Cave Story is an Allegory for the Vietnam War to be Specific.

I don't know if this belongs in Theories, or whatever, but I thought this was great, so I wanted to share it, I don't know if anybody picked up on this or not.

A robot made specifically for war, a killing machine if you will (Green Beret Special Forces) in an unknown land, with no idea why he's there, finds a small village of innocent creatures, this Green Beret, let's call him "Quote" has to watch them be abducted into a militaristic society, where their lives consist of farming a drug that turns them into total monsters. Quote meets another soldier, (Let's call her 'Curly Brace') and they continue towards their goal that the player doesn't fully understand, and still, years after is trying to make complete sense of it.After shooting their way through exotic environments, they get thrown in a prison, which is essentially a box full of corpses infested with bugs and rodents. They break out of the box and accomplish their 'mission' of killing a Militia Leader, they may or may not talk during this whole game, but it doesn't matter what they say, because they're still going to end up being made to do the game by the player. In the end they go down a hole, into 'hell' this basically sums up the metaphor, they shoot a bunch of cherubs (Vietnamese Guerilla soldiers were known for how young they were.) maneuver through deadly terrain, and kill an entire army himself. (The US Soldiers were outnumbered and unfamiliar with the deadly grass, that can scratch and infect the soldier's knees with bacteria, this essentially was a death sentence.) Hell could also symbolize the guilt these two super-soldiers felt, as the only two people who go through it are the killing machines.

I know you probably think this is all malarky (is that how you pronounce it?) but I think this is a totally reasonable allegory, like the Veggie Tales to The Bible.

 

Actually, I believe that was JilJil you're thinking of

 

Silly Noxid.

Everything Pixel has ever made has deep throes of poetic metaphor buried beneath it. It is our honor, mission, and duty as members of the Cave Story Tribute Site Forums to decipher the deeper allegories of this beautiful man's works. Who knows? There's probably the question to 42 somewhere in, like, Rockfish or something. (Too bad that will probably never be released.)

As for you, half-life, your theory makes sense. Even if it kind of depresses me

 

Did you guys know that in Guxt the second time you get a gun upgrade it's a metaphor for the holocaust

 

You've certainly done your research on Cave Story, but it seems like you're a little unclear on the plot details of the Vietnamese War.

in an unknown land, with no idea why he's there

That's not a parallel with Vietnam. Soldiers don't enlist for no reason, and don't go into battle without an objective.

this Green Beret, let's call him "Quote"

If this was Pixel's intent, wouldn't Quote have a green hat, instead of looking like a Pokemon trainer?

has to watch them be abducted into a militaristic society,

Okay, but in a Vietnam allegory, this would have been Quote's fault. If the Doctor and the Surface represent America, Quote can't represent it too.

where their lives consist of farming a drug that turns them into total monsters.

I must have forgotten about all the meth labs back in 'Nam.

Quote meets another soldier, (Let's call her 'Curly Brace') and they continue towards their goal that the player doesn't fully understand, and still, years after is trying to make complete sense of it.

By this time, Quote understands why the Doctor is bad; he just doesn't remember his own past. He's also fighting for the oppressed and militarized Mimiga, which would make Quote part of the Viet Cong (the non-American dudes) in this analogy.

After shooting their way through exotic environments, they get thrown in a prison

and lose the election to Obama

They break out of the box and accomplish their 'mission' of killing a Militia Leader

So if the Doctor is Charlie, the Mimiga are anti-VC Vietnamese? I don't know a lot about the internal politics on the Vietnamese side of the war, but I don't think you do either.
Let's back up for a second, though. Quote is a Green Beret, not some teenager on the front lines that just signed up to get away from his family. Special forces don't "not fully understand" their objectives. If they're going behind enemy lines to assassinate a VC leader, the shit is going to be briefed out them. And I'm not even going to explain how god damn impossible and useless a mission like that would have been in Vietnam, you'll just have to take my word for it.

they may or may not talk during this whole game, but it doesn't matter what they say, because they're still going to end up being made to do the game by the player.

Being made to do things by the player doesn't make sense. The player character, AKA the protagonist, AKA Quote, is the player's avatar in the game world. When something forces Quote to do something, it forces you to do something. Forcing yourself to do something doesn't smack of Vietnam at all.
This is an example of what you're trying to convey, and as you can see, a character in Spec Ops is guiding the player/PC. In Cave Story, it's made to seem like Quote did everything of his own volition, albeit on limited knowledge. The Doctor was doing shit like genocide and slavery though, so it's pretty justified.

In the end they go down a hole

hue

into 'hell' this basically sums up the metaphor, they shoot a bunch of cherubs (Vietnamese Guerilla soldiers were known for how young they were.) maneuver through deadly terrain, and kill an entire army himself. (The US Soldiers were outnumbered and unfamiliar with the deadly grass, that can scratch and infect the soldier's knees with bacteria, this essentially was a death sentence.)

I wasn't aware of high mortality rates due to infected elephant grass cuts, but I really don't know much about the Vietnamese War. Just what I learned in grade 12. I'm using a combination of what I remember and common sense. There seem to be a few things on Google referencing the razor-sharp blades of elephant grass fucking up American soldiers, so your story is plausible. However, American soldiers didn't fight guerilla-style. They did not run into hordes of Charlies, guns blazing, mowing down kids. The Viet Cong attacked their encampments guerilla-style, and it's true that America was better equipped but outnumbered in these battles. They couldn't keep fighting off waves of babies holding guns, and kept losing ground that they had gained in the first few years (two maybe?) of the war. At the end of Cave Story, Quote and Curly are charging through Hell, on their way to fight the ultimate evil and shooting everything in their way. After the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive"]Tet Offensive[/url], American forces would simply be holding on to the territory they had. Also, who does Ballos symbolize? Mao? Ho Chi Minh?

I know you probably think this is all malarky

yes

(is that how you pronounce it?)

No, it's pronounced "malarky."

but I think this is a totally reasonable allegory, like the Veggie Tales to The Bible.

No, it's—wait what?

Okay, so, Quote and Curly's mission is to kill a specific target and restore peace to the self-governed Mimiga. The Doctor's goal is world domination via fucking over the Mimiga. That makes Quote sound like a Viet Cong fighter, and the Doctor sound like Stalin. The VC's role in Vietnam was entirely defensive. They were freedom fighters*, not conquerors. You know what, just trying to fit Cave Story's plot into any kind of workable Vietnam allegory is hurting my brain, so I'm going to stop now.

Why can't you people just make some baseless, stupid comparison that doesn't require any thought, like Cave Story = Mario, so that I can make fun of you in 20 seconds and move on.

*in this case, freedom = communism

 

@Mister Captain Fabulous
Well, this is embarrassing, I didn't realize how many wrong facts I stated, I should've clarified with the mimigas a bit, because I just skimmed over that, also, all my information on the Vietnam War I have was from a book I read in, like Grade 5... Now that I think about it, I wasn't a very normal child... anyways, my bad, thanks for making my allegory explanation make more sense.
What I knew about 'Nam:
1. Battle against Russians over Vietnam to get aggression out during the Cold War,
2. American Soldiers got attacked by children from nearby villages wanting independence, some soldiers had to cut the VC's throats.
3. Some American Soldiers were turned into killing machines and got really screwed over by the government treatment of veterans.
4. Elephant Grass is a bitch
5. Vietnam was a failure for everyone except for Vietnamese, especially the Germans

Also, I don't really know about the Veggie Tales thing, my friend is a devout christian and said they were about the bible.

Making baseless stupid comparisons isn't as fun as thought-out-to-the-best-of-a-lazy-16-year-old's-ability comparisons
we all know socialism is the best.

@Polaris
Did you also know that Ikachan is about 'Nam? And Rain is about the Mississippi floods.

 

3. Some American Soldiers were turned into killing machines and got really screwed over by the government treatment of veterans.

I watched Forrest Gump and this doesn't sound true at all.

Anyway, there is probably some other war that Cave Story matches better. Maybe the first invasion of Iraq by America.

 

Spanish invasion of the Caribbean?

 

I thought Ikachan was Joan de Arc

 

Cave Story is a video game about a robot exploring a weird island with rabbits, other robots, and super powered magical beings.


Nothing else; nothing more.

 

Well that's no fun Meta Seraphim,
Remember First Blood? That movie was great.
"WE WERE GUNNA GO RIDIN!"

 

Wait, what? I thought Cave Story was a tribute to The Terminator.
RUINED FOREVER!

 

How does a video game have anything to do with the Vietnam war?

 

Well if you read the first damn page you would know now wouldn't you

 

Hey, remember when you were nice to new members?
lol
Don't worry, everyone turns eventually.

 

I'm sorry, <insert depression here>
I'm sure no one wants to hear about my depressive thoughts. They only last for like an hour anyway.
Sorry for getting snippy. Please just try to find the information yourself before asking others for it.

 

I think you forgot the words "In my opinion, I think [...]" in your topic title.

 

How does a video game have anything to do with the Vietnam war?

I really hope you're just being trying to be funny in an ironic way, like saying #yolo over doing basic life functions

I think you forgot the words "In my opinion, I think [...]" in your topic title.

I also put "To Be Specific" in the topic title by accident when I corrected it and forgot to take that out and now I'm stuck with both of those forever, it's more embarrassing having half of my facts rendered moot by a Captain Fabulous.

 

You know you can edit the OP right