''Cave Story 3D'' is a

Metroidvania Metroidvania is a sub-genre of platform video games focused on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression. The term is a portmanteau of the names of the video game series '' Metroid'' and ''Castlevania'', with games in th ...

platform-adventure game developed by

Nicalis Nicalis, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Santa Ana, California. The company focuses primarily on indie games and has developed and published both original games as well as ports of existing games. Nicalis was found ...

and published by

Nippon Ichi Software is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and ''Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' character ...

. It was released on November 8, 2011 for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

. A

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of the

indie video game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

Cave Story ''Cave Story'', originally released as is a 2004 Metroidvania platform-adventure game for Microsoft Windows. It was developed over five years by Japanese independent developer Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya in his free time. ''Cave Story'' features 2D ...

'' developed by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya, the game was redesigned with 2.5D graphics, with the ability to switch between 2D and 3D characters and enemies, and the soundtrack was remixed by

Danny Baranowsky Danny Baranowsky (born April 5, 1984), also known as Danny B or by the company name dB Soundworks, is an American electronic music composer, composing music mainly for indie films and indie games. He founded dB Soundworks to sell and promote his ...

. The game received positive reviews from critics, who praised its design as remaining exemplary, although they criticized its similarities to the original and the loss of Curly Brace and

Boss Rush In video games, a boss is a significant computer-controlled opponent. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents the player has faced up to that ...

mode, saying it was a poor value compared to other versions.

Development

Due to the game having been published by Nippon Ichi Software, the player is able to unlock a

Prinny are a fictional race of creatures primarily in Nippon Ichi's ''Disgaea'' series of role-playing games. First appearing in '' Disgaea: Hour of Darkness'', they have appeared in all later titles by the company, as well as on various merchandise su ...

Cap item by getting the best ending. ''Cave Story 3D'' had a limited production run, resulting in it being sold for high prices on the used market. While Nicalis founder Tyrone Rodriguez posted in

Miiverse Miiverse was a social network for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, created by Nintendo System Development and Hatena (company), Hatena, and powered by the Nintendo Network. Integrated into many games, Miiverse allowed players to interact and share their ...

that the game would be coming to the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

in late 2014, it ultimately never received a digital release.

Reception

The game received an aggregate score of 82/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Hollander Cooper of

GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...

rated the game 4.5/5 stars, saying that while people would likely react with "disgust" to the new 3D graphics, it would be "a shame, because ''Cave Story 3D'' is absolutely remarkable". Saying that "a majority of the new content comes in the presentation, which has been built from scratch for the 3DS", he states that the visuals take "full advantage of the system's capabilities", and that "the audio, too, has been reworked with great success" compared to the game's

WiiWare WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii S ...

version. He summed up the game as "''Cave Story'' unencumbered ..Pixel's dream realized on a new platform for the masses, and in a form anyone can appreciate". Zachary Miller of Nintendo World Report rated the game 8/10, saying that "the game does look beautiful in its polygonal, fully realized glory". Stating that "I imagine this is what the game looked like in Pixel’s head while he was slaving over the original freeware game", he professed "that extra dimension really does add a lot of immersion". However, he also stated that some areas were overly dark, such as the Ruined Egg Corridor, making death spikes "nearly invisible". Rich Stanton of

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

also rated the game 8/10, saying that the game "isn't a port ..this has been visually rebuilt for 3DS, in some places expanded and in some places tweaked". Stating that "this remake is a labour of love", he also stated that the game was "a world that invites your imagination to lose itself, and becomes so much bigger in the process".

References

{{Daisuke Amaya 2011 video games Metroidvania games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo 3DS-only games Video game remakes Single-player video games Nippon Ichi Software games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Danny Baranowsky Nicalis games