Every indie game is a cave story or an Earthbound

forum games
21

Gunsport is Cave Story esports.
Demon school is Earthbound because both get compared to SMT Persona too much.

4 Likes
22

Into The Breach

  • Cave Story
  • Earthbound
0 voters
1 Like
23

Harold’s Walk (2020)

  • Cave Story
  • EarthBound
  • your mom
0 voters
1 Like
24

Cave Story Secret Santa:

  • Cave Story
  • Earthbound
0 voters
1 Like
25

I’ll be real, this is just breaking down in my head as “action game” vs “vibes game”. The original dichotomy, parkour or menus, is more fun to think about. When the OP deemed Counter-Strike a menus game, it was profound.
Anyway:

Animal Well
  • Cave Story
  • Earthbound
0 voters
4 Likes
26

Pinball or D&D, active or passive, direct or indirect.

3 Likes
27

Every indie game is a Kiki or a Bouba

8 Likes
28

What am I?

  • Kiki
  • Bouba
  • Cave Story
  • Parkour
0 voters
4 Likes
29

Any excuse for me to tell people on this forum that they will probably really enjoy Animal Well I will take. It’s a great vibes-based and extremely well designed Metroidvania Cave Story!

5 Likes
30

I feel like this whole thing, parkour vs. menus, cave story vs. earthbound, action vs. vibes, could be distilled down into Donkey Kong or Wizardry. That’s where all the video games descended from (that is not where all the video games descended from).

6 Likes
31

Every game a zork

4 Likes
32

Barring Earthbound I can’t think of a single game I’d classify as an Earthbound. Not even Mother 3. And the only Cave Story I can think of is Undertale. So uhhhhhh

3 Likes
33

Every game is either chess or basketball.

10 Likes
34

Now that’s something necrosoft can get behind (even if oh deer doesn’t fit).

4 Likes
35

My four hour GDC panel.

3 Likes
36

love it

image

4 Likes
37

No one understands me, woe.

7 Likes
38

this theory explains why undertale is the Most Indie of all indie games, since it’s equal parts cave story and earthbound

7 Likes
39

Senet or wrestling.

Then before that it’s back to cave story or earthbound.

2 Likes
40

Personally I see “cave story” as an action exploration game that aspires to introduce real places, towns, npcs and general worldbuilding - like metroid, but with Final Fantasy towns.

Maybe I’m a little reductive about Earthbound because I don’t love it that much, but Earthbound to me is a vibey, creative game that really puts emphasis on tone and voice in the way it’s written. There’s a big attempt at aesthetic cohesion. It may not have the most in depth story, but it feels like it’s more interested in being an piece of pop art than a game.

Also, let’s be real, most of these earthbound-ripoff games have some kind of “oooo you thought it was goofy and videogamey but now we’re serious!!! That’s so subversive!!” angle to them.

idk much about it, but it seemed like a warioware after googling it

1 Like