Praised by almost everyone who's played the freeware PC title, Cave Story is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the "Metroidvania" genre, a polished action platformer embellished with endearing characters and a catchy soundtrack. No matter how many times we're reminded of the fact, it always astounds us that the game was designed and developed by a single programmer, Daisuke Amaya, or Pixel, as he's more commonly known.
As you might should know, homebrew developer Ravenworks has been working on a DS port for Cave Story. As it turns out, however, Pixel doesn't own a Nintendo DS, so it would be unlikely that he'd be able to play the port once it's completed. In fact, he hasn't owned a handheld or home console since the Nintendo 64! Isn't it a crime nowadays for gamers in Japan to not own a Nintendo DS?
To keep Pixel out of jail, Ravenworks and the rest of the "All Things Studio Pixel (ATSP)" LiveJournal community raised $410 and put together a care package of handheld treats as a "thank you" for the DS-less developer's work. Here's everything the group purchased and sent:
- Onyx Nintendo DS Lite system (laser engraved with Cave Story characters and a message that reads, "Thank you")
- R4 cart with 2 GB microSD (for playing Cave Story DS! and perhaps DS development one day?)
- DS carrying case
- Mother 3
- Game Center CX
Gallery: Pixel's Cave Story-engraved DS
With the approval and source code of Cave Story's father, Pixel, homebrew developer RavenWorks has spent the past year porting the indie classic to the DS. We've called the 
