TIGSource: La Mulana coming to WiiWare?

La Mulana coming to WiiWare?

Xander — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:40:00 +0000

Apparently this month’s Nintendo Power has a preview of La Mulana amongst its WiiWare pages. On top of this a new section on the Nigoro site appeared showing this countdown clock. I do so hate countdown clocks. However I’m sure a WiiWare port with some less alienating graphics wouldn’t be a bad idea, and this is only the start of the waiting the prospective purchasers will have to endure so we may as well start now.

Of course, you’ve already played the original game anyway. Right?

(This is in no way myself avoiding getting round to reviewing ‘Splosion Man. Not at all. Also, source: Diverse’s Blog)

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Kikkoman

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:01:48 +0000

While it’s true that the game was meant as a callback to those great MSX adventure games that we never got to play in North America, I think that defining the whole experience by its graphical style is wrong. Bigger parts of what makes this game great are the puzzles and the gameplay. If those facets of the game stay intact and the graphics get an overhaul, I really can’t complain.

And while we’re at it, I wouldn’t mind some type of recipe book for the ROM combinations that automatically fills up whenever you find clues or that you equip succesful combos. Along the same vein, a journal that puts clues in order and lets me access them at any time would be great.

Also make the claw easier to use kthx

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by carm

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:32:07 +0000

so naturally i had to try this sucker out and i must say im blown away… sure that start is a bit rough, but its oh so worth biting through. as far as indie games go this must be the longest and most captivating title for me yet. but on the other hand, i have absolutely no clue how you could make this possibly more accessible. its not just about explaining weights, this whole idea of having challenging traps that can punish you for the rest of the game with no chance of undoing then, tough stuff. but i guess thats good, sorry but games used to be like this. you play them, have no clue what to do, get hopelessly stuck… and then come back maybe years later to have some revelation open your eyes and let you see your ignorance.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Feg

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:07:34 +0000

“Feg uh, I think he was making an oblique reference to Spelunky.”

So was I

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by soundofsatellites

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:42:50 +0000

fuc*ing spike shaft.

on the other hand, defeating tiamat made me feel a bit like god

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Anthony Flack

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:03:04 +0000

The whole idea of creating commercial games has lost much of its appeal to me. No matter how indie your team is, it still seems like it’s all too easy to lose sight of what you really wanted to do, due to the pressure of trying to create something that loosely fits people’s definition of a commercial product.

However the idea of developing freeware games and then commercially exploiting the ones that are potentially profitable - I quite like this trend. The games get to grow up in a nurturing environment, so they are pure in spirit (just indulge my fruity metaphor here, please). Then they can go on to have a commercial career once they are mature enough to handle it.

Commercial games grow up in the spotlight and can become warped by people’s expectations and turn out a bit Michael Jacksony.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by poorwill

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:58:59 +0000

@ Ezuku:

“Come think of it, wouldn’t a game like La Mulana be against the demographic the Wii is aimed at? That being, casual gamers, and family orientated games? Not saying those are the only sort of gamers who use the Wii of course…”

Ok, but where, exactly, would something like La Mulana be at home on? Presumably not the ‘hardcore’ platforms - those are probably even less hospitable to abstract, oldschool gameplay (though Bionic Commando and Geo Wars have sold pretty damn well). Wii at least has the most robust retro downloadable service so there’s probably some crossover there. Maybe it would’ve been better to make it multiplatform, but Wiiware is easily the cheapest to develop for of the three services so it’s probably the best starting point for Nicalis.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Jamey

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:36:31 +0000

Exhale

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by The Cheshire Cat

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:42:19 +0000

Feg uh, I think he was making an oblique reference to Spelunky.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Feg

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:03:28 +0000

Sure some of the puzzles in this game are dead hard but the gameplay isnt so bad. the only thing that hits you are bats and they don´t do any damage anyway.

“If only there was some kind of procedureally generated 2D Indiana Jones game with all the good bits and none of the bad”, I wouldnt hold my breath.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Eclipse

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:02:09 +0000

we’ll know in three days

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Patrick

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:01:28 +0000

Has no one checked out Nicalis’ blog?

http://nicalis.com/blog/2009/07/23/nigoro-and-nicalis-make-friends/

Looks like they’re ‘co-developing’ it with Nigoro and say it might be out by Christmas. Of course, Cave Story Wii was supposed to be out for last Christmas.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Bob

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:25:17 +0000

Nicalis is working on it (along with Nigoro).

http://nicalis.com/blog/2009/07/23/nigoro-and-nicalis-make-friends/

Woo!

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Jamey

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:39:33 +0000

@Eclipse and Tim James - Next year? What the crap is the countdown for then, an official confirmation or something equally as pointless? I was praying they had been working on it in secret for a long time so we don’t have to suffer the wait like we do for CS.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Kenju

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:25:25 +0000

Imagine the mass frustration of children trying yo play this game on the Wii.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Ezuku

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:00:21 +0000

Come think of it, wouldn’t a game like La Mulana be against the demographic the Wii is aimed at? That being, casual gamers, and family orientated games? Not saying those are the only sort of gamers who use the Wii of course…

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Tim James

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:02:36 +0000

Not even a countdown timer to this countdown timer? They missed a great opportunity for more annoying buzz!

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by SirNiko

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:47:42 +0000

Between this and Cave Story, hopefully this marks a positive trend for Nintendo. More low-budget high-quality games like this would go a long way towards getting me to play my Wii more than once a month.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Ezuku

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:43:36 +0000

Easy La-Mulana doesn’t seem like la mulana at all :(

Anyway, breaking is very traditional, and I understand it’s a design feature, but… I have these horrible mental reminders from “walking dead” moments in adventure games, where you’d be unable to finish, but you’d keep trying, over and over, not realising you had mucked things up permanently for yourself. Same thing if I can’t find a particular item that will be very useful.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Eclipse

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:27:57 +0000

“La Mulana has been upgraded to 16 bit style graphics and probably won’t hit until next year.” uhm…

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Canti

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:24:40 +0000

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS YESYESYESYESYESYES!!!

NIGORO, YESYESYES!!!

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by MisterX

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:41:01 +0000

@Ezuku: It was annoying that you could “break” areas, but I liked the idea. In the manual it says that it was implemented to give the player a sense of danger, so that he’s actually careful about not setting of traps, instead of just going along carelessly and reloading whenever it’s necessary.

@Bob: The new gimmick will probably be that it will look, sound and feel like a SNES game, no? :) Sure, as an MSX-like game it’s more unique, but I guess most Wii players will appreciate a more modern look. And as I already know the MSX-like PC version, I wouldn’t mind it having a fresh coat of paint if I also got it for my Wii.

Mostly, I’d like it to be a lot easier. Accessible without guides, but also beatable. I know that the difficuly may well be just right for a lot of players, but I so wanted to love La-Mulana as I basically really, really liked every bit of its design. But it wouldn’t let me love it due to the difficuly, and so I eventually “had” to just stop playing. La-Mulana with a, for me, reasonable difficulty level would be a gaming-wish come true.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Jamey

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:40:28 +0000

This is great news. The greatest news.

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by namuol

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:39:17 +0000

I can honestly say I didn’t see that one coming.

I hope these freeware-to-console ports become a trend. (/me awaits a more thorough Knytt stories for the Wii or DS…)

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Bob

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:08:20 +0000

Wait, doesn’t that kind of null the gimmick of La Mulana in that it is supposed to look, sound, and feel like an MSX game?

"La Mulana coming to WiiWare?" by Eclipse

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:20:22 +0000

I’d love to play a La-Mulana roguelike… Oh wait!