Courtesy of Nippon Ichi, publishers of some very top-notch titles, the 3DS remake of the platforming indie game by Daisuke Amaya is now available. The gameplay remains the same as the original freeware game, but the graphics have been completely overhauled to match the 3DS’ capabilities. There’s also an option to play as a Prinny, the Nippon Ichi mascot.
If you haven’t played Cave Story, it was released as a freeware game back in 1994 and you can get it here. The amnesiac protagonist is caught up in the events between an subterranean race of animalistic creatures called Mimiga and a man known as The Doctor, who experiments on and weaponizes the Mimiga using poisonous flora in the underground. The protagonist seeks to find out why this is and why he was lying in a heap deep underground, starting a challenging adventure.
The game itself features huge and difficult bosses, some several screens in size, some not much bigger than the protagonist, some that will have you throw the DS across the room in frustration. The game rewards momentum and skillful play with the weapon leveling system, and has very rewarding gameplay with a ton of secrets.
The freeware PC version is still available, you can get it and a translation patch here: http://www.cavestory.org/downloads_game.php There is a reason this game has gotten extremely high ratings from many reviewers despite the simple gameplay and graphics.
