Mar 26, 2024 at 2:25 PM
It Really Do Be Like That Sometimes
"Wacka-Wacka-Wacka-Wacka-Wacka-Wacka-Wacka-Wacka-BLEIUP"
Join Date: Aug 10, 2017
Location: Blood Stained Sanctuary
Posts: 335
Age: 20
Let's see where we are at in 2024:
(I will obviously not tell you where to find pirated roms, but I'm going to assume that you are smart and can google things)
There are only 2 versions of Cave Story still being sold: Cave Story+ on PC and Cave Story+ on Switch. Like I said in the original post, CS+ for PC is not going anywhere. It is sold on Steam, GoG, and now even Epic Games, where it has been given away for free a few times. The only platform it has been delisted from is the Mac App Store, which isn't a huge deal. Although, the Mac App Store version is actually the Original version of CS+, predating the Steam release by a few months. Plus, it was never really updated, making it kinda a "Time Capsule" of what CS+ was like at launch. That being said, it isn't even playable on modern Macs. I have it, but I'll only put it somewhere to be "preserved" if there's some kind of demand.
The Switch version is still being sold and it is easily available on cartridge, which is nice.
Cave Story WiiWare is not being sold anymore, but it is not hard to find a ROM of it to play on Dolphin/A Modded Wii. You can even pretty easily find the original 1.0 version of the game! (If you haven't checked it out before, you should. The menus are super weird and the New soundtrack is screwed up. It's a bizarre sight to behold.) The Demo isn't hard to find, either.
Cave Story DSi is a version that I thought was "Lost Forever", but I was just bad at finding ROMs. If you know where to look, you can pretty easily find a .cia file of the game to install on a modded 3DS.
Cave Story 3D is a weird case because it did have a physical release (it was actually ONLY released physically) You can still find cartridges for around MSRP, which is good. Thankfully is isn't hard to find a .cia file of this one either, however CS3D remains one of the most inaccessible versions due to it never being sold digitally.
Cave Story 3DS eShop is in a similar place to the DSi version. Not available legally, but pirates won't take long to find it.
The other thing to mention with Cave Story preservation is the freeware version. It will obviously never be hard to find it, but Windows updates pose a threat. We've seen some issues with Windows 11, and thankfully there have been patches made to fix it. Thankfully, Cave Story has a pretty smart and active community for this kind of stuff, so hopefully we never see a Windows update fully break the game.
In terms of other Pixel games, Kero Blaster is thankfully still available on all platforms it was released for! It was even recently ported to Mac and Android! There is always a risk of an iOS update breaking the game, but considering it is 64 bit I don't think there's much to worry about. Kero blaster is even available physically on Switch and PS4, albeit in very small quantities.
Ikachan on 3DS is an odd case. Like Cave Story 3DS, it is not hard to find a .cia, but I would recommend downloading that now. Ikachan 3DS is rather obscure, so that would be a good version to download just to make sure you have it. I did get it when the eShop was up, so I could help if we are ever in a situation where nobody can find a rom.
Azarashi on iOS is probably the Pixel game the was the closest to being lost forever, as it was a 32 bit app that was made unusable with iOS 11. Thankfully, Pixel actually did update it to 64 bit! Make sure to pick that up. Unfortunately no android version, as android .apk files are a lot easier to distribute that iOS .ipa files. Still, this version is thankfully not at risk of being lost.
Other than that, the old Pixel games for Windows are something we will have to keep an eye on to make sure Windows updates don't break them.
Overall, while currently there are lots of delisted Cave Story versions, they are not too hard to find for anyone who knows where to look. And it helps that 3DS modding has gotten easier over the last 5 years. Sorry for the long post!
(I will obviously not tell you where to find pirated roms, but I'm going to assume that you are smart and can google things)
There are only 2 versions of Cave Story still being sold: Cave Story+ on PC and Cave Story+ on Switch. Like I said in the original post, CS+ for PC is not going anywhere. It is sold on Steam, GoG, and now even Epic Games, where it has been given away for free a few times. The only platform it has been delisted from is the Mac App Store, which isn't a huge deal. Although, the Mac App Store version is actually the Original version of CS+, predating the Steam release by a few months. Plus, it was never really updated, making it kinda a "Time Capsule" of what CS+ was like at launch. That being said, it isn't even playable on modern Macs. I have it, but I'll only put it somewhere to be "preserved" if there's some kind of demand.
The Switch version is still being sold and it is easily available on cartridge, which is nice.
Cave Story WiiWare is not being sold anymore, but it is not hard to find a ROM of it to play on Dolphin/A Modded Wii. You can even pretty easily find the original 1.0 version of the game! (If you haven't checked it out before, you should. The menus are super weird and the New soundtrack is screwed up. It's a bizarre sight to behold.) The Demo isn't hard to find, either.
Cave Story DSi is a version that I thought was "Lost Forever", but I was just bad at finding ROMs. If you know where to look, you can pretty easily find a .cia file of the game to install on a modded 3DS.
Cave Story 3D is a weird case because it did have a physical release (it was actually ONLY released physically) You can still find cartridges for around MSRP, which is good. Thankfully is isn't hard to find a .cia file of this one either, however CS3D remains one of the most inaccessible versions due to it never being sold digitally.
Cave Story 3DS eShop is in a similar place to the DSi version. Not available legally, but pirates won't take long to find it.
The other thing to mention with Cave Story preservation is the freeware version. It will obviously never be hard to find it, but Windows updates pose a threat. We've seen some issues with Windows 11, and thankfully there have been patches made to fix it. Thankfully, Cave Story has a pretty smart and active community for this kind of stuff, so hopefully we never see a Windows update fully break the game.
In terms of other Pixel games, Kero Blaster is thankfully still available on all platforms it was released for! It was even recently ported to Mac and Android! There is always a risk of an iOS update breaking the game, but considering it is 64 bit I don't think there's much to worry about. Kero blaster is even available physically on Switch and PS4, albeit in very small quantities.
Ikachan on 3DS is an odd case. Like Cave Story 3DS, it is not hard to find a .cia, but I would recommend downloading that now. Ikachan 3DS is rather obscure, so that would be a good version to download just to make sure you have it. I did get it when the eShop was up, so I could help if we are ever in a situation where nobody can find a rom.
Azarashi on iOS is probably the Pixel game the was the closest to being lost forever, as it was a 32 bit app that was made unusable with iOS 11. Thankfully, Pixel actually did update it to 64 bit! Make sure to pick that up. Unfortunately no android version, as android .apk files are a lot easier to distribute that iOS .ipa files. Still, this version is thankfully not at risk of being lost.
Other than that, the old Pixel games for Windows are something we will have to keep an eye on to make sure Windows updates don't break them.
Overall, while currently there are lots of delisted Cave Story versions, they are not too hard to find for anyone who knows where to look. And it helps that 3DS modding has gotten easier over the last 5 years. Sorry for the long post!
