Cave Story Wii: Toroko Old and New

By: Derek Yu

On: October 11th, 2008

Posted at Nicalis’s Cave Story Wii blog, a side-by-side comparison of the original Toroko versus the new one, also drawn by Pixel. Fun! As much as I love the first game, I’m glad they’re updating the graphics and audio. (The final game will allow players to play with the original assets, or mix and match old and new.)

Cave Story Wii Website Live

By: Derek Yu

On: October 7th, 2008

The Cave Story Wii website is now live, and features some downloadable wallpapers, and a message from Pixel, where he states that it is “like a dream to have the opportunity to see one of my games appear on the market.” Awwwwww…

Be sure to check out GoNintendo’s interview with Tyrone Rodriguez, who is producing the game at Nicalis. In the interview, Tyrone reassures fans that everything, including the music, is being approved by Pixel. And even though Cave Story Wii will feature some new graphics and a re-arranged soundtrack, it will be possible to play with classic graphics and music, if you prefer (or a mix of both).

Also, I just noticed that the official unofficial Cave Story fansite, hosted at MiraiGamer.net, has been redesigned, and even has its own domain. It looks great!

[Follow the discussion on TIGForums]

Cave Story Coming to Wii

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 4th, 2008

So, er, you guys like Cave Story, right? (Kidding, kidding — of course you do!) Well, Nintendo recently announced, in a very official-looking press release, that it’s coming to WiiWare “this holiday season.” And for real this time! Not only that, but with “exclusive content and features created only for the ”http://www.cavestorywii.com/" title=“Cave Story Wii version Offical Site”>WiiWare version." Yay, go Pixel!

Tim linked to a presumably accurate fact sheet for the Wii version: 16:9 widescreen, progressive scan. New character designs by Daisuke Amaya (Pixel). Classic controller support. Ten unique weapons, over twenty boss battles. (Wait, Indie Cred be damned, how many were in the original?) Developed by Nicalis.

Some questions: Will the Wii version use the much-loved Aeon Genesis translation? What does Pixel get out of this? Is this actually happening? Do I wake up now? (Shih Tzu, do you have any more information?)

Huzzah!

UPDATE: Word is AG’s translation is being used. (Thanks Zaratus!)

Also, IGN UK has posted some off-screen videos of the game in motion. Is that a new Quote sprite I see? (Thanks reetva!)

Cave Story in the Making

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: November 8th, 2007

In the past Pixel has alluded to the earlier iterations of Cave Story (even a near-finished build that got scrapped along the way), but he’s never released anything playable. Well, as of just yesterday… he still hasn’t released anything playable!

But he did release something almost as cool — a collection of screens and concepts from early in the game’s development. (You might remember him doing something similar with Guxt.) I love this sort of thing. It’s like a little window into the mind of a developer I admire.

Definitely check it out if you’re a Pixel fan. (Who isn’t?)

Derek’s Edit: I put all the images on a page here! Enjoy!

Buy Pixel a DS

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 22nd, 2007

This has been in the works for a while, but Pixel has, according to RavenWorks, “finally relented in his Japanese politeness and is letting us buy him a DS!” Yeah!

I think it’s a wonderful gesture of appreciation to the man who single-handedly created the most ripped-off game in indie history. A man who asks for so little.

You can donate here (via PayPal), if you’re so inclined.

NOTE: All donations go toward getting Pixel a homebrew-ready DS.
Beyond that, any extra funds will be given to him in some thoughtful way.

Cave Story R.I.P. Off

By: Derek Yu

On: October 8th, 2007

American developer Voxel brings Cave Story to life in this balls-to-the-wall action-packed extravaganza of extremity and violence! You are Billy Bob “Quote” Johnson, the amnesiac space marine, imprisoned within BALROG-1 for disobeying your superiors. And now you’re the only thing standing between humanity and the terrible Mimiga Virus that has transformed your platoon into an army of bloodthirsty rabbit cyborgs!

Features:

– Hyper-realistic, cutting-edge 3D graphics. You’ll definitely be able to tell what these characters are supposed to be!

– Hardboiled story told lovingly through 200+ hours of dialogue. Featuring the voices of Catherine Zeta Jones as Lieutenant Fenix “Curly” Brace, and Samuel L. Jackson as “Meat Train” Sakamoto.

– Over 50 totally hardcore weapons, from King’s Vibro-Blade to the Nemesis Multi-Bazooka!

– Go online with your friends or play Deathmatch at home! Our unprecedented “BALL0S AI” crafts personalized insults by scanning your e-mails!

– State-of-the-art physics engine will molest your CPUs and PPUs as it accurately calculates the physics of EVERYTHING. Sweat has never been more realistically flicked off individual strands of hair!

– Soundtrack by Linkin Park.

The Making of Guxt

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: August 24th, 2007

Pixel recently posted a little “making of ”http://homepage2.nifty.com/rochet/storage/guxt_1020_wz.zip" title=“Direct link to Guxt” >Guxt" feature on his website, which Shih Tzu was kind enough to translate to English for all us gaijin. Thanks, Shih Tzu — you rock!

The feature, er, features screen grabs of the game in development, with notes describing what was being worked on at each point. It’s a pretty cool window into the acclaimed game designer’s creative process and an interesting read for folks wondering what it’s like to make a game. (Man, I would love to see an afterword for Cave Story as well, or maybe a postmortem or two!)

View the translated Making of Guxt online here.

Download the zip (with bonus screen grabs!) here.

Thanks again, Shih Tzu! Excellent work, as always.

Pixel Working On An RPG

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: July 27th, 2007

According to Shih Tzu (indie gaming’s ambassador to the East), Pixel has mentioned on his BBS that he’s interested in making an RPG. More than that — he’s already begun preliminary work on it!

“I’d always steered away from working on an RPG, but now that I think I’ve finally got the requisite know-how, I’ve decided to give it a shot,” the famously modest developer says. “But already it’s more of a challenge than ”http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA022293/storehouse.html" title=“Some stuff Pixel’s done before” >anything I’ve done before…"

There aren’t any details on the game itself yet, except that Pixel “would like to avoid anything too large-scale, yet still make it fun to play… somehow.” He goes on to apologize in advance if he never finishes it. (Aw, we’d still love you, Pixel!)

Well, I’m pretty excited! How about you?

(Source: Shih Tzu)

Cave Story PSP: Release Candidate 1

By: Derek Yu

On: July 10th, 2007

There are some known bugs as a result of the PSP’s wider screen, but otherwise… oh boy! For the back story and some yelling back and forth, read this post.

(Source: Timmy)

Cave Story PSP (now more free and with less Variant)

By: Derek Yu

On: June 26th, 2007

Some of you may remember the hullabaloo surrounding the legality and morality surrounding Variant Interactive’s Cave Story PSP port (as well as the fatality of originality). It was never verified whether Variant got Pixel’s permission, or if they did, whether he would see any money, but something definitely stank up in there, and it was Variant that was whistling and looking in the other direction. Case in point:

“Faithful,” “upgrading the graphics and sound,” and “marketing concerns…” which one of these does not belong with the others? So yeah, I find it really hard to believe that Pixel would go for anything like that, and even if he did, I still say fuck ’em for doing it. “Upgrade the graphics and music?” Eat a shit sandwich, asshole.

Which is why it makes me really happy to announce that there’s a fan-made, homebrew PSP version in the works! Yay fans!

Word. You can download a buggy, early version of the port from the link above. And while you’re at it, check out this DS port as well (different author).

(Source: selectbutton.net)