Balrog (Cave Story)

Background

Balrog is an assistant to the Doctor whose job is to destroy soldiers. Cursed by the Demon Crown, he works with Misery to accomplish the Crown Holder's goals. When entering a location, he often calls out "Huzzah!" (in the Aeon Genesis translation) or "Oh Yeaaah!" (in the Nicalis translation) to signal his arrival.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Balrog's story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

Balrog's origins are not revealed in-game, although he was revealed to be under the curse of the Demon Crown at present Cave Story takes place. Aside from the loading title screen, Balrog makes his first appearance in Cave Story in the Shack, when he and Misery confront Quote and Toroko. When Quote defeats Ballos in the Blood Stained Sanctuary, he is freed from the curse of the Demon Crown. As the walls in Ballos' throne room close in on Quote and Curly, Balrog manages to enter the Blood Stained Sanctuary and rescue them. As they ride on him, he offers to take them anywhere they wish. Curly asks to be brought to a place with a nice view, to which Balrog requests to come along, and Curly agrees. In the Normal ending, Balrog appears in a cutscene of the credits in the Labyrinth clinic, assisting in the care of injured Gaudis. He is replaced by Puu Black in the Best ending.

General Information

Name: Balrog

Other Names: Balfrog (When transformed into a frog)

Origin: Cave Story

First Appearance: Cave Story

Latest Appearance: Creepy Castle (Latest non-canon physical appearance, appears as a playable character), The Binding of Isaac (Latest non-canon appearance, appears as a card)

Company: Studio Pixel, Nicalis (Publishers for the Wii, DSI, and Cave Story+ versions), NIS America (Publishers for Cave Story 3D)

Creator: Daisuke Amaya (The initial creator)

Gender: Male

Sex: None

Sexuality: None

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: Unknown

Homeworld: Unknown

Residence: Unknown (Curly tells Balrog where to go with no real indiciation after the game of where they went)

Story Role: Reocurring Enemy, Villain, Controlled Villain

Classification: Servant, Mistery's Punching Bad, A New Friend

Species: Robot

State of Being: Regular

Physiology: Robot Physiology

In-Universe Creator: Unknown

Occupation: Servant of the Crown

Affiliations: Misery, The Doctor (Formerly), Quote (In the best ending), Curly Brace (In the best ending), Jenka (Misery's mother)

Enemies: Quote (Formerly), Curly Brace (Formerly)

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Status: Alive

Alignment: Lawful Neutral when listening to The Doctor's orders (Balrog does not agree with the Doctor beating down Misery, however he cannot disobey his orders), Neutral Good with the curse dispersed (Due to Quote and Curly Brace defeating Ballos, the curse was lifted and Misery and Balrog no longer had to obey orders from anyone. Came down and saved Quote and Curly Brace just as they were about to get crushed)

Threat Level: Global Threat (Misery and Balrog are under a curse to take orders from people with the Demon Crown. With them being forced to serve The Doctor, who seeks to rule the surface using the island as a flying fortress, along with the enraged Mimiga army to attack the surface)

Codex Statistics

Key: Balrog | Balfrog

Key Information

• Balrog: This key covers him as his Balrog self.
• Balfrog: This key covers him as Balfrog.

Grade: B

Tier: 9-A | 9-A

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: Room level (Potency) (Easily broke through a door. Can fight and harm Quote, who can take an explosion that covered an entire room. Knocked out Quote with a surprise attack. Broke through a large amount of rocks to escape from the underground area) | Room level (Potency) (Misery specifically transformed him to take on Quote being able to fight and harm him, who can take an explosion that covered an entire room)

Durability: Room level | Room level

Striking Strength: Room Class (Potency) | Room Class (Potency)

Lifting Strength: At least Superhuman (Can briefly fly in the air through flapping his hands, meaning he can support his own body weight. Moved a giant rock out of the way)

Travel Speed: Unknown: True level | Unknown: True level

Attack Speed: Transonic (Can tag Quote, who can hit missiles/rockets before they can tag him, which move around 300 m/s) | Transonic

Reaction Speed: Transonic | Transonic

Stamina: Limitless (As a robot, he shouldn't have a stamina limit)

Range: Extended Melee through sheer size (Far larger then Quote and Curly in size), Higher with Shockwave Generation (Upon landing, he creates multiple shockwaves at once that bounce around the area)

Intelligence: Average Intelligence

Knowledge: Journeyman level

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Powers and Techniques

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Acrobatics (Can jump extremely high into the air when escaping), Large Size (Supersized; Far larger then Quote and Curly in size), Inorganic Physiology (Balrog is a robot), Flight (Can briefly fly in the air through flapping his hands. Shown in the best ending that he can fly through flapping his hands), Curtain Fire (Directional) & Shockwave Generation (Upon landing, he creates multiple shockwaves at once that bounce around the area), Explosion Manipulation (Shoots out multiple missiles while he jumps around)

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Breath Attack (Can shoot projectiles out of his breath), Summoning (Can summon of multitude of frogs to help him attack)

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Equipment

Nothing notable.

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Other

Standard Tactics

• Balrog: Balrog will jump around and land, leaving behind shockwaves, later versions of his fight have him shooting out missiles along with jumping around.
• Balfrog: Balfrog will hop around, every time he lands frogs will fall down and attack the opponent with him, he will also shoot out attacks from his mouth.

Weaknesses: Nothing notable.

Trivia

• Balrog's cry of "Oh Yeah!" as he breaks through walls or ceilings may be a reference to the Kool-Aid Man, who utters the same catchphrase when breaking through walls.
• Though stated by Pixel that Balrog is intended to resemble a bar of soap, he is thought by others to be a lunchbox, a toaster, or even a flat-screen TV. He could even be the equivalent of a golem.
• Balrog shares his name with a powerful monster from the Lord of the Rings and Vega from the Street Fighter series.
• Balrog appeared as a boss and NPC in the Nintendo Switch platformer game Umihara Kawase Fresh!, another game published by Nicalis. He was updated into the game along with Curly Brace in version 1.0.2 on July 9, 2019, coinciding with the international release. He is the boss of quest 07, which is Curly's seventh and final quest.
• Balrog's Halloween costume is based on Frankenstein's Monster, the creation of Victor Frankenstein from the 1818 novel.
• In the GOG version of Cave Story+, in that version's game files there is concept art for Crystal Crisis, in which Balrog was going to be a playable character at one point in development. But was ultimately cut from the Roster.

Battle Records

1-4-0

• Quote or Curly Brace (Depending on the mode) - Fight
  • Conditions: Quote or Curly were caught off guard.
  • Location: Sand Zone

• Quote or Curly Brace (Depending on the mode) - Fight
  • Conditions: None
  • Location: Shack in Mimiga Village

• Quote or Curly Brace (Depending on the mode) - Fight
  • Conditions: Fight was a rematch.
  • Location: Power Supply Room

• Quote or Curly Brace (Depending on the mode) - Fight
  • Conditions: Fight was the third rematch.
  • Location: Gum Room

• Quote or Curly Brace (Depending on the mode) - Fight
  • Conditions: Fight was the fourth rematch.
  • Location: Boulder Chamber

None.