Curly Brace

Curly Brace (カーリーブレイス Kârî Bureisu) is the deuteragonist of Cave Story, who was also the game's third boss. She, like Quote, is a soldier robot who was sent to the Island to destroy the dark power hidden there. Like Quote, she can wield a wide variety of weapons without any special training, and can withstand incredible amounts of damage. Unlike Quote, Curly has an energy shield that raises automatically to defend her from missile weapons, essentially making her immune to them.
== Appearance ==
Curly Brace wears a crop top, baggy cargo pants that stop at her shins, and short combat boots. Like Quote, she has antenna/headphone-like "ears" attached to her head. She has white "skin", long blonde hair and blue eyes.
== History ==
=== Pre-game ===
Ten years prior to the events of Cave Story, an army of robot soldiers was sent to the Island to claim the Demon Crown, a very dangerous artifact which bestows great powers upon the person who wears it. The robots specifically targeted Mimigas in their assault, killing countless masses of them (including the humans that attempted to protect them) without any notable provocation. During the conflict, Quote and Curly Brace were constructed by an unknown party, and also sent to the island. Unlike the other robots sent there, Quote and Curly were ordered to destroy the Demon Crown rather than claim it for any owner. They arrived later than the other robots; by the time they reached the Island, much of it was in ruins. Death and carnage was everywhere, the Mimiga race became an endangered species and the defending humans are wiped out. By the time they found the Demon Crown, a human named Miakid had already claimed it, becoming the third being in history to do so. Quote and Curly fought Miakid, and managed to fatally wound him, but were both seriously damaged. While Quote was completely incapacitated and separated from her, Curly Brace managed to reach the Sand Zone before losing consciousness there. Shortly after the war, she woke up with near-complete amnesia (remembering only her name and vague details about the war), surrounded by four newborn Mimiga children who had been orphaned during the battles. She decided to adopt them, calling them the Colons, and lived with them peacefully until the Doctor arrived on the Island some time later.
=== In-game ===
After retrieving the Demon Crown, the Doctor and his minions begin roaming around the Island, kidnapping Mimigas. Before long, Quote arrives in the Sand Zone, where he stumbles upon Curly and the Mimiga she is protecting. Curly immediately recognizes Quote as a robot soldier, and believing that he is programmed to kill Mimigas on sight, she attacks him to defend her adopted children. Quote is victorious, but assures Curly that he means no harm to the Colons. The relieved Curly then becomes friends with Quote.
== Personality ==
Curly Brace is very vocal and highly emotional in contrast to Quote, who is quiet and hardly shows any emotion. She cares for the Colons and is always ready to help anyone in need. While she is generally cheerful, her reaction to her own foggy memories of the war reveals that she has a deep sadness and some measure of self-loathing for being a robot.
Curly Brace has motherly inclinations, and is fiercely protective of the Colons, going as far as to attack Quote and Misery in their defense. She is willing to sacrifice her own life for the people she cares for, as shown when she gives Quote her Air Tank, allowing herself to drown in his place.
== Battle ==
Curly is fought alongside the Colons in the Sand Zone Residence. She is completely impervious to the Missile Launcher, as her Air Tank will block the explosives (Missiles will, however, stop her from attacking back for a moment). The Colons will also get in the way and will block shots, although they can be knocked out temporarily to allow a clear shot at Curly. Curly attacks by charging her Machine Gun and firing a barrage of shots at Quote, then repeating. She can shoot up as well as horizontally, so she can hit Quote if he tries to jump over her. The best strategy is to attack her until she finishes charging, dodge her attack, then repeat. Any weapon except the Missile Launcher will work in this battle, although the Bubbline and the Fireball are preferable to the Polar Star because of their higher damage. 
== Weapons ==
* Level 1 Machine Gun (During Boss Fight)
* Level 3 Machine Gun
* Level 3 Polar Star (If traded Machine Gun to Quote for it)
* Level 1 Nemesis (Sacred Grounds only)
== Curly Story ==
After obtaining Curly's Panties in any version of Cave Story besides the original, DSiWare, and Cave Story 3D, a game-mode called Curly Story will unlock that allows the player to play through the main game as Curly Brace, and with minor text alterations to reflect the change. Curly Story is based on a mod for Cave Story made before the localization by Nicalis. 
The player can also play as Curly in any of the challenges by picking "Original" music and "Original" graphics in the settings, choosing the Machine Gun Challenge and then quitting. Upon reloading, Quote's sprite on the menu select cursor is replaced with Curly Brace, and she becomes a playable character in any of the challenges. The change is purely aesthetic.
== Appearances in other media ==
Like Quote, Curly Brace has made several appearances in various media outside of Cave Story.
=== Playable appearances ===
* Curly is a playable-but-hidden class in Gang Garrison 2, she uses the Bubbline and Blade.
* Curly is an unlockable character in 1001 Spikes. She has the Booster v2.0 and her Machine Gun. Unlocking her requires collecting all thirty golden skulls. Her theme music is a remix of the music "Mischievous Robot" from the Egg Corridor. She sports a different outfit.
* Curly appears, along with Quote, as a playable character in the crossover fighting game Blade Strangers,https://kotaku.com/cave-story-and-code-of-princess-collide-in-fighting-gam-1796018065 developed by Studio Saizensen.
* Curly, Quote and Ballos are playable characters in the Nintendo Switch fighting-puzzle game Crystal Crisis.Crystal Crisis Announcement Trailer
* Curly is a playable character in the Nintendo Switch platforming game Umihara Kawase Fresh!, another game published by Nicalis. She was updated into the game as the third playable character in version 1.0.2 on July 9, 2019, coinciding with the international release.https://ninten-switch.com/umihara-kawase-flash-update-ver-1-0-2-available
=== Cameo appearances ===
* Curly is an optional boss in I Wanna Kill the Guy.
== Related items ==
* Curly's Panties
* Curly's Air Tank
* Iron Bond
== Trivia ==
* Curly displays the ability to create an energy shield (which is possibly the Air Tank's bubble, since it uses a very similar, larger sprite) to specifically deflect Missiles during her battle with Quote. Quote never gains this ability. It is unknown exactly how Curly was able to use this ability.
* In the beta-version of Cave Story, Curly Brace was the name of the female android"Origin of the name Curly" by Pixel, at 06.04.2004 https://studiopixel.jp/doukutsumonogatari/doukutsu2004bbs.html protagonist, but had Quote's sprites with a different color-scheme.
* Curly, like Quote, is named after a punctuation mark often used in programming.
* In the original Story Mode, Curly Brace's antenna are green, but in Curly Story, they are purple.
* With the seasonal graphics enabled on Halloween, Curly appears to wear armor identical to Samus' Chozo Power Suit from the Metroid video game series.
* Even though she's a robot, Curly Brace has a belly button.
* When playing 2 player mode in Cave Story+ for the Switch if you use the tow rope on Curly, the Second Player will have a Curly that is similar to the Beta version of Quote from the Cave story Beta and is the old Halloween costume for Curly when playing Curly Story on the 3DS.
== Gallery ==
Naoku curly.png|Image of Curly found in the Cave Story manual (levels adjusted)
JAPCurly.png|Curly Brace artwork from Cave Story+
Quote curly pic.png|Quote and Curly in Gang Garrison 2
Credits-14.png|Curly as seen in credits
Dsicurly.png|Curly's artwork from the Japanese Cave Story DSi site.
Curly Brace 3D.jpg|Cave Story 3D official artwork
File:Curly.jpg|Artwork of Curly Brace as seen in Blade Strangers
2019080400124200-1E777F45D84E62687A707A2E6BFA981B.jpg|Crystal Crisis
File:Curly20th.png|Curly in Nicalis' Cave Story 20th Anniversary Message
Category:Allies
Category:Bosses