Recent reviews by Steven Campbell

The graphics are minimalist, but the entire package has a surprising level of polish. The interplay between the game and the music feels chunky and satisfying. Highly recommend giving this a go with a good pair of headphones.

Simply put, this is one my favorite games. I played the original version (which was free, and is still available online) back when I was in school, and I can't speak of it highly enough. If you're trying to determine whether you would like this game, I recommend trying out the original version from cavestory.org. Seriously, go do it, it's less than 1Mb. Once you've played it, I have very little doubt that you will want to buy this version, just to support the creator.

Cave Story is a platformer/shooter in the vein of Super Metroid. You play as a robot who has lost his memory. Your only abilities at the start are basic movement and jumping. The introductory section can be somewhat frustrating, as you have no way to defend yourself, the controls might take some getting used to, and the spikes near the starting point are instant death before your health is upgraded -- but don't be disheartened! Very soon you will obtain a basic pistol, and things are much easier from that point. When you destroy an enemy, they will drop hearts and/or triangular experience bits. These experience bits are used to level up whatever weapon you're currently wielding, which will significantly increase its power. However, when you take damage, the experience level for your current weapon will also decrease, so maintaining your weapons at high levels involves a bit of strategy. The variety of weapons throughout the game is very good, and you will find yourself switching between them frequently, as they each will be advantageous in certain situations.

Visually, I would describe Cave Story as charmingly retro. The Cave Story+ version available here is cleaned up quite a bit from the original, which is fine, but I personally feel that the original chunky pixels were more charming.

As far as audio goes, most of the sounds are beeps and bloops similar to what you would expect from a SNES era game, nothing special but nothing bad. The music, though, is great! At least, it is if you like chiptunes.

The tone and style of the game are pretty lighthearted and cute, but the actual story is rather dark. I will not discuss it further than to say that it is quite good, and many of the characters are very memorable (and adorable).

TL/DR: Absolutely, wholeheartedly recommended. After completing the free version, I bought this version on PC, the Wii port of the same game, and the 3DS remake. Not that I recommend doing that, necessarily.... just play it and do what you want. Especially knowing that the original game was created entirely by a single person, it's a staggering achievement.