How updated are Cave Story's updated sprites?

by JC Fletcher { Oct 10th 2008 at 5:18PM }

On the left: the Mimiga named Toroko, one of the main characters of Cave Story, as seen in the original game. On the right: Toroko's redrawn sprite from the WiiWare version. You can see the sprites in actual size in the middle of the image. The new sprite is still pixelated and very charmingly retro, but now Toroko kind of has fingers and toes.

We should probably hate an attempt to spruce up the already-wonderful Cave Story on principle, but, honestly, we think this looks great. It still looks like Cave Story to us. We can't wait to see what Pixel has done to the rest of the characters.

If you hate it, of course, don't forget that the visual upgrade is purely optional, and you can choose to play the WiiWare game using the original graphics.

Gallery: Cave Story (WiiWare)

Tags: cave-story, nicalis, platform, studio-pixel

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ChaoticTails @ Oct 10th 2008 7:00PM

Looks good, but she looks a little fatter now for some reason. it that just me?

Sisyphus @ Oct 10th 2008 7:03PM

Now it looks like it has fat rolls, that's why you think it seems fatter.

igorponweed @ Oct 10th 2008 7:15PM

So now he's NES instead of somewhere between that and Atari? I don't get it.

Marcelo @ Oct 10th 2008 7:59PM

Didn't Nintendo fans everywhere lament that XBox and PS3 games you downloaded had updated graphics and online play, etc? I remember Street Fighter 2 being the big example - the SF2 on the other consoles had better graphics (especially with the HD Remix thing coming out) and all these other options while all we had was the straight SNES port.

And now we're going out of our way to make sure that this guy's sprites are almost identical to his originals? I say redraw 'em all in the best quality possible - at least up to SNES quality, if not WarioLand Shake It quality. Let Pixel draw the new characters on paper by hand and have the team animate them accordingly. Why all the focus on keeping it original all of a sudden?

ChibiKawase @ Oct 10th 2008 10:48PM

Pixel's art kinda lends itself best to, well, pixel-style. Making it Wario Land-esque would eat a lot of charm out of Cave Story. It was never about looking good, it was about classic exploration and expressing soul through pixelated charm.

Dash @ Oct 11th 2008 4:33PM

Aside from updated graphics, is there something else to justify a purchase? I really liked the game, but my point is that I have played and finished it for free.

Now some new stages might convince me...

PGrock @ Oct 11th 2008 8:34PM

Her eyes look like machine guns pointing upwards...I LOVE IT!

Brantis @ Oct 12th 2008 1:30AM

Well, hopefully it doesn't lose its charm that it once had.
I love the fact that you can switch between styles.

That is definitely worth the purchase if you ask me.
And if you do buy it and play the "updated" graphics, please also play it through with the "Original" graphics...You will really appreciate the game a lot more, because you can really see what all went into it.

No 3D animation...no real special effects...Just a whole lot of work by one dude...And that is something special that you don't get very often.

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