Cave Story+

good game, undead core is a bullshit fight because holy fuck why would anyone make 4 bosses in a row

the single greatest game i have ever played

cavest ory is awesom

👍

Nop, unlike most of the comments, I would not recommend this game, not because of publisher issues but because of the game itself.
True, it has charm - the music is awesome, the characters are likable, the plot is intriguing, and those things definitely helped to keep me in the game for so long.
However, the gameplay is annoyingly hard, which brings fun to a minimum.
First, the character movement - the inertia was a pain from level 1.
Second, the weapon level system sucks. Getting level down on your most suitable weapon in a decent chunk of the boss fights usually means a game over. And the inability to insta-skip cutscenes only fuels the rage flame on your 10th try.
Third, major boss fights look like a scene from Tohou - the screen is flooded with bullets, and half the time, you can barely see your character.
And most late-game enemies aren’t even strong - they’re just annoying, constantly ambushing and attacking you from inconvenient angles.
And plotwise the prerequisite to getting a good ending is bullshit, you can't possibly deduce it by yourself, cos makes absolutely no sense. At the end of a normal run, when you get to the shack, you get a hint that things could be different if Professor lived. "Ok, but how do I save him?" you think. And the answer is - you don't. Just don't go see him and talk to him in the labyrynth, and he lives. Speak with him - he dies. Your actions change reality in a completely indirect and invisible way - it's a Deus ex machina-level plot twist that you’d never anticipate.

I acknowledge the importance of Cave Story as far as it's placed within the history of PC indie games.
Maybe I've played too many games that have derived from cave story at this point?

Man is it ever a sequence of go-here-do-this-come-back with float-on-ice platforming. The controls are simple and are as much as you could want from a PC game that emulates control styles of older video games using a keyboard. The artwork and soundtrack for the game is very nice, and I've enjoyed what I've heard of it but am currently not compelled to continue playing. Get this game on a sale if you like metroidvanias and don't want to think about anything for a while I guess-- only after playing Shovel-Knight, Celeste, Castlevania(s) and like the thirty mega-man games though.

Basic story about underground small-men being terrorised by someone who's not underground and you stop them if you play the game.

I guess I wanted more than just a platformer? It feels like your average platformer if each level had a new power-up and that was as far as it went. I feel no desire to use other weapons. I just want to make it back across a hallway to deliver a key or something and don't want to engage in the simple gameplay loop created by the respawning enemies. The new weapons that have different projectile styles don't cut it in terms of variety for me?

Do not expect to find anything new here if you have played more than three platformers over the past 15 years.

Not the best version of the game, but it's Cave Story, still fun all around.
I suggest supporting the japanese version on Switch, the whole game can be switched to english.
I would say the best version that has the most content would be the Switch version, but you can't go wrong with the original FREE PC version. Support Pixel.

8/10

Cute little game.

Others have said it but its true, get the freeware version instead.

a classic

doktor, turn off my red flower inhibitors

awesomesauce

This game isn't really as good as I remembered; I beat it a while back but never got the true ending. It has a mechanic that slows the pace of the gameplay and frustrates the player. When you defeat an enemy they drop triangles that, when you pickup, level up your weapon. Each weapon can level up to 3. When you get hit, your weapon levels down. So when you traverse levels you are constantly killing and enemy with a fully leveled weapon, switching to a low level weapon and then running to pick up the triangles. In boss fights getting hit once or twice is a death sentence. Switching weapons is a hassle, I would advise looking up a guide and intentionally not getting certain edge case weapons.

On top of that the story is depressing as hell. The scientist team that comes in shows no regret whatsoever at the end after their intervention caused the death of the local populace while happy music plays. Also some of the characters such as the witch, who has some kind of redemption, and Sue, the daughter of the lead scientist, are incredibly selfish. You do not care about the survivors of this tragedy.

This game was also pretty overpriced during sales for a while, especially for a port of the game that is arguably worse than the 3DS eShop version (not Cave Story 3D). However this release does support mods (just not from Workshop) which is a plus.

I did Kero Blaster, which is from the same developer, more than this unforgiving title. I would like to try Ikachan again as well.

I found out about this game because it's the basis for Momodora, which I'm glad became its own thing. Cute characters and a sense of adventure and it's from 2004?

This game is good, really good but the development for this version has been abandoned, as shown by the Mac version being broken by default, and missing features from the Switch release.
If you don't mind not getting achievements, I recommend downloading "doukutsu-rs" on github, Its a faithful remake of Cave Story with all the upgrades from the switch version.

Great game, I hate it

Sooo soo goood...

8,5/10

This is not my first attempt at this game, many years ago I played the free version on PC and I remember it was a very nice experience. Cave Story is one of the better platformer/metroidvania games I've had the opportunity to play. For many players it may be a bit too short, but apart from that everything is great here <3 starting with nice pixel graphics through gameplay, music and a cool storyline.

----
Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 9
Audio: 8,5
Story: 8,5

I could write a long review explaining how great this game is, but after more than 20 years of its first release, everything than can be said about this game has probably been done so already. So, I'll just say that this game, developed entirely by a single person, Pixel, during five years, is simply the best indie game ever made, and one of the best in all time.

yes

my absolute favourite game ever, i used to play this on the ds. banger game

Cave Story is a fantastic game. The characters are funny and memorable, your weapons are diverse and have many opportunities to shine, and the gameplay is great. Perfect if you love metroidvania games or want to experience a masterpiece.

10/10 MASTERPIECE!! i love almost everything about this game to art, music, characters and most importantly gameplay! it's super fun and would recommend and frick the egg corridor! hate that place

Absolute gem of a game. Story is interesting, characters are lovable, fights are hard but fair, mechanics are tight, and there are 3 different endings to the game. And god damn do I love the music. This game is a love letter to what a good action platformer should be.

5/5 star

one of if not thee best game i have ever played

You should know the game is good already. Why are you looking at the reviews?

fuck with your dpi settings to get the proper aspect ratio

Small game that still peaks my interest since 3ds

This is a fantastic game! I remember playing the WiiWare demo a long time ago and I've been absolutely enthralled with the game since! it's unfortunate there will not be a sequel but maybe that's for the best.

This game is truly amazing, It's unique and appealing in all aspects. It's a classic and extremely interesting choice above all. I completely recommend it.

An extremely good game when it's not reminding you that it was made in 2004 by a Japanese man.

I used to play this on my Wii, but I really struggled to get through it as a kid. Playing it again as an adult has been very fun!! I love the game's plot, the characters, and the game itself is beautiful to look at, even 15 years later. I highly recommend this game!

A classic game, one of the first really big indies. Having said that the publisher Nicalis kinda screwed over the developer, and since you can get the game for free you may want to consider getting it either for free. The Switch version is also more feature complete if you want the version with the most stuff in it.

As for the actual game. It's a run-and-gun metroidvania with a good variety of weapons. It's not overwhelmingly difficult (unless you want it to be) and can be beaten in a sensible amount of time. The movement is quick, snappy and responsive. The enemy variety is perhaps a little low, but the main draw of this game is the boss battles, which are frequent and varied. You zip around the environment swapping weapons in order to deal with changing tides of battle and environment types, and as combat goes on your weapons grow more powerful, so it encourages reaching a flow state.

As for the narrative, it's an interesting adventure with likable characters, but the tone can be a bit all over the place. I don't think I would count that as a negative necessarily, but it certainly has the feeling of being written by someone who is not a "writer". There are moments of humor and moments of great tragedy, but they don't really feel like they belong to the same story. I'd argue that's part of the charm though, and it's not a badly written game, just odd.

Cave Story is one of those games that I think everyone should play, it's a classic game made with passion by someone who cared deeply about it, and given there are so many versions and so few barriers to playing it, there really is no reason not to.

game so good toby fox ripped off the title

one of the first computer games i ever played. i like curly and sue because they are cute.

There's not much to be said about Cave Story that hasn't already been said. It was a great game in 2004 when it released and it's still a great game to this day. With all the indie platformers that have followed in it's footsteps, it tends to seem like cave story has been overshadowed in recent memory, however those who play it will be rewarded with one of the best and most important indie games ever made. The original is and always has been free and easily accessible online, with the paid version only adding a remastered soundtrack and art style, difficulty options, and various challenge and alternate game modes. Whether these are worth the additional price is up to you. Regardless, Cave Story is a masterpiece every fan of indie games should play at least once.

Even two decades later, I can see why this game is so influential. Cave Story makes use of its short runtime by being constantly filled with fun moments and charming characters. I used the doukutsu-rs mod for modern quality-of-life improvements.

The presentation is charming, and the action is fun and challenging.

I love this game to bits but just download the freeware version

20 years and still a classic, one of my personal favorites, but I say just download the freeware version instead, preferably an NXEngine port for modern systems, for the reasons below:
- this version adds updated graphics (including animated portraits and proper widescreen support) and two new music soundtracks (one is from the Wiiware release), controller support as well as some challenge modes based on fan-made levels. That's all pretty neat but whether it's "15 bucks for a free game" neat is up to you.
- the Switch release from a few years back added multiplayer as well as some graphics updates and QoL changes. You would expect the older Steam release to get an update with these features but that still hasn't happened yet. There's always the chance Nicalis might fix this but they've had about 7 years now so don't get your hopes up.
- there are rumors that the creator, Daisuke Amaya/Studio Pixel isn't being paid for the Nicalis ports of the game because they stole the rights to the IP from him. This doesn't appear to actually be the case though. In fact, they're still keeping in touch with each other as of writing. That being said, Nicalis is still a crappy publisher so you might not want to support 'em regardless.

I could go on and on about Cave Story any day, which is why I flagged this as a positive review, but unless Pixel works with a new publisher to release another version of the game (fat chance lmao) you won't be seeing that there.

Has not aged well at all, many features are outdated or lack refinement. This game is very important as a concept but as an actual game it is mediocre

game is really fun so far for such an old game, they should've made it that the game doesnt default at the stretched resolution because i was so confused at the egg place because i couldn't the the bottom of the map

Genuinely one of the best games I have ever played. Inspired many games and you can see why. Killing Ballos without the health pot made it really feel like an actual curse was broken. It was very fun though

pioneer of indie games, some of the best platformer run and gun feel i've ever played, interesting story with deep characters and funny dialogue, as well as horrifying scary moments that make you go what da hell

daisuke amaya you will forever be famous and loved
nicalis i curse you forever, do better

The story didn't do it for me, the slippery physics can be very confusing and all cutscenes are unskippable. Still, once you get used to the physics, it's a solid platforming game. There is a lot of love in the details here, and I appreciate that. Overall, it's ok.

100% achievement completion is really difficult because of the time challenge achievements. Completionists, prepare for some very demanding speedruns. Everything else is quite chill.

Um ótimo jogo, pois já era um ótimo indie :) Recomendaria comprar o port?
Depender, se você quer apoiar o desenvolvedor original que fez o Freeware em 2004 -- Daisuke Amaya -- sim, eu recomendo. Se não, jogue os ports que a comunidade fez e de graça, o conteúdo extra é desnecessário e para mim afeta a experiência (em partes).

/CONS/
- O remaster e a versão famicon das músicas originais não me soaram bem, se você gosta de uma retrowave/remix ou de um remix estranho em chiptone (algo que a trilha original já satisfaz) não tenho culpa.
- As skins, tanto ade alta resolução, que parece que pegaram um filtro do desses emuladores de SNES e aplicaram o 4x, não me agradou, alguns redesenhos parecem que tiraram a fofura que era os personagens antes, lembre, menos e mais quando falamos de pixel-art, algo que o Amaya conseguiu com proeza.
- Por 25 conto fora da promoção, pode ser desinteressante, ainda mais tendo o mesmo jogo de graça de 2004 e refeitos pela comunidade.

/PROS/
- As skins natalinas e de halloween são lindas e muito fofas.
- Tem mais referências de gatos nas artes da skin de alta resolução. :3
- Os desafios são uma adição legal.
- O Co-op funciona incrivelmente bem para um jogo stand-alone.

Awesome game, but the original version is free AND the current publisher from whom you buy it here, Nicalis, does not compensate properly at all the original dev and artist, Pixel, who made the game all by himself. If that's not bad enough, the ports on other consoles like the switch have a lot a QoL Nicalis just didn't bother adding to Steam, a real neglect of the userbase if you ask me.
Simply put, do not waste your money here; rather grab a freeware copy and look for patches that fix with recent features. Godspeed !

one of my most favorite games, i bought it to try get all the achievements

Best indie game ever! Holds up super well!