The Underside (similar to Cave Story)

[Sammy Boy]

Hi all,

I discovered an indie game-in-development that plays similar to Cave Story.

The game is currently in "preview" mode (looks like it's not finished yet) but it can be downloaded here (freeware):
http://www.insignificantstudios.com/

(Note: I want to add the forums on that site may contain profanity)

[Felix]

Hey, I think I remember seeing an early dev video for this game about a year or so ago. I remember it took a lot of flak for being a "cave story ripoff" but I think it looks pretty awesome! I wanna check out how far it's come along now. Anything Cave Story = love, so if it plays anything like that beloved little game, then I'm sure I'm gonna love it!

I'm watching the gameplay videos now, and it does look like pretty much a 90% copy of Cave Story, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Yeah it looks very close to Cave Story... but I'll give it a shot anyway.

[Fish and Chips]

I find it hard to believe it's on a completely original engine with new graphics, considering how much of the tileset alone looks borrowed from Cave Story. Still, could be a solid game when it's finished, assuming it doesn't ride the Cave Story wave too much.

[Peanut]

Still, could be a solid game when it's finished, assuming it doesn't ride the Cave Story wave too much.

Come on Fish, ridding the Cave Story wave won't necessarily ruin the game. Sure it will lack originality but if it manages to steal some of Cave Story's heart along with its visuals then it could be a very good game. Unless, of course, they do the opposite and water it down so much that it's not really Cave Story at all, but a game that happens to look like Cave Story...anyway, only time will tell...

[Felix]

I'm hoping they'll just copy the visual and gameplay charms from cave story, but use new beef for the rest. Taking inspiration from something is fine, as long as it doesn't reach total ripoff levels.

[Sammy Boy]

From what I have played so far, the graphics and gameplay style is very similar to Cave Story. Having said that, the humour used in the game is original (to the best of my knowledge). Additionally, it has certain gameplay mechanics that I did not notice in Cave Story (I don't want to go into details as that may spoil it for you).

I personally prefer Cave Story, it seems to have better story-telling ability and gives me more incentive to continue to explore the world in the game.

But that's not to say The Underside isn't worth playing, I've found it quite enjoyable so far, just not with the same amount of excitement as it gave me when I played Cave Story.

[Garland]

Why must my main computer be a mac that doesn't run PC stuff?
(I have a slow windows machine that I usually don't use.)
Otherwise, it looks great.

[Felix]

Just gave the demo a play. I must say, I like it! It does borrow from Cave Story, but not too heavily. It has its own quirky charm as well. I just got to the first boss and it is pretty challenging. Can't wait to play more.