Before youtube and twitch and twitter, virtually everything that wasn't aggressively mainstream passed through word of mouth. Stuff like Eternal Daughter, Soldat, Warning Forever, Tumiki Fighters, all these games spread through word of mouth, even before the post-Cave Story boom. The separation at the time felt more like. "Flash Games" (N or Alien Hominid), freeware games(like Soldat, Nethack, whatever version of Scorched Earth), and weird Japanese games people only kinda understood where they came from. I know at least I didn't understand what a doujin release REALLY meant (from shit like Princess Maker to Melty Blood), but w/e. Also I guess the fourth class of poverty gaming was emulation but w/e.
The point is, most of us were broke back then (and honestly, kinda still now) so we'd all be on forums, or IRC, or even fucking 4chan trying to share stuff that you could play for free. Back then everything under ""real games"" was either free or might as well have been free(said japanese doujin releases, emulation). Downloading a cool looking game online was pretty normal back then, so all it took was a few people on IRC or forums or w/e. Hell, IWBTG was getting crazy popular before youtube and twitch too. Both platforms extended it's life, but it all started by people just saying "hey I found this cool thing".
I think it's hard to think about it now because very few indie games are free, and those that are are drowned out by a huuuuge waves of itch.io games (flash kinda eventually had this same issue). Like who would know to even try a game if they had to spend 5 bucks or more to try it out. But back then it was slimmer pickings (basically, anything that felt like a "real game" and wasn't flash was a gift), so quality games got talked about a lot. Even the post-Cave Story indie boom feels alien compared to the time before it. It was much harder to get noticed AFTER Cave Story, once a lot of us decided it was time to give game making a real go. Though even then you went from '10s of free games' to '100s'. Still managable.
I was there when Cave Story became popular. I won't say it was the only path by which it became popular, but it might serve to understand how things worked back then:
- We knew about Ikachan, Pixel's earlier game, from Home of the Underdogs, who kept itself fairly well updated regarding doujin games (for the kids less than 30 years old, that's what we called "japanese indie games") Also, back then JayIsGames was an actual website with actual news about actual new games instead of a pile of shit.
- Similarly, we already knew some works from the Aeon Genesis team (they had translated Warning Forever, Rockman & Forte, Live-A-Live and I think Clock Tower by then) They didn't hang on the same circles as I did, but we certainly had some people in common.
- Cave Story's translation comes out and we play the hell out of it.
- One colleague happens to be writing about indie games for a new site called 1up.
- The rest is history.
There's something very important in that 1up article that I think people forget about Cave Story - the line about how it rivalled in scope mainline series GBA games of the time. Being just about 12 years old when Cave Story reached me through these channels, downloading the game at school (as I didn't have internet at home just yet) and taking it back with me and discovering that this free game had as much (if not more) heart and character and interesting gameplay as anything that could be found on the shelves by the biggest names was nothing short of a complete and total hotwire to the center of the creative part of my brain.
I credit Ratchet & Clank 2's Insomniac Museum with highlighting to me how games were imperfect things made by human beings who had to make decisions about what to keep and what to leave - introducing me to the idea that maybe, just maybe, I could be one of those people; but it felt like a far-off dream, something intangible to me, a rural kid with terrible math grades.
But Cave Story made me realize that I could make games. Anyone could make games. Here was a single person, making things in their spare time between their life and job, and giving them away for free - making things for the love of making them, telling stories so that the stories would be told. It changed my life.
Cave Story dropping on the ZZTer IRC channel of the time got the whole crew playing it over the course of a week or two, slowly learning about some of the hidden weapons and its good ending. The IRC topic at the time had somebody calling somebody else the f-slur, a link to meatspin.swf (do people remember that one? It's uh, explicit.), and a link to a pirated copy of Quake 1.
This is from January 31st 2005 and onward
[19:32] <gofer-chan> i found a fucking awesome sidescroller
[19:32] <gofer-chan> xr7
[19:33] <gofer-chan> i think this may be the kind of thing you wanted
[19:33] <XR7> yaaaaaay
[19:33] <gofer-chan> http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA022293/FreeSoft/Doukutsu.html
[19:33] <gofer-chan> here's the english patch
[19:33] <gofer-chan> http://agtp.romhack.net/download/doukutsu.zip
[19:33] <gofer-chan> it plays like a metroid type game
[19:33] <gofer-chan> except it's a really fucking huge and awesome freeware japanese game
[22:33] <Nadir> i have a puppy on my head in this game
[22:35] <Nadir> everyone should play this game
[22:35] <Nadir> ever
[20:06] <Nadir> huzzah!
[20:06] <Nadir> balrog is amazing
[20:06] <Nadir> i love that guy
[20:06] <mOdac> huzzah?
[20:06] <gofer-chan> that's balrog
[20:06] <gofer-chan> he's my hero
[20:21] <gofer-chan> who puts a dog in a chest >:( jeeze
[16:47] <Dr_Dos> :O
[16:47] <Dr_Dos> King
[16:47] <Dr_Dos> what a compelling story this is
[16:49] <Dr_Dos> Toroko D:
[16:50] <Dr_Dos> King D:
[16:50] <Nadir> Dos D:
My favorite part of all of it is how we do not have the word Metroidvania. My second favorite thing is that while it consumes so much of the chat for days, nobody fuckin puts the link to the game in the channel topic.
There are two wolves inside me, with one saying "nobody has ever wanted to read IRC logs" and the other saying "This is a primary source to how folks reacted to Cave Story shortly after its release and that's super important historically" so here u go.
[19:32] [gofer-chan] holy shit
[19:32] [gofer-chan] i found a fucking awesome sidescroller
[19:32] [gofer-chan] xr7
[19:33] [gofer-chan] i think this may be the kind of thing you wanted
[19:33] [XR7] yaaaaaay
[19:33] [gofer-chan] http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA022293/FreeSoft/Doukutsu.html
[19:33] [gofer-chan] here's the english patch
[19:33] [gofer-chan] http://agtp.romhack.net/download/doukutsu.zip
[19:33] [gofer-chan] it plays like a metroid type game
[19:33] [gofer-chan] except it's a really fucking huge and awesome freeware japanese game
[19:33] [XR7] yaaaay
[19:33] [Terryn] Oh, nifty.
[19:34] [XR7] what the hell is an lzh
[19:34] [nondescript] is nadir in new zealand now or what
[19:34] [gofer-chan] http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html
[19:34] [gofer-chan] ive been playing it for the past while and it kicks ass
[19:35] [XR7] is it some kind of linux file?
[19:35] [gofer-chan] no
[19:35] [gofer-chan] you have to use winrar
[19:35] [XR7] because i must point out i do not have linux
[19:35] [XR7] ok
[19:35] [gofer-chan] use winrar, its a .zip style thing
[19:35] [XR7] which one do i want
[19:36] [Terryn] WinRAR or LHA.
[19:36] [Terryn] Top.
[19:36] [XR7] no, which file
[19:36] [Terryn] Top.
[19:36] [gofer-chan] top
[19:40] [XR7] when i try to play it, my screen does that crazy green purple thing
[19:41] [gofer-chan] hm
[19:41] [gofer-chan] it works fine for me
[19:41] [gofer-chan] :/
[19:41] [XR7] got it
[19:42] [XR7] just needed to run it in smaller screen resolution
[19:42] [gofer-chan] yeah im playing it windowed
[20:14] [gofer-chan] dude
[20:14] [gofer-chan] Cave Story is so fuckign cool
[20:15] [Terryn] gofer: I'll have to play it later!
[20:15] [nondescript] gofer what
[20:15] [nondescript] it it that game you were blowing your load over earlier
[20:15] [nondescript] the metroidy one
[20:15] [gofer-chan] yeah
[20:15] [gofer-chan] its a lot of fun
[20:15] [nondescript] k
[20:15] [nondescript] i'm going to play quake
[20:19] [Nadir] gofer with that metroidy game
[20:19] [Nadir] do i need to download both files
[20:20] [Nadir] or just the first one
[20:20] [gofer-chan] first one
[20:20] [Nadir] k ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
[20:20] [gofer-chan] the contreols are simple
[20:20] [gofer-chan] arrow keys to move
[20:20] [gofer-chan] down to use or talk to people or whatever
[20:20] [gofer-chan] z to jump
[20:20] [gofer-chan] x to shoot
[20:21] [gofer-chan] a and s to switch weapons
[20:21] [gofer-chan] q for menu
[20:21] [gofer-chan] w for map
[20:24] [Nadir] i think i need a language patch
[20:25] [Nadir] yeah found it
[20:25] [gofer-chan] yeah
[20:26] [Nadir] and all was well
[21:42] [Nadir] oh my god
[21:42] [Nadir] nonde
[21:43] [Nadir] cavy story rocks
[21:48] [Nadir] gofer
[21:48] [Nadir] cave story is tops
[21:48] [gofer-chan] nadir
[21:48] [Nadir] a++++
[21:48] [gofer-chan] i know :)
[21:48] [gofer-chan] i made it to sand zone
[21:48] [Nadir] i'm in grassville or whatever
[21:48] [Terryn] Time to patch. dndndndndndndn
[21:48] [gofer-chan] yeah
[21:48] [Nadir] i fought balrog twice
[21:48] [nondescript] once i crack objectdock
[21:48] [gofer-chan] balrog's the shit
[21:48] [Nadir] the second time he was a frog
[21:48] [Nadir] he's a badass
[21:49] [Nadir] i'm not sure what to do now though
[21:49] [Nadir] i need charcoal to make a bomb
[21:50] [gofer-chan] go to the guys fireplace
[21:50] [gofer-chan] the first house in the grass area
[21:50] [gofer-chan] and use the jelly juice on it
[21:50] [gofer-chan] ALSO
[21:50] [gofer-chan] go back to the rabbit town
[21:51] [Nadir] ahh right
[21:51] [gofer-chan] and use the juice on the meeting hall fireplace
[21:51] [gofer-chan] for a new weapon
[21:51] [Nadir] will do
[21:51] [gofer-chan] that kicks a ton of ass at level 3
[22:04] [Nadir] madt download cave story
[22:04] [MadT] What is Cave Story
[22:05] [Nadir] [Nadir] [gofer-chan] http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA022293/FreeSoft/Doukutsu.html
[22:05] [Nadir] [Nadir] [gofer-chan] here's the english patch
[22:05] [Nadir] [Nadir] [gofer-chan] http://agtp.romhack.net/download/doukutsu.zip
[22:05] [Terryn] It's quite good.
[22:05] [crankgod] fine you dumb c*nts i'll download it
[22:05] [Terryn] Very nostalgic feeling.
[22:06] [Nadir] it's like a metroid game with 1980's namco graphics only more awesome than that
[22:33] [Nadir] i have a puppy on my head in this game
[22:35] [Nadir] everyone should play this game
[22:35] [Nadir] ever
[15:40] [Nadir] this boss is super hard
[15:43] [XR7] nadir which one
[15:43] [XR7] i'm on the last one
[15:43] [Robespierre] ah
[15:43] [Robespierre] i gotcha
[15:43] [XR7] and i keep dying
[15:43] [XR7] 11 times since i've been counting
[15:43] [XR7] i'm taking a break to let my fingers heal
[15:44] [Nadir] flimsy
[15:44] [Nadir] i'm at the tank thing
[15:44] [Nadir] in the labyrinth
[15:44] [XR7] I had trouble with that as well
[15:44] [XR7] did you upgrade your sword all the way?
[15:44] [Nadir] i did!!!!!!!
[15:44] [XR7] i used that mostly
[15:44] [Nadir] i just took out all the purple shooty things
[15:44] [Nadir] it's the green blasters that get me
[16:04] [Nadir] holy god
[16:04] [Nadir] what the hell is that thing
[16:04] [Nadir] it's big and green
[16:04] [XR7] what thing
[16:04] [XR7] the exploding one that kills you?
[16:05] [Nadir] it looks like a big plant
[16:05] [XR7] where is it
[16:05] [XR7] OHhhhhhhh
[16:05] [XR7] that one
[16:05] [XR7] Yeah, it's big, isn't it?
[16:05] [Nadir] in the core of the labyrinth
[16:05] [Nadir] i just died
[16:05] [Nadir] [;(
[16:05] [XR7] when I saw it, i thought to myself "that's big"
[16:05] [Nadir] so did i!!!!!
[16:06] [XR7] you should save after you open all the shutters
[16:06] [[PapaBear]] What game are you playing?
[16:06] [Nadir] yeah
[16:06] [Nadir] i should but didn't
[16:06] [XR7] Cave story
[16:06] [Nadir] "cave story"
[16:06] [Nadir] it's this awesome japanese freeware game
[16:06] [Dr_Dos] so i'm guessing it's good then
[16:06] [Nadir] it's awesome
[16:10] [Nadir] saved
[16:10] [Nadir] let's go again
[16:10] [Nadir] shitttttt
[16:12] [Terryn] I beat that game but not 100% owned it.
[16:12] [Terryn] There's a few things I couldn't do, like open the chest in the clock room.
[16:12] [Nadir] killed it
[16:12] [Nadir] i rock
[16:12] [Nadir] oh screw you misery
[16:12] [Nadir] i want to beat that bitch up so hard
[16:14] [Nadir] oh god
[16:14] [Nadir] i nearly drowned but the girl robot gave me her water shield and drowned instead
[16:14] [Nadir] ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;_;;;;;;;;;
[16:14] [Terryn] Yeah, that sucked didn't it. :[
[16:15] [Nadir] oh well, at least the grate is open now
[16:17] [Robespierre] what are you playing
[16:17] [Nadir] cave story
[16:17] [Robespierre] never heard of it
[16:17] [Nadir] it's too good for you
[16:17] [Robespierre] is there a link or something wherein i can get more information
[18:55] [Nadir] i found sue's mother
[18:55] [Nadir] i think
[18:57] [Terryn] Were you able to open the clock room chest or get the third tiny person back to the tiny family?
[18:57] [Terryn] I couldn't figure those out.
[18:57] [Nadir] i haven't found the tiny man yet
[18:57] [XR7] i didn't ever find any tiny family
[18:58] [XR7] but now that you mention it, i think i know where the tiny man is
[18:58] [XR7] the graveyard
[19:10] [Nadir] i got THE NEMESIS GUN
[19:10] [Nadir] for taking the little guy home
[19:10] [Nadir] this should be badass
[19:35] [Aplsos] what game is this
[19:35] [Nadir] cave story
[19:35] [Nadir] a super awesome japanese freeware game
[19:36] [nuero] i didn't play it
[19:36] [nuero] because i forgot where it was
[19:36] [nuero] also i think i thought it was a rom
[19:36] [Nadir] so did i
[19:36] [nuero] is it
[19:36] [nuero] i'm confused
[19:36] [Nadir] no
[19:36] [gofer-chan] cave story is fucking awesome
[19:36] [Nadir] but i forgot where it was
[19:36] [gofer-chan] it's not a rom
[19:36] [gofer-chan] it's so fun
[19:39] [gofer-chan] its like metroid but BETTER
[19:43] [gofer-chan] OH SHIT
[19:43] [Terryn] Nevermind. I beat the game already.
[19:43] [gofer-chan] MACHINE GUN LETS YOU FLY :D
[19:44] [gofer-chan] i heard there are a lot of secrets and 3 endings and everything
[19:44] [Nadir] one ending is easy to get
[19:45] [Nadir] basically you have to give up and say 'i'll run away from the island because i'm a pussy'
[19:45] [gofer-chan] no spoilers :[
[19:55] [gofer-chan] this games story is so cute ^_^
[19:55] [Nadir] i liked how you turned out to be a robot
[19:55] [Nadir] i was like 'omg im a robot'
[19:58] [nuero] i like the music
[19:58] [nuero] in this game
[19:59] [Nadir] if you don't like the music in cave story then you have no soul
[19:59] [mOdac] what the fuck are you talking about
[19:59] [gofer-chan] CAVE STORY
[19:59] [mOdac] what the hell kind of poorly named thing is that
[19:59] [Nadir] fuck you
[19:59] [gofer-chan] the world's happiest game
[19:59] [mOdac] okay
[20:00] [Nadir] cave story is amazing
[20:00] [mOdac] what is it
[20:00] [Nadir] it's a metroid kind of game
[20:06] [Dr_Dos] HUZZAH!
[20:06] [Nadir] yes
[20:06] [Dr_Dos] a lunchbox that looks like it belongs in Mr. Shapiro broke into the shack
[20:06] [Nadir] yes yes yes
[20:06] [Nadir] huzzah!
[20:06] [Nadir] balrog is amazing
[20:06] [Nadir] i love that guy
[20:06] [mOdac] huzzah?
[20:06] [gofer-chan] that's balrog
[20:06] [gofer-chan] he's my hero
[20:09] [gofer-chan] haha what the hell
[20:09] [gofer-chan] i found Curly's Underwear
[20:09] [Nadir] ahaha what
[20:09] [gofer-chan] have you guys found this
[20:09] [gofer-chan] YES
[20:09] [Nadir] gofer no
[20:09] [gofer-chan] in the save room in curlys house
[20:09] [Nadir] where is this
[20:09] [XR7] i didn't
[20:09] [Nadir] =D
[20:09] [Nadir] oh man i have to see this
[20:09] [gofer-chan] as soon as you walk in the door
[20:09] [gofer-chan] jump to the left
[20:09] [gofer-chan] and you get in this secret passage
[20:09] [gofer-chan] where you cant see shit
[20:09] [gofer-chan] then turn on your map
[20:09] [gofer-chan] and you can see the passage
[20:09] [gofer-chan] follow it to the end
[20:09] [gofer-chan] hit down
[20:09] [Terryn] =o
[20:09] [gofer-chan] and you pick up Curly's Underwear
[20:10] [gofer-chan] i am a detective
[20:10] [gofer-chan] "Yellow-green panties with a cute little insigna. They have no use."
[20:10] [Nadir] yeah
[20:10] [Nadir] i got CHICO'S LIPSTICK
[20:10] [Nadir] because i went to bed in her house
[20:10] [gofer-chan] who is chico again
[20:10] [Nadir] and when i woke up she was in the bed with me
[20:10] [gofer-chan] hahaha
[20:14] [Robespierre] this giant lunchbox said "are you going to fight me"
[20:14] [Robespierre] and then i said "no"
[20:14] [Robespierre] and it just left
[20:14] [Robespierre] was that right
[20:21] [gofer-chan] who puts a dog in a chest ]:( jeeze
[20:23] [Fungahhh] what's the "egg corridor" :/
[20:23] [Nadir] oh my god
[20:23] [gofer-chan] THE EGG HATCHING CHAMBER
[20:23] [XR7] the one with the big EGGS, you IDIOT!
[20:23] [Nadir] it's where the sky dragon eggs are incubated
[20:23] [Fungahhh] that sounds dangerous!
[20:23] [Nadir] it is
[20:23] [XR7] it is!
[20:46] [Nadir] oh no
[20:46] [Nadir] he made a crystal!!!!!!!!
[20:50] [XR7] when he said "special lecture" i thought he was going to actually pull out a chalkboard and explain how the crystal worked
[20:50] [Nadir] that would have rocked
[20:50] [XR7] then he started shooting me and i was like "oh"
[21:01] [gofer-chan] hey
[21:01] [gofer-chan] did you know you can save the chick
[21:01] [gofer-chan] and do a bunch of other stuff?
[21:01] [Nadir] you can?
[21:01] [gofer-chan] like get a jetpack 2.0
[21:01] [gofer-chan] and some other shit
[21:01] [Nadir] she died before
[21:01] [Robespierre] save what chick
[21:01] [Nadir] and i was sad
[21:01] [XR7] the other robot
[21:01] [gofer-chan] http://forums.insertcredit.com/viewtopic.php?t=2423&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50 scroll down to the very very bottom
[21:01] [Terryn] I have yet to find that booster.
[21:01] [gofer-chan] and read that guide
[21:02] [Terryn] I read about it :[
[21:03] [gofer-chan] oh man
[21:03] [gofer-chan] apparently
[21:03] [gofer-chan] theres a big secret
[21:03] [gofer-chan] if you beat bosses quickly and specially enough
[21:03] [gofer-chan] you get a special box
[21:03] [gofer-chan] with a kitty medallion in it
[21:03] [gofer-chan] and if you get them all you can do something special
[21:03] [gofer-chan] and go to a Hell area or something
[21:03] [nondescript] it should have a puppy in it
[21:03] [Terryn] I'm too lazy to replay the game again.
[21:03] [gofer-chan] oh fuck
[21:03] [gofer-chan] guys
[21:04] [gofer-chan] apparently if you DON'T trade in your pistol for the SMG
[21:04] [gofer-chan] and you go back to talk to the gun hermit when he's awake
[21:04] [gofer-chan] he upgrades it
[21:04] [gofer-chan] and makes it the best weapon in the game
[21:32] [gofer-chan] hahah balrog is the shit
[21:32] [gofer-chan] hes moving a rock for me
[22:09] [gofer-chan] i just got the booster v2.0 ^_^
[16:47] [Dr_Dos] :O
[16:47] [Dr_Dos] King
[16:47] [Dr_Dos] what a compelling story this is
[16:49] [Dr_Dos] Toroko D:
[16:50] [Dr_Dos] King D:
[16:50] [Nadir] Dos D: