Review: Cave Story 3D (3DS)

The highly popular indie game makes a splash on the Nintendo 3DS.

Developer: Studio Pixel/Nicalis
Publisher: NIS America
Release Date: November 8, 2011
Score: 4.3 / 5

The original Cave Story was released way back in 2004, developed by Daisuke Amaya, who is better known by his alias Pixel. The game has received universal critical acclaim, and could easily be called one of the greatest indie games ever released. Now that same game has come to the Nintendo 3DS, in the form of Cave Story 3D, which takes the basic gameplay and gives it upgraded visuals and music.

Even though Cave Story is a great game, it’s a completely different question whether Cave Story 3D is worth your money. The original Cave Story is generously given away for free on PC by the original creator. There isn’t a whole lot that Cave Story 3D gives you that the original didn’t already, besides a better presentation. On the other hand, there aren’t many 3DS games out there that offer an experience as entertaining as this one. If your 3DS is getting lonely and you need something new to play, this is one of your better options.

In this game, you play the part of a young amnesiac who wakes up in a cave. Soon after that, you encounter the Mimiga, a small race of rabbit-like folk who live in Mimiga Village, who are being threatened by the mysterious Doctor. Cave Story has you journeying through a floating island in an attempt to thwart the doctor’s plans to create an army. The story doesn’t present a lot of twists and turns and is mostly a straightforward, tension-building affair, but you’ll quickly find yourself developing emotional attachment to some of these characters.

The gameplay is essentially unchanged from the original game, which was generally classified as a Metroidvania title. Your character runs and jumps through platforming areas populated by a number of enemies, which you’ll take out with the weapons you collect. You can backtrack to previous areas to explore further if you desire, though the game doesn’t require it particularly often; throughout most of the game, you’ll be directed by the story to wherever you need to be next, so the game feels more straightforward than a game like Metroid. You will need to explore, though, if you want to find Life Capsules to increase your health meter.

Combat is similar to Metroid but more intense and fast-paced. Often enemies will come after you in large groups, and combining that with rapidly-firing weapons means there’s a lot of action on the screen. At the same time, you need to worry about your environment, which includes hazards like spikes on the ceiling/floor, or crocodiles popping out of the ground to chomp you. There are plenty of bosses as well, and while the early ones are more along the lines of “jump over enemy and shoot from behind,” the later ones will require much more strategy and presence of mind, and almost all of them are a blast to fight against, even if they kill you a lot. People who aren’t avid gamers, if they dare to try the game in the first place, are probably going to want to start on Easy.

One of the unique things Cave Story has is its leveling system. Weapons level up differently from health, which is upgraded permanently in small chunks. Destroyed enemies will drop small golden triangles, and collecting them gives your weapon experience; each weapon can make its way to level 3. Once a weapon levels up, it gains a significant power boost and becomes more damaging. If you take damage, however, you’ll lose weapon points along with health, and enough lost experience means your weapon will actually level back down, in mid-battle. If you rush into battle carelessly, you’re going to find yourself packing less heat before too long. It’s a mechanic I’ve never seen before in a video game, and it’s quite clever. I certainly thought twice about my boss-fighting strategy as the game went on.

The aesthetics and color palettes of the levels are well designed, and a level’s appearance goes well with its intensity; you’ll get senses of calm in more relaxed areas, you’ll feel isolated with a sense of foreboding in dark caves, and the fast-paced action areas will signal themselves to you with hot reds and other colors. The platforming aspect of this game is done very well, and simple acts of jumping and avoiding spikes take on new levels of difficulty as you progress. The game’s challenging, but the challenge is amazingly well-balanced.

The original game’s design was intentionally low-resolution and meant to evoke memories of gaming consoles long past, but the design of areas was still very impressive from an artistic standpoint; with this new 3D version, the graphics have been updated to be full 3D models with smoother edges, but the art style is still preserved, and in some places even enhanced by the added tech. Like in many 3DS games, the 3D effect doesn’t make the game any earier or harder, but it does look rather nice. The (catchy) music is also the same as in the original game, though the instrumentation has been given a bit of an upgrade.

Since the game’s original release, Pixel has had the chance to go back and address things like the game’s localization and the character designs, and the upgraded forms of both these things made it into Cave Story 3D. One thing that did bother me is that there are brief load times when going from one area to another; most of the time it’s far too short to care, but there are some cutscenes that quickly go from one area to another in succession, and the loading can get tiresome.

Overall, this game took me about 15 hours to complete from start to finish, and a good amount of that was replaying areas after I died; the difficulty progression is excellent and the game rarely feels unfair, and the action doesn’t let up often. The game also has multiple endings, and depending on which one you end up with, there may be parts of the game you don’t get to see. Getting the best ending, however, requires a fairly unintuitive set of decisions and it can be difficult to figure it out without consulting some help; this is one of a small number of flaws in the game.

There are three difficulty levels to play on, and you’re also given the option of playing in “Classic Mode” where all of the game’s characters, enemies and more are their original 2D, blocky counterparts; the backgrounds, however, will remain in 3D. You can even start a game in the regular mode, then continue from where you left off in Classic Mode, which is a cool feature. Lastly, getting the best ending allows one to play through the game as a Prinny from the Disgaea series.

I do have to bring up the question of value, though. The free version on PC is a nearly identical experience to what is offered in this 3DS title; the only major difference is the controls, and while I like playing with buttons and a D-pad, I wouldn’t shill out that much money for it. Even if you’d like to play Cave Story on the go, there’s a $10 version of it on DSiWare, which you can download to your 3DS, eliminating the need for a cartridge. For an extra $30, I was hoping for more extras; the WiiWare version offers a Boss Rush mode, and the option to play through the game as another character, Curly Brace. Even the iOS version of the game has a new level added, designed by Pixel. The ability to play as a Prinny doesn’t sound like it’s worth all those extra dollars to me.

Still, Cave Story is one of the most well-made indie games in history, and this is a highly faithful port, making Cave Story 3D one of the more fun games available for 3DS. If you want a fun, fast-paced action platformer that you can take with you on the go, this is easily one of your best options. It’s a testament to Daisuke Amaya’s skills that a port of a seven-year-old freeware game is one of the most fun experiences on the world’s newest handheld.