming. The Mimiga clearly do their best to make sure the resting stay at peace, which is nice. You eventually find yourself nabbing a key from a grave for a Mimiga named “Arthur”. Arthur was a very important Mimiga to the village, he served as their leader and guardian. We’ll also learn more about Arthur as the game goes on, but for now, all we debatably need to know is that Arthur was Toroko’s brother. Anyways, with the key, we’re able to progress to Arthur’s House, where we find a computer that reads off messages. The same messages Kazuma was attempting to send to Sue. Upon reading these messages, we gain access to a teleporter next to the computer and we’re able to make our way to the Egg Corridor.

--EGG CORRIDOR–

The Egg Corridor is exactly as the name implies, a room filled with tons of eggs that are being incubated for unknown reasons. It’s here that we begin our first quest! And what better song to go about our first quest than Mischievous Robot. The song is similar to Gestation, where it starts off slow and slowly graduates as it goes on, but rather than ambience, we start off with some actual music. I always liked to think that this was intentional as, upon reaching Egg Corridor, we’ve familiarized ourselves with the game's mechanics, items, story, and even had a chance to take on the game’s first boss. We’re officially ready to take on the first real challenge and Egg Corridor does a good job of doing that. It’s a standard 2D Platforming level where progress is made from left to right with our goal at the very end.

After making some short progress, we come across a Mimiga who’s face-to-face with some sort of monster. She’s cornered and eventually is beaten up by the monster. During this, she manages to see and question you, but the monster takes her away before you get the chance to interact with her. With a clear objective, we push on through the Egg Corridor, where we’re able to collect another heart container, figure out a puzzle to get to the end of the Egg Corridor, and most importantly, collect our first new weapon: The Missile Launcher. The Missile Launcher is a weapon with limited ammo with the trade-off being massive damage. I’m not a fan of the missile launcher myself, but it’s certainly a weapon that helps out here and there, especially with a boss later on in the game.

After making our way to the end of the area, we see ourselves face to face with our first true boss. They’re speaking to us, claiming that they’re going to protect the eggs for their master. The fight begins with the giant beast whose abilities include strong physical punches, long jumps, and being able to breathe out an energy projectile attack. The beast is very straightforward and can be defeated fairly easily with the Polar Star. Upon being defeated, however, it’s revealed that the giant beast was a Mimiga all along named Igor. While we never learn too much about Igor himself, we do get a little bit of knowledge and foreshadowing of just what Mimiga are capable of.


Moving along, we find the stubborn Mimiga passed out and help her up. They seem upset with the fact that they needed help! Afterwards, she discusses a giant egg in the room she’s in, talking far too familiar about it, claiming the egg is the “ticket off the island”. So, more key info, we’re apparently on some kind of island. Good to know. She claims her brother could’ve helped a ton in this situation. She continues talking to us, claiming that she can help us as long as we help her in the end. She leaves, going back to Mimiga Village. Upon making it back, she reveals her identity. If it wasn’t obvious, this troublesome Mimiga is Sue.


--SUE–

Yes, you heard me right, Sue is a Mimiga. Yes, Sue is also the sister of Kazuma. And, yes, Sue is the friend of the now kidnapped Toroko. Who would’ve thought that such a small Mimiga could be the one behind all this strife, right? Well, Sue herself wasn’t always a Mimiga, she was a human, but transformed into a Mimiga by this Doctor we keep hearing about. Anyways, Sue makes her way to the computer with Kazuma’s messages and they begin to chat together, discussing if they’re aware of where the two are, as well as where their mother could possibly be, Kazuma stating she’s most likely with The Doctor. While so much is happening in the form of this chat, I think it’s wonderful how many pieces fall into place the moment we find and help Sue. She really is an important character who seemingly doesn’t know the weight of her own actions. It’s as comedic as it is worrying. Here, we learn that the eggs in Egg Corridor are apparently dragon eggs. Now we have dragons in the mix of all this craziness, but for some reason, the dragons are the least of our worries right now. During their conversation, Kazuma grants the teleporter access to Grasstown, but before Sue can help him, she’s captured by King and Jack, who are blaming her for Toroko’s kidnapping.

Mister Traveler finally makes his way to Mimiga Village, but it’s too late, as Sue is already captured and jailed with King on watch, making sure she stays captured. After a small chat with her, she sends us on the mission to go save Kazuma instead! So, with Sue captured, it’s time for us to go! On to Grasstown!


--GRASSTOWN–

Grasstown is FUN! Contrary to the reds and oranges of Egg Corridor, we’re met with blues and greens with Grasstown flourishing with plants and grass galore! Also different from Egg Corridor, instead of blocky jumps and platforms, Grasstown is far more smooth with plenty of slopes and hills to traverse. Upon entry, though, we meet a Mimiga who’s local to the area named Santa. He’s lost his key and the dangerous, vile, evil creatures of Grasstown keep him from reaching it. The brave soul within Mister Traveler agrees to press forward, to meet the dangers that await. Just a few seconds ahead, we see the monstrous, dangerous, and packs…of Critters.

As I said, Grasstown is a very slope and hill filled area, and what better enemy to put in then enemies that fly, but suffer from short aerial time. And upon retrieving Santa’s key from them, we’re given the weapon that I feel makes Grasstown fun: The Fireball. The Fireball is a weapon that shoots fireballs out of it Super Mario style and they’re the perfect weapon for these Critters, given the player has patience. You see, the Critters don’t fly for very long, but their flight gives them better mobility than the player around the hills. Trying to fire at the Critters with your Polar Star and Missile Launcher requires a bit of precision, but it’s not exactly difficult. You can finish off the Critters in the air, but fail, and you get punished with the Critters doing damage upon landing on you. The alternative is to focus all your time on movement around the Critters and punishing them upon landing with the Fireball. It’s far safer and removes the need for precision. While it’s a small piece of gameplay design, it’s really fun nonetheless and I love Grasstown because of how fun it is to play these options out!

And, since we’re here, do I gotta point out this music? It just slaps, it’s very fun and upbeat. I love Grasstown’s theme, which, by the way, is called On to Grasstown, for those who didn’t catch that joke!

Anyways, getting back to the game, we make our way through Grasstown and find ourselves needing to get through a young Mimiga’s fireplace. After she explains that only Juice from a creature named the “Big Jelly '' can put the fire out, we do some questionable things and then head back to find said creature and OH MY GOD Grasstown is FLOODED with a new enemy type called the Jellies. Where Critters serve as enemies that are temporarily in the air, Jellies are ALWAYS airborne and serve as a possible counter to simply jumping to shootout the Critters, but with this all said, it doesn’t make Grasstown any harder. Jellies are far more passive and only fly around in a single repeating pattern instead of chasing Quote like the Critters do.



Making our way back through Grasstown, we find ourselves the Big Jelly, who is clung to the top of the cave. Upon defeating the Big Jelly, you’re able to receive one jar of Jellyfish Juice, which sadly brings in my first gripe with Cave Story. Cave Story is a bit of a product of its time and Jellyfish Juice is a pretty important item to Grasstown. Thankfully, future versions of Cave Story+ allow you to defeat and hold on to multiple jars of Jellyfish Juice, but we are not playing Cave Story+, so we’re now subject to tedium and must make our way back to the Big Jelly when needed. Until then, we take the Jellyfish Juice back to the Mimiga, her name’s Chako by the way, and her fireplace and we’re now able to traverse the 2nd half of Grasstown!

-- GRASSTOWN 2 --

The 2nd half of Grasstown is actually a bit different, with the level feeling far more vertical now, with platforms often leading to many other platforms. Hell, even buildings are on platforms. Speaking of buildings, we come across this large building that we’re unable to open. Attempting to open it leads to someone inside crying for help, however. Talking to them through a crack in the wall allows us to collect a key which, sadly, doesn’t open the door to their building. Curiosity drives us forward and towards a room that’s found under the entrance of the 2nd half. This being the power room. Here, we find ourselves about to enter some intense action with a defense robot…that is, we would’ve before we’re cut off.

We find ourselves sniffed out by Balrog once again, this time he seems a bit upset, crushing the defensive robot in the process. Balrog asks if we knew Toroko wasn’t Sue, which..y’know, obviously. Balrog is both angry and upset as this mistake apparently led to Misery being abused. After this conversation with Balrog, we’re thrown into our first mandatory boss fight with the character, and man, if there’s something about Balrog that’s super fun and fresh, it’s definitely the evolution of his character expressed through his fight. This time, Balrog is able to flood the screen with projectiles upon slamming down on the floor. That said, this Balrog fight isn’t exactly the toughest with the new projectiles being the only real addition, but keep an eye out on that Balrog fella. Upon being beaten, he asks just WHAT are we, which is a deeper question than we could possibly know at the moment. I mean, hell, even Mister Traveler doesn’t know what he is! I feel like this alludes to this mystery as, again, Mister Traveler does suffer from amnesia. That is what this is all about…right?

Anyways, with Balrog gone, we’re able to pull the defensive robot out of the ground. They’re thankful and reveal their name to us: Malco. Malco is actually a bit more than just a defensive robot. He is, in fact, only capable of making bombs. It’s here that Mister Traveler tells them about the door and Malco offers to make us a bomb as long as we have Charcoal, the Gum Base, and Jellyfish Juice. Yep, that means it’s time to go ALL THE WAY BACK! But it’s okay, because while we’re back at the beginning, we can use one trip of Jellyfish Juice to go use the Jellyfish Juice at Santa’s place to collect the Charcoal. Then, on our way back to the 2nd half, we can take out the Big Jelly again and have Jellyfish Juice for the bomb. That leaves only one more item: the gum base. Where the hell do we get that?

With nowhere left to go, we make our way back to the man stuck in the building and tell him about the plan to blow up the door, but we need a Gum Base. To our surprise, he hands us ANOTHER key labeled “Gum”. We press forward looking for a new door to use this key on and eventually, we find our way to the very end of Grasstown, with the door to the Gum Room. Here, we find a chest with the Gum Base inside, a quick and short victory! That is, until we’re interrupted once again, this time by Misery. She’s shocked to see us again, but this time, Misery actually provides us with some insight about what we might be. She asks if we’re a soldier from the surface, in which she follows this up with surprise that there are any left at all. This is all the background Misery is able to give us, as Balrog comes in to interrupt us, specifically warning Misery about our strength. Misery, as quick as she appears, leaves us with Balrog, turning him into the giant frog beast, Balfrog.

A wonderfully named boss comes with an even better battle theme, Eyes of Flame. Eyes of Flame is intense with the sheer amount of notes it throws at the player, as if trying to overwhelm you. This isn’t going to be the last time we hear the song, nor do I think it’s a song important to the story, it’s just a really good boss song that’s insanely unique. You don’t really hear boss themes like it.

Anyways, after defeating Balfrog, we can head back to Malco with our gathered materials and have him make our bomb. Once completed, we officially prepare the bomb at the locked door and finally free the person stuck in the room. As it turns out, it’s Kazuma! He’s incredibly happy with his freedom and introduces himself kindly, explaining that he’s escaped from the Doctor, but not many have. Just as you’re finally about to take Kazuma back to Mimiga Village, someone comes through the teleporter. It’s a short, old man by the name of Professor Booster. He, Kazuma, and Sue all know each other and it appears he has also just successfully escaped from the Doctor.

The Professor appears surprised that we’re here with Kazuma, despite never meeting him. Booster brushes us aside to explain that they need to get to Sue before the Doctor, as the Doctor has become aware of the red flowers that grow on the island. This is the second key time we hear about those pesky red flowers, yet nothing about them except that there’s some form of relation to the Mimiga. All Kazuma seems worried about is what the red flowers might do to Sue, but it’s why it’s important that they find her before they have a chance to find out. The two also discuss a war that, because of this link between the flowers, the Mimiga, and the Doctor on the search for both, it’s possible this is related to some in-game war. While we get little details for now, the two make haste and head out and back to Mimiga Village via hover scooter.


What seems like more drip-fed plot about to leave us, we’re actually followed up on this a bit sooner than later, as upon making it back to Arthur’s House, we’re shown a cutscene where Sue is explaining to Jack and King that the Mimigas are being planned to be used as weapons. The connection of the red flowers and the Mimiga is made. You see, we’ve actually already seen what happens to Mimiga if they consume the red flowers in the form of Igor, the first boss. Igor was a wild, giant beast, known as a Ravil, that was turned back into a Mimiga only upon his death. It’s not only important, but crucial that The Doctor never gets his hands on these flowers due to how much they could turn the kidnapped Mimigas, mainly Toroko, into more Ravils that can only be calmed down by killing them. After all, if you don’t kill them, they’ll recklessly and violently kill nearly anything they see.

After this conversation, Kazuma and Professor Booster are shown to make it back to make it to Arthur’s House safely with Sue finally being reunited with them. Sue explains how dozens and dozens of Mimiga have been kidnapped in what was believed to be The Doctor’s hunt for Sue. We now know that this isn’t at all what the kidnappings were about. The Doctor is building an army of Ravil, and this is when Booster reveals to Sue that The Doctor actually knows of the red flowers and where they’re at, but with no way to get to them yet. This brings a shock to everybody, mainly King, who is still attempting to cope with the possibility of what could happen to, not only the Villagers, but to Toroko. Booster soon reveals that he also knows the location of the red flowers: The Sand Zone. The Sand Zone is incredibly dangerous for both Mimiga and humans. Thankfully, we are neither, and Booster suggests we go on this journey to beat the Doctor to the red flowers.

It is also here that we get incredibly important lore to what exactly WE are. As Misery hinted earlier, we’re one of many armed scout robots that were dispatched to the Island just 10 years ago. While Booster doesn’t know specifics, he does state that it was said the other robots were completely destroyed, with the light possibility of us being a lone survivor. Kazuma cuts him off as he’s successfully given the teleporter access to the Sand Zone. Booster comes to us, asking for our aid.

While this might be a bit goofy to say, if it wasn’t obvious by now, something I love about Cave Story is the STORY of the game. Again, it’s supposed to be played as blind as possible and that’s purely because the player is given an opportunity to learn everything the game is about alongside with the player, and while it’s an older premise, it’s a fun one from a gameplay perspective that allows the player to feel more involved in the discovery of the story. Not to mention how great it feels to get more and more of this story happening around us just bits and pieces at a time. In order to learn more about the story and answer the questions we’ve had since the beginning of the game, we have to progress the plot that’s slowly unraveling in front of us. Speaking of the story unraveling in front of us…

--SAND ZONE--

Teleporting to the Sand Zone, we’re immediately hit with a wave of sadness, but more importantly, a quick glimpse of another robot. They seem shocked to see us, and immediately turn and walk away. Good little teaser for what’s about to come, and it doesn’t take us long to resolve. One short climb, we’re able to come to a building where we find more Mimiga and the robot we ran into a short while ago.

They approach us with a beaming smile, welcoming us, but also believing that we’re brainwashed. The robot believes we’re there to kill the Mimigas! While this couldn’t be further from the truth, the robot doesn’t give us a chance to defend ourselves, immediately getting battle ready and throwing us into our next boss fight: The Robot.

I love this boss fight. Not only does it introduce a brand new robot to the game, but the Mimigas in the room, known as the Collins, actually join in on the fight! They’re some tough little bastards, too, as the only other Mimiga we’ve fought were either Ravil, or one shot from defeat in the form of Toroko trying to beat us with a stick. While the Collins are also one shot, they constantly get back up to try and take shots and pelt you with tiny hits, and it’s adorable and builds up the bond between the Collins and The Robot.

Another thing about The Robot is that they have a force field, which makes them not only the first boss, but the only boss in the game completely immune to the Rocket Launcher, which is a really fun idea. I wish the game had more things like weapon immunity amongst the bosses, but not in the main game. Maybe as a harder difficulty select in the Plus versions of the game. “Boss Rush+” maybe?

Anyways, getting back to the boss, we defeat The Robot almost with a bit of ease, and after finally being able to say that we AREN’T after the Mimiga, The Robot introduces themselves as Curly Brace. Curly herself appears to have fallen the same fate as us, waking up in an unknown area suffering from amnesia.

Despite this set-up, Curly Brace herself I feel needs no introduction. Curly is arguably just as, if not, more infamous than Cave Story herself for a lot of reasons that will begin to unfold as the game and plot goes on, but easily the most famous thing about her is the ability to collect her underwear as an item that does literally nothing. In the Plus versions of the game, the undergarments are used to unlock “Curly Story”, which is a version of Cave Story with Mister Traveler’s and Curly’s roles swapped.

Anyways, after getting ourselves acquainted with Curly and the Collins, we’re told by one of the Mimigas that our search for the red flowers is best followed if we find a woman by the name of Jenka, which begins the iconic fetch quest of finding all the puppies wandering the Sand Zone. While the mission itself is a tad annoying, having to collect one puppy at a time and bring them to Jenka to progress the game, Cave Story+ attempts to put a bandage on this mission by allowing you to collect all the puppies in a single trip.

I’d also like to point out the music in the Sand Zone, a song titled “Meltdown 2”. For those curious, Meltdown 1 was meant to be in Cave Story, but was cut during development in favor of Meltdown 2, and it’s easy to see why. Meltdown 2 is a very upbeat track and it easily carries the Sand Zone experience for me. We’re assembling all the scientists again, we’ve now met a new robot friend, and we’re finally gonna thwart The Doctor’s plans and save Toroko.

Speaking of The Doctor, during our quest to find the puppies, we get interrupted by Misery. She’s upset that Balrog has failed yet again to defeat us, but gives us credit for our strength. She then offers us to fight her, but this sadly never gets fulfilled as we get interrupted by the true boss of the Sand Zone: Omega. Omega is a giant ball that shoots out more giant balls and is only vulnerable by shooting at it when it’s firing its projectiles. Sadly, we don’t get much with Misery immediately teleporting away, but after the fight, we proceed with the “Spell on the Sunstones” being lifted as we’re given access to the entire lower level of the Sand Zone, which is basically a new area within the Sand Zone. More specifically, it gives us access to Jenka’s Abode, where the lady herself resides.



Within the abode, Balrog comes in to interrupt our introductions. We’re given a bit more world building with Jenka revealing that she knows of Balrog and asks how her daughter, Misery, is doing. Balrog responds with how well they're both striving with a new “Master” ready to take over the Earth. Jenka refuses, with Balrog leaving with a threat.

From here, we’re able to finish the puppy search, with Jenka giving us more and more backstory about the game for each puppy we give to her. The story she tells is more about the plot. Jenka reassures us that we’re a soldier from the surface. Years ago, hundreds of robots like us stormed the island, murdering Mimigas. In a last ditch effort, hundreds of Mimiga ate the red flowers, giving them the ability to fight back, protecting the island they called home. She asks if we’ve ever seen one, a frenzied Mimiga or Ravil. They lose control of all their actions, forever stuck in an enraged state. Rumors have it, some were able to escape the island, making their way to the surface where humans lived. Even the idea brings the dangers of what could happen if the Doctor got the red flowers. She then tells us that she refuses to give us the key to the storage room, where the red flowers are. She claims that giving the key to anybody would open the chance of what happened years ago happening again, and she’s not willing to let a mistake slide again.

We go out to collect the last puppy, with hopes Jenka changes her mind, giving us the key, but sadly, it’s too late. While delivering the 5th puppy, we walk in on Balrog forcefully taking the storage key from Jenka, who lays weak on the floor. Balrog flees afterwards. Upon delivering the last dog, Jenka begs we go after Balrog and stop them. She gives us a Life Pot, an item which completely restores our health at any point. A simple, yet powerful item. We chase down Balrog towards the Storage room, and here, we meet the game’s villain for the first time: The Doctor.

Now, I assume we’ve all played Cave Story by now, but in case you haven’t and are here for viewing, we’re about to watch one of the more intense scenes in the entire game. While I feel there’s no need for a warning, I’ll give one anyway as a lot is about to happen. The cutscene begins with The Doctor and Misery are both standing as the song Tyrant begins to play. Something Daisuke Amaya will always be underrated for is his music composition. Many songs within Cave Story are emotions given musical form and Tyrant follows suit, with emotions of dread and power being flooded within the song’s notes. The sheer presence of The Doctor is enough to send chills down the player’s spine. We’ve constantly heard the words and warnings of the villain and he lives up to it.

Misery begins, being proud that she was successfully able to find the flowers for The Doctor. She offers to test the flowers on herself, but the Doctor denies, instead offering to use one of the kidnapped Mimiga as a test as well. The two are more than powerful enough to take it out if needed. The Mimiga they summon for the test is Toroko. Toroko is crying, confused, and attempts to run away the moment she’s given the chance. Balrog comes in, refusing to let her near the door. Misery orders Balrog to force feed Toroko the red flowers, which he attempts to do. Toroko cries out, attempting to keep Balrog from doing so. We hear a threat from the door.



It’s King, and upon his entry, the song Run! begins to play. Run! itself is very fast, contrasting the slow, daunting notes of Tyrant, but never does it ever feel like a “good” song. King is able to fight off Balrog from Toroko in a single blow, but he’s too late. Toroko has been fed, and in an act of denial, King himself almost becomes enraged himself. He charges The Doctor, threatening death. The Doctor himself couldn't be any more calm. Misery, upon leaving the scene, strikes King, sending him across the room. The Doctor is left wondering how fragile, yet dangerous they are.

It’s here when Mister Traveler finally enters the room. The bodies of Toroko and King lie on the floor, with The Doctor more than happy that we’re here. What feels like the set-up to the proper final boss is instead met with something far worse. The Doctor flees, leaving us alone with the bodies of the two Mimiga we’ve spent this whole time working so hard for. As if this couldn’t be enough, Toroko herself rises, but she’s already gone, as she takes on the form of a Ravil. Eyes of Flame begins to play, and finally, the song's name finally becomes true, as her eyes are flooded with the colors red and black. She attacks, and if it wasn’t obvious by now, we’re forced to put down the frenzied Toroko.

Goodness, what a scene. I genuinely believe if there’s any moment that sold people on Cave Story, it’s this one. There’s a lot of personal value within this scene to many, myself included. Cave Story does an amazing job of setting up this threat and danger of The Doctor, with our overall goal to save Toroko. A lot of the game is built up on saving Toroko, making sure this innocent girl makes it back home safely after successfully stopping The Doctor, when really, there was never a way to save her. Toroko was gone the moment she was taken at the very beginning of the game. And if that wasn’t hard enough, we were also built up to be this savior, this ace in the hole for the humans and Mimiga to finally get back at the Doctor. Booster even states that, of everyone, only we could realistically get this done. To not just be robbed of this opportunity, but denied it all together, we’re given this intensely emotional moment where, despite progressing, we’re losing. The Doctor is simply just far more than a boss to defeat. He is a force of nature himself that even we, the hero, are too slow to even keep up with him. He leaves us as soon as we meet him, forcing us to kill the girl we fought so hard to save. And if this wasn’t enough, upon killing Toroko, King himself is also revealed to be killed, leaving us nothing but his weapon and a plea to avenge him and Toroko. The fight itself ends with no victory theme, rather, silence fills the air as we’re forced to process the amount of what happened. The boss is killed, but we have lost. Our mission is no more as we’re left to wonder what we’re supposed to do now.


To further progress the story, we leave the room empty, taking King’s Blade with us. Since it never comes up in the plot, I’ll mention it here. The Blade is a magical weapon that gets thrown by Quote and will magically come back to him. Leveling up the weapon will make the blade bigger, but taking it to it’s MAX level will not only throw a flurry of Blades, but King’s Spirit will come out of the blade, dealing area of effect damage he comes in contact with an enemy, and I think that this leveling system is beautiful for the character. Of course, King would be stubborn enough to stay with us in death. I love King.

Afterwards, we leave the room and we’re ambushed by Balrog and Misery, who are both sick and tired of us. Misery tells us about her encounter with Curly, but even Curly is defeated all the same. Killing us is too much of a hassle for her, so she sends us to a secluded part of the island known as the Labyrinth. It’s also here that we finally see Misery’s true feelings bleed out. With her mission complete, she finally does something on her own and sends Balrog to the Labyrinth as well. She despises Balrog, talking about how good it feels that she’s finally able to release herself from him.


I’d like to cut us off here to simply talk about how genius everything was set-up for Cave Story. In this entire first act, we’re faced with simple bosses and what feels like a cheery, goofy world for us to explore. The boss fights were simple to solve and we met tons of characters to help, and up until this point, we’ve been a driving force of hope for everybody. It isn’t until the turning point of being able to stop The Doctor that the game reveals that there was no saving Toroko, there was no stopping The Doctor. Even early on, Booster attempts to tell everyone his saying that it was only a matter of time before The Doctor fulfills his goals. All we were to the characters was a last ditch effort from rock bottom, with their disparate thoughts looking to us as a savior, but of course, even a snowball’s chance in hell is good enough to those who have been at the bottom, to those who have already lost before us. We’re simply just another body in line to suffer the wrath of The Doctor.

For those who want to take a break in the video, now’s definitely the time. As I said, this was the first Act of the game and Act 2 is almost entirely different after this scene. Not entirely gameplay wise, but narratively, we’re going down a much different story than the one we’ve been following, at least until Act 3, the game’s final act.

Decided not to leave, I see? Maybe you’re back from that break you might’ve taken? Either way, welcome back, and let's continue on with the game.


--ACT 2--
--THE LABYRINTH--

We wake up in a room full of blue robots, a very vertical room, known as Labyrinth I. The Labyrinth, by the way, is MASSIVE. It introduces tons of new enemies, or alternate versions of enemies we’ve already encountered with mixed abilities. For example, we have a new type of Critter that, while airborne, fires projectiles. Because they can fire projectiles, these enemies have no need to chase Quote, thus they only fly straight up. Another enemy we get to meet are the Gaudi and the Gaudi are incredible as they’re only enemies by definition. Many attack, but some are passive and can even speak, mainly Chaba, who’s a shopkeeper in the Labyrinth. Many Gaudi fly, others have armor, the Gaudi are all really neat. One thing I’ve always liked about the Gaudi is their resemblance to cockroaches. Not just physically, either. These things are EVERYWHERE and they FLOOD The Labyrinth

Anyways, Mister Traveler, still being alive and adventurous, still pushes on and makes his way through the treacherous Labyrinth. We eventually make our way to a room with two frogs, both medical doctors themselves, and they’re taking care of an injured Curly Brace. Curly was also defeated and sent to the Labyrinth by Misery, with the Collins being taken away during her defeat. She’s in a really bad shape, but the Doctors let us know about some medicine that can help speed up her recovery tremendously, but a boss protects it. The boss itself is genuinely really neat, in the form of Puu Black. Puu Black being an enemy that was taken straight from Cave Story’s beta. It’s wrapped nicely by frogs asking if there were “any ghosts” met during the hunt. Oh, Pixel, you sly fox, you.

After helping the medical frogs with Curly, they promise to do their best to help her with the medicine as we trek on with our story. Quote pushes on, with the Labyrinth being the least story filled part of the game and it’s instead more of a test of your platforming and boss fighting abilities. We find ourselves coming to our next boss, Monster X, which is still a genuinely tough fight for many, and it ends with Monster X being a giant cat in a mech, which is just genius. Pushing on even further, we cut to a small scene where a teleporter goes off and we see Booster fall down a giant ravine. We don’t know why he’s here, but we can assume off of this that Misery has gotten to the crew waiting for us at Arthur’s House.

I’m sure a lot of you are just waiting to hear me say what happens next, huh? For those who don’t know, yes, Cave Story is a game with multiple endings and with this moment, we’re finally at the first MAJOR decision point of which ending we’re going for. As I don’t want to spoil the ending, even though this decision will spoil it for many diehard fans, we’re going to do something quite odd and completely ignore Professor Booster, which requires us to make a very precise jump. If you need help, use this red speck of blood as a marker on when to jump. Miss this jump, and your fate is sealed. Thankfully, there’s a save point just before the jump for you to restart and retry if needed.

Moving on, as we press on, we see Curly, fully recovered in a room where a giant boulder blocks the only way out. The two robots attempt to move it with no avail. Enter Balrog, who is surprised to see us still alive. Despite being cheated, Balrog still threatens the robots, defending The Doctor. Despite this, Curly is not fazed by Balrog and hilariously asks him to help us. Just as it seems like he’ll comply, we begin our next Balrog fight, which, obviously, leads to our victory. Balrog offers to help move the boulder under the condition we NEVER tell anybody he helped us. Curly herself even theorizes that Balrog isn’t really that bad of a guy.

Foreshadowing is a literary device that alludes to-

We’re able to press on to the next part of the Labyrinth M. As I mentioned before, The Labyrinth isn’t filled to the brim with plot compared to the first act of the game, but it’s not as if it’s entirely devoid of story. Before that, though, we can see this segment as a fun yet challenging gameplay reward for making it this far into the game. This idea couldn’t be more defined by Labyrinth M, a level filled with many areas and segments that you get to tackle with Curly Brace fighting side by side with you. Not to mention this segment has a really banging track, Labyrinth Fight, which is so upbeat and really lets the player go crazy with this character that’s built up to be the only character that can relate to Mister Traveler! They’re both robots who have done wrong in the past, but with their amnesia, they take advantage of this second chance to do good!

Again, this segment also isn’t completely devoid of plot, it just tells it way more subtly. It begins with us losing, we’re thrown into a dark place, but we don’t have any hope completely gone, we have a small bit of hope in Curly. She’s still smiling, despite her second chance also being completely ruined. She drives us forward and we’re given a lot of dedicated time with Curly to solidify this bond between the two robots. It’s great! Where the ending of Act 1 in the storage room hooks players in with its twist of plot, Act 2 keeps us invested by allowing us to let loose with enemies and bosses seemingly everywhere, and it’s all while bonding with Curly!

--THE CORE--

After our cave trekking with Curly Brace, we find ourselves at a very contrasting room ominously called the “Dark Place”. I think it’s clear to see the dark blue and gray was definitely choses to catch the player’s attention to the plot again after being given some bright oranges with little plot to let the player go crazy.

Curly questions if we’re even still in the Labyrinth. She makes her way to a nearby door and we make our way to the Core. The song Geothermal begins to play. We begin to activate the doors to allow ourselves to progress forward, and after setting free an ominous stubborn door, we make our way through the final door, where Mister Traveler and Curly are met with a giant room full of the corpses of other recon robots. We investigate the room, or at least, as much as we can of it, with half of it being filled with water. We manage to find a tow rope, but besides that, nothing of value. It’s way too late to salvage these robots.

Checking in on Curly, she’s investigating one of the robots, as she wonders what could have possibly done this to them. The robot she’s investigating alarmingly perks up, sending a warning message. Its team was eliminated, completely wiped out. The robot begins to urge us to retreat, but it’s too late. The doors we opened seal themselves shut and the robot self-destructs, knocking Curly out. Cue Oppression as the fight with our next boss, The Core begins.

Oppression is a unique boss theme to the Core, and it makes sense given context after the fight. It’s not a theme that exactly cheers us on, but it certainly keeps us anxious and on our toes, encouraging us to fight for our lives. At some point during the fight, Curly does wake up and begins to fight with you, but it's all for naught, as upon defeating the Core, Misery is summoned.

She’s upset that we’ve defeated the Core, with Curly Brace just as mad at Misery, threatening her for the lives of the Collins, but these threats feel like nothing compared to what we’ve done to the Core. You see, the Core serves as the heart of the island and is the reason this mysterious island is floating. Killing the Core completely will cause the island to fall from the air and crash into the Earth, theoretically taking everything on the island out. So, yeah, while I’ve failed to mention it sooner, the island we’ve been on this entire time is floating high in the sky, with the Core being the reason it’s able to float. We’ve triggered the downfall of the island, but at the last moment, The Doctor comes and he demands Misery take it to some sort of laboratory, claiming there’s still time to save it. Misery teleports the Core away, as both her and The Doctor flee.

Curly Brace is broken, as we’ve killed something that was completely neutral. She’s stunned in silence and interacting with her leads to nothing. Curly stands defeated as the water rises, she remains safe with her bubble shield and we meet her with kicks in, keeping her safe. We, however, are not so lucky, being left to drown with not a sound coming from Curly. We’re taken over by the water, and while unconscious, we’re met with a message from the unknown.




The message begins to tell us a story. The story begins, telling us that Jenka has a brother. Just like Jenka and Misery, Jenka’s brother is also gifted with magical powers far beyond what the mind can comprehend. His name is Ballos. While this story feels so out of nowhere and serves nothing to the plot, it’s important to know for a later time. After this portion is told to us, we’re not just woken up, but we can breathe.

We wake up, and Curly is unconscious. She’s decided to sacrifice herself to save our life. We’ve just met, we’ve just barely made a bond with this person. All we know about each other is that we’re both ex-murderous robots, yet even if it costs her own life, Curly is kind and brave enough to sacrifice herself for the sake of knowing she can save just one more life. There’s no reply and she isn’t moving. To many new players of the game, hell, to many of you watching this video, this is the end of Curly’s story, and it’s another reason why Curly Brace is such an iconic character. She’s been nothing but optimistic and hopeful, no matter how far down we were hit, and even in a time of our death, Curly knows nothing but helping people, even at the cost of her own life. Curly is a wonderful character to Cave Story and I hope will go down in gaming as one of the most iconic partners you could have.

We’ve come so far, losing many friends along the way, including Toroko, King, and who knows what’s happening to others like Jack and Sue. Curly is just another person we’ve let down, another body we’ve added to the pile. At least, that’s what many people would say happens to her, but we are not going this route. In what feels like an act of heroism born out of denial, we use the dirty and old tow rope we found earlier when first investigating the Core room and tie her to our own body.

We begin to take her out of the room and back to the Dark Place. A new door opens to us and we enter the Waterway.

--WATERWAY--

The Waterway is an interesting take at an underwater level. The level begins as a platforming level with water holding us down in some sections. The space we’re given is also incredibly small, as if we’re crawling through a ventilation system or drain pipes. We get to a point shortly after where the level almost begins to play itself with the player having to survive the “guidance” it offers. The level really is out to get you, too, constantly pushing you into enemies and most health refills being hidden throughout the level. We come to a point where even I’ll admit the game might be pushing a bit too far. In order to continue the ending we’re striving to get for this playthrough, we must make our way to a room filled with tons of changing directions of waterflow. The way you influence the direction of Mister Traveler feels almost random, your movement is really fast. Our top priority is to clearly help Curly, to be able to get to a point where we can save Curly, if possible. We’re given this opportunity given we not only survive this challenging segment, but it comes at the price of being able to quickly react to a very precise jump. I kid you not, you are literally pushed onto ONE BLOCK and being able to react to this jump decides the fate of Curly.

While I should be upset at this decision to hide such a critical ending to what feels like luck, I’m not. I know, this sounds really dumb. To anybody, this is legitimate bad game design, however, this comes at a cost that sadly, I can’t cover until after the game. I know it can be a bit frustrating, but I ask for everyone’s patience until the end of this segment for me to be able to defend this decision.

For now, we will gloss over it and let's just continue with the fact that we did make the jump. We find ourselves in the only building in the entire waterway, the Waterway Cabin. We rest with Curly on the only bed. Inspecting her reveals that her condition is the same: barely living, but still barely alive. In an act of desperation, we check everything in this room. A local computer tells us of a book, with the last user on it claiming that they often wrote down everything they learned in notebooks. Checking the nearby bookshelf by the door proves this true, as Mister Traveler is able to read a book found on the shelf. This book gives him the ability to drain robots manually. A fairly useful skill at the moment. Of course, we teach ourselves this skill and use it on Curly.

Curly is alive, but she’s barely hanging on. She’s not awake for long as she needs more time to reboot after the process. The game is very clear that Curly needs her time to herself, yet waiting will get you nowhere. You’re immediately back to waiting. It isn’t after inspecting Curly for a third time that the game asks you it’s first almost negative question:

“Do you want to leave her here?”

It sounds so negative, but the wording is great as, despite the time she needs, we wouldn’t just want to abandon Curly. The game sets up this moment where you’re having to choose if you want to give Curly her time or if you really need Curly with you no matter what. Both have their fair reasons as well. Curly needs time to reboot, it’s a part of her draining process. If we want her better, we’d be best to leave her to rest.

On the contrary, Curly is all we have left. She is our only friend we know is okay. We’ve spent the entire arc building a bond with her. She’s also the only other robot we’ve met that we know is someone we can relate to. Not to mention she’d have to traverse the rest of the Waterway without her air tank, assuming she does reboot.

It’s greedy, but ultimately, we make the choice to take Curly with us. We strap her on our back again and continue on. Making our way further, we come to a boss fight, and it’s a special one. We’re brought face to face with a fish named Ironhead. Ironhead being a boss from another game Pixel made before Cave Story titled “Ikachan”. Ikachan is a small game about a squid who does everything he can to help people within his small part of the ocean to save them from certain doom, including those who have done wrong in the past, with one of those wrong doers being Ironhead himself. Not only is it a cute reference to another Studio Pixel game, but also some nice vague mirroring between the heroes, eh? Not only that, but if you manage to defeat Ironhead without taking any damage, you’re rewarded with an army of squids swimming past you.

Speaking of defeating Ironhead, upon the defeat of the fish, our choice seems to be for nothing, as Curly’s body escapes our tow rope, as she begins to drift away from us, leaving nothing behind for us to track her. What follows is a genius, wonderful part of the game that I genuinely believe is one of the best parts of the game, but before this, I’d like to state that this feeling of failure to save Curly is where Act 2 ends.

It might be a bit controversial to some Cave Story fans to claim that this is the ending of Act 2, especially since it’s not nearly as plot driven as Act 1, but the reason I feel this is where the 2nd act of the game ends is because what follows is truly a brand new emotional, beautiful segment of the game that’s captured perfectly. If our adventure with Curly was an upbeat journey of bonding born out of the denial of losing, what follows is crossing the line of acceptance that we, the player, are set up to lose.

Once again, if you’d like to take a break from the video and come back to it later, here’s another bookmark for you to use as a point of reference if you’d like to come back! I hope you’ve been enjoying the journey so far, I really do!

If you’ve decided to stay, thanks for staying! If you’re coming back from that break, thank you for coming back, as well! Lets finally wrap up this wild ride, yeah?

--ACT 3--
--QUIET MIMIGA VILLAGE--

After losing Curly, Toroko, King, and who knows who else, we find ourselves where it all started. Mimiga Village. Instead of the jaunty, humbling theme we last heard in the Village, we’re met with silence. It’s Quiet. Quiet is a wonderful song only in the sense that it does a good job at what it’s supposed to do. It’s supposed to be sad.

The music itself is Quiet, soothing in some sense, but mostly, it’s sad, confusing, and upsetting. The notes are off, yet it couldn’t capture the emotion more perfectly. After everything that’s happened, after losing so many, and after almost unintentionally taking everyone out in an act of, what felt like, self defense. Not to mention what we’re literally met with. Mimiga Village is empty, there is nobody left. The Doctor has won and we couldn’t stop him. This message is constantly being pushed, it’s been pushed since the end of the first act, yet here we are. We’re still moving on, it’s odd. It’s confusing.

After searching around for anybody left in Mimiga Village, we make our way back to Arthur’s House, the last place we saw anybody. We enter, and as if by miracle, Booster has managed to escape the Labyrinth as well. He’s horrified, as he reminds us of the Doctor’s victories. Despite all the denial, he puts what feels like broken hope in our hands in the form of a jetpack called the Booster v2.0. The Booster feels like a reward given to the player out of sheer necessity, yet there’s almost no reason to use it. We’re finally given the most control of ourselves in the entire game, being able to dash in the air in any direction we choose. Booster gives us this item with a final request. He still tells himself that he likes to believe Sue is alive, and as such, Booster begs us to find her and save her, using the Booster to take her far away from the island. Sue never wanted to come to the island in the first place, but given that she was taken by force because of the lack of a care taker, she’s been subjected to what feels like emotional torture and torment and all while being a child who doesn’t know any better. With what feels like a final mission, we of course continue to push on with hopes as low as ever.

Now, before we press on, I’d like to stray a bit as I’m not sure when this would exactly fit within the plot, but using the Booster v2.0, we’re able to fly up to where we first came from: The First Cave. Upon making our way back, we slowly trek, being able to see how far we’ve come and how deep this little story has taken us. And what better mission to take us out on, right? This all started with us wanting to figure out who Sue was by finding her and now, here we are again. Still trying to find Sue.


Getting back to the First Cave, if curiosity drives you back to where we found the Polar Star, we’ll be met with the hermit gunsmith, who was the person we stole the weapon from in the first place. He’s upset that we stole the weapon, beyond outraged, but at the same time, he can’t help but be touched. He claims the weapon is unfinished and that he was taught that if you were to ever bond to a weapon, it’s one that should be your own. Despite this, the beat up Polar Star has gone through a lot with us. It’s what allowed us to get this far, and with that, the hermit gunsmith decides to give the weapon back under the condition he finishes the gun.

It’s here that we’re given the best weapon in the game, The Spur. The Spur breaks all of what we’ve learned about Cave Story so far, completely ignoring the game’s leveling system, allowing you to manually level up the weapon by holding down the fire button, with its bullets now becoming various beams that shoot far and stay on screen longer. It’s debatably the strongest weapon in the entire game and I love this as a reward to the player.

Making our way back to Arthur’s House, given that we’re on the same mission as the beginning of the game, we’d might as well play it out the same, right? We head to the Egg Corridor.

--EGG CORRIDOR 2--

The Egg Corridor is absolutely insane. The entire level is destroyed and there’s dead dragons and broken eggs everywhere, with enemies flooding the area. The song being played is Scorching Back, and it’s a complete contrast to both Quiet and Mischievous Robot, the song we heard last time we were here. It’s loud and scary to listen to as we see the complete and utter destruction of what can only have been caused by the Doctor. Everything in this level feels stressful and it really begins to show just how outmatched we are. This mission, even if born of dumb hope, is truly futile, but we push on, eventually making our way to the end brings us to the same Egg Room we first saw Sue in, this time with the egg hatched. Instead of Sue, we’re met with a different Sakamoto. It’s Kazuma, he’s escaped the Doctor as well.

He explains how he was able to escape from Misery, claiming he was left alone with the others teleported away. Kazuma himself claims he had known this was all coming, claiming that The Doctor’s victory was an inevitability as soon as he got his hands on the crown he wears. Even after this, he tells that as much we’ve been through, even we aren’t a chance for The Doctor now that he’s completed everything he’s needed to commence his plans.

Kazuma reveals his plans of using the dragon egg as a last ditch effort to escape to anywhere the remaining survivors could live peacefully. He, of course, offers us the ability to escape with him. Regardless of your answer, Kazuma continues on about how there’s one theoretical way to turn Mimiga back to normal, and it’s with the destruction of The Core. It’s crazy and there’s no guarantee it works, and of course, it comes at the cost of the island crashing back towards Earth, but it’s possible. Of course, we’ve had one encounter with the Core, but we have no idea where it is and neither does he. Kazuma, as if he knows his invitation was a futile effort, tells us he will gladly wait for us if we want to attempt to find and destroy The Core, but if things get slightly dangerous, he’ll leave without us. He walks outside, where he waits for you to REALLY decide what you want to do and we begin another iconic segment to Cave Story:

The Outer Wall.

--THE OUTER WALL--

To many people, this moment is the big one, this moment IS Cave Story, and it’s for good reason. The Outer Wall is the first time we’re able to see that, yes, the island we’ve been on this entire time is floating. It’s high in the sky, above the clouds. This scene is met by the magical melody that is Moonsong. Moonsong is beautiful with its notes and melody. It’s calming, relaxing, and depending on how you play things out, it’s one of the final songs you hear for the game. The emotion the notes bring after the intense sequences of repetitive loss is so beautiful and it’s what makes Moonsong one of the most emotional tracks in the entire game. To many, it’s the best song in the game. This is also the moment I feel that titling the end of “Waterway” as the end of Act 2 will get me in so much trouble. The Outer Wall is the first time we’re genuinely given some peace that isn’t met with either silence or loud music. We’re also presented with the choice of settling with our losses and leaving with Kazuma, or playing The Outer Wall as intended by climbing the treacherous island cliff.

Leaving with Kazuma will end the game here and now, but at the cost of leaving all your questions remaining unanswered. You’ll be played out to the song Hero’s End, which just sounds like a song of regret. Hero’s End’s purpose is to make you feel like you could’ve done something, to make you feel like you messed up somewhere in your playthrough, and you did. Leaving with Kazuma here is what’s viewed as the “Bad Ending” and not something you should strive for, if that wasn’t completely obvious.



Your other option in this scenario is to go up, and I love this decision. I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to say that Pixel intentionally puts a vertical level whenever we, the player, are at our lowest. The last time we did this was when we were first dealing with our loss of Toroko and King when Misery threw us into the Labyrinth. We are once again at our lowest point, the lowest point in the entire game, yet despite this, we continue on upwards. Moonsong itself brings in more and more notes of potential and hope as you climb.

The Outer Wall is a wonderful piece of art within Cave Story, and if this is your first time experiencing the area, I’m sorry because having you watch this segment via YouTube video isn’t doing it justice. Making your way to this level and, for lack of better words, “earning your loss” makes it far more impactful.

As we push on, we eventually make our way to the top and we find a room tucked away at the very top of the cliff. We find ourselves face to face with another Mimiga, Itoh, who claims to be a man-turned-Mimiga just like Sue, and this is because he was a part of the same expedition group as Booster, Sue and Kazuma Sakamoto, and their lost mother. Itoh is scared that we’re there, immediately thinking we’re one of the killer robots attempting to still take out all the Mimiga. After explaining ourselves, he questions if we’re instead some kind of savior for them.

It’s at this point that we’re met with the next major area, and it’s a bit odd to take in at first, but I absolutely love it.

--PLANTATION--

We enter a brand new area called the “Plantation” and the music that plays here is none other than the Cave Story Theme. It’s a bit odd, isn’t it? We’re at the lowest point in the game, we have no hope going for us outside of, what feels like, pure denial and stubbornness, yet we’re met with one of the more happier, cheerful themes of the game. Of course, if it wasn’t obvious, I love the decision to use the track here!

The Cave Story Theme being played during Plantation is almost a sign to the player that this is where they’re supposed to be, and as long as we’re continuing the game from here, we’re going to get a good ending. This is where the game has been leading us to and Plantation is by far the biggest map in the game. It’s also a bit odd and twisted to use the game’s main theme here, as a lot of the Mimiga who were kidnapped are now here, growing a massive supply of red flowers for The Doctor’s army, and if they refuse to do so, they’re jailed. You either conform to becoming a weapon, or you can wait until someone else can force you to turn either way. It’s terrible.

Making our way to the bottom right corner of the map, we can find Curly who is resting on a local bed. She has once again lost her memory. A nearby NPC, known as Cthulhu, tells us that she was found lying in a nearby spring. Curly has lost all memory of us, but Cthulhu tells us of a mushroom that may be able to recover her memories. We’ll keep this noted for later.

Moving deeper into the Plantation, we’re once again able to come across the best Mimiga in the game, Kanpachi. Funny enough, we can’t progress the game without him. He remembers us from the village and tells us how Misery sent the Mimiga there and that he hates farming. He then goes off to go fishing. God, I love this character.

Anyways, moving on deeper into the Plantation, we will eventually come across a lone jail cell, which has Sue, Jack, and another Mimiga from the village captured within. Despite the grim image, I couldn’t be more relieved to see that Sue is still alive. After all, we were told to save her, if anybody. Unable to talk to them, however, we’re left to explore more of the Plantation, eventually leading us back to Kanpachi, who’s fishing as he said. He gives us a key that he was able to fish up, which gives us access to a Teleporter Room nearby.

In the Teleporter Room, we meet this big, giant ogre-esque creature who captures us upon attempting to teleport back to Arthur’s House. We’re knocked out, as the screen fades to black. We get some text on screen of Sue trying to wake us up, with us receiving a letter from her instead. She’s taken away before we’re given a chance to talk to her. Inspecting the letter, Sue finally tells us the story of how she and the others on the expedition team came to the island in the first place, with priority on The Doctor. He was apparently supposed to be the team’s medical aide, but it was fairly obvious from the get-go that his plans were to get his hands on the Demon Crown, a crown that grants its wearer immense magical powers. Just like Kazuma, she also expected that The Doctor’s plans would become an inevitability the moment he was able to find the crown. The headgear is just that powerful. The Demon Crown is also able to give the wearer control of the Mimiga on the island given that they’re all transformed from eating the red flowers, including Sue.

Sue then tells us that, if her mother is still alive, she’d be hidden somewhere within the Plantation and gives us a password to enter where her mother may be theoretically hidden. You know, in theory. I mean, we’ve known about Mama Sakamoto since the beginning of the game, but only in mention. Her being still alive and, assuming she’s on our side, would be wonderful enough to turn the tides. It’s not any kind of over exaggeration to say that the fate of our hard work, the fate of avenging the lost lives we’ve sadly failed along the way, the fate of the world relies on the existence of Mama Sakamoto.

We find Mama Sakamoto, her actual name being Momorin. Yeah, there’s sadly not much in between these events, we kind of just search for Momorin and, eventually, we do. Just one of those things where gameplay helps rather than an online video.

Momorin survived by taking the safest route possible until she couldn’t. She helped research the island for The Doctor, but the moment he found the red flower seeds, she served no purpose for him, throwing Momorin off the side of the island, surviving my landing on a lower ledge, assumingly. Momorin also reveals that she’s been working this entire time. Since she was flung off the island, shortly after the Sand Zone incident, she’s been in hiding, attempting to build a rocket that will take us to the Doctor’s throne. She needs our help, of course, with getting parts for her from the Mimigas, our Booster, and to find Itoh. She famously gives us the Mimiga mask, which I assume is homemade and that’s just adorable.

After telling us what she needs, we head off. We make our way to some Mimigas with a broken sprinkler and use that reason to get a fixed one. After this, we take Momorin the Sprinkler and begin to hunt down Itoh again, who’s still hiding away in the Plantation entrance. He’s shocked to find out that Momorin is still alive, stating that she’s always been really fierce. He gives us a controller for the rocket, and we take it back to her. She’s happy that we’ve done so and she tells us she’ll need time to work on the rocket, telling us to rest in the bed below until it’s ready. Doing so will put Momorin outside of the bunker with Itoh right by her. They’re both ready for takeoff, and after getting the Booster back from Momorin, so are we.


--SAVING CURLY BRACE--

There’s still one more thing we must do in the Plantation, however. Curly Brace. We need to get her memory back. We heard from the Cthulhu right by her that there’s rumors of a mushroom that can bring memories back from those who’ve lost them. While this sounds incredibly vague and you think that this mushroom could be literally ANYWHERE, there’s actually only one location in the entire game where mushrooms are native: The Graveyard. That’s right, The Graveyard where we got Arthur’s Key is filled with living mushroom enemies, and to those with a good memory, will remember that there’s a very obvious door in the Graveyard that we were never able to reach. Using the Teleporter in the room Kanpachi gave us the key to, we’re able to go directly to Arthur’s House and finally investigate the room with our Booster.

In the room, we come across a small, purple mushroom named “Ma Pignon”. He constantly questions our reasoning to find a mushroom that can heal amnesia, and he claims that he can help us with this, but only if we can ask his hilarious questionnaire. It’s just a bunch of trick questions one after the other, but it’s hilarious. I genuinely love this guy. After succeeding, he gives us the Mushroom Badge and we’re finally able to-

Oh. This item does nothing. The mushroom badge does literally nothing. It can’t help us with amnesia to save Curly. In an act of confusion, we go back to Ma Pignon to complain. We need that mushroom that can help Curly. Instead, the not-so fungi laughs at us for believing that he’d actually help us with a case of amnesia. While Mister Traveler never says this outright, context clues tell us Mister Traveler then threatens Ma Pignon by saying he’ll eat the mushroom man.

Ma Pignon is upset with the threat and we begin another boss fight AGAINST Ma Pignon, and I think the fight is hilarious. We’re literally settling beef with a mushroom, but it’s all for good reason!! We’ve come so far with Curly, we didn’t even know if she was alive and she gave her life for a CHANCE at us being safe. It’s only fair we go the distance in an attempt to help her.


We defeat Ma Pignon, and thankfully, they’re not the toughest boss in the game, but upon defeating him, we take Ma Pignon as an item. For those who don’t get it, the mushroom man himself is the amnesia healing mushroom Cthuhlu was telling us about. After taking the dumb fungus back to the Plantation, we shove it down Curly’s throat. I’m not exaggerating, the game literally tells us we jam the mushroom into her mouth, and that’s hilarious. After consuming it, it works. Curly gains her memories back, but not just the ones we built up with her, Curly begins to remember EVERYTHING.

It’s here that Mister Traveler’s name is FINALLY revealed to us: Quote. We are Quote, and she begins to tell us the story of the relationship between the two. It starts when the island was first being attacked by tons of robots being sent to the island from many countries of Earth, with all of them attempting to retrieve the same thing: The Demon Crown. Of course, with the powers we’ve seen so far, any country on Earth would want to control it. This, however, is not where Quote and Curly Brace came from. Quote and Curly were built independently from the other robots with both of them being sent to destroy the Demon Crown, rather than retrieve it. When they arrived, however, it was far less optimistic than they planned. Someone had already gained control of the Demon Crown, a man known as Miakid, and he had already done the damage. Miakid turned all the Mimigas into beasts and attacked Earth, but was unsuccessful in ruling the planet. With many robots and Mimiga slaughtered, Curly and Quote attempted to take on Miakid himself, but he was out of their league. The two were defeated, only leaving Miakid severely wounded. While Miakid’s fate is never confirmed, we know he didn’t have the crown for much longer. This is all Curly can remember, as she smiles innocently and asks if there’s anything we can remember.

This entire time, throughout all of Cave Story, Quote has been set-up to be a killer robot slowly turning into a hero, attempting to find out where he was and right his past wrongs, but thanks to Curly, we know this couldn’t be further from the truth. Quote and Curly were never killers, they were never machines assigned to do a job, they were built in an act of rebellion, built with the capabilities of destroying this power that nobody should control. After all this time we believed we were reformed killers, the truth comes out.

Quote and Curly are heroes.

Attempting to talk to Curly again allows her to give us, what I would say, is the single most important item in the game: the Iron Bond. It’s description couldn’t be any more perfect, either.


Your tie to Curly Brace, the only warrior you would trust your back to. Surely, you will meet again one day…

With the Iron Bond in our possession, we’re finally ready, we’re finally able to go and finish the job we were originally sent to this dumb island to complete. We take Momorin’s rocket and are able to fly straight up to a small room with a door. It’s important to save here because this next area is a big one: The Last Cave.

--THE LAST CAVE--

We enter The Last Cave, and a song begins of the same name. The Last Cave is a test, a final test before our encounter with The Doctor, and it’s a doozy if it’s your first time playing it. The Last Cave has you take all the experience you gained from playing the game and tests all of it to prepare you for what’s to come. If the difficult level wasn’t hard enough, all your weapons are reverted back to their level 1 states, their weakest states.

Combining all these elements, the music, the difficulty, the challenge, it couldn’t be more clear that this level really is preparation for the final boss and I love it. It’s filled with intense platforming, tight Booster control, complete mastery of the game’s weapons, it’s all tested here. And again, the music ROCKS. Not to mention that if at any point in the level, you die, you’ll have to restart the whole level all over again. It’s an amazing challenge and truly tests your experience and gives you any more you may need to finish the game.

The level is just so fun, it’s got this intense color scheme of dark blues and bright reds, it’s a truly amazing level with even a bit of lore tied to it. Eventually, you’ll come across a boss, the only boss in the whole area: The Red Ogre.

The Red Ogre was a beast we can actually be warned about way earlier in the game, but it’s very specific. After coming back from Grasstown, if we manage to find Jack, he tells us the story of Arthur. Arthur was the village's defender and he helped every Mimiga he could. At some point in time, the Red Ogre came to the village and it was Arthur who was able to fight him off. There’s a cut item in the game called the “Beast Fang” that was supposed to be more build up to the Red Ogre and I feel like this would’ve been amazing world building to the Mimiga we never meet.

Either way, we find ourselves fighting the Red Ogre, who is actually missing a fang, by the way, and while this fight isn’t canonically important to the story anymore, I always like to defeat the boss with King’s Blade in a way of telling the King that, despite Arthur having the literal title as leader, King has done enough to be #1 in his own right.

With that out of the way, we eventually, through lots of trial and error, find our way to the door of the Balcony.

--THE BALCONY--

We finish off the intense, tight pacing with the Balcony, sharing a song with the same name. The Balcony is a level designed to show that we’re nearing the end of the journey. Yes, actually this time. The song itself brings us down from the intense beats of the Last Cave with somber, mellow beats that kind of signify where we’re at. Throughout all of Cave Story, we’ve done nothing but lose and lose repeatedly.

There’s so many ways that Balcony can be interpreted, there’s truly a lot that goes into what makes it so great, and part of that is the emotional response that changes from player-to-player. To many, it’s simply the end of a video game. To others, it’s a time to be able to reflect on your journey. You’ve come so far, after all. Hell, even enemies similar to Igor from the beginning of the game no longer have a “Boss” health bar. They’re just regular enemies to us now, with the skill and upgrades we’ve gotten being far more than enough to take them on with little to no struggle now.

No matter how you view Balcony, it’s beautiful nonetheless. The moon from the Outer Wall is now setting, with the end of the game taking place at dawn the following morning. The game couldn’t look better, either. The end of the game taking place at the top of the island is so sweet, too. We’ve fought so hard to escape the island’s cave systems, and not only have we been able to escape them, but we’ve been able to conquer the island, literally coming out on top.

Emotions are at their peak, everybody has given everything they got to get us to this point.

Let’s finish the game.

--LAST BATTLE--

From the Balcony, we enter a massive building, where the Doctor resides, but it’s not just him. Before we even get to see The Doctor, we’re interrupted by Misery. She talks to us about how she’s misjudged us for the worse and that Misery herself doesn’t care for the Island. Our mission to destroy the Core isn’t affected by the Island’s fate, the way she made us believe after the Core fight. Nothing she does is personal, it is simply her way of life to do the bidding of those who wear the Demon Crown. She simply tells us to prepare ourselves as Misery readies for battle, and off we go.

Misery herself doesn’t hold back, either, summoning enemies, hurling giant blocks, and summoning homing bubbles that fire lighting. She also increases her defenses as the fight progresses with these unbreakable bubbles that float around her. If that wasn’t enough, there’s even a damage cap you can do to her at certain times depending on which weapon you use against her, with the Spur and Blade being optimal. Timing and control is really important to this fight, and it’s wonderful that we’re interrupted by Misery for this bout. It really feels like not only a test of our strengths, but the strength of Misery as well, who has also been subtly teased through the entire game as a really tough boss. We could’ve gone this entire game without fighting her, but she really is the Doctor’s last line of defense, the ace up his sleeve before we can even get close to him.

Upon her defeat, she doesn’t speak to us, simply leaving the scene out of frustration. This ends Phase 1 of the Last Battle.

Phase 2 begins with us walking in on The Doctor himself. He begins to talk about something he made being complete, as he begins to describe what makes the red flowers and how they bring out a being’s inner strength, but at the cost of the being’s reason and faculties. He then begins to talk about how he was able this element of the red flowers and create the Red Crystal. With the demon crown and the power of the newly made red crystal, The Doctor amplifies his strength.

It’s here, at his peak strength, he begins the battle. The Doctor is able to summon enemies and projectiles in swarm, and with such a small battlefield, we’re forced to maneuver in insane ways, but given some good timing and aiming, The Doctor is fairly easy to take out.

This was just the preface, though, as the Doctor begins to be consumed by the Red Crystal, in a way, making himself into a Ravil human being. His muscles are pushed to an extreme, his body contorting. Phase 2 begins. The Doctor is no longer himself, rather a muscular shell of a man who has lost his way. Here, he becomes far more aggressive compared to the distance keeping Doctor we know. He gains a ton of invincible moves and attacks and approaches with almost no thought behind them.

Despite getting stronger and stronger, The Doctor is losing himself to the power he came to the island to control. Both of these fights, however, aren’t the tough Doctor we’ve been set up with. Even with final boss nerves getting to us, even regular players have a chance against the Doctor, especially with the Spur in hand. It’s kind of disappointing that The Doctor himself is really no stronger than Misery, really.


Talking to the captured Mimiga, who were watching us the whole time, are thankful. They praise us for our efforts, with Chako beginning to compare us to Arthur, with how heroic we are. Afterwards, the Mimiga give us plenty of hearts to end the game on, both grateful for how we were able to help them in such a way.

With the Doctor defeated, a new room above the one we’re in opens, it leads to The Core and it’s here that we’re finally able to destroy it, and finally finish the game.

--BLACK SPACE--

We enter the final area in the game, Black Space. It’s where the Core is hidden and, of course, we intend to destroy it. Walking up to it, however, summons Misery right in front of us, and she’s holding onto Sue. She threatens us, claiming Sue will be killed if we don’t step away. She then claims she’s amazed we were able to defeat the Doctor, but brushes off his death with a deal:

We can all die together on the island or we leave the island alone, but Sue’s life is guaranteed Safety. This deal, however, is cut short by a disembodied voice, claiming nobody will escape.

Misery questions the voice, as the voice reveals to be The Doctor, still alive in the form of a red dust. He no longer carries a physical form, with his visible appearance being a magical effect as a result of the Red Crystal. Misery, seemingly free from her curse, attempts to kill the Doctor herself. This is futile and only frustrates him further. The Doctor begins to possess Misery, deforming her body into an oblong beast. Sue, attempting to run, is chased down by the Red Crystal, becoming a Mimiga/Human hybrid, which genuinely looks neat.

The Doctor gives all his power into possessing the Core, causing him, Sue, and Misery to become the true final bosses of the game: The Undead Core. This fight is played out to an original boss fight theme titled Last Battle, and it is intense. The song, while really amazing, is truly a proper final boss theme, and what a way to go out. Misery and Sue are possessed and insanely powerful, with both having lots of health themselves. A small tip, you can actually take out Possessed Sue and Possessed Misery, which is kinda neat. This, however, will cause one or the other to gain another ability, which is really up to the player to decide if it’s worth fighting three separate bosses, or two. A genuinely fun choice and for such an unexpected battle. Who would’ve guessed that, not only would Sue be a final boss, but she’d be fighting alongside Misery and The Doctor? I mean, yeah, she’s possessed, but I genuinely don’t have any words outside of this fight truly just being incredibly badass.

Possessed Misery plays from a distance, summoning an intense amount of enemies at a time, with Possessed Sue is constantly charging and tackling Quote, with the ability to fly, move around fast, and even go temporarily invincible. The Doctor himself gains a lot of the abilities from The Core, and more-or-less works similarly, but overall has more projectiles at his aid than the normal Core. This boss fight is genuinely really tough, and the 4th and final phase of the final boss. And the hardest part about it isn’t even the boss itself, it’s the fact that if you die here, it’s all the way back to Phase 1 against Misery, which is such a harsh, yet really fun punishment. At no point does the final boss feel unfair or just complete chaos for the sake of chaos. It’s a symphony of madness that the player can genuinely feel rewarded from by making more and more progress.

And, again, this music goes INTENSE. It gives an amazing feeling and rush, especially when you’re first playing the boss. It fills you with anxiety, but also determination and excitement. This is where you put the nail in the coffin, this is what the game has been leading up to and it all lies on Quote, the same way it’s been from the beginning. This is for King, for Toroko, for Booster, and for Curly. Everybody is counting on you and this feeling is taken to a maximum with the music. It’s really amazing to have tracks like Last Battle, Moonsong, and Geothermal because when you finally hear songs this impactful, this emotional, you begin to realize that Pixel himself was holding back and is truly able to make music impact your emotions in the game and it’s only when he really wants to, which also helps you appreciate the smaller, humbler tracks like Quiet, Mimiga Village, and, yeah, even the Cave Story theme!

There’s so much more I have to say about the music, but I’ll save it for after the game analysis.

Moving back to the game itself, there’s also so many small details I can go on about, but I think the smaller things you notice and experience for yourself, learning this fight in and out just makes it so satisfying when you finally defeat The Doctor. And, yes, by the time you’re done with this boss, you WILL completely learn the fight as well as the patterns!

But, yes, eventually, this all comes to a wonderful magnificent close with The Doctor being defeated, Misery and Sue become unpossessed.

We cut to a scene with Itoh and Momorin, who have been starting up their old helicopter to escape the island with. With the core destroyed, however, the island begins to fall apart, descending to Earth. Momorin and Itoh have no choice but to leave, hoping everyone is safe.

Cut back to a cutscene where Quote and Sue are both waking up from being knocked down. Sue, back to being a normal Mimiga, gets us back up and we’re forced to run before the island collapses onto us. We make our way out of the building, and outside is worse, with giant pieces of the building assumingly falling from the heavens onto us. Quote and Sue make it to a cliffside, and in a final act of desperation, they jump off into the skies. Momorin and Itoh are seen flying away in the helicopter safely, as we begin to see all the areas in the island break apart as it descends. A cutscene is shown, where we see the island crash to Earth, nearly destroying itself.


--THE END?--

Thankfully, the game doesn’t end on a completely negative note. We see Quote falling down, hurtling towards the Earth to his doom. It’s then revealed that Kazuma was actually ready to save both us and Sue using the Dragon he was saving for his escape.

Kazuma congratulates us on defeating The Doctor, and how we’ll never see him again. Peace remains upon the surface, as the three finally go home. And that’s Cave Story! It ends on a high note, as well. Everybody is safe, or at least everyone we could save! The Doctor is finally defeated, officially ending the reign of the Demon Crown! Not only did we avenge King and Toroko, but we finally got to share the rest of our lives with Kazuma, Sue, Momorin, Itoh! Everything came full circle, everything was wrapped nicely. And we have nobody else to thank but our heroes, Quote and Cur-

So, I’m kind of lying to you all. Not about the ending. The ending I was just describing was known as the Normal ending of the game, and technically is the canon ending, but is this really how the game ends? Well, of course not. With very specific steps that were subtly shown throughout this playthrough, we’ve been setting up dominos to get to a specific ending of the game. This was not that ending.

Please, allow me to be your guide that will take you directly to a magical place unlike any other. We’re going to hell.


--BEST ENDING--

To get us started, there are 4 key moments to getting the best ending of Cave Story, and if you didn’t get this ending, I will explain the set-up for you to be able to attempt to get this ending as well before analyzing it.

The first key step is the suspicious act of completely ignoring Professor Booster when he fell in the Labyrinth. While it’s a bit unheroic of us, we need the Booster v2.0 instead of the unfinished Booster he would’ve given us. Simply put it, not only is v2.0 way better, but it’s literally impossible to get the ending without it. The game simply won’t let you access it.

The next step is saving Curly Brace. I glanced over at us getting the tow rope before the Core fight, but this is genuinely the first key item we obtain towards getting to the ending. The second part to this is draining Curly of the water in her system. I was much more detailed with this, go back to the Waterway section of the video if you need to see how it’s done. Finally, we need to restore Curly’s memories using Ma Pignon and we MUST collect the Iron Bond from her. If we do not have the Bond, we don’t get to access the ending.

With all the pieces set into place, we continue the game as normal, all the way up to the end. The VERY end. After the defeat of The Doctor, Sue takes you outside the building his throne was in and while avoiding the falling blocks, you’ll come across a small building on the Balcony. If the door is open, you can enter it once more. If it’s locked, you’re missing either the Booster v2.0 or the Iron Bond.

Upon entering the small building, you’ll see it’s destroyed inside, with a giant hole now being in the level. You’re gonna want to save here because going down this hole begins the wildest, hardest level in the entire game by leagues. If you thought The Last Cave and The Doctor fight was tough, buckle up.

We’re going to the Blood-Stained Sanctuary.


--BLOOD-STAINED SANCTUARY--

The Blood-Stained Sanctuary is probably one of the biggest secret endings in all of gaming. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that your favorite indie games probably have multiple endings as a result of influence by Cave Story or another game that was probably made with Cave Story inspirations. Games with multiple endings weren’t exactly common in gaming, especially in this time. Before some may twist my words though, no, I’m not saying Cave Story “invented” the multiple endings in video games. I do believe that Cave Story was definitely one of the many games that defined what multiple endings should be, as each one is vastly different. We’ve gone down the road of admitting defeat, we’ve gone down the road of taking out The Doctor, but the route we’re about to go on is possibly the most definitive.

We enter the area with the song Running Hell playing as we descend into an orange and red hellscape of a level. The Blood-Stained Sanctuary is, and I mean it this time, the hardest level throughout all of Cave Story. In fact, I would even go as far as saying that the game itself does not prepare you for this level. It’s a level that you’re only able to learn by fully investing yourself into learning the game’s mechanics and you’ll only progress bit by bit once you do so.

Where Last Cave will reward you for taking advantage of everything you’ve learned, the Blood-Stained Sanctuary punishes you for not knowing enough, and it’s wonderful. It’s a level that will not only test you, but take your current skills and maximize them by the time you're done, so long as you have the patience to learn it. I’ve had friend’s attempt to beat Cave Story with this level being set up for them with few actually making it to the level, and those who did calling it quits, but I assure you that if you have the patience and want to beat the game, it’s more than satisfying to anybody who wants to take it on.

To get us started, I should probably start off with the story this level presents. As you progress through it, you slowly begin to unravel a story that we’ve heard a little bit of before. It’s the story of Jenka’s brother, Ballos. For those who may not remember, we were last told this story just as we were about to die from drowning after the Core fight until Curly saved us. I think it’s odd, but no coincidence that this is where the two areas that begin to tell the story as, or at least in my head, this is Pixel’s way of telling us that the Blood-Stained Sanctuary is, in a way, putting Quote on the brink of his death. Before I cover the story, though, there’s something I love about this level that I love so much.

My favorite thing, easily, is that throughout the Blood-Stained Sanctuary, we’re not alone. At the end of the opening area to the level, we’re able to find Curly Brace passed out on the floor. Of course, we take her with us, but she doesn’t come to us until later on, only waking up during the final stretch of the Blood-Stained Sanctuary, but when she does wake up, man does this game feel it’s most fun. Enemies are flying at you, presses are forcing themselves down, projectiles are flying everywhere, both the enemies and the two robots, with Curly firing every time you shoot a projectile, but Curly interestingly enough fires behind you. Not only is this an incredibly fun mechanic to introduce, but nice symbolism that Curly has got your back covered.

Really, adding Curly to this level as a part of you just makes this entire level feel like magic and it’s truly the most fun level throughout the entire game, again, given that you’ll have the patience to learn the level. I’ve had friends play Cave Story up to the Blood-Stained Sanctuary, and if you aren’t prepared, it will absolutely kick your ass. One thing I should note is that, throughout my entire playthrough, I never used Jenka’s Life Pot, and this is where I lose a lot of people. Many would assume it’s safe to use it during the Doctor fight. He is the final boss, after all, but the Life Pot I feel really comes the most in handy during this level.

Going back to the story the level tells, it’s the story and build-up of Jenka’s brother, Ballos. Ballos was a magical being, just like Jenka, who pri

Cave Story parte de una mezcla de elementos: la exploración de Metroid con el movimiento y mecánicas de disparo como de Megaman. En resumen, nada realmente nuevo, pero innovador en la manera que tiene de combinar estos elementos.

En cuanto a su mundo, si bien puede recordar a algo como Zelda o Metroid por su backtracking, este suele darse dentro del propio nivel y cada uno de estos está bien diferenciado y separado del resto, se trata de un viaje y tiene una dirección clara.
Su movimiento podría parecer el de un plataformas sin más, pero la baja gravedad y la sinergia con los demás elementos de gameplay le dan un toque de originalidad.
Al igual que el combate con sus mejoras por niveles de cada arma. Me gusta particularmente este último apartado y como cada arma aporta algo a la manera de afrontar un combate. Si por ejemplo nos encontramos en una cuesta arriba sería mejor utilizar algo como el lanzallamas, si estamos cuesta abajo algo como el lanza burbujas y igual para cubrir una zona grande o ser precisos con el disparo. Cada arma tiene su utilidad y su uso concreto lo cual le da un giro estratégico al combate muy interesante. Este punto en concreto Daisuke Amaya lo exploraría más en profundidad en Kero Blaster.

Pero si algo realmente destaca de Cave Story es su conjunto, con su estilo artístico sencillo y minimalista junto a su banda sonora alegre y desenfadada y su humor absurdo muy japonés que le dan un espíritu "retro" que recuerdan a tiempos pasados, tiempos más sencillos. Cave Story no pretende ser el mejor videojuego del mundo, pero es un recordatorio del motivo por el cual jugamos videojuegos.

The OG one-man indie project, Cave Story remains one of the PC's gaming treasures and unarguably one of the most influential games of the 2000s as it codified the potential of independent game development as well as setting the stage for a plethora of pixel art Metroidvanias to follow it. A 2D sidescrolling action game, Cave Story follows the story of Quote and his exploration of a mysterious cave-bound civilization in which he wakes. Before too long he comes across the villainous Doctor and leaps into action as he attempts to thwart the Doctor's plans to enslave the local folk, the Mimiga. Boasting both gorgeous spritework and an incredible soundtrack, Cave Story is also a joy to play, with smooth movement and an engrossing rapidfire experience system that rewards aggressive, precise shooting and dodging. Creative, stylish, and brilliant.

One of the first games I have ever played and what an absolute gem. All the locations are extremely memorable and filled with such unique monsters and friends. The characters seem basic but the more I replay the game their depth increases to the point where I feel foolish for thinking they're so cut and dry. Characters have motivations, dreams, fears, have experienced great joys and terrible losses. Everyone wants to leave the area but leaving mean very different things for each character. The gameplay is floaty yet doesn't demand precision as weapons are designed around a looser control system. When the game does give you weapons that are more precise it is at a time where movement has advanced to match its demanded precision. All the bosses are challenging but never feel impossible; it feels like fighting against something way more powerful than you. The goliath bosses are extremely satisfying to overcome because of their size and difficulty. Masterpiece of a video game, play it if you haven't and, if you have, play it again.

Cave Story é um jogo extremamente simples, simples mesmo, o jogo não faz nada de realmente inovador ou diferente para o gênero, mas mesmo assim ele alcançou um enorme grupo de fãs que tem muito carinho por ele. A primeira vista, a visão que tenho da fanbase de Cave Story é algo muito parecido com Touhou Project, que é outro jogo clássico e muito simples que ganhou fãs fiéis.
Mesmo ambos os jogos sendo reconhecido por nichos muito barulhentos, eles encantam seus fãs por motivos bem diferentes. Já falando brevemente e de forma mais resumida do que correta de Touhou, maior parte da fama é porque ele é uma franquia de propriedade intelectual aberta, isso fez com que a própria comunidade crescesse a narrativa e que a fraquia passasse por diversos gêneros, assim crescendo o seu nicho. É um comentário breve, mas acho que dá para entender. Mas e o Cave Story? Por que ele é um jogo que encanta tantos jogadores?
Bom... Para isso, precisamos começar do começo.

Não há muito o que comentar sobre a criação do jogo, o criador dele se chama Daisuke e ele costumava trabalhar em Cave Story apenas no seu tempo livre, lançando de forma independente em 2004 para o PC, mas sendo também lançado para outras plataformas, como o Nintendo 3DS (que é a versão que eu peguei para jogar).

Sendo um jogo de plataforma 2D, temos algumas mecânicas muito interessantes que perduram por toda a gameplay, como por exemplo, você começa o jogo em uma caverna e o jogo só te dá a opção de passar para a sua esquerda, pois o lado direito está interrompido por algumas paredes. Seguindo em diante, você chega em uma sala que possui um save, um bloco que te cura e, enfim, um baú com uma arma dentro. Com a arma, você possui tiros infinitos, quando você olha para o topo da tela, abaixo da sua vida, você vê um barra amarela dizendo "Nv. 1". Retornando pelo caminho que você veio, você encontra alguns inimigos, ao atirar neles, eles irão dropar algumas essências amarelas, elas aumentam seu XP. Não tarda ao você perceber que o XP não é o nível do jogador, mas sim da arma, o nível máximo que sua arma chega é 3 e ela não apenas vai ficando mais forte, como também, seu tiro vai ficando diferente, mas tem um porém, seu XP também diminui com cada dano que você leva, dessa forma, o jogo te exige mais atenção e habilidade para manter suas armas fortes.

Avançando mais ainda, você nota que, com a arma, é possível quebrar as paredes que te impediam antes. Sua arma inicial pode quebrar tipos específicos de blocos, abrindo novos locais para progredir.
Ao chegar no fim da caverna, você é cai do topo do mapa até chegar em uma vila que está passando por alguns problemas, você conversa com todos os NPCs até conseguir a chave para uma casa que tem um computador e um teletransporte que vai te permitir ir para diversos locais, onde você vai passar por sessões de plataformas e pegar upgrades.

Até esse momento, eu não falei da narrativa do jogo, isso porque eu ainda não peguei ela muito bem. É bem simples, até infantil eu diria, mas não entendo inglês suficientemente bem para destrincha-la completamente. Mas há algo que posso dizer sobre ela. Aqui você vai encontrar personagens muito lindinhos e carismáticos que esboçam muita personalidade, mesmo até certo momento a maioria desses personagens começarem sendo nossos inimigos por não irem que a cara do nosso protagonista, eles acabam nos aceitando como amigo, nos ajudando a prosseguir com a estória. Esses personagens possuem designs tão bem desenhadinhos, algo que pode também ser transmitido por todo o jogo.

Seu visual também é super carimático, sendo um jogo bastante reconhecível. O Daisuke teve muito carinho ao criar Cave Story e isso é bem perceptível, tudo aqui me traz um sentimento parecido com Undertale, mesmo Cave Story tendo sido criado 11 anos antes. Você sabe o que quero dizer, né? Mesmo tudo mostrando simplicidade, tanto em seus personagens e visual, tudo é bastante expressivo, a maior diferença que posso citar entre ambos os jogos é que Cave Story é mais introvertido na maneira de se expressar — não que os exageros sejam algo ruim em Undertale, bem pelo contrário, Undertale é maravilhoso justamente por isso —, fazendo com que você se sinta mais íntimo com ele conforme vai se aprofundando mais.

Outro ponto que também não consigo trabalhar muito é sobre a trilha sonora, os momentos em que joguei esse jogo foi no tempo livre da faculdade e no ônibus, jogando sem som para não incomodar ninguém, assim não tive como aproveitar muito da trilha, mas escutei algumas dessas músicas e... não senti como se tivesse perdendo alguma coisa, o ponto central dessa review é na simplicidade encantadora desse jogo e isso não seria muito diferente nas músicas, exceto que ela é a parte menos interessante do jogo, mesmo não sendo a pior coisa do mundo, ela não faz jus à toda qualidade do jogo, sendo bastante inexpressiva.

Mas sabe o que mais me surpreende após toda essa experiência? É que esse é um jogo realmente cativante, sendo feito apenas por uma pessoa em seu tempo livre, a obra serve muito bem de influência para novas pessoas à levarem seus projetos para frente. Mesmo Braid sendo o jogo que mostra que jogos feitos por estúdio pequeno e poucas pessoas podem sim terem muito potencial para criar jogos que marcam, fico muito confiante de dizer que Cave Story é a obra que deu início a inspirar que pessoas começassem a criar seus jogos de forma indie.

Mesmo em toda sua simplicidade, Cave Story marca a vida de muitas pessoas, ele é um jogo inspirador e que cativa, ele talvez seja o jogo mais importante dentro dos jogos indie, isso é algo impressionante contando com o fato que já eram feitos jogos em RPG Maker desde os anos 90, mas Cave Story foi o ponto de partida para abrir novas mentes e criar o interesse das pessoas, um jogo realmente brilhante.