Wading through the flood of Cave Story ports and remakes, with new ones seemingly being announced every hour on the hour, it's easy to forget that creator Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya has indeed made other games. One of his earliest efforts is Ikachan, released more than four years prior to the original 2004 version of Cave Story, in fact.

With lovely sprite work, soothing music, and charming characters, Ikachan laid down the framework for Cave Story. Through it, you get to see first-hand the genesis of Pixel's trademark style of open-world platforming, making Ikachan a very important digital milestone.

But if you go into Ikachan expecting anywhere near the same scope and depth as Cave Story, you will be sorely disappointed.