Indie Intermission – Rolling In The Depths Of ‘Cave Story’

Today’s game will be a little different. It’s not so much a short title but think of it more of a weekend project – maybe a tad longer. I feel that Daisuke Amaya’s (AKA Pixel) fantastic Cave Story (Dōkutsu Monogatari) need an honorable mention here though, as its amazing and free.

After developing the game for five years Pixel finished Cave Story in 2004 and self published the game as freeware – also only in Japanese originally. Cave story depicts the adventures of this lone amnesiac. You awake with no memory lost in this dark cave before shortly stumbling across the village of Mimiga.

Mimiga is home to a sentient rabbit race, once care free now plagued with problems for a maniacal scientist. The fate of Mimiga rests solely on your shoulders, a tall order for anyone and considering you can’t even remember your own name… this may be a tricky one.

Cave Story is an action adventure game very much based on the great Castlevania and Metroid games of the Nintendo era gone by. Combining the gameplay of these classics, the retro pixel art style, and a whole new and imaginative storyline Cave Story really is something special.

Although originally released in 2004 the graphics of Cave Story still stand up. Coupled with the great audio and varied landscapes you really get a great gameplay experience.

Average play time – Your Weekend

Even though Cave Story may take a little bit of time to complete it has many great gameplay mechanics that will enchant you. The story is fantastic and very involving along side the great gameplay so expect to sink significant amounts of time into this game.

Cave Story can be downloaded here along with all manner of translations from the original Japanese. It is also completely controller enabled so no need to mess around with any third party software.

If you are a fan of Cave Story consider helping out the developer and buying Cave Story+ from Steam.

If you are a developer with A fun indie game that can be played over a coffee break, we want to hear from you! Private message us on twitter @IndieGameMag or shoot us an email at [email protected] with the subject “Indie Intermission” and you could be our indie intermission pick of the day!