Why is this game so highly acclaimed?

[The Right Honourable CC]

Not trolling, just genuinely curious. As a big fan of indie games like Dwarf Fortress, Terraria, Minecraft, various rogue-likes, etc., I certainly don't require flashy graphics to throroughly enjoy a game for hours on end. This one, I don't get though. It seems like a fairly standard, metroid-style platformer. Can anyone explain to me what Im missing? What is it that makes Cave Story such a unique gem of a game?

[ACWraith]

While the game is decent, it's on a special pedestal due to how it came to be and the era of its success. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/02/cave-story-the-five-year-quest-for-cute/

I used to read a lot of physics books which would quote Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. By the time I finally read that book, I found it stale and dry. Cave Story inspired a decent portion of metroidvanias and indie games in general, but perhaps it leaves you feeling the same way.

[Azrael]

I thought about Cave Story just like you, and during the sales from November, I bought it because it was cheap...

What can I tell you?, the game is really cute, nice, have a good amount of challenge, multiple endings and dialogs depending of what you do, different types of weapons to find and upgrade, nice music, good control, lovely characters, excellent story, fun secrets...

If you enjoyed games from the NES / Super NES era, I'm sure you'll enjoy this ^_^

[Retriks]

I can't put my finger on it but i really enjoy it...i'm no help whatsoever.

[Zaqueo]

It's well done. Besides, the original Cave Story (without +) was made by Pixel. Not only the game was (and it's) free, there is so much work, effort and creativity invested in this game. The story, the gameplay, the soundtrack, etc, everything was made by him and his Studio. If you look at the FAQ in www.cavestory.org, he spent like five years working in this game, and it has many details.

Personally, I love this kind of games. Not also the graphics are really cute, the characters are well made, the story is very complete, there are many ways to interact with the player..

I believe that you can easily fall in love with its story and its characters. Give it a try!

[The Right Honourable CC]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Im definitely intrigued, so I'll give it a whirl :)

[JROB774]

The game is highly recieved because it caused the first big wave of indie developers. Here is a history lesson.

In the short history of indie games there are two time periods where large amounts of great content was produced by many people, these times are 2000-2006 and 2008. During 2000-2006 many great indies were released such as Cave Story, La-Mulana, Alien Hominid etc.

Back before the early 2000's indie games did exist they just weren't that respected and were just considered fun little time wasters you would play on the internet, but then games like Cave Story came out and all of a sudden people realised how good and immersive these games could acutally be. People started to compare indie games to AAA games of the time. This is one reason Cave Story is respected, because it made indie games respected, other games also helped.

Then in 2008 there were more big games such as Braid, World of Goo, Castle Crashers and many more but we aren't here to talk about that we are talking about Cave Story.

The next reason Cave Story is so widely respected is because it inspired so many people to start making games. After Cave Story came out lots more indies started pooping up.

Another reason Cave Story is respected is because of the developer. Cave Story was developed by one man over the course of 5 years. One man would go to work, come home and then spend his free time slaving to make his dream game. The fact that he was so devoted and worked so hard on the project makes people respect it even more. Also, it is quite amazing to see a game that has great, art, music, design and story all delivered by one person. Usually when one person makes a game there will usually be atleast one aspect that suffers because of the lack of people.

Finally it is the simplicity. Cave Story dosen't try to be special, it dosen't try to wow you, it dosen't try to be 'artsy', Cave Story just wants you to sit down play a fun game and enjoy a well crafted experience and people can respect that.

I hope this explains, sorry for the long read.