Cave Story Memories

Man, it's already been 17 years since Cave Story was first released. Where does the time go. It Is weird to be as old as this game considering lots of you probably played this game when you were around my age.
How about this, I'll talk about some of my memories and you can talk about yours. That should be fun.

I still remember my own experiences of this game. I first played the Demo of the Wii Ware version back in the early 2010's, likely 2012. For reference I was only five months old when this game came out in 2004. I still remember playing the demo over and over, memorizing everything about the first few areas of the game. I never got the full game on the Wii but I did eventually get the Nintendo 3Ds port of the game. I couldn't of been happier when I beat the game for the first time. I always struggled with the time attack modes. I don't think I ever did get through the Blood Stained Sanctuary on my 3Ds. When I eventually get access to a computer and developed the mental capacity to use one I quickly found out that the game was freeware. I didn't feel cheated or anything because I didn't always have access to the computer, as opposed to my 3Ds.

Enough about me though. I want to know what do you guys remember. What was your first experience with cave story? Anything you want to share about your time with this game, or even its community, share it, I'd love to read it.

 

It was Twitter that got me to playing it, I had heard about the game, and then I got interested so I tweeted asking if I should play, many people said yes! What sold me was the fact it was free! I found a fanmade trailer from 2006 as my first impressions funnily enough.

Even though I first played about a year ago, I still have fond memories of the game! I think going through the core, hearing Geothermal and going through the boss is very memorable. It also gives me chills!

For many years I always recognized the background from the Outer Wall, I never knew where it came from. When entering the Outer Wall I was in shock, Moonsong playing as the iconic clouds go by as I stand close to the edge, it was mesmerizing!! Reflecting all that has happened - Needless to say my first ending was the Bad Ending, oops ._. As I played and finished the game I made tons of Fanart, mostly of Quote because hes my favorite character! It almost seemed like everyday I was drawing him, even if it was just him staring at you pfft. I also made tons of theories after hearing about Cave Story Beta!! That’s another thread for another time however! Its also no secret Cave Story has inspired tons of game developers, actually it was Cave Story and OneShot that finally got me to actually create a game, still after a year i am still working on it, its going pretty well!

Some small memories I have is I played the Freeware first, thought the fps was bad, and bought the Switch port not even finishing Bushlands, ALSO! Beating Ballos was awesome, I beat him at school and I was trying so hard not to look like a doofus, haha! It took me about a month to beat him, it still shocks me to think that there have been people who have spent years and still haven't beaten him. One of my biggest accomplishments with the game is beating Hell in 3'34'33. I still practice for the day I get under 3 minutes. One of these days..........

Weirdly while playing have this strange feeling I have played the game before…. Is weird.. It could be that I heard or seen the Mimiga village somewhere, it couldve been from the Wii.

 

I don't have much to say right now when it comes to the memories I made from playing the game. First played it less than 2 months ago, and I've only played it twice so far. Got the normal and best ending (With an abysmal Sacred Grounds completion time).

Most of my memories come from before that. I remember a few years after the game's release, when I was still a little kid. A friend showed it to me and even let me play it a little (Poorly. Technically, this was my first time playing it). Ever since then, the memory stuck with me all the way up until now. Fragmented and distorted beyond belief, but a memory nonetheless.

I also remember being all over flash games during its golden era, so you better believe I was inundated with Cave Story references left and right. Too bad I didn't understand any of them, and I can't pinpoint which and where, but they were surely there. Must've played thousands of flash games back then, it was a good time.

It seems there was always someone who wanted to say something about Cave Story. I always had it in the back of my mind, but never got around to playing it. That was until I was listening to Silvagunner tracks to torture myself with. Had this thing going where I would take one of their tracks, see the game they were butchering, then listen to the original ost so that I can be current with my game music knowledge. Then I came across the original Cave Story ost. I listened to the first track, felt pain, then caved in and played the game.

I'll just end it here before I make an essay. Realized I had more to say than I thought I would. Can't wait 'til next year when Cave Story becomes an adult.

 

I found out about Cave Story in March of 2011 when I was in 8th grade (14 years old). My brother got it on his PSP because he was looking into all kinds of homebrew stuff for PSP, and he was raving about how awesome it was. I was busy with some stuff at the time, but when the summer of 2011 came around, I cleared my schedule and played it on my Windows XP laptop, and I loved it. I had high expectations for this game going into it, and it met and exceeded those expectations.

I enjoyed the first half of the game, but it wasn't until Curly sacrificed herself to save me that I was totally hooked and realized just what an amazing game this was. I remember my brother driving me and my sister somewhere later that day, and I was talking with my brother (who was 18 at the time) about just how great Cave Story was, and how well done Curly's sacrifice was. I remember the thrill of that cutscene right before the Undead Core, and the satisfaction of watching the credits roll. I especially enjoyed the second half of the credits, where Mischievous Robot is playing, and Quote is intermittently running in place.

I remember visiting with extended family later that summer, and enjoying my subsequent playthroughs of Cave Story when we were on the road to and back from those places. One of those times was the 4th of July weekend. It was also around that time that I had reached Hell, and was greatly thrown off at first by the difficulty curve. And had a huge rush of excitement when I finally beat it.

Later that fall, in 2011, was my freshman year of high school, and that was a rough time in life. School was suddenly so much more demanding, and that transition was very jarring for me. When fall break came around, I got super excited by finally having more free time than I'd had in a long time. That fall break coincided with the weekend of my 15th birthday, which I spent replaying Cave Story some, and then teaching myself how to mod Cave Story. It was during that weekend that I created my very first Cave Story mod (not my fourth ending mod), which you can find in the spoiler in my signature.

I will also have to say that throughout high school, it was pretty darn funny to look at all of the reactions of people who thought my fourth ending was a real part of the original game, and it was pretty funny showing all of the reactions to my brother when he'd be home from college for the summers or Christmas breaks. Back when I first talked about making a video to trick people into thinking it was in the original game, my brother wasn't impressed at all, and he thought the idea was kind of stupid. But then when the reactions started pouring in, my brother quickly changed his tune and thought that it was the funniest thing ever. My brother came home from college for the summer of 2012, and soon after he came home, the first video response that I'm aware of popped up, and my brother and I watched together as that guy tried to break that block at about the 13:30 mark. When he came back from the Sand Zone and said "Looks like the ending is bullshit," my brother fell over and roared with laughter. I had never heard my brother laugh that hard before, and I've never heard him laugh that loudly since then. At that point, my brother admitted that he misjudged my hoodwinking prowess, and laughed some more as I showed him the comments on my video and all of the posts on other forums that had popped up of people discussing my fourth ending. Good times.

 

i think i found the game on steam sometime in 2016, after it popped up on a store page as a recommended game. caught my eye for whatever reason and after a brief period of frustration i got it working (rip mac port). definitely remember playing it in class instead of paying attention because i was and am a terrible student, but got stuck on the balcony boss rush and never finished it... on that save file, at least. i was playing blind on the normal ending anyway - curly's death in the core room really got me, the slow realisation that i was gonna have to leave her there and just how effective that feeling (and honestly, that whole sequence from the core room to the plantation) was set up with such little text still sticks with me today.
but anyway, skip forward to 2017/18, i had a new laptop and decided to redownload it, as well as join (and later co-found) a couple discord servers around it. finally beat the best ending, started drawing fanart, joined the modding community, and i suppose the stars aligned in terms of fandom engagement for my brain to decide 'ok, this is the thing we're going to not be able to shut up about now'.

now, not to get too sappy on main but i met most of my current friend group through the cave story community - i had the usual struggles of being an (undiagnosed till late teens) autistic kid when it came to making and keeping friends irl, so that's really the most meaningful thing about this game, that it allowed me to finally meet and make proper, lasting friendships, as well as send the improvement of my artistic skills skyrocketing.

something something the real cave story was the friends we made along the way

 

I got to know Cave Story through a video on Youtube
and what most caught my attention in the story behind the game was the year it started to be developed in 1999, and that made me fascinated by Daisuke and his game,
he started creating a game on his own and at a time when independent games didn't exist or weren't known, this and added a few more factors led me to want to know more about this game.

and when I found out that it was free and had a localized version for my language (Portuguese)
almost immediately I installed it and tested it....I vividly remember the mimiga village and its eccentric but extremely charismatic characters, King, Toroko, Mahin, Jack, and the others, and I vividly remember becoming emotionally involved with them and their dealings with the killer robots and the Doctor.

It may seem like an exaggeration, but when I first saw the bad ending, I felt that my actions had consequences and I was to blame for the bad things that were happening on that island and its inhabitants, even with Kazuma saying it wasn't my fault I still couldn't stop thinking about how "things could have been different".

and the fact that Quote doesn't say anything (at least not explicitly during the game) made me immerse myself in that world and imagine myself being me in Quote's place.

after that i ended the game in the normal ending and a few days later in the secret ending with Ballos.
then I went after secrets and collectibles.
like panties and red lipsticks.

in less than a few months I was exchanging all of my social media photos for Quote photos as a profile,
probably my friends can't stand me anymore because I keep talking about Cave Story all the time haha...I've known Cave Story for less than a year, but it was enough to impact me, I had more to say, but I think it's enough.

 

I love this question and idea, haha.

I think my favorite memory with Cave Story was carrying freeware around school every day. This was maybe back in 2010? WiiWare was out, but before DSiWare, I know that. Anyways, I loved the game a ton and taking Freeware around on a 2GB USB was how I managed to take the game around in portable fashion for a few months, haha. There was this computer class I took that basically taught the students proficiency with a computer and I would finish all my assignments early just so the teacher would give me extra free time and I would plug my USB in and boot up Cave Story.

Not only that, but all of our projects I managed to find a way to put it in Cave Story references. Hell, one day we were literally being taught how to make detailed art in MS Paint of all things. Some students did good but I made really bad fanart of Quote and it PAINS ME TO THIS DAY that none of the art or assignments were saved. Everything got deleted for students next year to start fresh. I think one of my assignments had "Polar Star" in the name, as well.

AND THEN DSIWARE CAME OUT AND I DIDN'T HAVE A DSI, I STILL HAD A DS LITE. I did whatever I could for my mom to get me a DSi and eventually I did get one, but she didn't wanna give me DSi Points so I stuck with the USB method until my next report card and she bought me DSi Points as a reward and I was so excited that I finally got DSi points that I bought Dr. Mario instead.

I did eventually get Cave Story on DSi a few years later, but I was content with my Wii and a USB, haha.

 

This is a great thread, thanks for making it. Happy birthday, Cave Story!
I would have liked to respond to everyone who posted here, but it might get a little long. But it honestly made me feel very warm and fuzzy inside to read everyone's memories related to this game!

Well, I think it was around 2008 or so... My dad was looking for some free PC games to keep us entertained, and happened to find Cave Story along with a few other games in some sort of bundle on one of those free software sites. I was maybe 7-8 years old, and I remember getting as far as the Egg Corridor before getting stuck - it had never occurred to me to go inside the eggs. I didn't think much of it and moved on to playing other games (Bubble Trouble, Stranded II, etc.).

A few years later(!), I had the bright idea of looking to the internet for help. I found a walkthrough and followed it religiously, getting all endings in the first playthrough. Looking back, I think this took away from the experience and surprise and wonder that the player was supposed to feel - I should have only looked for a hint when really stuck, and played blind as much as possible. Since I was basically spoiling myself throughout the game's duration, I don't have memories of 'oh wow, this is beautiful!' or 'oh no, what's gonna happen now?!'.

And yet, I loved the game to pieces. I think it was because most other games I had played so far were more gameplay-based and 'simplistic' - Cave Story being the only one with a plot and story and everything. For a long time, it was my gold standard of sorts; whenever I played another game I would judge how good it was based on how similar it was to Cave Story (kind of stupid, I know...) My obsession with the game also got me started on trying to learn how to draw. I am by no means an artist, but what little I do know is because I wanted there to be certain kinds of fan art, and when I couldn't find any, I resolved to trying to draw it myself.

I found out about these forums and joined in 2013, when I was... 12 years old, of course. I was excited to have found a community to talk about Cave Story with, but not having any common sense or social skills, I really made a fool of myself at nearly every opportunity. But folks here were remarkably patient, and I'd like to thank the people here that put up with me for helping me grow as a person. Without exaggeration, what I learnt here has made me a better person, I believe.
After that I joined college and got sort of busy, but lately I have been looking in every now and then. It's very nice to see new people still joining!

 

Yo I also got introduced through the game cuz of the wiiware demo! (we are around the same age I guess)

Eventually I got the full version on Wii and then got the switch version. its crazy to think that this forum has existed since I was like 2 years old o_o

 

WiiWare Demo gang. Loved the game there and bought it on DSiWare, then eventually moved to vanilla in 2012 and my life has never been the same since.

 

found cave story through the wiiware demo back in like 2012, I remember not being sure how to progress in the game so I was just wandering around the Mimiga Village. Eventually I looked the game up to find out how to get further and I found out the original version of the game can be downloaded for free, so I downloaded the Deluxe version and played through most of the game, all the way up to the Undead Core fight where I kept dying
eventually I rediscovered and replayed the game in 2015, that was when I joined the forums and started modding and making crappy OrgMaker songs, and to this day I still thank Cave Story for getting me into music production in the first place and I still mod the game from time to time

also, kind of loosely related to the thread (remember = memories, i win ) I'm a person who remembers dreams often and I've had a few Cave Story related dreams in the past, many of which I used as inspiration for mod projects (Lost Machine notably, and also EVENTCORRUPT I swear I will finish that mod eventually lol) I have mentioned a few of them on Discord before and I might try to recall some in a post on these forums at some point because most are pretty interesting tbh

 

When I was younger, my parents would purchase issues of a gaming magazine that came with DVD with free games, demos, free software, and such. It was the June 2007 issue that had the freeware Cave Story (along with like 199 other freeware games).

I initially had trouble with the game at first, but eventually managed to continue past Mimiga Village. The first ending I got was the normal ending (Booster v0.8); it took me like two, maybe three years to learn about the whole "ignore Professor Booster in the Labyrinth" thing and the Polar Star being upgradeable to the Spur... by complete accident, at that. (No walkthroughs or guides or such. I think that time, I wanted to see how far I could go without obtaining the Booster or losing the Polar Star for a Machine Gun or Snake...)

Took me about a year before I finally beat the Undead Core (late 2008) and another one before I defeated Ballos (mid 2009).

 

When I was younger, my parents would purchase issues of a gaming magazine that came with DVD with free games, demos, free software, and such. It was the June 2007 issue that had the freeware Cave Story (along with like 199 other freeware games).

I initially had trouble with the game at first, but eventually managed to continue past Mimiga Village. The first ending I got was the normal ending (Booster v0.8); it took me like two, maybe three years to learn about the whole "ignore Professor Booster in the Labyrinth" thing and the Polar Star being upgradeable to the Spur... by complete accident, at that. (No walkthroughs or guides or such. I think that time, I wanted to see how far I could go without obtaining the Booster or losing the Polar Star for a Machine Gun or Snake...)

Took me about a year before I finally beat the Undead Core (late 2008) and another one before I defeated Ballos (mid 2009).

I think you're the first person I've heard who hasn't intentionally gotten the best ending, that's impressive!

 

Played Wii Demo around 2012ish, found it cool I guess and loved watching my brother play it. (I cant even read text back then.)
Then my dad bought the full game on the wii and I watched my brother play it because back then im weak at videogames. Eventually, I started playing it and I got good and I got the machine gun at the Sand Zone which helped alot with platforming,

I then got my Windows 7 in 2016 and downloaded the freeware version. I would just watch videos of Cave Story mods (which are extinct nowadays) and Aar bullying mod creators back then with his MODDING SHITSTORM video series.

2016 was a good year for Cave Story.

Also I remember making a dumb comic/storyboard series featuring Cave Story characters and sometimes I would replace characters from a movie with the Cave Story characters