Cave Story (DSiWare)

Cave Story (DSiWare) was the second official port of Cave Story. It is notable for marking the first official port of Cave Story to a hand held console. The game lacks features from the Wii Ware port, like the updated graphics and OST, but it has some features to separate itself from the freeware port, like difficulties and a Jukebox mode.

Development

The game was first hinted at in January 2010, when Nicalis founder and president Tyrone Rodriguez mentioned wanting to do more with the DSiWare service. When talking about it, he mentioned some games by Pixel, but not Cave Story by name. The game was officially first announced in Nintendo Power Issue 258, in the new game index. As of now, no picture of scan of this page has been released.

On September 26th, the producer of the DSiWare port, Tyrone Rodriguez, did a interview with Tiny Cartridge. In this interview, Tyrone revealed that the game was done, and only testing was left. He also said he could see it releasing around Halloween, but didn't outright confirm a release date, instead opting to say that "he'd be shocked" if it didn't come out by the end of the year. Along with this, he promised it was a near perfect port of the original Cave Story, and that it would have various exclusive features involving the bottom screen, like the map. However, it would also be cutting out some features from the Wii Ware port. His explanation for cutting out the features was that "not all of the WiiWare version's additional modes can realistically be included for the DSiWare version."

The game would not release during Halloween, however, Tyrone was correct in the assumption that the game would release before the year's end. The game would release on the 22nd of November in Japan, and on November 29th in the North American Region.

Reception

The game would receive very few reviews. On Metacritic, there is only 1 review, via Nintendo Life. They would give the game a 90, citing it as even better than the Wii Ware port. The game would be available on the Nintendo 3DS when the console released via backwards compatibility with the DSiWare store, however, it would be delisted in 2012.

Noted bugs/quirks

• The music outputs at a higher pitch than other versions.
• There are occasional instances in which sound effects do not play.
• Deletes do not deal damage upon explosion.
• Time Bombs do not deal damage.
• A lag spike occurs when attacking a Droll with the Spur.

Availability

The game would be delisted from the 3DS eShop in 2012, due to the release of the eShop port of Cave Story. The main reason for the creation of a new port of Cave Story was due to the 3DS improperly up scales the DSiWare port. The only way to play the game after it's eShop being delisted was via the DSiWare shop. However, the DSiWare shop would be taken down on March 31st, 2017. There is no longer any way to purchase this game.