Cave Story, the 2004 indie game by Studio Pixel (Daisuke Amaya), is one of, if not THE greatest game of all time. It was developed over 5 years by one singular man in his free time and released in japanese on PC. Amaya didn’t simply make this incredible game but also made all the software necessary for making the components of the game all from scratch. The music editor, engine, etc. were all made by him alone. Cave Story features simple gameplay that falls under the Metroidvania sub-genre of platformer shooters. Movement is fluid and exceptionally solid, jumping isn’t too floaty, there are 3 levels of difficulty and a ton of innovative mechanics. There are a wide variety of weapons with different styles in and of themselves. Each weapon has 3 levels that can be achieved through defeating enemies and getting crystals. These levels can be lost if you get damaged though, so be careful! You start the game in a narrow cavern as an amnesiac boy and quickly learn the function of everything. This short segment gets you your first gun the “Polar Star” and some experience in the mechanics of gameplay. Immediately after this short introduction you get thrown into the story. The story is incredibly gripping and leaves you on the edge of your seat, seeing how it gets resolved. Speaking of resolution, the game has 3 endings, each one more challenging than the last. All that aside, the game’s impact is what puts the cherry on top and crowns this game as the greatest of all time. Cave Story didn’t profit, regardless of its popularity until a company named Nicalis partnered with Studio Pixel to port the game and translate it to new platforms. The newly ported game was called Cave Story+ and could be enjoyed from several consoles and languages. The accomplishment of this title doesn’t end there, though. Not even close. Cave Story revolutionized the video game industry as a whole. This game is revered by fans as “the Quintessential Indie Game” or “the Grandfather of Indie Games.” The reason behind these names lies in its impact on the gaming world. In 2004, the video game industry was narrow to say the least. The only competitors were the giants such as Nintendo and Sony’s new Playstation. Those giants overshadowed almost all indie games made at the time which were far and few regardless. Cave Story changed that. The game quickly gained traction as freeware on PC that anyone could download; something indie games had seldom seen before. This game, made by one man completely
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