Editor's note: I am loving this series. I dunno about Cave Story, though -- any time someone tries to describe what's happening it sounds like a DMT addict summarizing the plot to Lost. -Demian
Welcome to Bitmob Game Club: Cave Story Edition (part two)!
If you are not familiar with the concept of a Bitmob Game Club you should read about it here, in Bitmob Game Club: Cave Story Edition (part one)!
In this episode of Bitmob Game Club, the contributors tackle Cave Story, an indie game developed by Daisuke Amaya -- or Pixel, as he's more commonly known. Cave Story is quite a unique game, mixing platforming and role-playing game elements together in a way that actually works very well. Cave Story is free to download on the PC and is also currently in development for WiiWare.
Want to follow along? Click here to download the game for PC or Mac.
On with the stories!
Cave Story Edition Contributor: Jay Henningsen
Jay is a Viking IT support guy. When your computer gets fried in a lightning storm, it's because he prayed to Thor the night before to help drum up some business. While not clearing paper jams with his langseax, he enjoys taking care of his four-month-old son and playing World of Warcraft with his wife. He's currently playing Dead Space and the DS rerelease of Chrono Trigger.
Marching Onward
So, when we last left our intrepid adventurer, he had landed between a couple of rabbit-like creatures who were arguing over a key, and promptly ran for the safety of the nearby save room. After carefully exiting the save room and making sure the furries were not rubbing up against each other in inappropriate ways, I decided left was as good a direction as any and headed to the reservoir.
After learning the hard way about the dangers of kicking the oxygen habit, I was able to retrieve a silver locket from under the water. I follow the logic of "if I can pick it up, it must have a use later" and exit the reservoir.
The bottom left hand corner of the map reveals a locked door, so I head to the right and enter a shack. I'm promptly attacked by a crazed ball of fur, who then gets spirited away in a bubble by some mysterious woman. Payback's a bitch. Literally. I'm left fighting a jumping toaster. I am surprised that he doesn't actually shoot toasted bread products at me. My amazing quick-thinking skills tell me to jump on a hanging block, which I use to exploit the boss and kill without getting hit a single time.
Further exploration yields a map system, and a farm with a health upgrade and some dialogue about flowers which, like everything else in this game, I hope will make more sense later. Futher discourse with taking rabbits uncovers a previously blocked door into the graveyard.
Sadly the graveyard is largely zombie-free, and instead inhabited by white mushrooms and a funny looking guy who has reflexes reminiscent of The Matrix, which enable him to block my bullets with his knife. There is also an inaccessible door, and Arthur's Key, which my Sherlockian powers of deduction tell me probably opens the door to Arthur's house. Arthur is apparently a Starfleet Engineer, because he has his own personal transporter. Set coordinates for Egg Corridor. Energize!
Random green dude informs me of the danger of the "White Thing." I promptly confirm that the "White Thing" is, in fact, deadly by trying to retrieve the nearby health capsule. Further attempts yield success.
Egg Corridor seems to be inhabited by elephants, jumping green cream-puffs and flying insects. Wholesale slaughter ensues, during which I learn that those orange triangles that I'm collecting are actually upgrading my weapon. Travel to the right reveals a giant, demonic looking bunny. After the demonic bunny absconds with the cute bunny, I enter Cthulhu's Abode. Much to my disappointment, Cthulhu is not a giant, tentacled Great Old One but, rather, a kid in a dinosaur costume. After saving and collecting the health capsule through the top door, I'm on my way again.
My amazing powers of observation, aside from telling me that when I try to get through on the telephone to you, there'll be nobody home, allow me to notice that there is not a complete wall around egg number 6. Jumping around warps me inside the egg, and I find an ID Card. I later reach the Egg Control room, wherein I find a Rocket Launcher and a computer telling me to investigate eggs number 1 and 6. I'm guessing I was supposed to find this first and back-track. I'm just too awesome for back-tracking.
After, I spend a few moments to upgrade my rocket launcher (you never know when you'll need a fully-upgraded rocket launcher) I use the key card to bring down the shield, and progress to the giant mutant rabbit. He is a pushover, and I quickly defeat him and rescue Sue, who says a few words and heads out. Looks like it's time to run back to the transporter.
Back in Mimiga village, I find that the locals are holding Sue hostage in the hopes of getting the other female back. They claim it's because Toroko is member of their community and Sue is not, but I'm thinking it's just because she puts out more than Sue does. We all know how much rabbits like to procreate. Oh well, off to Grasstown.
A quick fetch quest for Santa (no, he is not bearded, fat, or in a red suit) yields a new weapon: The Fireball. In a few minutes, I am raining fully upgraded fiery destruction down on my enemies. A quick trip to Chaco reveals that I need Jellyfish Juice to put out the fireplace and proceed. I head back outside, and the world is suddenly populated with...Metroids!
Crap! I have missiles, but I don't have the Ice Beam! Oh. Wait. Maybe these are the jellyfish. Killing the king jellyfish nets me a Jellyfish Juice. I start back towards Chaco, but a light-bulb (ding!) goes off in my head, and I remember a fireplace back in Mimiga village. A quick run back earns me another weapon. Level 1 and level 2 shoot bubbles, but level 3 gives me some sort of bubble shield that shoots out rapid fire projectiles. Interesting.
I gather another Jellyfish Juice and visit Chaco again. Through the fireplace I see a bunch of doors. A bit of chatting, running back and forth, and killing Balrog again tells me that I need to collect some items to make explosives in order to free the man from the locked shed. After running around a lot more, killing Balrog yet again (this time he is a frog) I have the requisite items to free the man. After listening to dialogue, heading back to Mimiga village, and listening to more dialogue, it is revealed that the character I'm controlling is a robot and we need to prevent the doctor from getting the red flowers that turn the Mimigas into killing machines. Ok, I have one question then. How the hell did I drown earlier if I am a damn robot???
I head off to sand zone and see what's there. I make my way to the first house and am promptly attacked by a raging lunatic with a machine gun. I defeat her and find out she was just trying to protect the Mimigas. Couldn't we have established that before you started shooting at me? Anyway, I'm tasked with removing the curse from the sunstones. How that's accomplished, I have no idea. I head to the right and find another boss battle. The Fireball makes quick work of it and, as if by magic, the curse of the sunstones is lifted.
I head back to the now-opened passage and meet an old lady. Balrog shows up (haven't I killed you 4 or 5 times so far? Don't you ever die?) and asks her for the key to the storeroom with the red flowers, she feigns ignorance and he leaves. Now I have the fun task of collecting her dogs. When I return with the last one, it seems Balrog has performed some elder abuse and taken the key from her. I travel the only direction I can, and come upon another boss battle, this time a raging mimiga who throws blocks at me. I dispatch her and am transported elsewhere.
I find myself in a place called the Labyrinth. I look around and it seems that the only way out is up.
Have I mentioned yet how much I hate jumping puzzles?
Cave Story Edition Contributor: Alex R. Cronk-Young
Alex doesn't actually play video games, he just talks, writes, reads, and listens to people talk about them. He has an unhealthy obsession with Zooey Deschanel and his wife isn't very happy about that. He is currently playing nothing. Didn't you read the first sentence? OK fine, he usually plays Star Fox 64 every night. Happy?
Perplexed Addiction
Obviously it can be a pretty addicting game. The Egg Corridor, the first proper level, for lack of a better term, that you go to in the game is a very simplistic, well...corridor. Grasstown and The Sand Zone aren't much better, but while they aren't masterfully designed, it's the challenges within them that draw you in.
These aren't simple get-to-the-end types of levels. This fact was made abundantly clear to me as I was trying to finish up the assigned portion of the game yesterday morning. I discovered with each defeated boss that I still had more level to complete. Maybe this is more of that messing with normal game conventions that I had heard about? Perhaps, but I liken it more to an attempt at fitting current game ideals into a old school game world.
My only complaint is the ridiculous story. So what's a mimaga? Are they rabbits? Wait, now I'm a robot? You haven't explained what they are yet. Now they grow into big monsters when they eat flowers? Are they Were-Rabbits? What am I again? Didn't you just say I'm from up top, but then you said the mimaga's went down to the surface? Are we underground or in the clouds? That doesn't make sense for caves to be in the clouds. Never mind...I give up.
Cave Story Edition Contributor: James DeRosa
Cave Story has James considering a possible future as a professional caving guide. The Descent has him worried about CHUDs. Plato has him wondering if it's all an allegory. And the NES title Spelunker makes him pretty sure early game designers hated their audiences.
He is currently playing the waiting game for Scribblenauts.
[Note: Yes, we know Scribblenauts is out. Sometimes these things don't get published in a timely fashion. I have new-found respect for editors and deadlines! - J. Cosmo]
Dark Days Ahead
Today I saved a bunch of puppies, a little bunny girl, and found some comraderie with another amnesiac robot. It was good day. Or, at least, it was shaping up to be one.
In this newest portion of the Game Club's Cave Story playthrough, a lot of explanation was given to the overall motivating factors behind Pixel's creation. As it turns out, the nefarious Doctor behind the recent kidnappings of the mimigas has found a red flower that turns them into insane, hulking monsters. His plan is to unleash a mimiga army against the human world in a effort to dominate the globe.
I'm not sure if it's because I grew up playing tons of Japanese games, but, believe it or not, this story is kind of working for me.
Cave Story continues to amaze with is shocking variety of environments, catchy music, and nearly constant stream of power ups.
Some of the places I went in this stretch of the game included a dragon hatchery, a forest full of floating jellyfish, and a sandy cave infested with bone creatures. The amount of art assets in this game is jaw dropping. Pixel never seems content to reuse an enemy, and just when a specific area starts to get a little tired, he's always right there to whisk you off to a new one.
The weapons keep piling on as well. In the three areas we covered, I got two new weapons: a ground hugging fireball and a sword that unleashes devastating short range attacks. There was an option for a third weapon, an upgrade to Quote's primary gun, but this weapon can be upgraded three different ways, depending on how long you hold onto Quote's initial model. I'm going for the last, best, and most difficult one to get.
Anyway, Cave Story still impresses me. Everything I said in my first entry keeps proving more and more true.
And it was a good day, or it least it seemed to be; I saved some puppies, and a little bunny girl. I even met my robot girlfriend. Everything was going great.
Until the double homicide.
Cave Story Edition Contributor: Evan Killham
It all started when I talked to a bunch of bunny people and then fought a giant lunchbox. I guess the lunchbox was feeling sporting, so the boss fight was optional? I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so on the chance that the "No" option was a trap, I went ahead and fought him.
So the lunchbox with the thirty-foot vertical took off and I talked to more bunny people and then went and shot mushrooms. And then some other stuff happened and I found out that I'm a robot. Also, the villain's plot is to unleash an army of flower-high bunny people onto the planet's surface to wipe out humanity.
Oh, and there was an old woman with a key to the only source of the evil flowers, but she wouldn't give it to me unless I went and found her puppies. I didn't mind doing it; I like puppies and all, but time seemed to be a factor there, and I guess if she could trust me with the puppies, she could trust me with the key.
At some point the giant lunchbox turned into a giant frog. I saw that. Sometime after that the giant frog turned back into the giant lunchbox, and I guess I missed that part because the giant lunchbox showed up later and I thought, "Lunchbox? Weren't you a frog?"
Also, I leveled up the machine gun all the way, which allowed me to fly through the air on a cushion of bullets and do some Matrix-level shit. This made me unspeakably happy, even though I really, really hate the Matrix movies.
Now I guess the bad guy's got the bad flowers and bunny people are dying all over the place and some Witch Lady has sent me and the lunchbox to a labyrinth. It's a good thing I didn't play any farther than that, because if my fever had spiked again I might have hallucinated David Bowie into the game.
So, like...all that stuff was real, right? Because if it wasn't, the next play session is going to be incredibly disappointing.
To: J. Cosmo Cohen
From: Andrew Hiscock
That was great what you did last time. Maybe we should do something like that again, where you call me out for being late. We'll start off similar where you call me an asshole for getting married, not for actually getting married mind you, but for making the commitment to participate when I have so much going on in life. And I will say, listen let's just do what we did last time, it's a great angle, and now that I've been playing the game proper, I can talk about how I'm worried about how I don't know how to fit how neat the jumping mechanic is, and how there seems to be all this depth to the story, and it is slowly being revealed in a very cool way and mysterious way, actually creating more of a sense of world by not revealing what is going on.
To: Andrew Hiscock
From: J. Cosmo Cohen
Yeah, I thought it was pretty clever as well. We should definitely continue this for next time. I like the marriage angle and committing yourself to too much work. Maybe that will be indicative of your marriage life? Ha ha, just kidding. Hopefully.
Glad you're enjoying the game. Kind of a side note, but what did you think of the grass level? Do you think there's any way we can fit that into this cleverly? Maybe I say something about "You're only at the grass level?!" What do you think?
To: J. Cosmo Cohen
From: Andrew Hiscock
This is what I think. I think I could make an analogy to how tangly the Grass Level is, what with the going back and forth, completing various aspects... Maybe you should come back at me with "Oh you're the one making it complicated, just play the the game!". And then I can say how offensive you are being, just like that new weapon, the rolling fireballs, or whatever it is, which is awesome.
I also think, and this may be going a bit far, I think we should also get into a fight about how I didn't finish the sand level, which is totally untrue, but it gives credence to this whole slacker bit.
At the very least, the game is delivering on the mysterious aspect, and while it is revealing the story, it isn't ham-fisting it or being overly patronizing. That should come out in the fake fight. Somehow. I'll figure it out.
And that's a wrap for part two of Bitmob Game Club: Cave Story Edition!
If you're following along, we'll be playing until Egg Corridor (redux)!
Want to join the game club? Shoot an email to: jcosmocohen[at]gmail[dot]com. Subject: Bitmob Game Club.
When it's time for a new edition, four people will be randomly chosen to participate. Be sure you can commit the time and effort it takes before sending the email; otherwise you get the Darnell Boot-O-Doom!
Remember: Each contributor worked hard playing and writing about the game -- give them feedback!
