Enhance your health situation in Cave Story+ with all the Life Capsule upgrades available in this classic indie platformer.

Health Capsules increase your maximum health, and finding all 12 optional Life Capsules will help you reach 50 (or 55) max health. Unfortunately, Life Capsules can’t be collected in Hard Mode — minus a particular one given by a dog near the end of the game.

None of these collectibles require backtracking, though it is possible to return to areas you’ve completed and explore them fully. The final capsule is only available if you’re working toward the best ending.

More Cave Story+ guides on The Escapist:

• Cave Story+: How To Get The Best Ending
• Cave Story+: All Weapons Locations | Complete Arsenal Guide
• Cave Story+: All Key Items Locations | Keys, Badges & More

All Life Capsule Locations

Life Capsule #1: Before Mimiga Village – Very early in the Starting Cave. Grab it on the left wall — jump to reach it or return later after obtaining the Booster v0.8 or Boost v2.0.

Life Capsule #2: Mimiga Village – Climb to the top of the village (above the save room) and enter the door to the Yamashita Farm area. In the farm, go to the far right corner to find a small sunken spot with water and a Life Capsule inside.

Life Capsule #3: Egg Corridor – Make sure to grab these Capsules in the Egg Corridor before defeating the Core later in the game. After teleporting into the Egg Corridor, you should see a Life Capsule in a chamber beneath the teleporter. Go left to enter the bottom path and move right to access the capsule.

Life Capsule #4: Egg Corridor – The second Capsule is located directly above Egg #10. Enter the Observation Room (Save Room) and climb to the top. Enter the door and you’ll find the capsule to your left. Just hop over to grab it.

Life Capsule #5: Bushlands – Near the start of the area, where the Giant Jellyfish appears, you’ll be able to spot this Life Capsule in a tiny corridor in the ceiling. Go right to reach the floating single blocks and work your way left to get to this capsule. Involves some tricky jumping.

Life Capsule #6: Bushlands – Further into the Bushlands, enter the door marked with a Skull. The small room features falling rocks that can crush you if you’re not careful. Shoot the smaller block on the left, then the larger one on the right to reach the capsule at the top.

Life Capsule #7: Sand Zone – Following the Curly fight, go right into the corridor filled with spike-faced enemies. There’s a tower of breakable blocks with a capsule at the top. Create a staircase by carefully shooting the blocks to reach the capsule.

Life Capsule #8: Sand Zone – Defeat the Omega boss and return to the pair of sun stone blocks at the top of a shaft leading down. Just below the pair of stones is a hard-to-see paw print block. Enter the secret path with the paw print, shoot your way through, and you’ll reach a hidden room with a Life Capsule and a dog chest.

Life Capsule #9: Labyrinth – At the start of the Labyrinth, immediately begin climbing up the left wall. Above, you’ll reach a spot with purple blob enemies. Wipe them all out, especially one on a single floating square block, to reveal a Life Capsule.

Life Capsule #10: Plantation – Hidden in the upper-left corner of the Plantation. In the room with doors to Mimiga prison cells, climb up high using the upgraded Booster or Machine Gun. The Capsule is hanging from a platform attached to the cave ceiling.

Life Capsule #11: Plantation – Once the rocket-lift is repaired by Sue’s Mom in the Plantation, ride it up but look for an optional dog to the left just before climbing up above the red skull and crossbones blocks. Jump off the lift to meet the dog and you’ll get a Life Capsule and a Life Pot.

Life Capsule #12: Blood Stained Sanctuary – The final Life Capsule is located in this secret zone. You’ll have to work toward earning the best ending to access this area.

That’s all the major Life Capsules in Cave Story+! You’ll only need 11 to earn an achievement.