Last time we posted about the sublime freeware platformer Cave Story and its upcoming migration to the PSP, many of you called me out, claiming that this project by Variant Interactive was widely known to be an unauthorized port. Pixel had apparently decried it. I was so swayed by the collective voice that I urged none of you to buy it.

Christopher Boyer, CEO of Variant Interactive, was wounded to the quick and sent me an email, explaining the situation:

f I might, I'd like to clear up what amounts to speculation from Wikipedia and a couple of folks on Livejournal. The ugliness started with a kid who I suppose is a regular in some Cave Story fan community on Livejournal.com, who sent Pixel an email, or posted on his BBS (one of the two, I'm not sure at this point) about the PSP version. Pixel, who does not speak English, didn't quite catch the gist of what he was saying and told him he didn't know what the kid was talking about. This kid took it to mean that Pixel had never heard of us or what we were doing. Hence the drama bomb.

The truth of the situation is that I've personally been in contact with Pixel, both one-on-one with my mediocre Japanese skills, and through a wonderful translator for the big stuff (and pretty much everything, at this point) since early 2005.

We are clearing each and every step with Pixel before we move forward on just about anything, and are about to wrap up an early build for him to preview and put his OK stamp on.

This is excellent news, and Christopher insisted that they were actually going to be sending Pixel a good chunk of change for the port.

Even more clarification, after the jump...

I was slightly less optimistic, though, about Christopher's bomb-shell announcement that Cave Story for the PSP was going to feature a complete graphical overhaul:

Primarily, the game is intended to be exactly what it is, with a facelift, as the main goal is to get Cave Story to a wider audience and share that experience. (The facelift, sadly, is a necessity for this - not everyone is into the retro look and feel, and a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, so to speak.) We are absolutely planning other ways to expand the gameplay and make it a worthwhile purchase for old fans and soon-to-be-fans alike.

I asked him to clarify his intentions of giving a facelift to only some of the most beautiful and lovingly wrought pixel art to grace gaming in the last 15 years. Christopher soothed some of those fears:

It's like this. You and I both love Cave Story as it is. Piles of people love Cave Story as it is. We love its charming 8-Bit look and retro style and feel. And I'm sure you'd agree that the more people who can play Pixel's masterpiece, the better right?

But, not everyone will pick up on the game's oldskool flavor, precisely because it looks and sounds dated. What we are simply doing, with the main game mode, is bringing it to modern day standards, so more people will be interested in playing the game who aren't or haven't been into the indie game scene. That is what I mean when I say we are giving the game a facelift. We do intend to make it possible for people to play the game exactly as it was originally created as well, for those who want the original game exactly as it was, too. I don't want to rob anyone of that experience.

As much as I think these people who won't pick up on the game's "oldskool flavor" are dogs who should be shot in the gutters, this actually seems like the ideal solution. Those who'd like to play the game in a graphically updated version, full of buxom babes, he-man cyborgs and blood-splattering Uzis can do so. But those who simply want a portable and faithful version of, well, the most charming platformer ever made will have that option too. And expanding gameplay? Sounds like a good reason to pick up what's already a free game. Florian Eckhardt