When I saw the announcement of this community opening I immediately thought about this. I think this is the most active (despite the hiatus) thing connected to Cave Story nowadays. I still haven't tried it yet, because when I played the original, it didn't play nice with a keyboard at all, but I've seen some changelogs and some gameplay so it's definitely on my list.
In your opinion is the mod playable with keyboard or would you recommend a joystick for this too?