La-Mulana Coming to WiiWare
As reported on Neogaf and a couple of other sites now, the latest issue of Nintendo Power brings news that the MSX-style platformer is headed for the WiiWare very soon. Nigoro themselves posted up a countdown timer on their site just yesterday, so this piece of information is pretty much confirmed and we will hear more about the changes that the new port will bring in three days' time.
The Neogaf poster also comments that La-Mulana's graphics have been updated to 16-bit, and the original MSX roms would probably be replaced with classic Nintendo titles instead. (old gameplay videos)
[UPDATE: Nicalis had posted up a press release on their blog today, confirming the collaboration between them and the Nigoro team on an upcoming WiiWare game, scheduled for release in Winter 2009.]
Comments
Wow, very unexpected, but also good news.
This is a really great game even if it is extremely difficult.
Posted by: coreymill | July 23, 2009 6:34 AM
Be interesting to see what form La-Mulana takes. It's not Cave Story. It's one of the most brutally difficult and deliberately impenetrable games I've ever played, and I'm counting the kinds of 8-bit games that inspired it. You could spend 10 or 20 hours making maps and notes through the levels before you realized how badly the thing does not want to be solved.
Posted by: jc | July 23, 2009 6:42 AM
I do know something *else* that will probably get cut... :3
Posted by: DarkTetsuya | July 23, 2009 6:50 AM
Wow. Interesting thing to bring to Wiiware. I wonder how many people will buy it on a whim and break their controllers in frustration :P
Posted by: Chetyre | July 23, 2009 7:32 AM
Now I want to play this again :D It's not as hard as you guys make it sound once you get the teleportation chalice. It's for veteran platform gamers, sure (so no stupid things like missing easy jumps over and over, like in Let's Play La-Mulana :D ), so it does form a nice challenge. The main issue that kept me from finishing it, though, was all the backtracking you had to do between where you left to go to the village and to get back to that point.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 23, 2009 2:18 PM
La-Mulana on Wiiware?! BE STILL MY HEART ♥ ♥ ♥
This is going to rock so, so hard. I can't wait to see how they solve the problem of needing a keyboard to play the game--maybe change up the way the mantras work, and add menus and submenus in place of the function keys? Also I desperately hope they don't take out Hell Temple. It needs to scar a new generation of players!
And yeah, the game is difficult, super difficult, but also incredibly rewarding...that reminds me, though, they're going to need a digital manual for it too. It's way too important to release the game without it.
Posted by: madamluna | July 23, 2009 2:42 PM
hehe, awesome game..but way too hard for me ;)
Posted by: Anonymous | July 23, 2009 3:13 PM
I mind as well stop reading the news for a month, because nothing's going to top this.
Posted by: Jamey | July 23, 2009 4:00 PM
If the banner on the dev's blog is an actual screenshot, then it's not 16-bit...but 3D.
http://3hiki.blogspot.com/
Looks kind of like the Wiiware Adventure Islands.
I'll wait to see how it looks in action before passing further judgment.
Also, although I haven't gotten around to playing La Mulana (until today, what with all the recent news), won't that kind of ruin the "charm" or "gimmick" of La Mulana playing, sounding, and looking like an MSX game?
Posted by: Bob | July 23, 2009 4:13 PM
They'll replace the MSX cartridges?! I wonder what Xelpud has to say about this...
Posted by: Hyper Emerson | July 23, 2009 4:19 PM
A 3D La-Mulana would be great, but I wonder if it'll exceed the "file size limit" Nintendo has for Wiiware. I mean La-Mulana is a pretty large in area size plus making it a 3D game would make the file size much larger.
Posted by: Gio | July 23, 2009 4:35 PM
No, that 3D banner is a gag--it's been up there ever since the blog started.
Posted by: madamluna | July 23, 2009 5:15 PM
what madamluna said.
Also, a la-mulana 3D should suck ass.
I hope you have the options to choose the new grafics and old ones
Posted by: Anonymous | July 23, 2009 5:22 PM
@Anonymous - Hear, hear. I'm hoping for the same feature to go back to old graphics and music like Cave Story will offer.
Posted by: jamey | July 23, 2009 5:55 PM
I'm really interested in seeing what this game will look like in 16-bit. It'll take some getting used to. The news in itself is BLOWING MY MIND.
Posted by: deldisco | July 23, 2009 7:17 PM
I experienced a sinking feeling as soon as I heard the news. An unpleasant sense of dread. It all started to make sense...
La-Mulana is being ported by Nicalis Inc., so don't expect a release date anytime within the next year. Or two. I'm sure it will have an option to switch between new/classic graphics and music... if it ever gets released.
Posted by: Deceased Crab | July 23, 2009 7:38 PM
@D. Crab - Nicalis is doing this, eh? Is that just speculation, or is it official? If so, yeah, that sucks. Updates and porting probably won't be taken seriously until CS is released on WiiWare, which, by the way, is when..?
Posted by: Jamey | July 23, 2009 7:42 PM
This is great. Given that I've had trouble emulating the game on my mac, this is probably the only chance I will get to play it.
Posted by: Skellengar | July 23, 2009 7:44 PM
http://nicalis.com/blog/2009/07/23/nigoro-and-nicalis-make-friends/
Not much of a surprise really, considering that Nicalis had posted about Nigoro numerous times on their site for a couple of months now.
Posted by: Tim | July 23, 2009 7:47 PM
Wait a second, so Nicalis thought it was a good idea to take on porting La-Mulana? When Cave Story isn't even out yet? And when La-Mulana is like three times larger than it?
Posted by: madamluna | July 23, 2009 8:04 PM
Um, I'm sure everything will turn out fine. Um. Or not.
Posted by: deldisco | July 23, 2009 8:20 PM
Dream: Turning on my Wii and having Cave Story, La-Mulana, The Underside, and Spelunky on the front page.
Posted by: Jamey | July 23, 2009 9:58 PM
Better wait until the original of The Underside is released, then, before hoping for a port ;)
Posted by: Anonymous | July 24, 2009 4:21 PM
color me excited. although id like for them to just port the original and make a sequel with 16 bit graphics to wiiware. and nicalis needs to hurry up with cave story.. i already played it to no end on the psp.. but im ready to have another go at it.
lastly, id love to see noitu love on wiiware as well.
Posted by: shouryuuken | July 24, 2009 5:51 PM
I think I just came. Twice. At the same time. And after that, my body went 8-bit
Posted by: Canti | July 26, 2009 1:58 AM