Cave Story is available now for PC, WiiWare, and DSiWare. What’s going to make the Nintendo 3DS version slated for release on November 8 standout? That’s the question I asked Jack Niida, producer of Cave Story 3D.

"Feature-wise, at a first glance, there might not seem like a lot," Niida answered. "The graphics changed from 2D, extra stages, new items, hidden NIS characters, but aside from that what makes this game so great is the controls, the feel and the way you play the game is what makes it shine."

The controls and 16-bit feel make Cave Story memorable, but what about fans that memorized the entire game map?

"For the old time fans of Cave Story, there aren’t brand new stages, but what we did for these stages is we expanded it. So, there is more to it than there was before. There are new areas to explore, long time fans will definitely see the difference. Daisuke Amaya spent a long time creating this game and everything has been tweaked to fit the latest console," Niida said.

And for NIS America fans, Cave Story 3D will have some a crossover. While Niida wouldn’t name a character he gave us a hint, "You can probably expect our most popular character in there. Aside from that, you might see him as an item, as well." Since we’ve seen a bunch of Prinny concept art, I’m going to guess he’s talking about their peg-legged penguin since he could double as a useful item too.

Unfortunately, Cave Story 3D will not have the original game or DSiWare version as a hidden bonus. "That’s one thing we were talking about too, but the problem was the amount of space on the card size," Niida said. "We sort of squeezed everything in and at this point we don’t have enough space for it."