Cave Story Weapon Analyses

This is meant to be a comprehensive guide to all the weapons, given from my point of view. This is in relation to the weapon's usefulness endgame (Final Bosses, and Sacred Grounds). All of the analyses will be in relation to the weapon's third level, unless stated otherwise. Level * rateings are hidden.

May 15, 2010: Weapon * rateings have been added on for each weapon. Also removed a bit of redundancy in the Nemisis analyses.
May 17 2010: Suggestions implimented for * rateings on: Fireball, Bubbler, Blade, and Nemisis

First Weapon Slot

- Polar Star -
This is your basic weapon, which can fire a couple shots on screen at once. It's pretty useful at first, but is outclassed by the other three weapons you can exchange it for.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *
Speed: ***
Power: *

Lv. 2
Range: **
Speed: ***
Power: **

Lv. 3
Range: ***
Speed: ***
Power: ***

- Machine Gun -
This is a powerful weapon that is fully automatic, just hold down the fire button an unleash a barrage of bullets upon your enemies! It can also be used as a propulsion system by aiming at the ground, or ceiling at level 3. Unfortunately it is outclassed by the other weapons due to lack of damage output, and the limited ammo. Recommended for beginners.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: ****
Speed: ****
Power: *

Lv. 2
Range: ***
Speed: ****
Power: **

Lv. 3
Range: ***
Speed: ****
Power: ****

- Snake -
This unique weapon allows you to shoot through walls, and rivals the Nemesis in terms of damage output per second (they have a simmilar damage output, Nemesis has a farther range and pierces weak enemies, but only fires two shots at once, while the Snake doesn't pierce, but can fire four shots). This is really useful in the Sacred Grounds, because it can preemptively activate the barriers. Also it's notable that it frees up one of the "useless" weapon slots (Fireball) when you obtain it.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *
Speed: *****
Power: *

Lv. 2
Range: ***
Speed: ****
Power: ***

Lv. 3
Range: *****
Speed: ****
Power: ****

- Spur -
Pretty much considered the "best" of the slot one weapons. It doesn't require any exp to level up, and thus is not affected by being hit. As well, the charging feature is really unique, and can let you deal some massive damage if used correctly; the level three shot has the most damage and range, and the level two shot is very not as powerful, but is charged quicker.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *****
Speed: ****
Power: ***

Lv. 2
Range: *****
Speed: ****
Power: ****

Lv. 3
Range: *****
Speed: ****
Power: *****

Second Weapon Slot

- Missile Launcher -
It's of note that if you don't pick up the Missile Launcher until Sacred Grounds, you will get a Missile Launcher with 100 ammo! It doesn't do as much damage as the Super Missile Launcher, though. Make your pick. For further analysis, see below.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *****
Speed: ***
Power: **

Lv. 2
Range: *****
Speed: ***
Power: ***

Lv. 3
Range: *****
Speed: ***
Power: ****

- Super Missile Launcher -
Used to deal massive damage in a short amount of time. While most people (myself included) don't tend to use this in play outside of boss fights, it's nice to remember that enemies drop missiles, so you CAN use it, but do so sparingly.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *****
Speed: *****
Power: ***

Lv. 2
Range: *****
Speed: *****
Power: ****

Lv. 3
Range: *****
Speed: *****
Power: *****

Third Weapon Slot

- Fireball -
This is really useful, but only for a short amount of time, in game. Use it on slopes that go downwards or upwards, or on long, flat planes. (such as the slopes in Grasstown, or Sand Zone). It can also be spammed at short range on bosses for a better damage output than the Polar Star, but it is outclassed by the Blade's level two form, once you obtain it.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *
Speed: *
Power: **

Lv. 2
Range: ***
Speed: ***
Power: **

Lv. 3
Range: ****
Speed: ***
Power: ****

Fourth Weapon Slot

- Bubbler -
It forms a barrier of bubbles around you, and can be launched for some pretty moderate damage. Really useful in Grasstown, Sand Zone, and Labyrinth, but is pretty much useless after that. Although it's range is pretty decent.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *
Speed: *
Power: *

Lv. 2
Range: ****
Speed: ***
Power: **

Lv. 3
Range: *****
Speed: ****
Power: **

Fifth Weapon Slot

- Blade -
This is really useful in dealing massive damage in close range pre-nemesis with it's second form (18 damage per hit, wow!) and can be used to take out cloves of enemies with it's second form. It's really useful in boss fights, but losses it's usefulness once the Nemesis becomes available, due to it's longer range.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: ***
Speed: ***
Power: ****

Lv. 2
Range: **
Speed: ****
Power: *****

Lv. 3
Range: ****
Speed: ****
Power: ***

- Nemesis -
This gun is amazing for boss fights, but not much else. Due to it's long range and piercing, as well as being leveled DOWN by collecting exp, it's hard to use on normal enemies. It really shines in battle with the Doctor, Ultimate Heavy Press, and Ballos. It has the second greatest range in the game (seconded only by the Spur's charge shots, and Snake) This gun is pretty much mandatory if you plan to do a run of Sacred Grounds.

Spoiler

Lv. 1
Range: *****
Speed: *****
Power: ****

Lv. 2
Range: ****
Speed: *****
Power: ***

Lv. 3
Range: *
Speed: *
Power: *

This is it for the Analysis. Feel free to give your own opinions, and suggest ways to improve this.

 

Run it through a spell check program :3

 

Run it through a spell check program :3

Ha ha...

wait I misspelled one word... thanks

 

Level 2 blade actually does 18 damage a hit (6 damage, 3 hits) whereas the nemesis does around 12 (4 damage, 3 hits). The Blade will easily outdamage the nemesis for about any boss (so long as you can stand right next to it), but the nemesis is better in hell due to the need for health conservation.

 

The machine gun also propels you downward if shot up...

 

The machine gun also propels you downward if shot up...

And it only does either of the 2 at level 3. Otherwise the bullets will have no effect on your momentum.

 

Thanks guys, I've updated the OP

Also, to generate discussion, feel free to talk about which of the Slot 1 weapons is your favorite, and why.

 

- Machine Gun -
This is a powerful weapon that is fully automatic, just hold down the fire button an unleash a barrage of bullets upon your enemies! It can also be used as a propulsion system by aiming at the ground, or ceiling at level 2 onwards. Unfortunately it is outclassed by the other weapons due to lack of damage output, and the limited ammo. Recommended for beginners.

Only at level 3 will it let you hover or effect your velocity/momentum at all.

 

Whoops. I don't know what I was thinking there. I'll fix it.

 

Also one other thing to note about the nemesis and the blade is that with the nemesis there can be 2 shots on screen at once, whereas with the blade there can only be 1 shot on screen. This combined with the speed difference is what makes the nemesis a better long range weapon.

 

But it still sucks.
My personal hierarchy(ish):

Blade > Snake > Mach > Nemmy > Spur > Bubbler > Fireball > Star > Super Missile > Missile

 

According to my mind this analysis is basically correct (I hate the Nemesis and the Snake though).

 

For some reason I fancy the blade more than the nemesis. Maybe because picking up experience tacoes is in my blood?

 

I still can never understand why people like the spur.
It's really not all it's cracked out to be.

 

The spur's fun, and it's a Frikkin' Lazer Beam
That earns it some bonus points for me.

 

I still can never understand why people like the spur.
It's really not all it's cracked out to be.

It fires pretty much a giant lasers. People like lasers, I guess.

It is fun to see a single shot do 100-200+ damage on the bigger bosses. But it's more for fun than for strategy IMO.

 

Spur Analysis

I still can never understand why people like the spur.
It's really not all it's cracked out to be.

{Pretty sure someone said something like what I'm about to say before, but I forget where}
The Spur is simply easy to use in places like Sacred Grounds and against Ballos.
Since it has to charge to fire it's lazor, you only need to worry about firing at certain times.
This leaves you free to focus on dodging and not taking any damage, while being able to fire a giant beam to slaughter most everything in one shot when you've found a spot to sit still for a bit and take aim.
See, the main fact for why most people like the Spur isn't because of it's massive damage, which can be outdone by other weapons; it's that it's so easy to use, you simply focus on dodging while it's charging, and then let it go when it's ready. With any other weapon, say, the Blade level 2, which has the highest damage per second, you'd have to constantly fire and dodge at the same time. {Which can be hell sometimes, heh}
Not a lot of people like that, and will settle for the simple and still effective Spur.
It's also not limited to just a Lazor, and can be rather effective with normal or half-charged shots, making it more adaptable than the others.

But that's just my take on why I always use the Spur.

 

Something that bothers me is that Cave Story has no weapon that is fired diagonally (like for instance a Spreader or an AtG (Air-to-Ground) Laser). Would be my favourite at once unless it fired rubber ducks.

To analayze a bit: spare Lv3 Bubbler and Fireball, all weapons in DM works the same way: fires straight up or down or sideways, often breaks when they hit a wall. The only difference is speed, onscreen limit, and damage output.

It feels like there could have been some variety (bullets that bounce against walls without gravity; gun that shoots bullets in sereval direction; homing missiles...). Now it's more like selecting between Safe Hell (100 missiles, Nemesis, Spur), Brag Hell (Polar Star, no missiles, Blade, 3HP) and Running Hell (54 S-Missiles, Blade, Snake).

 

I actually have stuff like this floating around in my head a lot all day--like, making "guides"in my head about characters/classes/weapons/items/etc from a specific game. It's hard to explain, but I guess the point is I'm surprised I didn't do this before you. Bravo, explosive, I love this kind of stuff.

 

Hey, thanks! So, I'm considereing adding a speed, range, and power * rating at the bottom of each weapon (for example, the sword would look like this)

S: ****
R: *
P: *****

Thoughts?