It's a classic for a reason with how much Nintendo got right on their first attempt making a 3D Zelda. The graphical and QoL improvements also makes this a vastly superior way of playing this game.
It's a short little romp through Cave Story's world set as a simple little Christmas-themed spin-off stealth game. On its own, it's pretty mediocre and it doesn't really feel like Cave Story aside from the cute aesthetics.
the gamepad control scheme was not designed with left handed people in mind and wiimote + nunchuk is clearly the best control scheme. nitpick aside, this game goes pretty hard