Is Cave Story too cute for its own good?

Just recently, I came across a page where an LPer that I watch was confronted about Cave Story. He said that he disliked Cave Story for the following reason:

I personally am not a fan of Cave Story. It looks cute, but quickly develops a dark story that I didn't care for. I dislike a game that does that, luring you in with cute, happy graphics and then lowers the boom. ..."Hey here's a happy land of rainbows and bunnies and flowers and OMG ZOMBIES AND DEMONS AAAAAAGH" ^_^;

This was really interesting to me, as I never came across anybody that disliked Cave Story for that particular reason. Sure, I really like the art style in Cave Story, but is it truly appropriate for the story that it tells? As someone who never thought about that aspect, I had to ask myself that question. Do you know somebody with a similar gripe that has played Cave Story before? Or perhaps this was something that struck you when you played Cave Story, but it didn't get to you as much?

 

I wouldn't say the initial impression I got from my first bit of seeing Cave Story was that it was cute, although I certainly wasn't expecting it to be so deep. But that was what made me like it so much. Before I played Cave Story, I would never have expected that such a retro game could move you so emotionally and be so exhilarating. One of the defining moments for me was when King flew across the storehouse after getting zapped by Misery's lighting bolt. I was surprised that with just a few pixels, a game designer could so dramatically illustrate the death of someone. Booster's death on my first playthrough only helped this. Then the game basically had me hooked after experiencing the heart-stopping suspense of my drowning in the Core room and being able to do nothing about it, and then waking up to find that Curly had sacrificed her life to save mine. I, for one, didn't actually think anyone in Cave Story was cute until I first saw the credit art illustrations that show the characters up close. Then again, I went in playing the game blind having seen pretty much no gameplay at all or reading any walkthroughs, and viewed as few screenshots as I could, and only played it because of my brother's review that gave little detail other than how awesome it is.

One of Cave Story's special qualities for me is that it has cute characters, yet you're able to take them seriously with them being in a serious and compelling storyline.

 

That's ridiculous, graphics should not be such a deterrent.
The artwork in this game is some of the best I have ever seen, and if this guy doesn't like it then why are we to care?

That's ridiculous, graphics should not be such a deterrent.
The artwork in this game is some of the best I have ever seen, and if this guy doesn't like it then why are we to care?

 

I have two words.
Fucking Klonoa.

 

Maybe your LPer should grow up and not expect rainbows and sunshine from everything with a simple art style, and then be able to deal with a story that isn't rainbows and sunshine. Disliking Cave Story because it's too dark is ridiculous. It's not even PG13. It touches on some mature themes, yes, and the fact that this LPer doesn't like those shows that he or she is not mature. I don't care if they weren't expecting that, their expectations should have changed in the red flower storehouse.

 

personally I think cute/simple graphics are actually much more suited for dark stories than actual grimdark graphics, since the latter risks taking itself way too seriously and come off as downright cheesy at times. imagine if cave story looked like this.

Pixel himself have said (although I cannot find the source quote at the moment) that for him, "cute" and "fun" are inseparable, which is quite apparent in his works (I mean come on we're talking about the guy who drew 100 cats and made a composing program with fish for music notes). So it's likely that he wanted to make a fun game first and a story second.

Spoiler

Then again cuteness is a lot more ingrained in japanese media/culture as a whole than say, american media/culture. there's probably books written on this topic so I won't rant your ears off about it here, but in japan cute graphics seldom imply innocence or lightheartness of story (at least not anymore). In my observation, even in anime intended for small children (sanchome no tama for example) death and war are still very real things and are treated seriously and often presented with quite a bit of force. (and that's not limited to japan I know at least one european kid's cartoon that's brutal as heck)
You kind of see that grim stuff in cutesy american cartoons too (people praise Adventure Time for it although I'm more thinking of Rugrats), but it's more hidden and subtle because of some cultural stigma which I haven't quite figured out yet. The unfortunate side effect is that few people realize the weight of such shows and lump it into the same category as Dora the explorer. (not to mention that you're probably more likely to see blood in a chinese/japanese children's show vs an american one, even though both would involve quite a bit of slapstick violence and sometimes actual violence). I think I'm getting off track...

but yeah cave story didn't exactly start off as a happy land of rainbows either? you wake up in a SPOOKY CAVE with SPOOKY MUSIC and you dodge some SPOOKY BATS only to fall onto some SPOOKY SPIKES and explode (spookily)

 

Spooky isn't it?
no,
V this is spooky

 

I absolutely love stuff that does this. It's a nice effect, it really makes that transition more powerful and personal. It makes things feel very real because in fiction happy and cute things are generally bulletproof from turning sour, but in the real world that's no indication of anything safe.

I'd probably really enjoy Klonoa.

 

I wouldn't say the initial impression I got from my first bit of seeing Cave Story was that it was cute, although I certainly wasn't expecting it to be so deep. But that was what made me like it so much. Before I played Cave Story, I would never have expected that such a retro game could move you so emotionally and be so exhilarating. One of the defining moments for me was when King flew across the storehouse after getting zapped by Misery's lighting bolt. I was surprised that with just a few pixels, a game designer could so dramatically illustrate the death of someone. Booster's death on my first playthrough only helped this. Then the game basically had me hooked after experiencing the heart-stopping suspense of my drowning in the Core room and being able to do nothing about it, and then waking up to find that Curly had sacrificed her life to save mine. I, for one, didn't actually think anyone in Cave Story was cute until I first saw the credit art illustrations that show the characters up close. Then again, I went in playing the game blind having seen pretty much no gameplay at all or reading any walkthroughs, and viewed as few screenshots as I could, and only played it because of my brother's review that gave little detail other than how awesome it is.

One of Cave Story's special qualities for me is that it has cute characters, yet you're able to take them seriously with them being in a serious and compelling storyline.

<KEY<MSGThat is exactly what I was going to say. <NOD<CLR



You summed it up so perfectly.<NOD<CLR



The only thing I would add is how.<WAI0030 .<WAI0030 .<WAI0030

heart broken I felt when I

Curly gave her life for mine. . .<NOD<CLR

I literally froze there for three

seconds knowing that there

was nothing that I could do

to save her.<NOD<CLR



I need to come up with

stuff like this for my mod.<NOD<END

 

Curly gave her life for mine. . .<NOD<CLR
I literally froze there for three
seconds knowing that there
was nothing that I could do
to save her.<NOD<CLR

There is a mistake in your code, when it displayed the message it cut out the
"I literally froze there for three"
Before stopping at the <NOD, I suggest you add another NOD so that people can read that line (the message box can only display 3 lines at a time.)

 

There is a mistake in your code, when it displayed the message it cut out the
"I literally froze there for three"
Before stopping at the <NOD, I suggest you add another NOD so that people can read that line (the message box can only display 3 lines at a time.)

LOL I seriously just did that huh.



I'm spending WAY to much time modding compared to posting.

 

I knew very little or next to nothing when I tried Cave Story. I first saw/heard it in a video game medley and I thought it looked/sounded interesting. (That, and I think I saw it on the Wii Shop Channel like, once or a couple times) My original first playthrough, I think I have about 0 crap for the story until I matured later that year and tried it again. I was semi-traumatized by King and Toroko's death. (I'm more traumatized with every play through of Cave Story because I know that scene's going to happen and I can't do anything about it.) But I was stunned and/or shocked for like, the rest of the night because of Curly's death. (I paid no attention to Booster's death. I think my game glitched or something and he didn't disappear. That, or I paid no attention to it.)
The graphics are nice and I didn't think a whole lot of it. (I didn't grow up with the old side-scrolling Metroid or Castlevania) I didn't really think a whole lot of the Mimiga species until later playthroughs. I do think Cave Story is a bit grim, but that's after you've become a veteran and played through the game at least 5 times... (And not through Hayden's 4th ending mod)

 

Yeah, people said the same thing about Watership Down...

 

If any of you have played Eversion you'll see how the cute graphics can make grim things that much more jarring... Even when I expected it to get weird it still creeped me out a lot the first time I played. Uhm... I don't want to go into it more though cause I've already kind of spoiled the game. (Check it out some time it's free).

 

I feel Cave Story is completely perfect. I have not found any faults with it. Pixel-ue put in a lot of hard work which I appreciate.
Whoever finds any fault with Cave Story has an extremely low-level bounded rationality and cannot comprehend its splendor.

 

I feel Cave Story is completely perfect. I have not found any faults with it... Whoever finds any fault with Cave Story has an extremely low-level bounded rationality and cannot comprehend its splendor.

Okay IdioticBaka, think about what you're saying. You're saying that a creation of man is perfect.

The creator is always greater than its creation.
Every single man on this earth is imperfect.
Therefore, any creation of man is imperfect.

Cave Story is a creation of man.
Therefore, Cave Story is imperfect.

You know, when I got introduced to Cave Story, it was by a blog post by my brother.

The creators of Cave Story have achieved something that is basically never seen in the commercial realm of video games: perfection. Perfection might seem like a bold claim, but let me assure you that it is absolutely true. This game is freaking perfect. I cannot put it any more simple terms than that.

To be honest, I agreed with him for a little while. But after my third playthrough when I experienced the disappointing and anti-climactic third ending and all playthroughs onward, I was able to nit-pick things here and there, and even exploit a few bugs and oversights. There are some things, like Cave Story, that are very polished, and from a humanly perspective, close to perfect, but no human can reach true perfection. Some call me a perfectionist. Perfectionism runs in my family. But technically, that term isn't completely accurate for me, nor for anyone in the world for that matter, because even after I've "perfected" my work, it still has its flaws. It's just that you might have to be a bit more critical to find them.

Last summer I saw The Dark Knight Rises in the movie theater. Loved it. It's not my favorite, but it knocked it out of the park in delivering a few subjective qualities I had hoped to see in some other movies that slightly let me down prior due to not fully delivering. Just because of this, I had a bit of a bias for that movie and how awesome it was for a little while. I was even bold enough to describe it in my mind as perfect. But upon further review and seeing things through not such a biased lens, I saw that it had some serious plotholes that I wasn't paying attention to. I even grew open-minded to those who regard it as the weakest link in the trilogy, and some even bold enough to give it the shameful mark of "that sequel never happened".

Those two experiences together taught me that you should never, ever, EVER, call any creation of man perfect. Now, it is valid to say that after X number of times of playing it, you are still devoid of being able to offer it any legitimate criticism, but outright calling anything in this world perfect is a very bold and dangerous thing to do.

TL;DR

No, Cave Story is not perfect.

P.S. Also, just so you know, I didn't link to that thread so you could bump it like you have been other threads including but not limited to this one, so don't do it.

 

I thought about this aspect of the game, but I think it does not matter much.

 

I realise more and more every day how remarkably mediocre Cave Story really is.

 

I never thought cave story was cute tbh. I thought it was another retro cave game like metroid.

 

Well, perfection is a rather subjective matter to start off with. It's such an overused word, a standard we set ourselves to that we know we can never achieve. But what exactly, measures to perfection?

If anything, it's all in the mind. Take Cave Story, for instance. That satisfying feeling you get from finally completing the best ending for the first time. You want that satisfaction, so you play again. This time it's different; you know what you are going to expect in the end, and as you become more and more successful with playthroughs, the game seems to stop offering you what it did the first time around.

Is this the fault of Cave Story, though? Could a single game ever provide players with infinite satisfaction?

Of course, that wasn't the main topic of the thread to begin with. I always thought Cave Story's graphics were cute, except maybe a few villains and bosses here and there. Cave Story was another example that cute games don't always equal a family friendly story. They're not afraid to kick people in the gut. The game totally did that for me the first time I played through and

Spoiler

didn't save Curly, then saw her later in the second ending and felt this mass heap of sadness.

(Should I have put spoilers on that?)