Cave Story 3D

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Cave Story is an Action-Platformer originally released for free on PC in 2004, and in the time since then it has had numerous ports to other platforms, generally in the form of paid releases with some sort of graphical upgrade. I already reviewed one of these ports on the Nintendo Switch, Cave Story+, which added a number of upgrades and features to the original game, but was still largely the same experience. However, there’s a good argument that by far the most extensive reworking this game has ever received was in its port to Nintendo 3DS, titled Cave Story 3D, which was released in 2011. It should be noted that this is a year before a more direct port of the game was released on the Nintendo 3DS eShop in 2012. However, unlike that release and all other versions of the game, Cave Story 3D features completely remade visuals that largely drop the pixel art style of the original game in favor of fully 3D visuals.

Does the graphical change bring Cave Story to a whole new level? Well… no, not really. The 3D visuals look good but not particularly impressive, and concerningly they are often far too dark, making this a game you may need to play in a dark room to make out the details on the screen. What’s more, the change from pixel art visuals to 3D means that the precision platforming of the original release now has a bit of guesswork, as it can sometimes be difficult to judge where the edge of a platform is, or even possibly have elements hidden by the camera angle.

The game also features a redone soundtrack featuring work by Danny Baranowsky of Super Meat Boy fame. The remixed synthesized tunes sound great, and find a nice balance between presenting players with something new while retaining the familiar melodies of the original game.

As for the gameplay, well, this is Cave Story. You can see my thoughts on the game in the Nintendo Switch review. The short version is, this is a fast-paced Action-Adventure with extremely challenging gameplay, and level design that’s reminiscent of a Metroidvania (even though the game isn’t a Metroidvania). The high challenge level will mean that this won’t be a game for everyone, but if you’re up for a good challenge, this game is a must-play.

On other platforms, it was a bit hard to swallow the at-times high price tag given the game’s origin, but Cave Story 3D feels like it has a decent excuse to be somewhat pricier, with all the redone presentation. However, the other side of that is that the remade graphics often detract from the gameplay rather than adding to it. And while the game does have an optional mode to let players play with low-resolution versions of the original game’s sprites instead of 3D characters, there’s no option to just play the game with only the original visuals. For that, you have to go for a different release.

Ultimately, Cave Story 3D is a solid attempt to add value to an already great game, but the value being added is somewhat dubious. If you’re a fan of the original Cave Story wanting to replay the game with a different look, this may be worth getting. However, for most players I think you’re probably better off just getting the original game, on whatever platform you’re playing the game on.

tl;dr – Cave Story 3D is a fully-remade take on the classic Action-Platformer. The game still plays great, and the improved presentation is nice… but that presentation also occasionally interferes with the gameplay in ways that make it often more trouble than it’s worth. For most players, I would argue that you’re better off playing one of the ports of the original version of the game.

Grade: B-

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