La-Mulana (PC)

Here's another requested game for y'all. Today I thought I'd play an hour or so of retro platformer La-Mulana which, despite how the title screen may look, isn't actually a late 90s PlayStation game by Konami.

By the way, if you're curious the Japanese text under the logo just says 'La-Mulana' again. I wouldn't want every game title to go bi-lingual, but I've always though English and Japanese text goes well together like that; they compliment each other without making it look messy.

Like Cave Story and Spelunky this started out as a free PC indie game (back in 2005) before getting a more expensive enhanced remake for consoles and Steam a few years later, and it's this new version I'll be looking at. The Windows port I mean; far easier to get screenshots out of a PC than a Wii.

The game begins with our hero Indiana Jones Lemeza Kosugi, intrepid archaeologist, arriving at La-Mulana to do a bit of tomb raiding. Well to be pedantically honest the game really starts by panning across a shadowy jungle while this text slowly appears on screen:

Descending unto this place...
She came from the sky...
One unto this world.
Trapped alone, she cries.
Let me return home to heaven.
It is where I belong.
Children, please help me.
Children, send me back home.
Children, for this reason you were born.

That is the day that humanity was born.
And when they angered her, they were destroyed.

After several ages of destruction, the story begins.

There, now you know as much as I do about the set up. Humanity was born to help this person, but they've proven to be useless at it so she keeps having to slaughter them all to... I don't know, teach them a lesson.

So I start off in a jungle village with no idea what I'm here for. I suppose I should go introduce myself to the guy in charge then.

That's interesting, the screen doesn't scroll as I walk across the cliff, like I'm playing an old ZX Spectrum game. In fact with those three inventory slots on the top right and the way I can't steer myself in the air mid-jump, this is starting to remind me of that Dizzy game I played. I don't wanna be reminded of that Dizzy game.

The village Elder Xelpud doesn't seem too bothered that I just wandered into his tent in the middle of the night. In fact he was kind enough to explain that if I'm looking for La-Mulana, then I'll find its ruins on the outskirts of the village.

Then he caught sight of my laptop and the conversation suddenly took a sharp turn.

Yeah sure I'll trust this strange exe file given to me by a jungle villager. I'll load it into memory right away!

This feature to stack software into memory is new to the remake, as in the original game the laptop was actually a portable MSX computer and you could only load in programs one at a time via the cartridge slot (or two if you bought the upgraded laptop.) This time though I have a MobileSuperX machine which is a more advanced (and far more fictional) piece of kit, and doesn't come with the risk of Microsoft suing them!

Yeah, sure it says it only receives emails from the Elder but I bet I get Nigerian spam within a week.

This email program isn't actually in the original game at all by the way. Instead you'd have to visit the Elder in person to receive his wisdom, which mostly includes ramblings about old Konami games and how Famicom users suck.

And so I decided to boldly venture into the ruins to solve the mystery of La-Mulana. First though I'm going to have to solve the mystery of where they put the front door. I journeyed rightwards from the Elder's tent across several screens full of danger until I reached this waterfall, which I'm guessing is a point of no return. My first clue was the Elder sending me an email telling me that it's a point of no return.

So I think I'll leave this route alone for now and head left instead.

The screens past the village are infested by snakes that look a whole lot like the poison spitting serpents from Spelunky, but are fortunately far less dangerous. They barely do any damage to me if I touch them but a single hit with my standard issue archaeologist's whip is enough to sort them out, so that I may then harvest the green orbs within.

What the orbs do I have no idea, though I can tell you for sure that they aren't giving me any health back. But there is a healing hot springs over there on the left that I can stand in for a bit to reclaim my vitality; the first and only one I've seen so far.

La-Mulana (2005)

Here's the original La-Mulana for comparison. Same layout, same snakes, same gameplay, but no hot springs and no orbs. Instead killing enemies automatically increases my 'EXP' bar, which I'm going to take a wild guess to mean 'experience'.

In case you're wondering why it looks so retro, even for an indie platformer, it's because it's meant to seem like a lost MSX game from the 80s by Konami.

It even starts with the MSX start up screen, followed by an edited Konami logo (Google translate tells me that 'Kobami' means refused or rejected, which would make sense of the hand, but I don't know how true that is.)

SAFELY SKIPPABLE MSX INFO BOX!

If you've never heard of the MSX, it's an 8-bit Z80 based Japanese computer introduced in 1983, roughly as powerful as the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit systems, or the ZX Spectrum. Well technically MSX is a hardware standard (like PCs, there were multiple compatible machines built by various manufacturers) and it was actually thought up by Microsoft, though the computers made little impact in the US or European markets.

They managed to sell 5 million of the things in Japan though, and the MSX become home to a number of famous Japanese developers, like... well, Konami actually. Though the Famicom (NES) soon became an unstoppable monster and the Japanese games market mostly jumped to consoles instead, leaving their PC games to descend into visual novels, porn and visual novels featuring porn.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

The Metal Gear series famously got its start on MSX systems, but both MG1 and MG2 look a fair bit prettier than original La-Mulana because they were developed for the more powerful MSX2. La-Mulana on the other hand is going even more old school than this, aiming for a first generation MSX look.

I see now that heading left was a mistake.

A bloke I met in a nearby tent explained that Argus here is weak against the Serpent Staff, which gives me all the reason I need to stay well clear of him for the time being. You don't need to be covered in eyes to see that if this came to a fight right now, I wouldn't be the one walking away at the end of it.


SOON.

I decided that if I wasn't going anywhere for a while I should beat up snakes for a while to get money for essential tomb raiding accessories, like a hand scanner and... internet explorer? Oh it's Yagoo Map Reader and next to it is Glyph Reader software. Well I'll grab what I can afford then head out again in search of the mysterious (and hard to find) ruins of La-Mulana.


A FEW MINUTES LATER.

Actually it turns out that the ruins aren't that hard to find at all and are only a couple of screens away from the village to the right. I mistook a pillar in the background for a wall and thought that the path was blocked off.

So I am in the ruins of La-Mulana at last. I just pushed this white block onto a floor switch to reveal that ladder above, though as far as I can tell this hasn't helped me out much as I can't get up there. Now I'm going have to try jumping up and down here for a bit struggling to squeeze through the gap and get to my ladder, while whipping at any bats that swoop down at me. It's obviously not going to work but I have to try.

La-Mulana (2005)

Here's the original game again; same layout, same block, same annoying bats. Though I've noticed there seems to be more enemies around in this version and they usually do a better job at kicking my ass.

La-Mulana wasn't just inspired by MSX games in general, there's one game in particular that was a big inspiration for it: Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious.

Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious (MSX)

You can't really tell how nearly identical these bat enemies are from just a static screenshot, but you'd only have to glance at the bar across the top of the screen to see that there's a bit of similarity there.

Maze of Galious is also about making your way around a network of interconnected screens, smashing objects and enemies for coins and EXP, and the hero even controls the same. Though I can't really say how close they are in gameplay as Maze consistently annihilates my heroes only a handful of screens into the game. I've not noticed a great deal of stone message tablets and block pushing puzzles in it that's for sure.

But I did manage to mess up jumps and end up falling down several screens at a time, just like I've done in here in fact! If I had any control over Indiana... whatever his name is the air, I'd pull him across to land on that ledge. But I don't, so I can't. I'm lucky there's no falling damage really.

I've got a pretty good idea what I need to do to open that blue chest above me, but no idea how I'd actually do it. There's another white block there on the bottom left and I'm sure that introducing it to the floor switch a few meters to its right will either get the job done, turn off the blue barrier, or fix that platform currently stuck in the statue's mouth.

The problem there though is that I can't pull blocks, only push them, and I've already learned that you can't squeeze around blocks. Seems kind of unsolvable to me right now.


A SCREEN OR TWO BELOW.

Crap, I guess that the eye up there really didn't want me to whip these things. I'll try reading the stone tablet for clues, but I doubt it'll help much. Most of the text down here is gibberish without the Glyph Reader program for my MS-X and I still can't afford that yet.

Though I have collected enough weights to spare putting one on that dais to my right (the small table) and see if that helps my situation at all. The weights look like small logs of wood and are used to trigger Indiana Jones style switches. Except these open up new paths and chests instead of dropping boulders on my head.

Well okay sometimes they drop shit on my head as well, that's why I have to think twice before activating a dais surrounded by the skeletons of those who can't spot obvious warning signs.

Well the next room to the right isn't much help. This ladder is missing, the stone tablet with my clue on it is broken, and those other ladders probably just take me back up to where I came from. Though I think that dais I activated on the previous screen has opened up a path to that mysterious door up there.

It led to a ghost shop! Here I can buy shurikens, weights, or a program to detect secret stores in the ruins. I think I'll hold onto my money for now, especially as I can't buy most of this anyway.

I guess I'll go back down and see if I can read that cracked stone tablet anyway, just to make sure I've done everything I possibly can do here before moving on.

Whoa, that actually makes sense! Well I can read it at least and that's a start.

Hang on, four ages, four different things destroyed, this gives me an idea. Perhaps I really was meant to whip those stone blocks in the previous room with the angry eye, I just didn't do it in the correct order.

Well apparently that's a firm 'no' to whipping stone blocks, in any order. I'd found a save point just inside the entrance to the ruins, but that's still a fair distance back. All those coins I found since then, all those blocks I pushed, that dais I activated... it's all been for nothing!


LATER.

Well here I am back at the save point, checking my map for ideas of where to go next. I have to be honest, it's not being much help. I mean I couldn't even tell you for sure which room on that map is the one I got struck by eye-lightning in. They could've scaled up the thing a little and marked in the layout of the platforms in each room maybe, or at least show how the rooms connect.

Alright, so now I know that there's only misery down that ladder. Let's try going right this time instead then.

Elephants bouncing through the air using their trunk as a spring? What is this, a ZX Spectrum game? Well, close enough I suppose.

The solution to this puzzle seems obvious: I just have to activate the bronze circle in the middle on the back wall and the blue chest will reveal its treasure to me. The only problem I'm having is that I have no bloody idea what I'm supposed to do to activate it. Well okay I'm also having a problem trying to hit the elephants as they're kind of erratic with their bouncing, but I imagine that fighting them has limited relevance to the puzzle. Unless it's the solution.

Fuck it, I'm moving on.


LOTS OF SCREENS LATER.

I've reached a totally new area, called the 'Spring in the Sky'. I'm pretty sure I'm still underground though.

This whole place is flooded with water, which is kind of an issue as water is poisonous and quickly drains my health bar whenever I'm in it. Fortunately a new area means a new save point, so I'm when I inevitably screw this up I'll only have five or so screens to replay to get back here.

This particular puzzle is actually a no-brainer. I whipped the metal arm that's stopping the chain, then climbed back up a screen and whipped a mechanism I saw along the way. That got the chain moving upwards, pulling the plug and releasing the water.

So I've finally figured something out in this game using my own brain and I can start making progress again.

Whoa, I was not expecting the plug hole to lead down to Egyptian-land. I need to find a save point quick, while I've still got some health left. Not much point saving my game if I don't have enough life left to survive the trip back outside to the hot springs to recharge.

I did manage to hold out a little bit longer, but I soon messed up and was sent right back to the save point up in the water area again. All that progress lost.

La-Mulana (2005)

Poor original Lemeza didn't even make it that far, as his water is far more poisonous. It seems obvious that I'm not supposed to be out here until I've gotten a certain item, but of course the game isn't going to come out and explain all that. It reminds me of Metroid, except instead of energy tanks and missile upgrades, the game rewards you with enigmas and dead ends.


WAY WAY LATER.

Okay, I've come to the realisation that the solution to these early block puzzles probably isn't hidden in the Spring in the Sky or deep in the Eygptian side of the ruins, so I probably have everything I need to trigger that grey floor panel right here. Though once I push this block on top of the other one I'm stuck; they're too heavy to move as a stack and there's nowhere I can stand to push the top block separately.

The bloody game's determined to stop me from getting a single screenshot of a boss fight for you.

I went and talked to a friend about the issues I'd been having and he mentioned that there's a device hidden around this part of the ruins that could make my life a hell of a lot easier. But I can't just go and get it, because it's hidden, I need to solve a puzzle first. But I don't even know what puzzle I need to solve!

Oh fuck it, I'm checking a walkthrough. I hate to cheat and take shortcuts like this, but I haven't got time to figure this out the proper way.

Wow, it turns out that I was actually supposed to take a literal shortcut through a fake wall to push the impossible block I saw earlier onto its switch and open this blue chest for my prize. There were vague clues to where the shortcut was, but I kind of assumed I'd have to walk from a room to the left of this screen to get here. But nope, I walked into a wall on the right side of the level and ended up jumping four screens left instead.

But anyway, I've got the blue chest open now so I can finally collect...

...the Holy Grail! And it only took me 1 hour and 23 minutes to find it!

The Grail is an artefact that allows me to teleport to any save point I've reached, at any time I want. So now I get to save my box pushing, weight dropping and coil collecting progress without a long and arduous trek back through traps, spikes, and respawned enemies. Plus it means that now I'm never more than a four screen walk away from that health refilling hot springs, and thank fuck for that.


HALF AN HOUR LATER.

Alright now that I've got my Holy Grail I'm ready to tackle the Endless Corridor! Oh crap, no I'm not, I only have 7 hp left. Aww, but I don't want to teleport back now; I haven't found the save point yet!

Hang on, Elder Xelpud's sent me another email, could be important.

Uh, thanks for that mate, that's... a big help. You know, I can't talk back to him so he doesn't even know where I am. He just guesses how far I've gotten then sends me the relevant email and he's never wrong.


MUCH MUCH MUCH LATER.

Alright I have finally solved that puzzle with the two blocks in it. I turns out that the the answer was to cause another block into the room by killing all of the enemies in the room next door. If there's a clue around that explains that, I didn't see it. But whatever, I've finally triggered the floor switch and claimed my reward: a ladder leading down here.

So here I am at last, in the boss arena (I assume). I mean what else can it be? It's a dead end and there's no blocks, enemies or puzzles in here. It's not my fault that the boss himself didn't feel like turning up to fight me.

Well that's that then; I tried to find some kind of boss fight or plot development to end the post on, I really did, but I got nothing. I could always check the walkthrough again, but I think I've done enough of that already.

Oh I did figure something out at least. If you look you'll see I've finally collected enough orbs from dead enemies to fill the EXP bar at last. You wanna know what it gets you? A health refill. It's apparently meant to be the way I recover hit points down here, but man it fills up so slowly it's quicker just to leave and heal outside.


My final thoughts on La-Mulana after a couple of hours of play: well, it looks good and the music's really catchy. Also I found the actual gameplay to be surprisingly solid despite the ultra-retro approach. The lack of jump control when you're in the air didn't turn out to be much of an issue for me as the game at least lets you steer yourself onto ledges from a standing jump. The biggest problem I had with it is that the penalty for missing a jump or getting hit in mid-air can be pretty harsh; once you're falling, you could be falling for a long while. Also good luck climbing back up on a ladder when there's birds swooping around.

The game reminds me a bit of classic NES platformers like Castlevania 2 and Battle of Olympus, in that you're free to go practically anywhere from the start, but it's not made clear what you should be doing. There's clues written on tablets all over the place, but you can't save them to check later (at least not with the programs I've found) and I found it difficult to figure out what they related to. So I got frustrated and started just trying things, which often led to empty rooms, entirely new parts of the ruins or a good old fashioned lightning strike. I mean the Holy Grail teleportation item is basically essential to get any fun out of the game and I had to be told that it existed by a friend and look up where to find it in a walkthrough.

So if all of that sounds fun to you, this may be just the game you're looking for! Unless you've already found it, in which case you're probably really liking it. Personally though I can only take so much of being lost and clueless before I lose interest, and this has lost me.

The original home-made MSX themed 2005 version of La-Mulana is entirely free to download, though it's it's also entirely in Japanese. Fortunately for English speakers it has been blessed with a fan translation patch, which you can grab here along with the game: Aeon Genesis La-Mulana translation.

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Thank you for reading all my words, I know it couldn't have been easy. In exchange I'll will read through all the awesome and insightful comments I find written underneath. Share your opinions on the game, the original game, what I said about the game, games that are like the game etc.