Huzzah! Let's Play Cave Story

MURDER THAT DOCTOR

COUNT ON IT

This is my favorite line in the game. They pack a lot of personality into Momorin for the short time she's around.

Yeah, it really stood out to me as I was taking screenshots, in no small part because the Nicalis translation of the same line is just super bad. I can't remember the exact phrasing, but it's something like "men who treat women poorly are barbarians".

Chapter 10: Final Cave

♪♪Last Cave♪♪

This is it, the Final Cave! There are definitely no caves after this one. We'll have to change the
name of the LP to "No Caves Story" from here on out.

"Last Cave" is a great piece of music, by the way. It's got a driving beat and a melody that
communicates to the player the fact that things are about to get real. I was going to include
a comment here dumping on the New arrangement of the song from the Wii port of Cave Story,
but the more I listen to it, the more I kind of like it. Aside from that silly intro, anyway. And
if you want to hate on the New soundtrack, we'll have a much better opportunity next update.



The Final Cave is filled with red critters, but as you can see here, they aren't any more dangerous
than the ones from the First Cave.



Nope, the primary hazard that we'll be facing here is spikes, which have been applied liberally
to pretty much every surface in the place.



It's weird for me to play this part of the game, for reasons that I'll get into later. Suffice to say
that I didn't remember very much about it!



For example, what's up here?



Oh, it's more spikes.



In case you were wondering where Pixel took his inspiration, these falling drops of red acid ought
to be a fairly clear hint. The only homage more direct in the game is the "item get" jingle.



Thankfully, these drops don't pack nearly the punch that the ones at the end of Mega Man 2 do.
Four HP won't mean much to anyone who isn't playing a low-HP challenge run. And of course
those people exist.





We make our way up to the next level and into a series of pretty tricky rooms. Do you like spikes?
Have all the spikes in the world!



Man, really missing that level 3 machine gun right now.



This floor of the cave features an endless supply of bats, slowly flying to the right. Even worse,
these guys have no respect for the background, flying through it with impunity. Kids these days!



Ain't no part like a spike party.





We wrap around and head to the next level up, which isn't quite so claustrophobic. Some of the
blocks in the floor here are insubstantial, which could end up dropping you on the spikes...



...except when there's a hidden fan between you and them. Why would Pixel design a trap like
this only to protect the player from its effects? We'll find out soon!



The top floor of the Final Cave is home to this intimidating array of thwomps. Looks like we'll
have to run for it!



Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-



-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-



-aaAAaaaaaAAAaaaaa-



-aaaaaaaAAAaaahhh!!

Phew, we made it! Time for some payback.



Take that, you stupid rectangles! My doctor said I'm supposed to avoid stressful situations!

♪♪Balcony♪♪

Heading through the door at the end of the Final Cave, we find ourselves outside. We've made it
to the top of the island! The rising sun greets us as we set out to explore the Balcony.



This is a pretty sweet statue, but I don't know who it's supposed to be. Interacting with it doesn't
give you any clues.



Because I figured you'd want to see it, I tried jumping off the island to the left. Farewell, cruel world!



To my surprise, the game actually stops you from falling, giving you a stern warning instead.



As if we're going to listen to you, game!



This is the same message that you get when you fall off the Outer Wall. I figured I owed it to you
guys, since I didn't show it off earlier.



Instead of throwing ourselves off the island, we head to the right. Before long, we're knee-deep
in mutant rabbits.



These smaller rabid Mimigas are like the one that ambushed us when we picked up that missile
pack in the abandoned house in Grasstown. They only have about 40 HP, so they've didn't pose a
big problem then and they certainly don't now. That said, at this point I feel a little less OK
about killing them, since they were kidnapped by the Doctor and pressed into mutant service.



Hey, this just might be our ticket out of Crazy Town! Not that I'll ever look at a petting zoo the
same if I get home...



There's a shack! Man, I love shacks.



Amazingly, the music doesn't change when we enter the shack. Maybe Pixel's getting sick of
Gestation, too? Inside the shack, we find a save point, a bed and a bookshelf.



Now this is interesting. What kind of notes did Booster leave for us to find?

I choose to believe that nobody in this world has ever used the word booster for anything before
and that our professor just named the jetpack in a fit of egocentrism.

That's a really weird thing to say, given that this appears to have been written before the Doctor
seized control. Was Booster expecting the Grim Reaper to show up for him at any time? Did he
cuss out an old gypsy lady? Oh crap, maybe he cussed out Jenka.



As if to underline how thoroughly we failed to save Booster, the game then repeats this line outside
the confines of the usual text box. Clearly, we're supposed to take something away from this phrase,
although just what that is will defy all reason - as we'll see later!



All this philosophizing is making me tired. Nap time!



As we exit the Prefab Building, we find another pair of Mimigas, including a big one that bears
a strong resemblance to old Igor from the Egg Corridor.



We turn King on his mutant brethren. The little guy goes down pretty quickly, but the big one
has as many HP as his boss doppleganger did (about 400!).



Still feel a little crummy about killing them, though.



Here we are at the end of the line, the entrance to the Throne Room. Time to head in?



Nope! Not when there are walls to scale.



At the top, we find a veritable cornucopia of goodness. Enough weapon energy to max out our
whole arsenal, plus some missiles and hearts hidden in the star blocks for good measure. This is
our last stop to gear up before the final fight, so let's take it.



There's a cheeky little sign if you keep heading up to let you know you've reached the top of the world.



If you insist on ascending further, the game fades out and drops you off at the Prefab Building again.
This lets you do another run on the supply stash, in case you still need more missiles or something.



I'm getting a little tired of lagocide, so this time I fly over the Mimigas and leave them in peace.



Igor II fires off a big burst of energy at us, but we don't care, because we've made it to the door.
What mysteries await us in the Throne Room? Can't we just talk it out and call the whole thing off?
War? Huh? What is it good for?

Find out next time, when we reach the thrilling conclusion of Let's Play Cave Story! Huzzah!

OH BOY FINAL BOSS TIME I CANNOT WAIT. THIS POST WAS DEFINITELY NOT HASTILY EDITED UPON THE REALIZATION THAT I MIGHT HAVE POSTED A *GASP* SPOILER!

After the high intensity of the Final Cave, it's jarring to come out above the clouds and to hear the Balcony's sedate music. It's pretty eerie, and along with the reappearance of a former boss, it does a great job of ratcheting up the tension for what comes next. Honestly, the pacing throughout Cave Story is really good.

Oh, and thanks, MCBanjoMike, for taking the time to show off this game. I've got a lot of fond memories of it, and your work on this LP has been top-notch! I'm looking forward to your treatment of the rest of it.

Thanks!

Are you feeling OK, BEAT? You're not having one of those bad drug trips, are you?

Anyway, update coming later today!

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT I DEFINITELY NEVER WROTE THAT POST AND IF I HAD WRITTEN IT I WOULD HAVE IMMEDIATELY SPOILER'D IT UPON REALIZING MY MISTAKE. BUT I DIDN'T AND YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING.

I think he got eaten by Lavos.

Chapter 11: The Doctor

You know, folks, I try not to get too political in this thread. But if there's one thing I can't stand,
it's a guy who floats around menacingly while unleashing an army of deadly bioweapons on the
nations of the Earth. I think it's time for us to put a stop to this Doctor's plans once and for all.

♪♪Balcony♪♪

This is the Throne Room - you might remember it from the pre-title screen sequence way back
in the very first post of this LP! It's apparently an open-air throne room, which is a little weird.
Maybe having an evil magical crown keeps you from feeling chilly when the wind picks up.



Misery is waiting for us on top of the eponymous throne. She sets herself down to talk to us.





Oh, it's on!

♪♪Eyes of Flame♪♪

At long last, we square off against Misery. For all the magical powers that the Crown supposedly
imbues the Doctor with, Misery seems to be the one with the moves. Her basic pattern is to appear
floating in the air, hover for a few seconds, then send an attack your way before disappearing.
Your job is to pile on the damage in the space between when she materializes and when she
attacks, then get out of the way before she retaliates.



Misery's basic attack is to fire a few shots directly at you. Then there's this version: three black
spheres move slowly across the screen, zapping downward at you when you pass underneath them.



Misery's most damaging attack summons a big ol' chunk of stone that hits you for 10 HP. None of
her attacks is especially dangerous, but avoiding them requires knowing all the different possible
patterns, which can take a while to learn.



As Misery's HP begins to dip, she'll start summoning these spinning rings. They do damage to you,
but more importantly, they block your shots. The rings start close to her but then spiral outward
a bit, so you have to keep some distance from her to avoid them.



Two rings become four once she's down to the last quarter or so of her life bar, which starts to
make it pretty tough to land a shot. Here, you can also see her direct attack. Stick and move, Mac,
stick and move!



The spinny circles transform into orange bats when Misery disappears. These guys leave powerups,
which can be a good way to regain health during the fight. But it behooves you to stay close to
Misery, because it's a lot harder to predict which attack she'll use if she's off screen. I did
manage to top off my life and weapon experience, but then I am super good at Cave Story.



We land the last hit and Misery flies up to whatever awaits us above.

♪♪Victory!♪♪

Yeah! I knew all of those convenient excuses not to fight us were just a front. Misery knew she
couldn't step to this.



A path appears, beckoning us upwards.

♪♪Balcony♪♪

The King's Table is a cool, but also cryptic, name for a location. Is this the dining hall? Or is it his
experiment table? I'm pretty sure that the people who found the Demon Crown before weren't
all PhD scientists, so it seems weird that there would be a lab up here.

Anyway, we've found most or all of the remaining Mimigas, trapped in cages in the Doc's dining
room. They don't see all that concerned about their situation, though.



This one, whom you might remember from the Plantation, actually sounds pretty confident. She's
got the Doctor right where she wants him.

And look, there's Chaco!



I mean, not specifically, but sure. And say, what are you doing after this?

Meanwhile, the Doctor has just been chilling by his table since we got here. I guess the polite thing
to do would be to head over and say hi. You know, before we smoke him.

♪♪Tyrant♪♪

♪♪Eyes of Flame♪♪

What's this? Nobody told me there would be a BOSS RUSH! I would have worn my nice pants.



The Doctor uses the power of the crystal to float around and teleport and seriously, big deal.
But now he can also shoot red energy blasts that move in a helical motion. You can avoid them
by carefully standing in the right spot or by jumping over them. They also block our shots, which
is annoying. So does the crystal, which orbits him during the fight.



When the Doctor teleports, he disappears, but the crystal doesn't. Instead, it follows him around
like an adorable puppy, giving you a pretty good idea of where he's going to reappear.



Sometimes he will launch a cloud of his red bullets in all directions. These ones will rebound off
the floor, ceiling and walls, making it pretty tricky to avoid them all.

The Doctor isn't too hard, really. But just as we land the killing blow...



The power! It's too much! (FACT: It is surprisingly hard to find a good image macro about having
too much power that doesn't involve the division of powers in the US government.)



Ruh-roh.

♪♪Charge♪♪

Meet Muscle Doctor! All of the brawn, none of the brains.



MD trades in the Doctor's energy blasts for a more physical form of offense. He leaps around and
occasionally shoulder-charges you. He's also very fond of rematerializing above your head and
landing on top of you.



Muscle Doctor also has an entertaining attack where he generates a swarm of bats. The bats don't
disappear, either, so you'll have to shoot them down if you don't want to be overwhelmed.



We've got him on the ropes! Let's end this. (I'm letting King get the last blow, because I'm
thoughtful like that.)







The Doctor disintigrates into a bunch of little red dots which I think are supposed to represent
the power of the crystal? Because otherwise, this scene is pretty gory. And I show this to my kid
regularly...

♪♪Victory!♪♪

We did it! The evil Doctor will never harm anybody again. Huzzah!

♪♪Balcony♪♪

Once again, a path upwards is revealed. Let's go take out the Core and put an end to the Demon
Crown, once and for all. But first, it's time for a quick visit with our fan club!





The little girl bunny is pretty stoked that I just murdered that Doctor guy. Saved you the trouble,
am I right? *fist bump*



It's clear from the look on our face that we do not:

No kidding! Sorry about your fire, by the way. I've been feeling bad about that for weeks.

Before we go, we head back for one last word with Chaco.





Chaco's not the only one who's impressed with us, as all the bunnies start to blush and hearts
appear over their heads. That's not just for effect, you can really pick them up!



Every once in a while it's good to remember what you're fighting for. SO ADORABLE.

We head up once again and find ourselves at...



...the Black Space. All is quiet.



Looks like we've found the Core. But as we approach it...





Misery is back, and this time she has a hostage. We don't want her to hurt Sue, so we dutifully
hop backwards.



Dude, that is super racist.



Misery just said she didn't care about this island, so why is she worried? You'd think she would
welcome a chance to destroy that Crown and free herself forever. But we don't have much time to
think about that, because suddenly:

♪♪Zombie♪♪

That swarm of creepy red dots is back!

(Fun fact: this song gets a cool extended version in Pixel's most recent game, Kero Blaster.)



Sue runs to our side while Misery is distracted by the evil cloud of ghost Skittles.



Gotta hand it to Misery, that's a pretty badass line.

Misery fires a volley of shots at the cloud of dots, but it's not very effective...



The red dots swarm Misery and turn her into some kind of evil Fraggle. Just...you'll see.



Sounds like a plan!



But before we make it very far, the red crystal swoops in a transforms Sue into...a human woman
wearing a bunny suit? Not 100% sure, but we might have just stumbled onto one of Pixel's fetishes...



Gah!!

♪♪Last Battle♪♪

Here we go! The Doctor's spirit has taken over the Core, giving us our final boss: The Undead Core.
We're going to take him apart, but first let's take a second to appreciate that music. It's driving!
It's exciting! It makes you want to blow up the evil spirit of a medical professional who now inhabits
the body of a half-dead magical creature and/or machine!

Now listen to this garbage. How am I supposed to fight to this? With its way-too-long
intro and limp melody instrument and near-total lack of percussion? And then you get to the
end of the loop and it plays the whole intro again! It's just a travesty, a travesty. There are times
when the Wii soundtrack holds its own, but for a pulse-pounding boss battle it simply doesn't
deliver the goods.



Well, we don't have time to think about poorly-conceived remixes, we've got a boss to kill. The
Undead Core can be a very challenging battle for players, and once again the biggest reason for
that is because there's just so much stuff happening on screen at any given time.

First we have Misery and Sue. Misery spends the fight summoning hordes of enemies to attack
you, while Sue cannonballs around the screen trying to bodyslam you. Both of them can be taken
out temporarily if you damage them enough, but they'll be back on their feet again after a minute
or so. And while you might be tempted to knock Misery out of commission just to get a break
from all the chaos that she generates, it's actually much better to leave her alive so you can farm
the critters and bats for health and weapon energy. There's a very good chance that you'll take
a few hits during this fight, so you'll want them Doritos in order to get your guns back up to full
operation.



The Core itself is also still a threat. As before, it's immune to damage whenever the face is hidden.
When the Doctor shows his ugly mug, the Core can be damaged, but it will also attack you in
return. The face will hide itself again if it takes enough damage, so there's no way to finish the
fight in fewer than five or six cycles at the very least. Combined with the three bosses we've
already fought, the end-game of Cave Story is a real test of endurance. If you've got a Life Pot
left, this is the time to use it!



Finally, you still have the mini-cores, which mostly act as moving platforms. You can stand on them,
but they also block your shots.



Here's the second expression that the Undead Core can show: creepy teeth. It'll shoot some little
orange projectiles at you in this form, but they're no big deal.



Here's a shot of Sue somersaulting through the air. So graceful!



I think the mini-cores are also the sources of the slow-moving fireballs that you see in the lower-left
corner of the screen? It's definitely possible, anyway. Those keep you on your toes as they tend
to hug the floor, making it impossible to stand in one place for too long.



Here's the third and most-dangerous configuration of the core: the gaping hole. Not only does it
give me the willies...



...but it also shoots out the devastating energy blasts from the original Core fight. Don't stand
in front of that hole!



After a lengthy fight, we finally take down the Undead Core. It explodes in a brilliant flash that
just looks like a white screen when you take a picture of it, so use your imagination instead.



We did it!

...

Wait, what was supposed to happen when we destroyed the core again? Something about the
island falling out of the sky? Nah, couldn't have been that.

Narrator: It was.

Elsewhere:





Looks like Itoh and Momorin have been busy.

~UH-OH! THE CAVE HAVE STARTED TO MOVE!~

Block start raining down from the sky! Which is weird, because I thought we were already at
the top of the island, so where are they coming from! Either way, that's bad!

Narrator: It was.



Back inside the Black Space, our hero and Sue come to.

♪♪Run!♪♪

Sue runs off and we follow her down to the King's Table.



Thankfully, someone (?) came along and freed all the Mimigas that were trapped here, so we don't have
their needless deaths on our conscience. Maybe the little girl picked the lock?



Despite the urgent music, there isn't actually anything forcing us to move quickly...yet, anyway.



Run, run or you'll be well done!



Now that we're outside, there are blocks a-plenty trying to squish us. They do 10 damage each, so we
can tank a hit or two if we're a little careless and it won't be the end of the world.

I mean, this is kind of literally the end of the world for this floating island, but you get my meaning.

As we pass by the shack, I try the door handle. It's locked, but it's not like we have time for a nap
right now anyway...



Ouch! I got clonked.

When we reach the far left of the Balcony, we find Sue waiting for us.



Am I ready? I was ready a whole chapter ago!



Sue takes a flying leap off the edge of the island.



And so do we! The game doesn't stop us this time.

For what it's worth, I don't think it's possible to "fail" this jump. I've never tried half-assing it,
though, so who knows?

♪♪Break Down♪♪

As a somber melody plays, we see different scenes of the island falling apart. First the Egg Corridor...





...then Grass Town and the Sand Zone...



...the Labyrinth...



Oh, screw you, game. :C



And finally, the Plantation.





We see the island slooooooooowly fall from the sky, and then...

~CRAAAAASH~

The island is no more. Along with, I would estimate, everything in a 10 km radius. Really, we'll be
lucky if this doesn't trigger an extinction event.



There's no time to worry about that right now, though. We return to our hero, plummeting toward
the ground. Things look grim!

♪♪Got Item!♪♪

Woohoo! Kazuma comes through! I'd forgotten all about that guy.

Yeah, the huge swath of land we just obliterated oughtta be particularly peaceful from now on.

But hey, now's not the time for navel gazing - we did it! We stopped the Doctor's scheme, saved
(most) of the nations of the Earth and ensured that the terrible power of the Demon Crown will
never be abused again! All-in-all, I'd say that's not too bad.



And with that, our journey comes to an end. I'm not sure where home is for our hero, but I'm
sure he'll find a welcome among the Sakamoto clan if nothing else.

With the Doctor defeated, we are now treated to the credits sequence. This is honestly one of my
favorite game endings ever, filled with expressive art and cute vignettes, set to one of the best
songs in the game. Enjoy!

♪♪The Way Back Home♪♪

First we start off by introducting the cast - I love it when games do this! At the same time, little
one-off drawings show up on the sidebar in reverse chronological order, starting with Kazuma's
excellent save.



What did I tell you? Totally an evil Fraggle.





Mahin! That's what that stupid guy's name was. I'll probably forget it again by the time this is posted.



I'm pretty sure Sandaime never shows up again after the Mimiga Village. Was he somewhere
in the Plantation?



You know, those really might be balls of yarn...



I like how we're apparently taking a selfie with Ironhead here.

It's the fight in the Boulder Chamber! I love the intense look in Balrog's eyes. Also, I referred to
the Mimiga kids Colons, but that's not what they're called in this version of the game. Once again,
I think Nicalis has the right of it, because Koron just looks like a mistake.



It's worth noting that Curly is canonically wearing a tube top. Also, most of the Gaudi don't get
names, but the one who runs the shop does.



Chie is the super tough Mimiga kid who was just waiting for a chance to kick the Doctor's butt.



Notice that one of the puppies is drinking a cocktail? Must be the same one that was at Curly's
house in the Sand Zone.



I don't have much to add except to say that I love all of these drawings to death.



Littles? I don't remember meeting any Littles...



We didn't see Numahachi, either, but I might be able to fix that soon.

♪♪Mischievious Robot♪♪

One of my favorite tracks comes back as we get a monster roll call. I know that Behemoths can
charge you, but for the life of me I couldn't get one to actually do it when I played this. If
someone knows how to trigger it, let me know and I'll see if I can get a pic.



While the monsters scroll by, we are treated to a few animated scenes of life on the island. Which
is kinda strange, because I'm pretty sure there's no life on the island at this point! Here's Nurse
Balrog helping out at the clinic.



The White mold ghost's name always makes me think of King's Quest III.

(Note to FL: fix your image links!)



Aaaaah! Sandcroc!



Can anyone explain to me why the green macaw up there is named Crow? Big fan of MST3K?

And hey, puppers!



I listened to a lot of Fuzz Core when I was in high school.



Here's a cute scene of Malco activating a bunch of other robots. They all start to scream one after
another until they form some sort of unholy choir.







We didn't meet any Red Demon. Are we...not true heroes?



I totally forgot that the original version of the game lists all of the pieces of music in the soundtrack.
Guess you have space to fill in the credits when a single person did everything!

We can also see that at least some of the Mimigas made it to the helicopter before everything
went pear-shaped.



Here's a really cute scene where Sue and Itoh step into transformation chambers and return to
being human...



...until they sneeze and snap back to their Mimiga forms. Hope you like being furry!



Shih Tzu and Gideon Zhi are from Aeon Genesis, so we really do owe them some Special Thanks.
Without their efforts, this game might never have caught on in the West.



And finally, Pixel himself shows up to thank us for playing his game. Any time, buddy!



The game ends with a heartwarming lineup of the main characters. Maybe a little less heartwarming
if you realize that four of them are dead now, and we're responsible for two of those deaths. Oops!

But no matter, we made it! Thank you for reading this LP, I hope that you had fun and maybe
gained a bit more appreciation for this amazing game. Now it's time to hang up my controller
and put this thread to bed...

Except we're totally not done! We may have stopped the Doctor and put an end to the Demon
Crown, but at what cost? The island and all its inhabitants has been reduced to cinders! Our closest
allies are dead! We didn't even get to meet the Littles! No sir, we aren't done here, not by a long
shot. So stick around and we'll see what other mysteries there are to unearth as Let's Play Cave
Story continues. Huzzah!

How to get the Behemoth to do the thing: shoot it a few times with a weak-power weapon.

Their charge attack makes the entire screen shake, but it's not actually that dangerous.

WELL DONE!

I see it as a mockery of Sue's predicament. Pixel's more into cats, anyway (and identifies as a frog).


That ain't no tube top.

Looking forward to the next part, as always!

I don't remember clearly, but I'm about 70% sure I tried it and discovered that it's possible.

My favorite enemy name is Basil.

Misery's transformation just freaks me the hell out. Specifically her battle sprite; the credits scene doesn't bother me for some reason.

There's a few things there in the end that I have to wonder if they're hints at backstory or just weird translations, like Cthulhu being described as the island's native inhabitants, plural.

Time for another interlude! You know we like to do science here at Let's Play Cave Story, so I
decided to investigate a claim made by one Mogri Wadsworth III, Esq.



Well we'll never know for sure unless we try! Try walking off the island without jumping at all, that is.



There's no immediate consequence to our limp leaping. The ending plays as before, showing us shots
of the different parts of the island that we've visited, before cutting back to our hero in free fall:



And now for the moment of truth. Will Kazuma's dragon catch us, or will we end up as just another
pancake in the wake of the island's destruction?



And we're OK! It seems like the kind of jump that you take off the island doesn't actually impact
your chances for survival. Now to be fair, I didn't test under the most extreme circumstances
possible. I could have forced my character to fall exactly one tile away from the edge of the island,
as opposed to the 2-3 tiles' distance that we got by just walking. So it's still possible that the
game treats falling off the bottom of the screen differently than exiting via the side, and I honestly
don't feel like replaying that whole section again to find out. Still, we can definitively state that
Sue's entreaty to "jump as far as you can!" is pure hogwash. You don't have to take a big jump;
you don't have to jump at all.

I hope you've found this interlude to be both informative and entertaining! Look forward to another
one tomorrow, should I get my ducks in a row. Huzzah!

It must be Interlude Week here at Let's Play Cave Story, because we're at it again! (ED: Expect
no further content during Interlude Week.) Today, I wanted to take us back to one particular
moment in time:



This, as you may recall, is when we woke up from our nap in Momorin's secret hideout. Normally,
the plan is to go topside and hand over the Mimiga mask, at which point Momorin returns your
booster and sends you on your way.



But that's not how it's gonna go today!



Thanks for the mask, sucker!



(Of course, I did stop off to pet the pupper and get my final Life Capsule. We're fuzzy buddies!)



One harrowing rocket ride later, we find ourselves in...



...the Final Cave. Only this time, we're a Mimiga!



Not only are we a Mimiga, but since we didn't talk to Momorin, we didn't get the Booster back!
That's going to make the Final Cave a whole lot harder to traverse.



For example, terrain like that that you could bypass with ease before? Now you have to actually
navigate it. I mean, if you still have a fully-upgraded Machine Gun you can still skip a lot, but
those spikes hurt and I keep hitting them and anyway, the whole point is to show you how things
are different if you don't have your jetpack.



This room, in particular, is just tons of fun. You'll notice that I'm already in pretty rough shape
by this point - admittedly, I did not bring my A game when I played this section - so getting
through here was harrowing.



Here's an example of a little thing that is made harder without the Booster. This looks like a small,
easy jump, but because it borders on a pool of water, it gets trickier. You have to jump from the
square to the left where the acid is falling, which requires a bit of timing.



Remember this bit, where there were fans hidden in the blocks above the spikes? Turns out they
weren't there at random.



You need to use those fans to make these big jumps if you don't have the Booster. Wheeeee!!



I'm in really bad shape as I head into the final gauntlet of Critters and Presses, but thankfully
it's far less dangerous than it looks. In fact, after the Presses land, you can very safely turn
around and shoot them to power your gun back up. Which I did.



Phew, made it back to the Balcony. We take a quick rest in the Prefab building before heading off
to have a chat with Misery.

Misery seems to be pretty amused by the mask.



The fight with Misery is pretty much the same as usual, so I won't show it here. This last bit of
dialogue is different, though. Now that she's out of the way, let's go upstairs and talk to Chaco.



Chaco stares directly into one's soul. Note that the little bunny on her left is too preoccupied with
kicking the Doctor's butt to comment on the mask.



The Doctor also doesn't have anything to say about our disguise. The first part of the fight
doesn't change too much without the Booster, but you do have to be more careful jumping over
his helical blasts.



The fight against Muscle Doctor gets a little dicier, since he moves around a lot more. I eventually
opted to use up some missiles so I could get it over with quicker.



After the fight, you can talk with Santa, who is likewise surprised by your appearance. None of
the other post-fight Mimiga dialogue changes, but without the jetpack you can't collect all of the
hearts that appear over their heads before proceeding to the top level.



I just wanted to include this ladder of blocks because it's kind of annoying to climb when you can't fly.



Nobody has anything fun to say before you fight the Undead Core, so we'll skip ahead to that.
This fight is significantly harder without the jetpack, especially if you're down to a lowly level 2
machine gun like I am here.



The biggest issue is getting up high enough to shoot the Undead Core in its stupid face. The mini
cores fly at various altitudes, but much of the time they're too high for you to jump on. You
spend a lot of time on the ground waiting for an opportunity to jump up. It's also tougher to
avoid the various projectiles without the Booster.



After a while, my health got ground down to a little less than 20. Since one of the core's big
shots takes off that much health, I decided to play it safe and use my Life Pot here.



Yikes! Another problem is that I accidentally knocked Misery out while farming Critters, which
meant I no longer had a supply of hearts and weapon energy to recover with. I'm pretty sure
she gets back up eventually, but it didn't happen before I finished the fight.



I didn't realize how close I was to disaster when I took this screenshot. Thankfully, I dodged that
blast and fed the Doctor a few more missiles, winning the fight.



The escape sequence plays out the same as before, but you can't avoid the falling blocks as easily
with a Mimiga's limited mobility. I decided to humor Sue and actually jump here, even though I
totally didn't have to.



And we're falling...and we're falling...



Caught by Kazuma! It's very subtle, but your character sprite has been altered and the mask is
still somewhat visible in this shot.



Not so in the credits illustrations, however. I've heard that Cave Story+ adds modified drawings
for the Mimiga mask ending that show it properly. Maybe we'll find out later?



You do keep the mask for the rundown of all the enemies, at least.



And that's it! I'd long heard about the Mimiga mask ending, but this is the first time I've ever
actually gotten it. Part of that is because it leads to the bad ending, which is not a place I
tend to go when replaying Cave Story. But it was fun to see the different characters' reactions
and the challenge of finishing the Final Cave and beating the Undead Core without the Booster
was interesting.

And with that, I believe we are officially finished with Cave Story - at least in its original incarnation.
For the next leg of our journey, we'll be switching over to the Steam version of Cave Story+ to
see the story play out from a different perspective. Look forward to that next time on Let's Play
Cave Story. Huzzah!

The Mimiga mask ending is one of those little touches that makes Cave Story such a great game.

ADORABLE ROBOT BUNNY KILLS EVERYONE

I just recently completed the good ending of this, and I was reading along with your let's play the whole time. It's great!

I can't wait for you to go back and look at the stuff you missed!

Welcome, dear viewers, to the next update in this Let's Play! Last time I promised you two
things: a new version of Cave Story and a new perspective on the game. For the former, I give
you our first look at Cave Story+, the excellent Steam port released in 2011. And as for new
perspectives, long-time Cave Story fans will know that I could only have been talking about...




...the perspective of the walking dead! Psych!

Interlude: Scary Monsters

There's something different about the title screen in this port. Can't quite put my finger on it,
though. Oh! I know, it's that Steam notification in the bottom corner! Yeah, that's totally new.

But of course that's not what I mean! Today is none other than October 31, and that means
we're in for a special trick or treat. It's Cave Story+'s hidden Halloween mode!



If you launch the game on October 31, you will surely be delighted to see that the whole dang
thing has been reskinned in honor of the world's 2nd creepiest holiday. And I don't want to
oversell this, but the artists who worked on this port went all out. Almost every single bit of
art has been spookified, from the enemies to the powerups to the dialog portraits. It's a crazy
huge labor of love and I hope you'll all find it half as charming as I do. Let's take a tour!

First off we have the little bats of the First Cave, who are now skelton bats. Aww. And see that
Life Capsule? Now it's a pumpkin capsule! Pumpkins are in great supply on this island, as we'll
soon see.



Whoa, the giant panther head doors are now way creepier than they were before.



The critters have become sheet ghosts!



Arriving in the village, you'll find that even the dialogue portraits have gotten the treatment.
Here's King dressed up as Guy Fawkes...



...and Little Red Riding Toroko.



Kanpachi is cosplaying Darth Vader, and even the Chinfish gets a set of cat ears.



Misery is dressed up like Morrigan and Balrog is Frankenstein's monster! Also visible is one of the
single worst lines from the Nicalis translation of the game.



They didn't seem to have any great ideas for Jack, so they just stuck a pumpkin on his head.



The cemetary is populated my skull mushrooms and one giant brain mushroom. There's also the
knife-wielding maniac, but I'm honestly not 100% sure what his costume is supposed to be.
Maybe Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Any horror buffs feel free to chime in here.



The Cave Story Behemoths are dressed like Final Fantasy Behemoths! And I actually got one to
charge me! Also the weapon energy is candy corn! God I love this Easter Egg.

Oh sorry, wrong holiday.



Sue is dressed up like Princess Peach and Igor is some kind of Grim Reaper.



Cthulhu is, well, you know. Also note the graffiti on the background tiles here. There are spider
webs, skulls and other creepy things all over the place in other areas, too.



Is this big bug supposed to be that guy from Gurren Lagann?



Moving on to Grasstown, we find Santa! But, like, really Santa!



I love the design on the Power Critters, who have become giant flying pumpkins.



Chaco (Chako?) is...well, the less said, the better. Can't win 'em all...



Hey, forget about that, check out these rad Metroid jellies! You can also see the bats, who now
have hipster glasses and (I think) bowties.



MALCO is now a skeleton, although for some reason his background buddies aren't. But check
out the tiny pair of eyes peeking out from behind the metal panel to the left of our character.
So many great touches!



The smaller rabid Mimigas become mummies, and there's a pumpkin on the floor just for decoration.



Here's a better look at Misery's Morrigan costume.



Balrog is such a major player that he gets a second costume for this scene...



...which he keeps when Misery transforms him into a giant frog!



Kazuma and Booster have a classic horror reunion before climbing onto a...broomstick bike? I
guess it makes more sense for a broom to fly than a motor bike. And check out the cactus ghosts
rocking Cactuar costumes!

That's all I'm gonna show you for now, but rest assured that there are delightful costumes to
be found all the way to the end of the game, no matter which path you take. There are still a
few hours left in the day, why not play it yourself and find out? Unless...you're too scared!?

Whaaaaat!

Oh god I hope this works in the Switch port too. I'm gonna find out when I get home today.