The first time I played Cave Story, I was over at a friend's house, and he told me to play it. Sounded lame, I figured it was a spelunking game or something. So I played it, and it was fun. I didn't like being left in the dark at first, but grew to ingore that. I kept playing, and grabbed the Machine Gun, caused it looked awesome. Kept going, got to the Labyrinth, and Oh My God. Possibly the toughest level in the game, save Hell. I got to Pooh Black, and kept loosing. My friend said 'use the blade' which I had, I swear, never even swithced to previous to the Pooh Black fight. I beat him, nice weapon, the blade. Monster X was troubling, but the blade proved godly, once again. The Core was a pushover, and then Curly died. The saddest part in the game. I was traumatized, considering at the time I was a Curly fanboy. I was almost brought to tears, I felt really guilty. So much so, that I restarted my game and tried to escape without Curly having to save me, I failed. I made it to the bad ending, although at the time I thought it was part of the game. I said yes, and ran away. Guilt trip--the end. I laughed so hard, and I couldn't help thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Kept going, made it to my favorite level, the Plantation. At this time, I grabbed the Bubbler, because mt friend told me to, I had no idea the thing existed until he told me. Got the Nemesis too, but didn't use it much. Skip a little bit, I got to the final boss(s). Incredibly hard, the first few times. I couldn't beat the Demon Doctor, when I realized a neat trick. Hover in the air with the Machine Gun, and shoot at him, he can't hit you = D. Well, until I ran out of ammo, bu it recharges quickly. I finally beat them, and no I didn't unlock Hell, as if you didn't already know that (refers to Curly's death soapbox). I beat the game, and was amazed at how good it was. It's still my favorite Free Ware game, and now I hate all others because my standards are too high. My friend told me about the secret ending, and so I attempted that. Of course, that's another story.