The Underside is an exploration based action platformer in the vein of games like Castlevania, Metroid, and Cave Story.
Set on a flat planet, called The World, The Underside begins with the legend of the World’s creation at the hands of a figure known as the Almighty King. When evil overtakes the surface of the world, the Almighty King decides to start anew by flipping the flat World upside down, with the upper side of the World now becoming the neglected Underside, and the blank canvas on the under side of the World now becoming the Overside.
You play a character named Ip, who is thrust from the prosperous world of the Overside into the dark depths the Underside. All the while, the once-benevolent Almighty King is on the verge of destroying his creation. Throughout his adventure, Ip must find his way back to the Overside, and maybe prevent the World from being destroyed while he’s at it.
The game’s world, characters, plot threads, and dialogue are heavily inspired by Earthbound/Mother 2, and are quirky, whimsical, and sometimes a little strange.
The Underside has been under development since early 2005.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
this game is so sexy
i cant wait for the release in 20XX arthur
July 13th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
if you haven’t checked out the music page for TU, check it out, there’s two tracks there that haven’t previously been released (i think) near the bottom of the page. they’re the ones done by j michael brown.
July 17th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Music, WAHOO!
Also, the game is indeed sexy.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
The non-pixel logo looks nice. good job.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
thanks, i had to the lettering by hand/mouse. it was pretty rough, but i’m happy with how it turned out as well (^:
July 20th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
This game is pretty much perfect in every way; I am extremely impressed by the first 2 hours of gameplay. Although, I was hoping that I actually got to fight Arthur Lee at the end…
July 21st, 2009 at 1:47 am
please tell me you will be making a port for hacked PSPs and a Mac version since i don’t have windows and i want to enjoy the game that has the look and feel of cave story but with FREE ROAMING
and since PSP has both MAC and PSP ports it means it should be possible for this game to have them right?
well i hope somehow you can do this one little request for me…idk what i could do for you in return but i would do whatever it took to have this game on my PSP especially since the story sounds so awesome
July 25th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
an interesting tidbit:
the underside was started on monday, july 04th, 2005. that means it’s only a little over four years old now.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I played this earlier this year and then complained for a while about no updates ^_^
Is this version any more than the old? Worth downloading again?
August 9th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Just finished playing the new demo and I gotta say this game is totally awsome!!
Please release the full thing or atleast another demo with more soon! ;__;
August 14th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
That is one mighty fine game you have there.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Holycrap, Cave Story meets Earthbound? Really? Those are my two top favorite games. This is… wow. Awesome.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I just got to understand the joke from when you die: “Ip was never found again” => Ip not found.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:39 am
I love this game! But I am stuck… Please post a walkthrough?
October 27th, 2009 at 7:54 am
a walkthrough might be a bit much — if you could post whereabouts you are, i could probably help you through it.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:55 am
another alternative is to look through the youtube ‘let’s play’ videos of the game.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
This game is awesome. My favorite part is the Metroid doors. They are my most favorite element of a game, out of all the games I’ve ever played. Psheew, vwoop!
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:19 pm
This game owns. I have seen people make some great games, but this pretty much tops them.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Nice game but is the full version ever comng out?
November 11th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I loved the demo so much, I hope the full version comes out.
November 14th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Playing the demo currently and loving it. You really know how to put those kojimaisms in your game. Also you have a good sense of humor
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:18 am
This game is the epic win. For srs. :3
Keep on keeping on, good sir Podunkian, and I eagerly anticipate the day this game is finished.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:07 am
I’m not going to degrade this game in any way, because it is certainly very cool – I like the idea, and the characters are cool (Smell ya later! Wait. Who am I talking to?) – but seriously, this is a Cave Story mod (at its core). The graphics work the same, Route 66′s music has some Grasstown in there, the heal and save things are… Well, the same, but I won’t say it doesn’t expand. The third hand swinging, melee attacks and multiple saves are good.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:52 am
i don’t think you know what a “mod” is, but thanks for your input, bro!!!!!!
December 7th, 2009 at 12:20 am
This game is highly anticipated by me. One of your undercover fans. shhhh
December 7th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Haven’t you thought of making this game open-source, like in “free software”? It would be a great addition for the Linux users out there – and extra hands in a project like this are always welcome, am I right?
December 7th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
carlos — it’s literally impossible, because the game is written in MMF which isn’t cross platform. it’s kind of like game maker in terms of how code is written, which is why it’s not just a matter of porting it over to a cross platform library or anything like that. sorry!
December 12th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Podunkian I know who you are and if you don’t finish this soon I will kill you with 5-7 and glock 20 because I’m a switchernoob and not an honourable one weapon spammer homo. Wait, what?
December 18th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Sorry, but this really doesn’t compare to Cave Story. It’s lacking something, but I’m not sure what.
Yes, the effects–and to a tiny extent, graphics–remind me of it, but that still doesn’t make them comparable.
Also, why on earth would you want to use Multimedia Fusion instead of a language that can be made platform-portable, like C++?… I don’t understand it, but I’m sure you must’ve had a good reason.
I can tell you’ve put effort into this, which is good. But it’s not what I’d expected, no. Sorry….
December 18th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
this game isn’t cave story guys. guys, i want to remind you, this isn’t cave story. this game? the one right here on this page? it’s not cave story. see what it’s called? yep. it’s not called ‘cave story. so expect something that’s not cave story the next time you play my game, because my game? it’s not cave story.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
also, feel free to play cave story.
December 19th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Cave Story’s kinda meh, I found TU to be a lot better than CS, even if it was just a demo.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:43 am
TU is the illegitimate child of cave story and a random NES game, and Earthbound.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Major facepalm at this page. People saying that TU is a CS mod, lol.
God damn, internet fail = check
December 21st, 2009 at 5:09 pm
hurry up and finish please i’ve been waiting for so long
December 24th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Can i please ask you when this might come out? I’ve been waiting for 2 years!!! I love you for making this but please! Its sooo good NOT to finish. Can all the fans PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get an estimate?
December 28th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
It brings tears to my eye when I see people calling the Underside Cavestory. The way I see it there alike in being a sidescrolling shooter and I didn’t know that was a crime
December 29th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I completely agree! So right Siahene.
December 31st, 2009 at 10:35 pm
As similar as it is to Cave Story (not to sound like practically EVERYONE else here), I absolutely love it so far. Story drags me in from the very beginning and the gameplay is very fast paced. The humor is…just perfect. Very EarthBound like. I could see the inspiration without even reading about it. I hope you finish this sometime soon, I’m very excited to play more.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Out of all the Cave Story-like games I’ve seen, this one is TOPS! Can’t wait until it’s finished (or you release another demo)!
Only one thing, though: With TU Preview 3 (patch ver. 3), the save points don’t work for some odd reason. The game plays perfectly otherwise on Windows 7 (Home Premium) except for that one little part. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll be fixed in later releases!
January 21st, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Is there an actual ending to the current preview, or there’s just a moment when there’s nothing left to do?
January 21st, 2010 at 7:32 pm
@iilya chentsov — there’s an actual ending. however, because the plot of the game will deviate quite a bit from the preview, it’s not really important to play to it.
knowing where most players get stuck, you’ll have to return to buddy in the ruins and investigate the pipe.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Yeah, would have never guessed.
But, other that that, enjoyable all along.
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:32 am
Hey. Love ALL your games. Big big fan. Finished MGS 1 and 2 the other day (by you) and now playing the underside. Great game. kinda not knowing what to do next after rescuing the mayor so if you could me a heads up on that. How to call that damn monkey?
Keep up the good work.
January 30th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Please post some progress you’ve made! I can’t wait any longer!
March 13th, 2010 at 2:32 am
i downloaded preview3 and played through till i got to underside city after the boss and ive already come across a problem. this game is supposed to be hard i take it. thats okay. but this game seems to cross the line over to nintendo hard alot more than it should
for example, you cant jump off of the edge of platforms as you run and jump, you have to jump while the sprite is pretty much all on the ground. this doesnt seem like much but when you try a jump that seems like it should work and yet fail and fall onto spikes, it gets jarring (aka trying to collect the big coins after the second running rhino-thing in the starting).
similarly, i killed the first boss and saved just outside (i wont even mention the annoyance if i had accidentally died on the spikes or jellies and had to redo that fight). saved and went to underside city, got through the cut scene and jumped down. missed the save point and heal. tried to jump up over and over and couldnt make it. finally gave up and went to the town hall, went to the place behind it and died. now i respawned all the way back after the boss and i have to watch all the cutscenes again.
it mightnt seem like much but it can be. these things dont make the game harder and fun, it makes it annoying and seemingly arbitrary punishment for bothering to play. it sucks even more because i love what i saw of the game, the characters, the MUSIC IS AWESOME and the humour is BRILLIANT. i would recommend this to everyone i know…. except id have to tell them that after having died, i have little to no motivation to pick up the game again and make this trek because i didnt foresee the save point at a spot i couldnt see below me or get back to
if there is some secret hidden catch that makes this all better, i would love to know it because i really do like the game and most of all, the humour. its very rare for such offbeat humour to be pulled off so well (but then you did make MGS1 and 2). but because of game design decisions like this, it just makes the fun stuff feel distant and playing the game itself, painful. sorry.
March 13th, 2010 at 2:49 am
i am sorry, i just reloaded it and tried it again and didnt see a possible jump. so im sorry for bringing up the inaccessible save point as an example. however, it does still seem at times to be slightly wonky at times, especially concerning the jumping, which sucks since its a platformer (and save points after you beat a boss would be nice, rather than having to risk dying to get to the save point, especially when spikes/no hp regen is concerned). however, with careful placement and maybe some reconsideration, im sure youll be able to allay these fears
but they are considerably less now that i see you havent done gone into nintendo hard difficulty. i hope the gameplay keeps being ‘fun’. hope you reevaluate the fairness of some placement of powerups and the gameplay mechanics, this game would be a definite favourite for me if its balanced well gameplaywise – i happen to LOVE the mother series (if you havent played mother 3 you should) :O
but again, sorry for jumping the gun. i hope you keep the game fun to play, as well as to take in
March 14th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
hey just finished the demo. i was stuck in a section (forgot to reopen the ty letter for the item and i was looking everywhere for a phone to make an appointment :S). idk if your sick of me yet. if not, id love to tell what i thought of the preview. but i thought id ask first in case you didnt want to read another post from me after what i said before. but thanks for the game either way
March 21st, 2010 at 2:45 pm
@ripp
Dude you’re so wrong, have you never played super mario, or spelunker? Those games are hard as shit and when you die you start all over. This one atleast has check points and is actually very easy when compared to spelunker. This game is awesome and I can’t wait to play it, unless you’ve given up Podunkian in which case I can’t wait for BuddyLands!
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:05 am
This game is cooler than cavestory. I just cant wait for the full version.
About the demo; there is a bug at the bridge (where appears the black cat): if you jump instead off run, you go all the way to the end off the screen and fall. And if you go back, the event fails.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Ripp. I know how to access that sooooo called “inaccessible save point”.
First off all. It IS accessible. You have to jump over the ladder between the “dogkid” and the taxi. Then, you jump over the bakery shop (right on the sign off it). And only then you jump for the save point and heal. Also, you can talk to the cop and the dancing girl once you get above; or check the other cop that is afraid off heights (on the building).
PS: i dont see a problem with the jump.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Hey Mr. Podunkian. What about adding something that makes the hero faster for a short period; like a dash or something. Add swordplay with an umbrella for the melee.
April 27th, 2010 at 6:05 am
I loved Cave Story and the first time I saw this game was on a trailer at gametrailers.com. Like many I instantly thought “Cave-story rip-off”. At first I thought it was Cave Story just with a sprite-change. I played your first demo and wasn’t much impressed. It just felt like something that tried to be Cave Story but didn’t quite succeed. The newest demo however really pushes itself away from Cave Story. The visual style is very much the same but the atmosphere, setting and characters are so unique now that I can at most say that the games are “similar” now. I hope you’re still working on it and we’ll eventually see a full release of this game. Cheers!
April 27th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
At the end of the demo he said, eventually, and currently he is doing stuff to it.
Like a better mod making system, the ability to make your own guns, and other shit that give the game new potentials, and ladder world.
April 27th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Be glad, or he will summon his alter-ego Duncan, his drunk demon.
May 15th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Was just playing the demo some, and it froze on me as I talked to Andi in the city(person dancing near one of the cops). Dunno if it was just my computer being a jackass, or if this has happened to anyone else.
July 25th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
After being teased with the promise successful start-up, just before the I can begin a level, I get a “Lua Error : Invalid File” Is anyone familiar with this issue, perhaps?
Thanks for reading none the less.
July 25th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
I wantses dis!
July 28th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
so… there isn’t a full version because you haven’t designed all the levels yet? maybe us geeks could submit some level ideas.
(this post is adressed to the Podunkian)
August 12th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I’ve been playing metroid a lot lately, and i’ve discovered something about the “exploration” aspect of your game, Mr. Podunkian.
well, to be blunt, it isn’t there. sure, compared to CS, TU has a TON of exploration.
but let me tell you, Metroid makes TU look pathetic.
I mean, TU has plenty of hidden expansions, but every time I play your game,
I can’t help but miss the Labrynthian corridors and maze-like infrastructure
of Zebes. all I want really is for exploration to be NECESSARY to beat TU.
not for it to be some little extra expansion, but rather, a important part of the Game.so, I’m sorry if I sounded rude; but I just HAD to get this off my chest.
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:32 pm
i just got the grappling hook thing, and rescued the mayor.
dont have a clue what to do now!
any help would be appreciated. i kept going round in circles all over the place, the furthest area i can get to has 2 areas i can go through (ladders & closed with the pig there). i went back to the city but cant go to the previous area either.
THANKS!
August 22nd, 2010 at 3:17 pm
ok my bad, im ok now
August 23rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
forgot to say: looking like a great game, THANKS.
i hope there are more skills (double jump, wall jump,things like that) in the finished version.
also i loved the hotel room, all those chambers look good! lots outfits and different weapons will be so good!
cant wait to see the finished version whenever that may be!