Editing Cave Story

{{BWTP/Infobox
| title = Cave Story
| image = CaveStory.png
}}

Cave Story has had a myriad of ports and re-releases over the years as the creator handed the source code to many people back in the mid to late 2000s before being bought by Nicalis who released Cave Story+ on multiple platforms.

The best way to play Cave Story is split between '''Cave Story: Tweaked''' (a fork of the Cave Story decomp CSE2 with various [[QoL]]), '''doukutsu-rs''' (a faithful rewrite of the engine in Rust), and '''Cave Story+''' with the '''Aeon Genesis Translation Patch''' (AGTP).

{| class="wikitable bwtp-breakdown-table"
! &nbsp;
! Cave Story: Tweaked
! doukutsu-rs
! Cave Story+
|-
! Cost
| {{Check|Free}}
| {{Check|{{abbr|Free|Assets must be supplied, but Freeware is free to download and drop in the folder}}}}
| {{Dash|$14.99}}
|-
! FPS
| {{Check|{{abbr|50/60fps toggle|The original Freeware release of Cave Story played at a cap of 50fps. Cave Story+ released with a 60fps cap, increasing game speed by roughly 17%. Modern engines allow a toggle for either game speed. doukutsu-rs separates game logic (ticks-per-second) from framerate, allowing for higher framerates with either game speed.}} }}
| {{Check|{{abbr|50/60tps toggle with motion interpolation for higher FPS |The original Freeware release of Cave Story played at a cap of 50fps. Cave Story+ released with a 60fps cap, increasing game speed by roughly 17%. Modern engines allow a toggle for either game speed. doukutsu-rs separates game logic (ticks-per-second) from framerate, allowing for higher framerates with either game speed.}} }}
| {{Check|{{abbr|50/60fps toggle|The original Freeware release of Cave Story played at a cap of 50fps. Cave Story+ released with a 60fps cap, increasing game speed by roughly 17%. Modern engines allow a toggle for either game speed. doukutsu-rs separates game logic (ticks-per-second) from framerate, allowing for higher framerates with either game speed.}} }}
|-
! Graphics
| {{Dash|{{abbr|Original and fanmade 2xRes included|The original 2004 freeware release of Cave Story ran at a native resolution of 320x240, similar to early second and third-generation retro video games. Cave Story+ released with a set of double-resolution (2xRes) &quot;New&quot; graphics done in-house by Nicalis, which are controversial to some based on their inconsistent quality and art direction. The Switch release/2026 update further adds to this by touching up some graphics and introducing a new lighting engine.}} }}
| {{Dash|{{abbr|Original and New support (must supply assets) |The original 2004 freeware release of Cave Story ran at a native resolution of 320x240, similar to early second and third-generation retro video games. Cave Story+ released with a set of double-resolution (2xRes) &quot;New&quot; graphics done in-house by Nicalis, which are controversial to some based on their inconsistent quality and art direction. The Switch release/2026 update further adds to this by touching up some graphics and introducing a new lighting engine.}} }}
| {{Dash|{{abbr|Original and New included|The original 2004 freeware release of Cave Story ran at a native resolution of 320x240, similar to early second and third-generation retro video games. Cave Story+ released with a set of double-resolution (2xRes) &quot;New&quot; graphics done in-house by Nicalis, which are controversial to some based on their inconsistent quality and art direction. The Switch release/2026 update further adds to this by touching up some graphics and introducing a new lighting engine.}} }}
|-
! Resolution
| {{Check|Multiple 16:9 sizes}}
| {{Check|Fully Dynamic}}
| {{Check|Multiple 16:9 sizes}}
|-
! Lighting Engine
| {{Check|Original}}
| {{Check|{{abbr|Original + doukutsu-rs Custom Lighting Engine|doukutsu-rs's lighting engine is applied over the top of the existing graphics with no additional changes, giving a more faithful look with added ambience. It also has a cone light emitting from the player (togglable)}}}}
| {{Check|{{abbr|Original + CS+ Custom Lighting Engine| CS+'s lighting engine changes the graphics in the walls to be darkened with a blue tint to more closely mimic other metroidvania games.}}}}
|-
! Content
| {{Dash|Base game}}
| {{Check|{{abbr|Extra Challenges*|User must provide assets}}}}
| {{Check|{{abbr|Extra Challenges|Single-level challenges disconnected from the base game}}}}
|-
! Soundtrack
| {{Check|{{abbr|Original + support for Extras|The original soundtrack is included, as well as the folder structure to drag/drop in soundtracks from other releases, as well as fan-made soundtracks.}}}}
| {{Check|{{abbr|Original + support for Extras|The original soundtrack is included, as well as the folder structure to drag/drop in soundtracks from other releases, as well as fan-made soundtracks.}}}}
| {{Check|Original + Extras}}
|-
! Translation
| {{Check|{{abbr|AGTP translation|The AGTP translation of Cave Story is considered more iconic and flows better. It has the iconic &quot;Huzzah!&quot; catchphrase for Balrog instead of a generic &quot;Oh yeah!&quot;, and the line &quot;I pray for your victory&quot; instead of &quot;Best of... luck...&quot;.}}}}
| {{Dash|User must provide assets}}
| {{Xmark|{{abbr|Nicalis translation|The AGTP translation of Cave Story is considered more iconic and flows better. It has the iconic &quot;Huzzah!&quot; catchphrase for Balrog instead of a generic &quot;Oh yeah!&quot;, and the line &quot;I pray for your victory&quot; instead of &quot;Best of... luck...&quot;.}}}}
|}

{{BWTP/Gold
| title = [https://doukutsu.rs doukutsu-rs]
| subtitle = [[File:IconWin.png|24px]][[File:IconLinux.png|24px]][[File:IconMacOS.png|24px]][[File:IconAndroid.png|24px]]
| cols = 1
| col1title =
| col1 =
{{Check|Fully dynamic screen ratio/resolution scaling (up to 4x)}}
{{Check|Multiple Soundtrack support}}
{{Check|Custom Lighting Engine (togglable)}}
{{Check|Lots of QoL settings}}
{{Dash|Must obtain assets from Freeware/CS+/Tweaked}}
}}

{{BWTP/Gold
| title = [https://forum.cavestory.one/threads/cave-story-tweaked-new-version-1-7.15164/ Cave Story: Tweaked]
| subtitle = [[File:IconWin.png|24px]][[File:IconLinux.png|24px]]
| cols = 1
| col1title = Features
| col1 =
{{Check|Multiple Platforms supported}}
{{Check|Widescreen}}
{{Check|Multiple Soundtrack support}}
{{Check|Lots of QoL settings}}
}}

{{BWTP/Silver
| title = [https://store.steampowered.com/app/200900/Cave_Story/ Cave Story+]
| subtitle = [[File:IconWin.png|24px]][[File:IconProton.png|24px]]
| cols = 2
| col1title = Features
| col2title = Patches
| col1 =
{{Check|Widescreen}}
{{Check|New Lighting Engine (togglable)}}
{{Check|Extra Challenges}}
{{Check|Special "holiday" texture packs for Halloween and Christmas}}
| col2 =
{{Dash| [https://github.com/aarmastah/agtp-csplus AGTP-CS+] {{BWTP/Pill|Recommended|type=rec}}{{BWTP/Pill|Translation|type=tra}}}}
}}

In order to source the alternative soundtracks for Tweaked and doukutsu-rs, you can simply drag and drop the data/Soundtracks folder. Most of these soundtracks are freely available via official sources, but some have to be ripped from copies of Cave Story+.

* {{abbr|[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bqZgZYAZFXtc8Rb2tW_5hpuit9XeD9O_ "Wii-Rebalanced" - Yann van der Cruyssen and SoloMael]|Wii-Rebalanced is a re-remaster of Yann van der Cruyssen's soundtrack featured on the WiiWare release of Cave Story. This Wii-Rebalanced edit is officially endorsed by Yann on his website as the definitive version of the soundtrack.}}
* [https://gamebanana.com/sounds/52717 Arranged - DM DOKURO]
* Remastered - Danny Baranowsky and Dustin Kulwicki
* Ridiculon soundtrack - Ridiculon
* [https://www.moddb.com/mods/cave-story-famitracks-steam-mod-v-11 Famitracks - RushJet1]
* [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5sdMd2IqCTnRUdoTEREZ0hVcDg/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-ih87CG6utguFsg11DkDCwA SNES - livvy94]

Similarly, if you want the New graphics, they can be copied into the data folder. You can acquire the official graphics from CS+, or use [https://lethrys.com/lethrysupscale Lethrys's 2xRes texture pack].

For a {{abbr|nearly complete*|The Cave Story Tribute site does not list CSE2 and its forks due to the DMCA takedown of the source code issued by Nicalis.}} list of every Cave Story port, [https://www.cavestory.one/download/cave-story.php check out the ports page at cavestory.one].