Joystiq impressions: Cave Story (WiiWare)

by Zack Stern { Oct 6th 2008 at 3:00PM }

click to enlarge

We played Cave Story at the Nintendo Media Summit, and other than controlling the game with the Wii Remote – old-school sideways, natch' – it's nearly the same as the free PC and Mac game. The retro look and gameplay make this seem like an overlooked garage-sale find, for good or bad. (Usually good.)

Gallery: Cave Story (WiiWare)

Your adventurer plugs along side-scrolling areas shooting vertically or horizontally to clear enemies. In between firefights, he'll meet other characters and run errands while learning about his forgotten history.

The WiiWare port will include remastered graphics and sounds, plus the same original story from the PC. Think of the WiiWare graphics as "16-bit" to the original's "8-bit" style. New content will be added to make it worth about five or ten dollars, according to its developer, although we couldn't get any more specifics on the update. The game will clock in between about five to eight hours of play.

We enjoyed hopping around and blasting baddies, usually skipping quickly through the story, given the press-event atmosphere. A handful of progressive weapons should keep things fresh through the adventure. The game was running at 480p, in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and the developer is facing some technical hurdles to add a 16:9 option. That wide perspective is the current goal, although no final decision has been made.

Cave Story will be out this "holiday season."

Tags: cave-story, joystiqfeatures, nfms08-hands-on, nintendo-fall-media-summit-08, nintendo-fms-08, wiiware

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

HighFiveJesus @ Oct 6th 2008 3:09PM

i never beat the final battle but this game is sweet, and i think its really neat that its on nintendo.

Superstar90 @ Oct 6th 2008 3:09PM

There needs to be an official Cave Story DS, XBLA, PSN, PSP (well, there is the homebrew version, i think it's complete).

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 6th 2008 3:13PM

I didn't knew it will include updated graphics. Good to know...

I'm definitely going to buy it...

Any screens with the new graphics?

Dopple Boppler @ Oct 6th 2008 4:02PM

IGN has videos and you can sort of see the difference, most notably in the Quote sprite. According to GoNintendo's interview with the developer you can turn the old graphics and music on or off at your choosing. I just hope they do justice to Outer Wall's music; one of my absolute favorite pieces in video game history.

John Z @ Oct 6th 2008 3:13PM

Nice. See, this (like Line Rider and N) is a free game I always felt I should toss a couple bucks in for. Given that the developer was Japanese, prior to this port, I couldn't do that, so I'm glad to have this chance. If the 16:9 mode gets in, that's all the better, but really it could be a straight port and I'd be happy.

Matteran @ Oct 6th 2008 3:17PM

I LOVE this game. I played through a few hours on it on PC, but never got around to finishing it, I'm stoked it's coming to Wii

Danny @ Oct 6th 2008 3:17PM

It kind of makes me sad that I'm looking forward to this game more than any other game set to come out this year.

Evan @ Oct 6th 2008 3:43PM

You had me scared at "remastered graphics", but by the looks of it, they didn't go overboard and screw it up, so I'm relieved.

samfish @ Oct 6th 2008 3:57PM

Apparently you'll have the ability to toggle the graphics and sound between old and new, at least.

tmmoore_nc @ Oct 6th 2008 3:44PM

A price of $10 would turn a lot of people off the Wii Ware version and towards the PC version...you know, which is free. I fully expect a price of $5 for this, and I'd pay it.

Pip @ Oct 6th 2008 4:23PM

$5 would be way too cheap for this awesome game, I think. The guy put almost four years of effort into this game and it shows. I'll be paying whatever amount he asks for, he certainly deserves it.

BananaBoat @ Oct 6th 2008 5:37PM

I think 10 dollars would be pushing it. I'd pay 10, or 20, but I think most people would take one look at the graphics and set a mental limit of 5. Unlike a game such as Megaman 9 with similar graphics, it doesn't have the added benefit of a nostalgia factor, so it can't hope to charge 10+ dollars.

I'll pay whatever price he sets, but for his sake, I hope he makes it 5 because sales will suffer otherwise.