A 2D Sidescroller 10 years too late
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Cave Story. It's a 2-dimensional side-scrolling shoot-em-up that came out as freeware in 2004, from an obscure Japanese programmer named "Pixel". The game has a lot of charm; it's all done in pixel art. And even further, the entire game was coded and produced for free by one guy over a period of five years. Even the music is of his own creation. Rather than blather on about it, here is a link to scope it out, and hopefully download.
Cave Story
Grab the Cave Story Deluxe package and it comes with the translation patch included. Don't be put off by the childlike setting at the onset, or the somewhat "cutesy" impression it has. The story is perhaps one of the darkest I've seen in a long time.
Perhaps the most striking thing about this game is simply how much effort was obviously put into it. Masses of bosses and enemies, 9 incredibly unique weapons (throughout the game, as a result of choices you make, the max you can obtain is 5), no less than three different endings, and some of the hardest god damn extras ever devised. The game has what can very nearly be described as a cult following, and there are many youtube videos of people doing special playthroughs with different health values or weapons, or speed-runs of different sections. Foreseeing this competition, Pixel placed a special in-game timer item that records your time on the final, secret, dungeon. And I have rambled for long enough. Play the god damn game. -
It drew a lot of inspiration from those games, and Pixel directly admits to in the case of Metroid.
But believe me when I say the game is a lot deeper than it originally lets on. Stick with it, do the Normal and Hard endings, and tell me what you think as you go. It's a unique game despite its influences.
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