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Old vs. New - Cave Story
Topic Started: Jun 3 2012, 05:02 PM (86 Views)
Snozzleberry
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Old vs. New – Cave Story vs. Cave Story + (Steam version)

If the original version of Cave Story (one of the best PC games of all time) cost 19.99, it would be well worth the price. Fortunately for gamers, the original 2004 release of Cave Story is freeware, and gained a decent-sized audience because of this. In 2010, the company Nicalis brought Cave Story to the Nintendo Wii as a WiiWare title, with new graphics, music, and gameplay modes. A year later, this version of Cave Story was brought to Steam with various improvements made to it. Now, how does this version fare compared to the original version, and is it worth the $10 price tag?

First, let's talk about the graphics. The original cave story had NES-styled graphics due to being made by a single person. This style had a certain charm to it, and I wouldn't have it any other way. However, Nicalis upgraded the graphics from a pixelated 320p to a (almost HD looking) 480p. Now, I say “almost HD” due to the fact these graphics have a vectorized look to them, especially in comparison to the original 320p. I can understand this resolution for the Wii, but why didn't they make the Steam version in true HD? This is more of a nitpick, but I find it rather lazy due to the price tag of the game. Also, the graphics aren't even in Widescreen – they remain in a 4:3 resolution.

Next is the framerate. The original release was 50fps, which gave the game a very floaty feel to it, and once again, the game was better for it. However, the game is changed to 60fps, which can be seen as a negative or a positive depending on your view of the game. This fps change also stands true if you change the graphics settings to “Original”, making the original release of the game unreplaceable.

Now is where the true issues come in: The music. This “new” soundtrack sounds like a parody of Cave Story. Instruments are loud, obnoxious, and sound nothing like the original. Sometimes the melody of the original song is even changed. The original soundtrack was one of the most beloved gaming soundtracks of all time, and this release is just plain insulting. Fortunately, Nicalis knew they screwed up badly, as they added the soundtrack from the 3DS version (Which we will be getting to later), and set it as the default. This “remastered” soundtrack was done by the same guy who composed the music for Super Meat boy. It seems a bit unfitting due to the game's simplicity, but this can be viewed in the same way as the music in Sega CD games.

Another feature of this release that makes it feel like a parody are the ACHIEVEMENTS. My God, there are achievements for EVERYTHING you do. Getting a weapon, collecting heart containers, collecting missiles, defeating a boss, collecting an item from said boss. You know the Nemesis quest? Collecting the little man is an achievement, bringing him back is an achievement, and getting the nemesis itself is an achievement. I would welcome achievements if they were a challenge to get, but 75% of these are ridiculous actions you would normally do in a playthrough. The most annoying is the “achievement progress” that pops up every time you pick up an heart container or missile. This completely interrupts the flow of the game, especially for players who have never played it before.

Finally, there are new modes to the game, which admittedly, I did not look at much yet. There's easy and hard mode – easy is an useless addition, and hard mode is a 3hp run with no missiles, among other changes. Curly Story is just a sprite swap of Curly with uninteresting dialogue changes. There's 2 new challenge dungeons in the game – one called the Nemesis challenge, and the other is Wind fortress. There's also a boss rush, and a useless mode which is a shortcut to Hell that requires you to select your items at every reset. Speaking of wasting time, there's no reason why they couldn't add a skip button to cutscenes in this release. I can understand technical issues in the original version, but there's a boss rush mode here, along with fast dialogue when cutscenes have already been viewed. I highly doubt this would be a huge issue to improve on, but I digress. In the end, I would have preferred overworld extensions instead of custom maps.

So, is Cave Story + worth $10? No, but I got my copy during a Steam sale for $5. At this price, it is a decent purchase and a new take on this classic game.

But wait! There are 2 other versions of Cave Story!

First, there's the Wii version. As far as I know, this is Cave Story + without the 2 extra dungeons and remastered soundtrack. However, the initial American release (I am not sure if this has been fixed) makes Cave Story + look like a gem. There are a number of technical problems due to the Nintendo Wiiware service having severe limitations and issues. Here's a number of glitches that I've heard of:

- When setting a the music to “Original”, the graphics will also change and vice versa.
- The “New” soundtrack is even worse, with half the instruments not playing.
- The “Old” soundtrack doesn't loop properly.

Better yet, this release costs $15! But is this crappy enough?

Nope.

Enter Cave Story 3DS – which I do own – a $40 release of the game on an actual cartridge. This version has the (good) remastered soundtrack along with easy/hard mode. However, the big difference is the graphics. How are they? Absolute ass. The models look terrible, and the backgrounds are very disorienting. It's sometimes impossible to tell if something is a platform, or if something is a wall. On top of this, the game's environment rotates so you can have a 3D view of the area. Oh right! The 3D is terrible as well, as with every 3DS game to date. Even worse, everything in the game is dark, so nothing on the screen is colorful or pops out. Finally, and I saved the BEST for last, is the CONTROL. The 3DS slider pad is ass on a stick. It doesn't work with a 2D game like this, and the control pad is EVEN WORSE! This crap is worse Xbox 360 D-pad. Get all this for $40 folks! It's great the mainstream gets to enjoy this game in all it's glory!

In the end, the original Cave Story is a utterly fantastic game. While the 3DS version is an absolute shame, the + edition can range from decent to great depending on the settings. These re-releases are a classic example of “If it ain't broke, don't fix it”.
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