La Mulana Adventures Onto North American WiiWare on 20th September
Posted by Thomas Whitehead
At long last
La Mulana has had a torturous existence on the WiiWare service, arriving in Japan over a year ago but running into problems gaining approval in other regions. Earlier in the year publisher Nicalis pulled out of the project, seemingly due to issues between it and developer Nigoro when trying to resolve problems with DLC content and other elements, as explained to us in our interview with La-Mulana's director Takumi Naramura.
Nigoro didn't give up, however, and stated that after the collapse of the Nicalis partnership other interested publishers had been in contact. One of these was EnjoyUp Games, but a PEGI rating naming the publisher disappeared shortly after it had been spotted. After so many twists in the tale, it's pleasing the see that the title is now listed by Nintendo of America for a confirmed release on 20th September, published by EnjoyUp Games, after all.
Thankfully the publisher has a good record of publishing titles in Europe, too, so we hope that before long both regions will enjoy this long awaited title. Meanwhile, North American gamers may have a reason to sort out some Wii Shop points in a few weeks time.
Thanks to Jared for the tip.
[via nintendo.com]




























#1
Knux said:
So awesome! Eat that, Nicalis!
#2
Tsuchinoko said:
Now everyone can calm down. So much negativity before.
#3
TruenoGT said:
Wicked, Wii's got a little left in the pipe. Definitely picking it up.
#4
therealgamer said:
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now its retro city rampage left for wiiware
#5
Hokori said:
Yesssss!! I'll deffently grab this soon, along with MM4 and MM5
#6
GeminiSaint said:
Awesome! Glad to see it's finally happening!
I hope it gets the success it deserves.
#7
Philip_J_Reed said:
Well I'll be.
#8
theblackdragon said:
damn, looks like i'll need to put points onto my Wii now D:
#9
rayword45 said:
Hooray! Screw off Cave Story Inc. and hello EnjoyUp!
I was hoping for this. Now I'll have to buy it.
#10
TheAdza said:
Well I hope it sells enough to make them some money after all their troubles. But it was probably a silly choice to continue development on the WiiWare service.
#11
Ukee said:
As great as this is I wish it could of made it on to DS/3DS, I hardly ever get time to play games at home.
#12
Sherlock said:
finally
#13
KaiserGX said:
Nah too late, I'll be buying more NEO GEO titles.
#14
TheChosen said:
Getting that to Wiiware was about as hard task as the game itself.
#15
therealgamer said:
@TheAdza The wii is not dead also wiiware is better than xbla. They will make money trust me.
#16
TheDreamingHawk said:
Nicalis was a good developer with good intentions, but at least this game comes out in some form on wii. Even though I dislike these types of games a lot.
Now can we stop complaining about games that aren't worth it?
#17
sinalefa said:
I am very happy for them, after all the game was already completed. Picking it up for sure.
#18
rayword45 said:
@TheDreamingHawk Sorry to sound a bit rude, but I can't respect them too much as a publisher.
-The extreme whoring of Cave Story, worse then Capcom with less respectable pricing choices
-The constant delays of Cave Story
-The silence about NightSky for so long, only then telling us it was quietly cancelled
-La Mulana cancellation
There's always room for improvement, especially when it comes to indie devs, but thus far their track record isn't looking very good.
#19
fredtoy said:
I was wating the La-Mulana remake on WiiWare since it was announced. Bought it on PC day one. Now I'll buy it again, day one! And the release date couldn't be better. 20th september is my birthday. =)
#20
Kinsale said:
Finally! I have been waiting for this forever!
#21
Rawk_Hawk said:
now there is some good news
#22
Wheels2050 said:
Kind of missing the boat, isn't it? It's nice it's coming to WiiWare, but I fear sales will be absolutely dismal.
#23
Whirlpool said:
@rayword45 I don't think Nicalis (a great company overall) is the problem. I believe it's Nintendo’s fault. Many people have struggled putting their games onto the Wii Shop Channel. From Gaigin Games, to Team Meat.
#24
Brando67854321 said:
@Klyo That's because Wii sucks & is the worst nintendo console of all time. case & point.
#25
Hokori said:
@Klyo But it's been out in Japan for a while now, so it's not a problem of how strick Nintendo is, since it obviously could 18 months ago
#26
WarioFan63 said:
@Wheels2050 Nah, Wii U will have WiiWare buyable so it won't be a problem I feel
#27
MakeMyBiscuit said:
I already have the PC version BUT I will be getting this for WiiWare as well just to support the developers.
Great news!
#28
WiiLovePeace said:
Awesome! Really, really awesome!
#29
vonseux said:
@Klyo making FMV on your once Flash based game wont help you hit the 40mb target. The original Meat-boy is 5.3 MB dont blame Nintendo if the developer doesnt read the instruction manual.
#30
NImH said:
Wow... I almost don't believe it. I'm getting it when it finally becomes available.
#31
rayword45 said:
@Klyo Really, other developers seem to be doing just fine (EnjoyUp Games clearly).
Some have had complaints, but I can't think of any other indie publisher with as many ports of the same game, delays and cancellations, along with other problems not all of which are related to WiiWare. I do believe they have the ability to do great things, but as of right now, they really aren't up to par when it comes to being a publisher, especially considering almost all of their current work is ports of PC games.
As for Team Meat, they made some pretty great games, yes, but clearly the devs didn't follow the rules. Look at the size of Super Meat Boy and tell me how that would work on WiiWare. The Game Audio is 3.5 times larger then the game limit!
Gaijin did just fine with Nintendo I assume, seeing how they claim they "love them", and the only problem was with Runner2, which is headed to Wii U.
#32
Popyman said:
I will be buying this for sure! Still really wish it was on the 3DS instead though, something about it makes me want to play it on a portable system...
#33
XCWarrior said:
A good WiiWare release. It really is the end of the world, isn't it?
#34
Sabrewing said:
THANK. GOD.
#35
ogo79 said:
@therealgamer
id think this was good enough news
#36
Blizzaga said:
@Wheels2050 I'm sure sales will continue onto the WiiU platform, kind of like how DSi Ware games are included in the 3DS eShop.
#37
Omega said:
I'm a little curious how they'd adapted it for WiiWare but I don't expect too much. The original PC game is renowned for it's notorious difficulty.
This is true specially towards the end of the game: The final Boss fight consists of 5 phases and is (for many people) almost impossible to beat. And when you die you have to reload and start at a point so far away that you need about 20 minutes to get to the boss again wandering through 2 big areas full of hazards. To say it's annoying is an understatement.
If they do not have reduced the difficulty a lot, I'm sure that most of today's gamers are not able to beat the game let alone get any enjoyment out of it.
#38
TheDreamingHawk said:
@rayword45 I wouldn't call 4 ports a bad thing. Considering how they are all on different platforms, it's just like Nintendo with the original SMB.
#39
AtariRainbow said:
how much will it be? worth any price.
#40
sketchturner said:
How difficult is this game compared to Cave Story? The Hell/Sanctuary part of that game was pretty insane, although I did manage to beat it... on easy... barely.
#41
rayword45 said:
@TheDreamingHawk SMB is around 6 ports over 18 years (1993-2011 thus far).
Cave Story is 4 ports (soon to be 5) over 1.5 years.
EDIT: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/621450-cave-story-3d/61250341 Here's to proving I'm not alone with the whole Cave Story 3D issues.
And the way they treated Nigoro on the whole cancellation was (and I couldn't use more polite words) a complete move.
#42
rayword45 said:
@sketchturner Cave Story on easy is a freaking cakewalk compared to this.
#43
Sausimo said:
Seeing as how it's been a full year since the WiiWare service has received another purchase worthy game (IMO, MotoHeroz last year in September), this is definitely great news.
I wonder if anyone can confirm the 1000 points cost, as that would make it even more desirable. I think this will have the DLC Hell Temple for an additional cost, but $10 would be a great starting point for the base game.
#44
Henmii said:
Are there still people believing this?!
#45
JulioMoruno said:
Thanks for your support! Nigoro and EnjoyUp Games are very happy with your great response. LA-MULANA is a awesome game!!!
#46
SnakePlissken said:
good news...!