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Thalamus Digital has revealed the artwork for the upcoming physical release of its 2025 old-school platformer, Cave Dave. The colourful image was painted by Wil Overton, the veteran artist known for their work with developer Rare as well as their legendary, anime-infused covers for '90s magazine Super Play.
Released digitally for Game Boy Color (playable via emulators and flash carts), Cave Dave is a tricky platformer in the vein of titles such as Spelunker (1983) and, by default, Spelunky (2008). Players guide Dave through a series of subterranean caverns, avoiding pitfalls and enemies while strategically using limited supplies of ropes and bombs to navigate the hazardous terrain.
It's a whole lot tougher than it looks, and just a small lapse in attention can lead to death from any number of falls, traps, or creepy crawlies. Nevertheless, Dave endures, pushed on by his quest to reach the cavern's depths and recover his *checks notes* beloved golden PSP. yes, the gaming handheld.
Overton's art replicates the classic style of old home computer cassette boxes, reimagining the simplistic, pixel-based characters and environments as bold, cartoonish figures.
The traditional style might come as a bit of a system shock to those of us who define Overton's work by the slick anime art, bringing a sheen of glossy cool to '90s mags Super Play and N64 Magazine. Regardless, Cave Dave's colourful image definitely strikes nostalgia chords. Overton would eventually go on to work with Rare on titles such as Perfect Dark Zero (2005).
Cave Dave is currently available for digital purchase on Thalamus' itch.io. More details on the physical Game Boy Color release are expected soon. Thalamus also recently issued a brand new C64 platformer, Binky: Frozen in Time, which you can check out right here.