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

By: Derek Yu

On: June 26th, 2007

cavestory psp

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:

“We want to be as faithful as possible. We are upgrading the graphics and the sound to more ‘modern’ levels, mostly for marketing concerns and platform requirements.” -Christopher Boyer, CEO of Variant Interactive

“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!

“Finally got Pixel’s approval and the source code. It looks doable, but at ~50000 lines of code it’s a little daunting.

This is the preview version that I sent to Pixel, so it’s mostly guesswork and buggy and certainly feels different from the original. Playable up to the first boss fight. Dual-language English and Japanese :) Tested on 3.10, should work unmodified with most custom firmware.”

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)

  • CosMind

    :(

    can i skip out on the immediate b-&-f flame war for a moment?

    i’m more alarmed at the proposed concept that cave story’s utterly charming and perfectly executed visuals are not already “updated”. the game was completed in ’05 or ’06, right? wow, the dark ages, huh?
    ;P

    anyhow, it is a shame – but of course a truth – that lower resolutions = outdated. wouldn’t it be slick if there was a greater appreciation and understanding of the talent and craftsmanship required to rock visuals like those in cave story. ditto for the audio.

    apologies for preaching to the choir…

  • http://www.distractionware.com Echo

    Go fuck yourself, shill.

  • Alec

    So I take it there isn’t an answer to why you care so much?

    I’m just curious what motivates you.

  • Derek

    Hooker, I have a bunch of naughty words flagged for the blacklist, so just relax, no one is trying to silence you. Not that I won’t silence you in the future, because you are an annoying prick. :)

    Also, why don’t YOU tell US how you know that Pixel got the money? Hah?

  • haowan

    yep. the only statement from pixel on the matter was that he didn’t support the variant version of the game. so maybe do a bit of your own detective work HWAP before shouting out :)

  • Shabadage

    Seconded, show me where (Besides Variant talking out of their ass) Pixel got ANYTHING from these people. And while we’re talking about people talking out of their ass, why don’t you stop doing the same HwaP

  • Hooker with a penis

    Sorry for the flaming all, sorry Derek!
    Ok, I did some research – and ta-duh. Yep, was WRONG. Didn’t get proof he got the money. Fine.
    However, doesn’t change the fact that pixel was ok with it so. I don’t just see any point in that. MY QUESTION NOW, after this horrendous amount of humilation I’ve brought upon myself is: “why the fuck didn’t pixel ask anything?” I can now agree on that freeloader part on Variant, but um.. When a guy makes this amazing game and spends years on it – he just gives it away like that, we are only pointing to the firm that gets it? Isn’t that way of “not standing for your own” what encourages the bad sort of commercialism, then? To be honest I thought this smelled fishy, and I based a lot of that shouting on to something that wasn’t affirmed – On assumption. A MAJOR MAJOR STUPID MISTAKE FROM ME.
    Maybe I’ve fallen lower than you, yeah. Still, I think your not being entirely honest about the subject here.
    Ok, since I’ve fucked up myself quite a lot, lemme still remind you that it’s as stupid as I was to say “Updated graphics & music = poop” without seeing it. How about: “I already thought the original had superb..”.
    Anyway, now I understand why all that fuzz.

    ..But Jesus, still? Has Pixel lil’ problems with decisions? (ah the irony don’t start please =D)

    “haowan said 1 day later:

    yep. the only statement from pixel on the matter was that he didn’t support the variant version of the game. so maybe do a bit of your own detective work HWAP before shouting out :)”

    okay.. based mine on assumption, my bad – but why the hell guy would give the game away without a fight and legal actions? I just don’t get it..

    ..Ok, Now after we’ve had a reasonable amount of crossfire after I went bill Hicks on your ass, can we put this aside.. maybe over time? ..pretty-please?

  • haowan

    Sure thing buddy. The guy probably can’t afford international lawyers or something, I don’t know how these things work. He’d probably have to prove he was out of pocket… which is impossible I guess as it’s a free game. IANAL, wish I did have the answers to these questions but I don’t. Simple answer is, what would YOU do? Probably, it it were me, fire off a few angry emails, maybe a letter, look in to lawyer costs, give up hope and post around on message boards about it.

  • Daiz

    Wait, where and when did Pixel say he WASN’T okay with the Variant version?

  • haowan

    It was on his site. He has a small guestbook there which serves as a kind of BBS.

  • http://www.arsecast.com DrDerekDoctors

    James: Kitty Hawk’ll happen! Once Wizball is done it’s priority number 1.

  • Derek

    I think it’s pretty difficult for a Japanese _company_, let alone a Japanese individual, to sue a U.S. company for infringing their copyright.

    Similarly, I believe in Japan there was a game called Guitar Freaks that came out long before Guitar Hero. If Guitar Freaks had been an American game, you think Guitar Hero would have gone anywhere?

  • Hooker with a penis

    hmm.. interesting, I must check if this guestbook in english. me wants to read it myself!
    About Guitar-games though, was it from an entirely different company and without involvement of any contracts? Sorry to ask so much questions – since i’m not that familiar with the subject.
    So, on with the thing – Seems pretty grim for the independent developer. How do you think then, these kind of things could be avoided in the future?
    The problem I see is: where to draw the line. Of course it’s not entirely a same thing but for example in music bussiness there are (or more evidently were) bands who play something that has a new vibe and it makes big – you can take led zeppelin/black sabbath ( biggest around 70’s) and wolfmother (all guys born in 80’s) as an example. It’s a fact that Zep did the thing first and it was their thing – still people who’ve never heard of zep can fall in love with wolfmother and it will stick with them as the first band that opened their ears for that stuff. Now I can’t blame them.

    Uh.. so It’s quite shitty – now lying and stealing is definetly wrong. And boy would I loose it if someone would steal my art/entertainment from me, especially if I would still be on bussiness. It’s also very understandable that if you’ll love making games/music/art/movies you’ll want to do bussiness with it, who wants to spent 8hrs a day in a work he/she dislikes? I guess it’s just too easy these days to grab someone elses idea and get it published as own.
    Now on Freeware there’s no such problem since all payment will be cheers, and no money. There similatirities can easily be spotted as paid respect and tribute. Very fine indeed
    I don’t know – It’s really such a grey area that you’ll have to have a lot of inside knowledge before anyone can make up their mind.
    I guess we’rea all plagiarists, but the biggest scum are those who steal, work less and get most money.

  • http://www.g4g.it PiXEL

    ????????! ??blog???????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????:)

  • Hooker with a penis

    I suppose I should get kanji-support. =)

  • Hooker with a penis

    I suppose I should get kanji-support. =)

  • Mr Peckerston
  • LEXiP

    Be a seriousness! You think of that you comment in this blog here where really pixel it comes? The time when the fact that celebration false comment is translated is tried was made wasteful:)

  • http://www.g4g.it FireSword

    Eh eh that was me.. i tried a joke.. haha

  • Hooker with a penis

    Kinda thought, but hey, couldn’t read a thing on it – unless you just hammered on “?” =D
    Ok, you made good one, master splinter!