How to get Cave Story on your PSP

Never heard of Cave Story? Tsk.

Actually, that's fair enough. As a freeware game created by Pixel (real name Daisuke Amaya) and released in 2004, it's not something that enjoyed FIFA levels of marketing.

However, it's certainly a game that most should experience, its run-jump-shoot mechanic echoing past heavyweight classics such as Castlevania and Metroid.

How convenient, then, that it should be available for PSP. We've picked Cave Story this week because it's a fine video game, but also as a practical illustration of the availability of freeware for Sony's handheld, which is just waiting to be explored.

Provided your PSP is homebrew enabled, of course.

Download files The first step is to download the files you will require. If you're a tidy little bod, you may want to collect them together in a folder on your PC. You need to download the following: - Cave Story: cavestory-psp-rc1.zip folder here.
Unzip the Cave Story game files Once everything has finished downloading, your next step is to unzip the appropriate game files into a folder on your PC. 1. Unzip the cavestory-psp-rc1.zip file that you downloaded during Step 01. 2. Keep the folder to hand on your desktop or similar location.
Copy files to PSP You should now copy the Cave Story folder of your homebrew card: - Firmware 1.0: Copy to Game folder. - Firmware 1.5: Not directly supported. - Firmware 3.XX: Copy to Game150 folder
Start game It's now time to fire up Cave Story on your PSP: 1. Remove your Memory Stick from your PC. 2. Insert your Memory Stick into your homebrew-enabled PSP. 3. Navigate to the Game menu and run the Cave Story game, which should be the first item on the list.
Play game Once loaded, you'll need to know what does what. To help you on your way, the game controls are below: 1. Select New to start a new game. 2. The default keys are as follows: - O: jump - X: fire - Square: items menu - Triangle or Select: map menu - L trigger: change weapon (down) - R trigger: change weapon (up) 3. You can customise these to your preference via the Keys menu from the title screen.
Save progress Ensure you save your progress through the game as and when you get the opportunity. You can do so by following these simple steps: 1. Move over a spinning disk with your game character. 2. Press down on the D-pad. 3. Select Yes. 4. Next time you start the game you'll be able to load your saved position. Further information can be found here. As ever, check out our past PSP How Tos to discover the many various ways of increasing your handheld's functionality.