Starmen.Net

This will be a shorter Game Club with just one podcast recording. If you have no idea what any of this is, check out the FAQ below:

Game Club Schedule

*Denotes podcast show for this Game Play Point

When can I tune in for the live podcast recordings for Game Club?

We record the podcast live in front of a Justin.tv audience here around 10 AM PST every Sunday. However, we tend to change that schedule a bit so check out our twitter where we will post updates before the show goes live.

Where can I find a copy of the game?

So really, there’s no reason not to join in this time folks, tweet you friends, post on your facebooks and let’s try and get a great turn out for the last Game Club of 2011, which will be known as the year Game Club came back with a vengeance! And yes, even I will be taking breaks from Skyrim to play some Cave Story with everyone

And will you guys be doing the “extras” to get to “hell”?

I honestly don’t know, based on what Kevin told me it’s probably not that, the goal is to beat this game by the 24th without having to put in a lot of time each day so yeah. I’ll have him clarify and then update the schedule.

Oh, hey. Good thing I have a DSi with this game, I guess! I finished the game on PC a while back and, while I bought it on the DSi to show support to a humble indie game, I never did finish it on the handheld. I suppose this will give me an excuse to, now!

Oh yeah, and to get the perfect ending (I wouldn’t necessarily say the “good” ending because out of the 3 endings only one of them I’d consider “bad”), you have to do a few things in between the game that you’d have to know beforehand, so in order to have the most authentic experience it would probably be appropriate to just say the “normal” ending is the ending intended for Game Club, or something.

My first Game Club! Yay! And my birthday copy of Cave Story 3D came on Friday, so I’m in a good position. Maybe this will be the time I beat the True Final Boss, because every attempt on the Wiiware version ends in my total destruction on one of his later forms.

Ah, Cave Story. Enjoyed it on PC, got the WiiWare version and was quite disappointed. Have they ever fixed that, yet? The ’updated’ music is missing the entire drum section, and the dinging from the bouncing exp gets excruciatingly loud for no reason.

In any case, I’ve never been able to beat the second-to-last boss, so this’ll be a nice excuse to give it another go.

Yeah, they put out a patch that fixed a few issues. Boss Rush isn’t unlocked from the start, they fixed the music looping... a few other things.

Anyway, before having even dived into the 3DS remake yet, one observation I actually made from the manual: they treat the main character’s name like a spoiler, like many should. They don’t call the protagonist by his real name, but rather "Mr. Traveler". It’s a nice touch, honestly. Also a nice touch? The animation they play on the top screen. Mr. Traveler, rendered in voxels, so that when you first see him, he looks like he does in the other versions of Cave Story.

Going to be playing it on the PC. I didn’t get far last time. Can anyone give a rough time required to complete this game?

Also, I’m just going to leave this right here.

Ahaha, yes! I haven’t played this game for a while, this’ll be a great opportunity to play through it again to get the good ending!

The true ending I feel would be far too much to ask for our Game Clubnauts to need to accomplish. However, the narrative you’re missing from not going through “Hell” and fighting the final final boss I feel is at least SORTA great. So it should certainly be something to strive for.

For anyone wanting to get the best ending, just a hint, do not trade your Polar Star.

I’m excited to hear impressions from anyone playing the new 3D release, I’m considering picking it up but probably not right away. It looks like it plays well in the videos I’ve seen, and I’ve heard some of Danny Baranowsky’s updated music and really dig it, but I really need to keep my game purchases in check so I’m being more choosy these days.

Anyway, I’ll be playing the original release and this will be something like my fifth or sixth go. This is a great title especially for people who look back on the platformers of the 8 and 16 bit eras with great fondness. It’s usually likened to Metroid, and with good reason, but the comparison falls short in some ways I feel. For first-timers who have heard this comparison and are wondering how it holds up, I’ll go into some more detail on my thoughts.

While Metroid games are major titles from a developing and publishing giant (at least by the time of Super Metroid’s landmark release), Cave Story is an independent game in the truest sense of the term, being the product of one artistic computer programmer from Japan, alias Pixel, working on his own. The game’s scope therefore cannot be expected to rival the Metroid titles. It is a hefty game in its own right, but compared to a Metroid game the experience is much more streamlined and a bit more simple. That said, as with many indie games, I find that Cave Story feels more like a labor-of-love than Metroid. There are some neat personal touches to pick up on, subtle though they may be, and I think players get a great sense of Pixel’s personality from playing his game. It’s a feeling something akin to what I experienced with EarthBound and Itoi, and I think fans of that game will pick up on it as they play.

Also, as the title might betray, Cave Story has a more overt narrative than most Metroid games, but like those titles it leaves plenty up to the player’s imagination. There are quite a few supporting characters, although the game will give you time to be on your own and get lost and such. I never felt that the story interfered with the game, which was a large complaint I had with Metroid: Other M. You’re gradually given just enough information to keep things rolling along, and it comes by way of these various cast members who all remain somewhat mysterious. A common theme in this game is you’ll rarely discover characters’ backgrounds, and where you are able to it always requires some effort, and then there will still be holes. Despite this, the characters all have unique personalities and always held my interest with ease.

While the two paragraphs above covered points of divergence, there are a great many similarities between Cave Story and Metroid. The gameplay of Cave Story resembles Metroid’s quite a lot. You’re armed with a fair arsenal of firearms that you will acquire and upgrade as you progress, including a missile launcher with ammo upgrades scattered around the world. You also increase your health capacity by finding life capsules (like energy tanks), though the increments are more gradual. The cavernous setting lends itself to Metroid-like level design and atmosphere. The difficulty level is pretty nearly identical in my own estimation, although the optional final area should be considered separately. I think it’s safe to say that if you enjoy Metroid for its core gameplay, you will be right at home with Cave Story.

These are all very basic comparisons that you can probably see within an hour or so of playing, but I think I’d like to continue this line of comparison with more concrete details as we move along.

This game has always interested me, I may as well try it out since it’s free.

Hum… dunno if i will play it…. but it have a PSP port…. maybe i will give it a try!

I’ll probably start streaming this game tonight and play for a bit (almost) every night until the end. If I’m feeling gutsy enough, maybe I’ll go for the special ending.

I’m a bit ahead of the game as I started broadcasting Cave Story for the Broforce two weeks ago, but I should be on schedule for the due date. I missed a few things in my first run through the game, but my primary goal this time is aiming for a time under 3 minutes for the Sacred Grounds. Really simple goal, but I missed the Nikumaru Counter the last time! :(

I’m always confused initially when I first boot up the game and pressing down is “check stuff out/enter doors” instead of up. Then I play other games and I’m confused when up has that function, which is probably a testament to how tight the controls are; it’s one of those games where it controls so well that habits form when it’s time to play other games.

Katon:

For anyone wanting to get the best ending, just a hint, do not trade your Polar Star.

I dunno... a fully-upgraded Machine Gun can be kinda helpful in navigating "Hell". Not to mention I had SO much trouble just leaping that one gap that gets you past the... how do I describe it?... Schrodinger’s Cat scene. (People who know that phrase and have played to "Hell" would know what I mean... I think.)

Anyway, the 3DS version has been pretty nice so far. The redone soundtrack is pretty nice... still sounds familiar, but Danny B. (of Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac fame) added some enjoyable little flourishes. 3D is well done, and they are using the WiiWare translation. (I know people like Barlog saying "Huzzah!" better, but I couldn’t help but laugh at him pulling a Kool-Aid Man.) Stuck in the Grasslands, for some reason... Odd, considering I got the "normal" ending once, and got to the True Final Boss.

I believe they changed the Huzzah! to Oh yeah! in order to reference the Kool-Aid guy. As much as they took away such an iconic catchphrase, they didn’t have reasons that bad.

And man, I am sick of Cave Story. Beat it already on PC and Wii. I’ll only replay it once I get that new 3D version.

I haven’t tried speedrunning Hell yet, but I can definitely see why the Nemesis is the weapon of choice there. I may give that a go this time, but I’m not expecting much; I did a few practice runs before I rewrote my old save file to start up again, and I only reached the main section once, whereon I promptly killed myself going for a heart. Hopefully I’ll be up to stuff by the time I get back there.

Oh, and a hint for players who want to avoid some tedious backtracking early on (I’ll put it in tags for those who want to figure everything out on their own, but there are no plot-related spoilers here): When you get to Grasstown/Bushlands (depending on your translation), every time you use up a jar of jellyfish juice, go ahead and grab another one. You should even pick one up when you leave, as there is an optional place to use it elsewhere in the game.

Need some advice. My at home gaming is currently packed with Skyrim, Arkham City and the upcoming Skyward Sword, so I’m thinking handheld might give me the best opportunity to play. I own the Wii version, but have only played an hour or so. Is $40 worth it so I can play the 3DS version or should I spend the $10 or whatever for the DSi version? Anyone out there put significant time in the 3DS version?

Sand zone is where I ragequit last time I tried playing Cave Story.

• Backtracking through the desert many, many times. I feel like this is one of the major weaknesses in terms of CS’s level design: There’s nothing interesting to see or do on the way back and it makes this whole level really tedious.
• Respawning enemies every time you backtrack through a door. Fighting the same group of skeletons and parrots over and over again was not fun.
• Having a save point halfway across the map from the “NOPE YOU ARE DEAD” spikes.
• Having an unskippable cutscene in front of the boss at the end of the level.
• I don’t feel the difficult scaled very well into this level. The previous boss fights were manageable, but the difficulty jumped way up in this level. This combined with the above point made the level’s ending boss extremely frustrating.

(in reference to the spoilered) Yeah, I remember that being a game-ender for me, but once I got past it, the game picked up again for me.

I’ve been seeing a lot of table flipping against Monster X (the tank boss in the Labyrinth) so here’s my ultimate tip:

Level 2 Blade wrecks everything.

So I played little on the PC for the first time, and it’s pretty good. It feels like one of those old DOS games. My only peeve is that Escape doesn’t bring you back to the game, but makes you quit.

Downloaded the freeware version. It’s really fun! But I’m stuck at the part where I get the Gum Base. Any pointers?
I just figured out that you can damage Frog!Balrog when his mouth is open. But I have no idea how to survive against the torrent of little frogs and red bubble things... At this point I have 23 health and 20 missiles.

Dr. Hobo:

also I dunno about you guys, but I’ve never found hell hard. You just gotta go slow and careful. Also I sit at Heavy Press and just farm for hearts and missiles until I’m at max, so that might be why I’ve beaten it so many times

I agree as I did the same thing on my first playthrough, but this a new run… But the real challenge is obviously speed-running it. I call for a Sacred Groudns Speed Run Contest! (Super points for anyone who is playing the minimal items run.)

I’ve been meaning to finish this game for the last year or so. I’ve gotten to the Sand Zone but not any further. Time to fix that.