Cave Story/Wii versions

This is a sub-page of Cave Story.

The North American Wii version was released on March 22, 2010. The changes made from the PC version were rather rushed: some of the graphics were upscaled and just fine-tuned here and there, the alternate soundtrack was not thoroughly quality-checked, and the extra game modes were available from the start without needing to be unlocked.

Then came the European version, released on December 10, 2010. It changed quite a bit: the graphics were refined, the alternate soundtrack was fixed, and the extra game modes were made unlockable. The North American version was later updated to include the European version's changes.

Differences

General

• Every time the item screen or teleporter destination screen is opened, the background goes black. This has been fixed in the European release.

Graphics

Face

Message box portraits.

North American
European

The character portraits went through many changes. Some of the black pixels were not assigned correctly and are actually transparent.

• Sue got more divided eyelashes.
• Balrog got some smudges and an eyebrow.
• Jack's mouth is wider and he gained some whiskers.
• Kazuma got a few more smudges and lost his small smile.
• Jenka's nose was made larger.
• Misery hair now always matches its appearance in her angry portrait, the strands of hair at the top of her face are wavy, her earrings are red, and her smiling and angry portraits were refined in general.
• Booster's lower teeth are showing. His "injured" portrait has a bit more scratches and scuffs, but loses the messy hair.
• Curly got an extra eyelash, more hair on the side of her head, and is blushing in all portraits.
• The Doctor only shows his lower teeth, as opposed to a full grin, and got a dragon engraving on his Crown.
• Momorin's cheeks are puffier, making her smile more obviously a smile.
• Balrog's shocked expression has him crying in the North American version, but this was reverted in the European version.
• The old robot's chin was redrawn, and some lighting was added to make it look shiny.
• Quote's portrait (previously unused) changed a lot, from being a crudely edited Sue to looking more like an actual robot.
• Itoh gained a few hairs, and raises his paw in the European version.
• Ballos' face is a lot more wrinkled and cracked.

Cave Story 3D uses the European portraits as a base.

TextBox

HUD.

North American	European

The answer box is smaller in the European version, and "YES" and "NO" are separated by a dot; it's a slash in the North American version. The red numbers and bars are darker in the European release.

NpcAlmo1

The Core.

North American	European

The eyes/lights are rounder in the European version.

NpcCemet

Cemetery enemies.

North American	European

The big Pignon's hurt sprite has a drop of sorts in the European version, but it looks more like a bell in the North American version.

North American	European

Ma Pignon's eyes are less triangular in the European release, except for his happy sprite, which makes them even more triangular. The small mushrooms in the graveyard have the same changes.

NpcCurly

Curly Boss Battle.

North American	European

The Colons' eyes are squarer in the European version. Curly's mouth is slightly bigger, and in a few sprites, changed to make her happy, as opposed to confused. The teeth for the lying Colon have been removed in the European version's left sprite. Finally, Curly's missile shield is copy-paste-flipped for the right-facing sprite in the North American version. This means that the reflection of the bubble has been flipped too. Note that this is present in the original PC release as well, meaning this is a mistake that even Pixel himself failed to catch. The European release fixes the reflection.

NpcGuest

General NPCs.

North American	European

Several Mimiga, and the dogs, have their eyes changed, for when they are closed. They're a single pixel thick in the North American version, and 2 pixels thick in the European version. Kanpachi, the fisher, has more triangular eyes in the North American version, while they're squarer in the European version. Also, Chaco's eyes are slightly darker in a small area in the European version.

NpcKings

Balrog and Misery inside bubbles, used in the intro.

North American	European

Balrog's scratches are less defined in the European version, and his mouth has also been smoothed. Misery's eyes are black in the North American version, dark blue in the European version. The bubbles look smoother overall in the European release.

NpcMoon

Enemies in the Outer Wall.

North American	European

The cat ghosts have small dots as eyes and simple lines as mouths in the North American version. In the European version, their eyes are circles, and their mouths are zig-zagged lines. The sprites where their eyes are closed are more anti-aliased in the European version. The 2nd wool ball's sprite is a bit lower in the North American version.

NpcRegu

General NPCs.

North American	European

The colors of the robots in the Labyrinth have changed from being blue (standing) and red (deactivated) in the North American version, to green in the European version. Some of the sprites of Quote escaping with Kazuma are changed by some pixels in the European version. For instance, Curly's head raises one pixel in one sprite the European version, and some of the yellow costume's sprites have the stripe in the hat moved one pixel to the left.

PrtLabo

The laboratory in the ending where Sue and Itoh are turned into humans.

North American	European

The fans were changed to actually look like fans in the European version, instead of broken glass. An easy mistake to make, since the fan animation is only used in the end credits.

Credit01

Kazuma, Sue, and Quote escaping.

North American	European

Kazuma's eyes are opened, Sue's mouth is fixed, and Quote is no longer smiling in the European version.

Credit02

The boss fight against the Core, Misery and Sue.

North American	European

In the European release, some magic balls have been added, Sue got more distinctive fur and gained teeth, Quote has a drawing of Ikachan on the back of his hat, Misery's hair has been spiked a bit, and overall, more detail was added.

Credit03

The boss fight against Misery.

North American	European

Bats were added, and Quote's face and leg were fixed in the European version.

Credit04

The rocket taking off in the Plantation.

North American	European

Itoh's nose is shinier and now has a line to define his cheeks, he gained a small extra hair, and the buttons on his coat were fixed. Additionally, Momorin's hair received a touchup and the rocket is blasting off with a sparkle in the European release.

Credit05

Climbing the Outer Wall.

North American	European

For the European version, the cat was given a more appropriate cat mouth, as well as a nose, the yarn ball got a small yarn tail, and another cat has also been added to the picture. Quote's hat and the main cat's shadow were also fixed.

Credit06

Battle against Ironhead.

North American	European

Quote's eyes and hat were retouched a bit, but mainly, several bubbles were added to the scene in the European version.

Credit07

Battle against Balrog before the Boulder is pushed.

North American	European

In the North American version, Balrog has no pupils nor scratches, and Quote doesn't have Ikachan on his hat. For the European version, the smoke and rockets were more detailed, Curly's eyelashes grew, her eyebrows got lighter, and her nose was centered better.

Credit08

Dr. Gero giving the key to the Clinic.

North American	European

For the European version, a belt was added to Quote, Curly's face was retouched a bit, and a bookshelf has been added to her left.

Credit12

Balrog flying with Quote and Curly.

North American	European

Quote looks more worried, the clouds have been enhanced a bit, and Balrog got a happier mouth, more detailed scratches, and eyebrows for the European release.

Credit14

Quote and Curly in Hell.

North American	European

Curly's eyebrows and mouth, and Quote's mouth were improved, and the angels in the background got eyebrows in the European version. Quote's chest, legs, and belt were changed a bit.

Credit17

Sue discussing with King and Jack.

North American	European

The only addition to the European version was a rather important oversight: King doesn't have his scar in the North American version. That is absent in the PC version as well.

Other changes

• Misery's eyes on the final boss battle against the core are 2 pixels thick when closed. In the North American version, they're only 1 pixel thick.
• Ballos, in his human form, has a red eye and a white eye. In the North American version, his right-facing sprites are merely copy-paste-flipped, switching the positions of his eyes. This has been fixed in the European release.

Audio

The songs don't loop correctly in the North American version, and the drums don't play at all. This has been fixed in the European version, but, then again, the entire soundtrack has been slightly redone for the European release.

The sound effects play a lot louder than the music in the North American version. Nicalis even acknowledged this and recommended setting the sound effects' volume bar to 1/3.

Unused Music

Cave Story

An unused version of the main theme.

Credit Wii

Another unused version of the main theme. As the name of the file suggests, it was likely intended to be used during the credits.

Item

An unused version of "Get Heart Tank!"

Plantation

A rougher version of Credit Wii.