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Spelunking Through Cave Story

Posted by Nadia Oxford

Something in the air--I'm going to blame all that dang fireflower pollen blowing around out there--has me in a retro mood. For all the 3D delights I could be indulging in (my brother loaned me Guitar Hero III), I've recently made a happy return to Pixel's Cave Story.

If you haven't played Cave Story, drop what you're doing and download it. No, I don't care if you're performing CPR on your half-dead mother, you simply must experience one of the most endearing and well-balanced 2D platformers ever developed. It's easy to find and it's free. You have no excuse. No, I don't care if trafalmadorians are lifting you into their saucer right this minute.

Granted, I avoided Cave Story for years because the name sounded like some slow and winding "adventure" through a key-driven maze. "Cave Story" brings to mind cheap NES bargain-bin knockoffs that your well-meaning aunt would buy you at Christmas. Wow, thanks Auntie Shiela. I can't wait to throw this at the dog next time he gets into the garbage--I mean, I can't wait to play this.

As reality would have it, Cave Story is far more ambitious than its simple title lets on. Though it is freeware developed over the course of five years by one noble man (Pixel), Cave Story plays like the best of Mega Man, Gunstar Heroes and Metroid and is comparable in length to many of your favourite 2D adventures. It's not too short and it doesn't drag on. Its difficulty is adjustable depending on how you play it; there's no challenge selection, but you can steer away from--or towards--much pain depending on the choices you make and the weapons you choose.

If you're masochistic, you can literally choose to go to hell. Good luck with that.

With its simplistic but distinctive graphics and its rocking 8-bit sound library that deserves to be on every iPod in the nation, Cave Story will bring you joy, peace and love. It's certainly filled up the airless black void that used to be my heart.


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Sam said:

I hope the DS port of this game is still being worked on.

July 3, 2008 6:24 PM

Nadia Oxford said:

It is, far as I know!

July 3, 2008 7:47 PM

Demaar said:

Played it, loved it, played it again, now eagerly awaiting Pixel's next great work. I've yet to beat the real final boss, though.

July 6, 2008 6:41 AM

Farvana said:

I'm of the opinion that this is the greatest freeware game ever made.

Also, Pixel deserves much more praise and attention (not to mention money) than he will allow himself.

July 8, 2008 8:30 PM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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