Cave Story proves that new games with old-school roots can be as good as its counterparts of yesteryears
Cave Story is, originally, the work of a single man. The game's success as an indie PC title led Nicalis to pick it up in order to dress it in a new coat of paint by adding an extra level of polish to character models and more detailed background scenarios, only to port it to Nintendo's downloadable game system. Despite the small work power put into the game nobody could possibly realize that the sheer greatness of the adventure contained within Cave Story was crafted by a pair of hands as everything the game offers is well designed enough to draw comparisons to the great Nintendo games of the NES and SNES eras. And that is an honor that not even some full-fledged companies with enough professionals to fill up a stadium have been able to achieve.
As amazing as the game's gameplay may be, it is not the only part responsible for elevating Cave Story into the status of one of WiiWare's greatest games. Its plot kicks off in a very mysterious way as without any introductions you take control of a character that has lost his memory and finds himself within a dark cave, holding no knowledge whatsoever about his exact location and his surroundings. Still, from a very early point in the game it is possible to notice that the game's story has much more to it than the game initially lets on, a fantastic, and very effective, game design strategy to keep players interested in the story. As you advance through the game's levels things are slowly explained and little by little the form of the game's narrative is revealed. Before you know it you will be involved in the heartwarming battle between an underground race and a mad doctor of dark origins who is driven by an evil goal.
If you were to narrow down Cave Story's location to a single branch on a big tree of different gameplay designs, it would probably be located somewhere below Super Metroid and its less memorable peers. The game world is set up in a way that all of its many areas are connected via teleports and even if its many caves are not as cohesive as Super Metroid's it is simply impossible not to make such comparison since the caves have many different scenarios, a maze-like configuration, a few collectibles along the way and – most importantly – some backtracking. Although it shares a lot of characteristics with the Metroid series, Cave Story never triggers déjà-vu feelings as the pacing of its gameplay, and a few RPG-like elements makes it vastly differ from Samus' crowning 2-D achievement.
On the game the WiiMote should be held like an NES controller. The A button will be used to switch from one weapon to another, while the other two face buttons make the character shoot and jump. The main character is affected by some really unique physics as his jumps are very high and fast, while offering mid-air control that is extremely flexible, pair those quirks up with the frantic pace of the game's shooting and you will be able to perform some downright insane maneuvers when facing the most brutal enemies on the game. In fact, the game's chaotic and fun shooting will easily remind old-school gamers of the space shoot'em ups that were so successful in making most of us huff and puff, and cause a lot of pain on our tired thumbs.
Cave Story's most curious element, though, is the way on which the guns are powered-up. The game offers a nice variety of weapons such as a regular pistol, a fireball-throwing gun, a missile launcher and even a sword, each varying in range and effectiveness against some kinds of enemies and bosses. All of the game's weapons can be enhanced up to level three, and in order to do so players need to collect golden diamonds left behind by defeated enemies. Those diamonds are very easy to find and leveling up most guns to their utmost power, improving their reach and firepower, won't take a long time; however, there is a twist. When hit by an enemy the gun that is being held at that time will have its level bar decreased according to how powerful the blow is, as a consequence a few hits are enough to bring them back to their regular strength – a not so welcome occurrence, especially when facing powerful bosses. This constant level roller coaster that your weaponry will go through will effectively turn even the silliest combats into key battle for survival, after all no one wants to face hordes of enemies with a weak set of guns.
The game also features a group of very creative boss battles that come packed with a lot of challenge and action. The boss battles will start out pretty easy, but by the end of the game some bosses are likely to drive even the most skilled players mad. It is a shame, though, that the fun on some of those battles is extremely harmed by the fact that Cave Story will often throw bosses at the screen without offering players a resting place, and a checkpoint before those battles. Trying to overcome the game's tough bosses is a lot of fun; however, the same cannot be said about having to go through tight platforming sections over and over again just because you lost to a mighty boss that comfortably sits after tons of traps, and away from any checkpoints. It unpleasantly surprising that such a well-designed game stumbles upon a very primary game design issue.
Nicalis didn't limit the improvements to the game's visual part. The title's soundtrack has also been remixed and had its quality improved, it is a shame, though, that some of the tracks suffer from glitches that totally remove some instruments from the tunes. On the other hand, the sound effects are in tip-top shape. Adding to Cave Story's seven-hour adventure are three levels of difficulty, three different endings (a bad one, a good one, and a great one) that are triggered based on decisions made during the adventure, and a bunch of new game modes. Those modes include another Story Mode with a different character, and a Time Trial struggle where players face all of the game's bosses with small intervals to regenerate some health and re-upgrade weapons that were downgraded during battle.
Overall, Cave Story is a great deal for the 1200 points that are being charged for it. The game is easily one of the system's longest and most challenging single-player adventures and the extra modes and options, including playing the game with the original graphics and soundtrack, certainly greatly improve its value. So, when looking for some great old-school gameplay Cave Story appears as a nice alternative to the masterpieces available on the Virtual Console because it is as good as most of those – it is only a little bit late to the 2-D party.
Actual Score: 9.1