The Beast Fang's Intent

Nov 17, 2012 at 6:09 AM
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Okay, so, for those of you who don't know, the beast fang is an item that is programmed into Cave Story, but is inaccessible in regular gameplay. It exists in Yamashita Farm, in the block under the life capsule. However, it can only be obtained by using an editing program to remove the block that covers it. When examined, its description is: "A sharp fang found at the Yamashita Farm. Is its owner still alive...?". Most people consider it to be an item from earlier in development that Pixel simply forgot to remove from the game. Anyway, I discovered something that may be the key to what the item was originally intended for.

Look at the Red Ogre's sprite sheet.
p160437-0-tumblrmdm8qhlwes1rhhb34o6r11280.png

Notice how he's missing a fang? We all know that Pixel is brilliant when it comes to attention to detail. For these reasons, this is what I believe: I think that the Beast Fang was originally intended to be a secret easter egg item, a bit of foreshadowing to the Red Ogre. I have a few theories: Maybe the Red Ogre lost that fang in his fight with Arthur (the Red Ogre is confirmed to be the monster that Arthur fought, by the way. Jack tells you that if you talk to him at a specific point), who stored it in the Yamashita Farm. And who knows? Maybe Pixel left it in the game intentionally, a little easter egg for the fans to find, something left by Arthur that the player can't normally find. However, whether or not those theories are true, the basic idea that the Beast Fang's original intent was to be a hidden item that foreshadowed the Red Ogre seems very, very likely to me.

(Sorry if this has been covered before. I looked, but I couldn't find anyone else who has pointed this out yet, so I thought I might as well post it.)
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 6:39 AM
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I never noticed that! Very interesting.
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 7:03 AM
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...Oh, wait, should this have gone in the Theories section? If that's the case, I'm very sorry, and would one of the mods please move it over there if that's where it belongs?
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 9:24 AM
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I saw your post on Tumblr.

This is insane. I can't believe no one noticed this before you did.
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 9:38 AM
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Whoa nice find :eek: Your evulation sounds like the most reasonable one, considering how all the evidence stacks up.
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 1:01 PM
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I thought there may be a connection between the two, since it's found in Mimiga village and aside from robots the Red Demon is the only threat to it ever mentioned, but I had never noticed the missing fang. Great find!

It wouldn't surprise me if the Fang had originally been intended as necessary to fight the Red Demon (instead of being on route for a different ending).

I actually had plans for a mod in which having the Beast Fang triggered a "berserk mode" of sorts in the Red Demon, but I don't think I'll ever get around to releasing it.
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 1:54 PM
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i only noticed the missing fang. didn't think of this theory.
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 4:35 PM
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I love theories like this
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 6:40 PM
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Maybe the block its buried in was a monument to Arthur for defeating the Red Demon, complete with one of its teeth!
 
Nov 17, 2012 at 8:44 PM
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I saw your post on Tumblr.

This is insane. I can't believe no one noticed this before you did.
Oh, hey, you did! I can see your like on there! And thank you!
 
Nov 18, 2012 at 1:30 AM
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i had found the beast fang on the balcony in Cave story 3D :toroko:
 
Nov 18, 2012 at 7:02 AM
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very intresting indeed.
 
Nov 19, 2012 at 1:52 AM
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It's a shame that the sprites are just flipped though, and that the missing fang switches from left to right based on the direction he's facing. Otherwise this theory would be pretty much 100% solid. But the fact that the missing fang isn't always in the left or the right sort of ruins it a bit for me, since I think that would be a detail that Pixel would have also noticed/fixed if this theory was true.
 
Nov 19, 2012 at 3:41 AM
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It's a shame that the sprites are just flipped though, and that the missing fang switches from left to right based on the direction he's facing. Otherwise this theory would be pretty much 100% solid. But the fact that the missing fang isn't always in the left or the right sort of ruins it a bit for me, since I think that would be a detail that Pixel would have also noticed/fixed if this theory was true.
How so? The location of the tooth isn't the point - it's the fact that he's missing a tooth. The direction the lighting is coming from also changes when he switches from left to right. Pixel flipped all of his sprites - just look at the lighting on them. It changes in most everything when they change direction. Even the shadow from Quote's hat on his face changes light source directions when he turns! If Ballos dies while facing right, the red eye will switch from the right side of his face to the left. When the doctor changes direction, that... thing on his shirt switches sides. My point is, almost every single sprite in the entire game was flipped when they changed directions, but for the most part, almost none of the sprites were edited to reflect that flip. And regardless, again, the question at hand isn't where the missing tooth is, it's the fact that a tooth is missing that provides the evidence for my case. ...Geez, that was a long-winded explanation! Sorry about that!
 
Nov 19, 2012 at 8:52 AM
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I feel that if it was that important of a detail, that pixel would have made sure to edited the sprites to reflect the flip. After all, Ballos' eyes don't change color based on whether or not he's facing left or right.
 
Nov 19, 2012 at 5:47 PM
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Wow dude your defiantly right.
:orangebell: mind blown
 
Nov 19, 2012 at 6:40 PM
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I feel that if it was that important of a detail, that pixel would have made sure to edited the sprites to reflect the flip. After all, Ballos' eyes don't change color based on whether or not he's facing left or right.
Pixel may have planned this when he started drawing some poses for the Red Demon, and then after he removed the Beast Fang he decided to just save time and flip the original sprite around.
 
Nov 19, 2012 at 7:08 PM
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I feel that if it was that important of a detail, that pixel would have made sure to edited the sprites to reflect the flip. After all, Ballos' eyes don't change color based on whether or not he's facing left or right.
Pixel may have planned this when he started drawing some poses for the Red Demon, and then after he removed the Beast Fang he decided to just save time and flip the original sprite around.
Moon, that's a definite possibility. And even if he did finish the Red Ogre before he removed the Beast Fang, GIRakaCHEEZER, he flipped almost all of the sprites in the entire game in the same way - without changing them to account for the new direction, as this would have taken way too much time (the game already took 5 years to make, after all. I'm sure he didn't want to add more to it.). Lots of game creators do the same thing. In fact, the hand Quote holds the gun in switches when you change direction. (And, for the record, Ballos's eyes do switch colors, if he dies while facing right in his first form, as I mentioned before.) Oh, by the way, I don't mean to be rude, and I hope you don't take this that way. I'm just providing an argument for my case.
 
Nov 19, 2012 at 8:38 PM
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Mahin got a different sprite for facing the other direction
 
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