La-Mulana/La Mulana (PC, 2005)
Graphics-8 Sound-8.5 Control-6.5/5** Challenge-8 Story-6.5
Level Design-6.5/5* Frustration-8/9* Fun-6.5/5* Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*Most puzzles
**Wall kick and turning underwater
+
Metroid/Maze of Galious/Castlevania/Monster World-inspired gameplay (town hub connected to a few sub areas of a large dungeon, stat upgrades (life bar, movement speed, two whip upgrades+one main weapon attack speed upgrade, sub weapon rate of fire (ring)), some ability gating (feather - double jump, grapple claw - wall grab+"spring" jump off of walls (tricky), boots - 30% speed boost+lets you move up slopes in some places, ice cape - swim in lava, scalesphere - survive underwater, lamp of time - time freeze), buy items in shops with the money you collect, scan for hidden shops or clues on signs and stone tablets, locked doors - weights used instead of keys here for consumable keys (there are also four seals that open specific locks), backtracking to previous areas with new abilities or via one-way paths, basic experience system (filling the bar only refills your health though and takes a pretty long time+more difficult enemies don't necessarily fill it faster (can speed it up with an item but you get it pretty late); Maze of Galious), explore each area's lore via the stone tablets (similar to Maze of Galious (this is also where the boss summoning comes from)/System Shock/Metroid Prime), breakable walls and hidden paths, some shops and NPC encounters within the ruins)
Many hidden items and many puzzles (some puzzles span more than one area, various spatial awareness and some block puzzles but most are clue-based and/or key item-based, some good platforming puzzles, some decent puzzles: some spatial awareness puzzles, eye of udjat/horus (besides having to talk to the NPC in the previous room) and the platform revealing light in temple of the sun, block puzzles in cave of inferno and endless corridor, lantern puzzle in endless corridor (check manual) and the pot room puzzle besides the long cooldown time, confusion gate's first riddle, getting the boss's ankh to appear in twin labyrinths, diary room and dimensional corridor time freeze besides the long cooldown if you screw up, scale room except for only giving you two attempts at it (or one if you had defeat baphomet and palenque already))
Teleport to visited and recorded areas with the grail item (found in the first dungeon area, need to find the grail transfer point and use the glyph reader on it in an area to teleport to it, antarctic adventure+comic bakery rom combo lets you teleport to the rear-side dungeons as well), Some shortcuts can be opened up (area 5->area 7 and 5b/tower of ruin->1b/confusion gate for example)
Decent to good enemy AI overall
Features a fairly large and varied collection of equipment
Good bosses overall (most have 2 phases, final one has 5 though one of them kinda sucks, one fight takes place during a minecart ride, one horizontal shoot 'em up-style boss) and there are many mini-bosses (9 and 30 respectively)
Layered world within the dungeon (front- and rear-side versions of each area however they aren't as strictly aligned or as interconnected as in Goonies 2 for example and tend to have only one connecting point here - however areas on the same plane also tend to have fairly complex connections between them and parts of some areas are only accessible via a certain ladder going from one or two other areas and/or via a front/rear-side door in a not very obvious way)
Audio clues for breakable objects and walls (Link's Awakening/Metal Gear)
Item combination effects (can combine some of the game roms found after upgrading your laptop - for example athletic land+cabbage patch kids=much longer invincibility time after a hit, 3 of them also contain mini-games for a total of 4, this is a reference to some Konami MSX games that let you do this for various effects)
Control and volume+OST config (have to use the keyboard for teleporting though, two different versions of the soundtrack based on the SCC MSX sound chip (added stereo and echo/reverb) and the Roland SC-88 midi module)
Good art direction overall (a love letter to the MSX - built around its limitations and based on some of its games (flip screen instead of scrolling, mostly single color sprites, etc.), features an in-game MSX laptop),
Very good visual variation and good enemy variation
Xelpud (the elder - almost a developer insert who tends to crack jokes or make msx-related comments)
One optional area (hell temple - as brutal as it sounds)
Some environmental effects (transformed final area, flooding part of temple of the sun via a4/spring in the sky+parts of area 4 itself+tower of the goddess via the mausoleum, hitting switches or breaking objects to rearrange larger platforms in some rooms, activating and deactivating a pretty large statue to use it as a platform at one point; MMX, Strife, Metroid 2 & Prime, etc.) and some interesting transitions between sub areas (area 4 down to area 3)
Healing points in some areas via semi-hidden fairies (if you bring a certain item to the one in the endless corridor, one of them (yellow) also helps open a door or solve a puzzle in the current area)
Can jump straight up and then steer your jump to land right below a platform or on a path below a ledge (can't do it the other way around unless the distance is very short or if you have the double jump+there's a nearby wall to change directions with)
Super metroid-style area foreshadowing at one point (confusion gate to temple of moonlight path via tower of the goddess)
Can't enter rooms from below by jumping except for at a single point in the game (sometimes used for puzzles but can be annoying when it's not which is more often the case)
Includes a maze of galious mini-dungeon (very simple for how far into the game you are though)
One of the bosses (endless corridor's giant floating eye) follows you before fighting it in a basic chase segment of sorts
New enemies appear in a previously visited area but only at two points in the game (area 1 spinning fireballs room and shrine of the mother after its transformation - unless you also count enemies appearing where you beat a mini-boss in dimensional corridor)
Pretty memorable final area
+/-
Partially non-linear structure after the first area (you can explore several areas right away but you'll frequently need one or more items or abilities to make the most out of exploring later areas (plenty of key item gates), surface area eventually connects to 3 dungeon areas, can't explore much of area 4/spring in the sky until after area 2/mausoleum (need helmet from twin labyrinths/area 7 though it can be reached after area 2), can't get to cave of inferno before temple of the sun?, need to get a key from confusion gate to explore most of area 8/endless corridor, need to enter area 4/tower of the goddess via area 6 or after clearing parts of area 5/inferno cavern, can finish chamber of birth/confusion gate/endless corridor in any order?, one optional challenge area, )
Can only save in the beginning town and any collected experience is lost when loading a save (the game doesn't tell you about it beforehand - you do regain your health though); one slot per game only until you get an upgrade (5 slots, only shows date and time of save))
Static difficulty (an area or its boss doesn't become more or less challenging based on what you've cleared so far)
Delay on attacks (see Castlevania - how you fall or get knocked back is also based on CV)
Can attack diagonally upwards and backwards (watch the whip swinging animation)
Off screen enemy respawning in various rooms (sometimes they respawn like this until you've cleared the room and after that they respawn if you move two rooms away or into another area and back - other times they always respawn)
No health drops from enemies (and gaining a full exp bar to regain your health takes pretty long until you get the scripture item in the mid-late game)
Maps need to be used via the in-game laptop (fully upgraded map takes up 2/2 slots and shows exits to other areas, the grail tablet/warp room, the opposite area (rear/front) entrance room and the basic layout; no room topography, no paths between rooms, no chests, no shops, no NPC caves)
Can't run or crouch, Can't dodge (can upgrade movement speed and block most enemy shots with the silver shield/nearly all shots with the angel shield)
Can't walk while attacking
No save points within dungeon areas here
One of the shopkeepers insults you if you don't buy anything or don't have enough money for something (calls you a bitch!)
Used weights disappear visually when reloading but the effect remains (need to keep in mind where you've used one to not waste time getting to a pedestal again)
Some puzzles and mechanics from Zelda (the healing fairies, kill all enemies in a room, jingle when you solve a puzzle (need the shell horn item), reflecting shield puzzle, wizzrobe enemy (tower of druaga?) and how you damage one of the final boss's forms) and King's Valley/Vampire Killer (looping areas)
Unlockable hard mode though the way to unlock it is odd - have to read a tablet in the mausoleum area twice (reading it once gives you a warning not to read it twice, hard mode=more monsters and monster spawners)
Swimming takes some getting used to (no buoyancy)
Can hit enemies through platforms from below
Easy mini-boss in area 4
There is an item that plays a jingle when entering a room with a hidden room in it (detector) however a jingle for when there is a puzzle yet solved in a room would've been more useful (since now you pretty much have to kill every enemy in every room and hit walls and statues even if most are traps to be sure that it doesn't unlock something) - see Link's Awakening
Can't crush enemies with blocks
Don't need book of the dead to unlock the serpent staff here - jump and hit the switch with chain+throwing knife then use grapple
No use for many of the game roms and some combinations are either negative or useless
Some hidden developer messages (not useful as hints and getting to them is a lot of work)
The silver shield (blocks the red crab-like enemies' shots) has to be used manually as a sub weapon, can't double jump out of water, making the elevator to the mini-boss appear in the twin labyrinths - while there's an OK clue for it the lizard paintings in the background are pretty easy to miss compared to other paintings in the area, several areas having a part which is separate from the rest of the area that can only be accessed via another area can lead to some confusion since you can only view one area map at a time and not see if an exit is one-way only, palenque/chamber of extinction boss goes down pretty quickly with flares and shuriken or bombs (can also increase your invincibility time to make it a pushover)
One mini-game is based on Snatcher (a parody dating mini-game that turns into a gallery shooter segment)
Economy stays relevant throughout the game however the grinding makes this tedious
No move canceling (such as attack animations - sub weapons are used without an animation though)
Two teleporter mazes
Sub weapons don't work against the final boss
Automated escape segment after the final boss
A few neutral creatures but they can't be interacted with
-
Can get permanently stuck in a few spots from failing to solve a puzzle (get trapped in small section of a room and have to reload your save if you trigger some mechanism that blocks off exits) or if you didn't get the grail/teleport item in the first dungeon area before wandering off into a later area (happens in the mausoleum if you stand around for a few seconds after grabbing the red jewel)
Trial & error (final boss's eyes underwater part (can only get part of the correct pattern to damage it - last two hits are trial & error and you get hit by lightning if you guess wrong), figuring out where to chant/type in the mantras - only clue seems to be the compass rooms (when really the room to chant in is some weird mirror of the boss room location in the front-side of an area) and most of the mantra tablet locations? (two of those are vague as well though you can figure out the areas by process of elimination), can't teleport while in the dimensional corridor, determining who the true fairy is?, dimensional corridor entrance - clue is too vague and it's hard to remember the ladder in room j-2, one of the mandatory shops (chamber of life red jewel) is hidden in an enemy spawner hole - only clue is that it's in that area?, can have the right idea with the fast flying sky fish enemies in room c-4 of tower of ruin but still not find the path to the pedestal if you didn't kill enough of them while freezing time (or the right one? I killed a few during it then 10+ more without time freeze, then I re-entered and killed 1-2 more and suddenly it appeared) - even worse you can move through this room without noticing these enemies at all and there's no clue to which room they're in, the twin statue clue kinda sucks (just tells you to run fast at some point and not in which area) - you're supposed to go backwards/to the right during the countdown in the endless corridor and then redo that challenge, can't solve the eye of udjat/horus puzzle without first talking to the NPC in the room next to it, getting to the grail item - there's only a vague text clue and you don't know that areas can loop around yet, hard to tell what solving some puzzles does as the game doesn't show it unless it's in the same room and various puzzles affect the surrounding area instead (leads to a lot of aimless wandering), some of the constellation puzzles in the mausoleum - figuring out how to make the pedestals display 3 suns (have to first make them display stars, re-enter, then use a 6 hits long code to display suns - only re-entering is hinted at!, figuring out what items do (lacking shop item and menu descriptions - need to check the manual and even then the description might be lacking) and how to interact with signs etc, walk-through spikes puzzle in area 1 (poor clue given), can't pull blocks, many cheap traps (electrocution from hitting some things while facing the other direction (with the swing animation)+hitting some things identical to other objects which don't spring traps, some cheap enemy spawn points (the grail point in area 4 is also place underwater), floor traps which you can't predict because at other points the same clue means the floor is safe to walk over, sudden spike traps at two points in the first area as well as one in room c-6 of moonlight temple where there is a chest that won't open+other spots, some leaps of faith, many places near the village where it looks like you can exit the screen when you can't, some red herrings (sometimes information provided on glyphs can be strikingly similar to a puzzle in an area but actually have nothing to do with it), sometimes need to take a path where no hint is given (some false walls, floors that break when you stand on them, warp points found by touching an object, entering an enemy spawning hole as though it were a doorway, placing a weight on something other than a pedestal (mausoleum life jewel - placing one at the wrong statue foot also triggers a spike trap and there's seemingly no clue to which is the right one, confusion gate), sometimes even ceilings and floors can be broken with certain weapons and there is one invisible ladder), have to go through the water that quickly kills you in area 4 to get to the item that lets you move underwater unharmed, birds that fly off the screen don't count as killed for the purpose of solving a puzzle by clearing a room, figure out the proper order to place weights in to be able to open the chests for Fruit of Eden?, the mantra puzzle unless you've got the info about each area (room?) having a rectangular layout from the manual and connected a vague piece of info about area connections to it, some one-way paths discovered when moving between rooms, can't stand on the angel statues themselves in area 1 - only the path between them, some missable items such as the whip upgrades - see notes below, some breakable walls without clues besides hitting them and hearing a sound when hitting other walls is sometimes discouraged, sometimes have to scan a broken tablet to find an item or get a clue - in the first area you get the impression that they don't display anything, some puzzles like the "dance of life" one span more than one area without properly hinting at it (the "eyes of kindness & charity" one also does but there the hints are decent), re-opening the path near the beginning of temple of the sun - the block you need to hit doesn't stand out enough, getting to the knife in area 3 - no clue? (would've been fine if other headstatues in the area were interactive or removed), need to hit the Mr. Gyonin fish in a4 30 times (!) to make the ankh jewel appear and it doesn't seem like you're damaging it when hitting it, cabbage patch kids rom - no clue and the appearance of the jewel distracts from looking where the fish was, hard to spot certain minor details like the eye of the giant statue in the graveyard area, can't open the chest in room d-6 in the graveyard, figuring out where to use the pepper (only clue is "inviting guardian" which is apparently a statue in the background at the entrance to area 1...), 6 pedestals puzzle at confusion gate - the clue is decent but it still requires some trial & error and you take damage and waste 1-4 weights every time you make a mistake, what to do with the mini doll - apparently going to area 2 proves that you are small already which kinda makes sense but is too far fetched as you're not proving it in the presence or same area of the NPC that asks you to, invisible teleporters in the two teleporter mazes, some boss patterns, can suddenly jump to get to a room above you at one point in twin labyrinths - inconsistent, getting the body armor in confusion gate?, last part of getting the bombs in the graveyard - no clue to having to jump up at a seemingly random spot to open the last path, getting the jewel in twin labyrinths - there could've been a mention of the link between the two rooms and/or a jingle when you're on the right path, shrine of mother map, etc.)
Have to grind for essential items early on (the ability to save (!), map reader (and the two upgraded versions of it unless you're a masochist), scanners, multiple save slots, keys/weights after the first area; low drop rate and enemies only drop single coins - takes until a point in the mid-game until you're able to farm for it quickly which is hours into the game) as well as a few items in the mid-game and probably for some ammo later on (bomb ammo is expensive and rare and pistol ammo even more so)
Some control/interface issues (doing a spring jump/wallkick while clinging to a wall is too hard and unintuitive (let go of jump then double tap away from the wall twice or hold away after letting go and tap jump again - both work but the timing is tight and weird), can only wall grab as you're falling down and can't hold the button during a screen transition as it won't register, huge knockback from taking a hit and if you fall into a wall and keep falling you can't then start steering yourself in mid-air again, no bunemon.exe (message log) software here and you also can't place map markers - taking notes is required for various puzzles, fall directly downwards when moving off platform edges, up to jump + to climb ladders, can't jump onto or off of ladders, turning while "swimming" underwater is too slow - have to sink down/have very little forward momentum/touch a floor or ceiling, delay on mid-air horizontal movement if you jump without pressing a direction at the same time, no "quit to main menu" option (use continue in options menu to reload), can't speed up dialogue text, very slow/stiff block pushing before getting the glove, can't scan while having a sub weapon equipped, unresponsive jumping - have to hold the button down slightly or you don't jump, have to re-equip the sub item and any rom items every time you reload a save, no weapon or sub item/weapon cycling - the scanners and map items should've been passive abilities so you didn't have to go into the menu and switch between them and a sub weapon or other roms, the elder sometimes gives gameplay tips which aren't repeated while his other comments are often repeated (there's a pool of 15-20 other comments that the game draws from), somewhat sloppy hit detection on moving platforms (if it looks like you've just barely made it on top of one then you fall through instead), using bombs - awkward throwing angle and they bounce all over the place before exploding, somewhat glitchy hit detection around moving platforms at times+when the floor is moving during the Viy/A5 boss fight)
Some other tedious aspects (no warp point before the final boss, have to hit various breakable walls 10+ times and push a wall in dimensional corridor for almost 10 seconds for it to budge, the lamp of time has a cooldown period of 3 mins, start with 0 ammo for newly bought/found sub weapons - expensive bomb ammo and very expensive pistol ammo, tower of the goddess - annoying forced wall kick segment where there's also a floor trap+medusa heads+if you didn't hit a switch in another part of the area then you have to redo this segment (you'll also have to take this path again later on for the flywheel item in confusion gate and the mini-boss respawns), moonlight temple (if you enter the pyramid you can't get out without warping nor attack anything, waiting for moving platforms+annoying respawn rates during vertical platforming, room c-2 puzzle feels designed to make you waste your weights - clue is too vague, how breakable walls take 10 hits to take down and the rooms with a lot of them also require a later weapon that you probably don't have yet, annoying traps - chest in room c-6 can't be opened so you will trigger its trap and have to warp out), need a relatively expensive laptop upgrade to be able to use it underwater and another one to use it in lava (doesn't prevent you from dying in either), need to hit pots three times to break them (breaks flow - can reduce it to one with bracelet but you get it in the mid-late game) and you can't farm the ones near town for money (can do it in the dungeon by reloading however), have to buy some convenience upgrades and stuff that should've been available from the start or without grinding (save cartridge, scanner and glyph reader items, multiple save slots, map reader upgrades), no green fairies (dramatically increase the ammo and coin drop rates of enemies/pot), some minor dead ends, no HP refill from beating a boss - only opens the door to an area's rear-side, pots still respawn when moving around in the ruins even though their contents don't until you reload a save - this and the low drop rates cause more grinding, the mausoleum boss due to not being able to damage it unless it's stretching its arm out though it is cool that you can climb it, some vertical platforming parts where you can fall down and have to redo several screens, bats can fly through water and aren't visible while doing so, some doors opened with weights don't stay open for seemingly no reason other than to waste your weights, room c-1 trap in graveyard area doesn't reset - permanently blocks off the shortcut from the room below if you did it wrong, some of the slippery platforming in the graveyard, unnecessary walls here and there (below the top part of hills in the background (surface area) that make up platforms in the playing field, on the sides of the same hills (looks like the wall is in the background but it's still impassable to the player)), spike pit and wall trap in twin labyrinths, getting the life jewel/hp upgrade in the dark part of chamber of extinction - lights up later though, opening up the temple of moonlight b-5 room's path from the right is pointless?)
Plenty of backtracking (to save and regain health (no consumable health restoratives you can bring with you), to the rear-side areas until you get the Antarctic Adventure+Comic Bakery rom combo (mid-late game), for the mantra tablets and then the rooms where you input the mantras in the late game, to summon key fairies until you get the Q-Bert+Diviner rom combo (mid-game), to make the jewel appear in twin labyrinths (would've been better if you could open a path from the small space with the chest in room d-2))
Some annoying enemies (bats, medusa head-style enemies, the light blue enemies in dimensional corridor)
No checkpoints or lives means the early game is hard until you find the grail and can teleport back to town (there is a single checkpoint outside one entrance to the twin labyrinths if you die to the gas there)
Area 4 boss would've been more fun if you had better control over your forward momentum in water and if the pattern was less random (can make it easier or harder based on luck as well as kind of tedious since you can't hit it during its dive attack)
Some easy bosses (the blue algol boss (blue giant on surface), most mini-bosses, endless corridor boss)
The "get all roms and something good will happen" tip is false according to the fandom wiki
Lame secret at screen d-3 on the surface (just some weights)
Easy late game in terms of regular enemies and most mini-bosses+spike hazards if you got most of the life jewels and either of the gauntlet/ring/body armor gear, difficulty spike at final boss
Bugs:
-Alt+Enter closes the game when going back to fullscreen and then it starts in windowed mode afterwards with a minor graphical glitch (transparent color is shown as dark grey so you get boxes around every sprite)
-Temporary torches lit in dark rooms only last for a few seconds on newer PCs
Notes:
-From the manual: "If you just operate a mechanism without thinking about how it works, you may end up not ever being able to get a specific item. If you think "I'm trapped! I'm going to warp out!" and do so, you won't be able to get back into that room from the outside. Once you do finally manage to find your way back in, you may be confronted with an even more obnoxious mechanism to overcome than before. If you make enough big mistakes it will even become quite tough to complete the game."
-Table texts: https://lamulana.fandom.com/wiki/Text_Dump
-Have to open Joytokey after loading the game or it won't work
-Version differences: https://lamulana-remake.fandom.com/wiki/Change_List
-Missable items (also the life jewel in shrine of the mother): https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/956920-la-mulana/51388567
-Can get weights from the grey birds on the surface and a pot in area 1
-The fandom wiki is wrong about the 6 pedestals puzzle in confusion gate (the correct order is 534261)
-Remake is less linear according to a YT let's play
-Clear time: 21:55 w/ guides
Level Design-6.5/5* Frustration-8/9* Fun-6.5/5* Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*Most puzzles
**Wall kick and turning underwater
+
Metroid/Maze of Galious/Castlevania/Monster World-inspired gameplay (town hub connected to a few sub areas of a large dungeon, stat upgrades (life bar, movement speed, two whip upgrades+one main weapon attack speed upgrade, sub weapon rate of fire (ring)), some ability gating (feather - double jump, grapple claw - wall grab+"spring" jump off of walls (tricky), boots - 30% speed boost+lets you move up slopes in some places, ice cape - swim in lava, scalesphere - survive underwater, lamp of time - time freeze), buy items in shops with the money you collect, scan for hidden shops or clues on signs and stone tablets, locked doors - weights used instead of keys here for consumable keys (there are also four seals that open specific locks), backtracking to previous areas with new abilities or via one-way paths, basic experience system (filling the bar only refills your health though and takes a pretty long time+more difficult enemies don't necessarily fill it faster (can speed it up with an item but you get it pretty late); Maze of Galious), explore each area's lore via the stone tablets (similar to Maze of Galious (this is also where the boss summoning comes from)/System Shock/Metroid Prime), breakable walls and hidden paths, some shops and NPC encounters within the ruins)
Many hidden items and many puzzles (some puzzles span more than one area, various spatial awareness and some block puzzles but most are clue-based and/or key item-based, some good platforming puzzles, some decent puzzles: some spatial awareness puzzles, eye of udjat/horus (besides having to talk to the NPC in the previous room) and the platform revealing light in temple of the sun, block puzzles in cave of inferno and endless corridor, lantern puzzle in endless corridor (check manual) and the pot room puzzle besides the long cooldown time, confusion gate's first riddle, getting the boss's ankh to appear in twin labyrinths, diary room and dimensional corridor time freeze besides the long cooldown if you screw up, scale room except for only giving you two attempts at it (or one if you had defeat baphomet and palenque already))
Teleport to visited and recorded areas with the grail item (found in the first dungeon area, need to find the grail transfer point and use the glyph reader on it in an area to teleport to it, antarctic adventure+comic bakery rom combo lets you teleport to the rear-side dungeons as well), Some shortcuts can be opened up (area 5->area 7 and 5b/tower of ruin->1b/confusion gate for example)
Decent to good enemy AI overall
Features a fairly large and varied collection of equipment
Good bosses overall (most have 2 phases, final one has 5 though one of them kinda sucks, one fight takes place during a minecart ride, one horizontal shoot 'em up-style boss) and there are many mini-bosses (9 and 30 respectively)
Layered world within the dungeon (front- and rear-side versions of each area however they aren't as strictly aligned or as interconnected as in Goonies 2 for example and tend to have only one connecting point here - however areas on the same plane also tend to have fairly complex connections between them and parts of some areas are only accessible via a certain ladder going from one or two other areas and/or via a front/rear-side door in a not very obvious way)
Audio clues for breakable objects and walls (Link's Awakening/Metal Gear)
Item combination effects (can combine some of the game roms found after upgrading your laptop - for example athletic land+cabbage patch kids=much longer invincibility time after a hit, 3 of them also contain mini-games for a total of 4, this is a reference to some Konami MSX games that let you do this for various effects)
Control and volume+OST config (have to use the keyboard for teleporting though, two different versions of the soundtrack based on the SCC MSX sound chip (added stereo and echo/reverb) and the Roland SC-88 midi module)
Good art direction overall (a love letter to the MSX - built around its limitations and based on some of its games (flip screen instead of scrolling, mostly single color sprites, etc.), features an in-game MSX laptop),
Very good visual variation and good enemy variation
Xelpud (the elder - almost a developer insert who tends to crack jokes or make msx-related comments)
One optional area (hell temple - as brutal as it sounds)
Some environmental effects (transformed final area, flooding part of temple of the sun via a4/spring in the sky+parts of area 4 itself+tower of the goddess via the mausoleum, hitting switches or breaking objects to rearrange larger platforms in some rooms, activating and deactivating a pretty large statue to use it as a platform at one point; MMX, Strife, Metroid 2 & Prime, etc.) and some interesting transitions between sub areas (area 4 down to area 3)
Healing points in some areas via semi-hidden fairies (if you bring a certain item to the one in the endless corridor, one of them (yellow) also helps open a door or solve a puzzle in the current area)
Can jump straight up and then steer your jump to land right below a platform or on a path below a ledge (can't do it the other way around unless the distance is very short or if you have the double jump+there's a nearby wall to change directions with)
Super metroid-style area foreshadowing at one point (confusion gate to temple of moonlight path via tower of the goddess)
Can't enter rooms from below by jumping except for at a single point in the game (sometimes used for puzzles but can be annoying when it's not which is more often the case)
Includes a maze of galious mini-dungeon (very simple for how far into the game you are though)
One of the bosses (endless corridor's giant floating eye) follows you before fighting it in a basic chase segment of sorts
New enemies appear in a previously visited area but only at two points in the game (area 1 spinning fireballs room and shrine of the mother after its transformation - unless you also count enemies appearing where you beat a mini-boss in dimensional corridor)
Pretty memorable final area
+/-
Partially non-linear structure after the first area (you can explore several areas right away but you'll frequently need one or more items or abilities to make the most out of exploring later areas (plenty of key item gates), surface area eventually connects to 3 dungeon areas, can't explore much of area 4/spring in the sky until after area 2/mausoleum (need helmet from twin labyrinths/area 7 though it can be reached after area 2), can't get to cave of inferno before temple of the sun?, need to get a key from confusion gate to explore most of area 8/endless corridor, need to enter area 4/tower of the goddess via area 6 or after clearing parts of area 5/inferno cavern, can finish chamber of birth/confusion gate/endless corridor in any order?, one optional challenge area, )
Can only save in the beginning town and any collected experience is lost when loading a save (the game doesn't tell you about it beforehand - you do regain your health though); one slot per game only until you get an upgrade (5 slots, only shows date and time of save))
Static difficulty (an area or its boss doesn't become more or less challenging based on what you've cleared so far)
Delay on attacks (see Castlevania - how you fall or get knocked back is also based on CV)
Can attack diagonally upwards and backwards (watch the whip swinging animation)
Off screen enemy respawning in various rooms (sometimes they respawn like this until you've cleared the room and after that they respawn if you move two rooms away or into another area and back - other times they always respawn)
No health drops from enemies (and gaining a full exp bar to regain your health takes pretty long until you get the scripture item in the mid-late game)
Maps need to be used via the in-game laptop (fully upgraded map takes up 2/2 slots and shows exits to other areas, the grail tablet/warp room, the opposite area (rear/front) entrance room and the basic layout; no room topography, no paths between rooms, no chests, no shops, no NPC caves)
Can't run or crouch, Can't dodge (can upgrade movement speed and block most enemy shots with the silver shield/nearly all shots with the angel shield)
Can't walk while attacking
No save points within dungeon areas here
One of the shopkeepers insults you if you don't buy anything or don't have enough money for something (calls you a bitch!)
Used weights disappear visually when reloading but the effect remains (need to keep in mind where you've used one to not waste time getting to a pedestal again)
Some puzzles and mechanics from Zelda (the healing fairies, kill all enemies in a room, jingle when you solve a puzzle (need the shell horn item), reflecting shield puzzle, wizzrobe enemy (tower of druaga?) and how you damage one of the final boss's forms) and King's Valley/Vampire Killer (looping areas)
Unlockable hard mode though the way to unlock it is odd - have to read a tablet in the mausoleum area twice (reading it once gives you a warning not to read it twice, hard mode=more monsters and monster spawners)
Swimming takes some getting used to (no buoyancy)
Can hit enemies through platforms from below
Easy mini-boss in area 4
There is an item that plays a jingle when entering a room with a hidden room in it (detector) however a jingle for when there is a puzzle yet solved in a room would've been more useful (since now you pretty much have to kill every enemy in every room and hit walls and statues even if most are traps to be sure that it doesn't unlock something) - see Link's Awakening
Can't crush enemies with blocks
Don't need book of the dead to unlock the serpent staff here - jump and hit the switch with chain+throwing knife then use grapple
No use for many of the game roms and some combinations are either negative or useless
Some hidden developer messages (not useful as hints and getting to them is a lot of work)
The silver shield (blocks the red crab-like enemies' shots) has to be used manually as a sub weapon, can't double jump out of water, making the elevator to the mini-boss appear in the twin labyrinths - while there's an OK clue for it the lizard paintings in the background are pretty easy to miss compared to other paintings in the area, several areas having a part which is separate from the rest of the area that can only be accessed via another area can lead to some confusion since you can only view one area map at a time and not see if an exit is one-way only, palenque/chamber of extinction boss goes down pretty quickly with flares and shuriken or bombs (can also increase your invincibility time to make it a pushover)
One mini-game is based on Snatcher (a parody dating mini-game that turns into a gallery shooter segment)
Economy stays relevant throughout the game however the grinding makes this tedious
No move canceling (such as attack animations - sub weapons are used without an animation though)
Two teleporter mazes
Sub weapons don't work against the final boss
Automated escape segment after the final boss
A few neutral creatures but they can't be interacted with
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Can get permanently stuck in a few spots from failing to solve a puzzle (get trapped in small section of a room and have to reload your save if you trigger some mechanism that blocks off exits) or if you didn't get the grail/teleport item in the first dungeon area before wandering off into a later area (happens in the mausoleum if you stand around for a few seconds after grabbing the red jewel)
Trial & error (final boss's eyes underwater part (can only get part of the correct pattern to damage it - last two hits are trial & error and you get hit by lightning if you guess wrong), figuring out where to chant/type in the mantras - only clue seems to be the compass rooms (when really the room to chant in is some weird mirror of the boss room location in the front-side of an area) and most of the mantra tablet locations? (two of those are vague as well though you can figure out the areas by process of elimination), can't teleport while in the dimensional corridor, determining who the true fairy is?, dimensional corridor entrance - clue is too vague and it's hard to remember the ladder in room j-2, one of the mandatory shops (chamber of life red jewel) is hidden in an enemy spawner hole - only clue is that it's in that area?, can have the right idea with the fast flying sky fish enemies in room c-4 of tower of ruin but still not find the path to the pedestal if you didn't kill enough of them while freezing time (or the right one? I killed a few during it then 10+ more without time freeze, then I re-entered and killed 1-2 more and suddenly it appeared) - even worse you can move through this room without noticing these enemies at all and there's no clue to which room they're in, the twin statue clue kinda sucks (just tells you to run fast at some point and not in which area) - you're supposed to go backwards/to the right during the countdown in the endless corridor and then redo that challenge, can't solve the eye of udjat/horus puzzle without first talking to the NPC in the room next to it, getting to the grail item - there's only a vague text clue and you don't know that areas can loop around yet, hard to tell what solving some puzzles does as the game doesn't show it unless it's in the same room and various puzzles affect the surrounding area instead (leads to a lot of aimless wandering), some of the constellation puzzles in the mausoleum - figuring out how to make the pedestals display 3 suns (have to first make them display stars, re-enter, then use a 6 hits long code to display suns - only re-entering is hinted at!, figuring out what items do (lacking shop item and menu descriptions - need to check the manual and even then the description might be lacking) and how to interact with signs etc, walk-through spikes puzzle in area 1 (poor clue given), can't pull blocks, many cheap traps (electrocution from hitting some things while facing the other direction (with the swing animation)+hitting some things identical to other objects which don't spring traps, some cheap enemy spawn points (the grail point in area 4 is also place underwater), floor traps which you can't predict because at other points the same clue means the floor is safe to walk over, sudden spike traps at two points in the first area as well as one in room c-6 of moonlight temple where there is a chest that won't open+other spots, some leaps of faith, many places near the village where it looks like you can exit the screen when you can't, some red herrings (sometimes information provided on glyphs can be strikingly similar to a puzzle in an area but actually have nothing to do with it), sometimes need to take a path where no hint is given (some false walls, floors that break when you stand on them, warp points found by touching an object, entering an enemy spawning hole as though it were a doorway, placing a weight on something other than a pedestal (mausoleum life jewel - placing one at the wrong statue foot also triggers a spike trap and there's seemingly no clue to which is the right one, confusion gate), sometimes even ceilings and floors can be broken with certain weapons and there is one invisible ladder), have to go through the water that quickly kills you in area 4 to get to the item that lets you move underwater unharmed, birds that fly off the screen don't count as killed for the purpose of solving a puzzle by clearing a room, figure out the proper order to place weights in to be able to open the chests for Fruit of Eden?, the mantra puzzle unless you've got the info about each area (room?) having a rectangular layout from the manual and connected a vague piece of info about area connections to it, some one-way paths discovered when moving between rooms, can't stand on the angel statues themselves in area 1 - only the path between them, some missable items such as the whip upgrades - see notes below, some breakable walls without clues besides hitting them and hearing a sound when hitting other walls is sometimes discouraged, sometimes have to scan a broken tablet to find an item or get a clue - in the first area you get the impression that they don't display anything, some puzzles like the "dance of life" one span more than one area without properly hinting at it (the "eyes of kindness & charity" one also does but there the hints are decent), re-opening the path near the beginning of temple of the sun - the block you need to hit doesn't stand out enough, getting to the knife in area 3 - no clue? (would've been fine if other headstatues in the area were interactive or removed), need to hit the Mr. Gyonin fish in a4 30 times (!) to make the ankh jewel appear and it doesn't seem like you're damaging it when hitting it, cabbage patch kids rom - no clue and the appearance of the jewel distracts from looking where the fish was, hard to spot certain minor details like the eye of the giant statue in the graveyard area, can't open the chest in room d-6 in the graveyard, figuring out where to use the pepper (only clue is "inviting guardian" which is apparently a statue in the background at the entrance to area 1...), 6 pedestals puzzle at confusion gate - the clue is decent but it still requires some trial & error and you take damage and waste 1-4 weights every time you make a mistake, what to do with the mini doll - apparently going to area 2 proves that you are small already which kinda makes sense but is too far fetched as you're not proving it in the presence or same area of the NPC that asks you to, invisible teleporters in the two teleporter mazes, some boss patterns, can suddenly jump to get to a room above you at one point in twin labyrinths - inconsistent, getting the body armor in confusion gate?, last part of getting the bombs in the graveyard - no clue to having to jump up at a seemingly random spot to open the last path, getting the jewel in twin labyrinths - there could've been a mention of the link between the two rooms and/or a jingle when you're on the right path, shrine of mother map, etc.)
Have to grind for essential items early on (the ability to save (!), map reader (and the two upgraded versions of it unless you're a masochist), scanners, multiple save slots, keys/weights after the first area; low drop rate and enemies only drop single coins - takes until a point in the mid-game until you're able to farm for it quickly which is hours into the game) as well as a few items in the mid-game and probably for some ammo later on (bomb ammo is expensive and rare and pistol ammo even more so)
Some control/interface issues (doing a spring jump/wallkick while clinging to a wall is too hard and unintuitive (let go of jump then double tap away from the wall twice or hold away after letting go and tap jump again - both work but the timing is tight and weird), can only wall grab as you're falling down and can't hold the button during a screen transition as it won't register, huge knockback from taking a hit and if you fall into a wall and keep falling you can't then start steering yourself in mid-air again, no bunemon.exe (message log) software here and you also can't place map markers - taking notes is required for various puzzles, fall directly downwards when moving off platform edges, up to jump + to climb ladders, can't jump onto or off of ladders, turning while "swimming" underwater is too slow - have to sink down/have very little forward momentum/touch a floor or ceiling, delay on mid-air horizontal movement if you jump without pressing a direction at the same time, no "quit to main menu" option (use continue in options menu to reload), can't speed up dialogue text, very slow/stiff block pushing before getting the glove, can't scan while having a sub weapon equipped, unresponsive jumping - have to hold the button down slightly or you don't jump, have to re-equip the sub item and any rom items every time you reload a save, no weapon or sub item/weapon cycling - the scanners and map items should've been passive abilities so you didn't have to go into the menu and switch between them and a sub weapon or other roms, the elder sometimes gives gameplay tips which aren't repeated while his other comments are often repeated (there's a pool of 15-20 other comments that the game draws from), somewhat sloppy hit detection on moving platforms (if it looks like you've just barely made it on top of one then you fall through instead), using bombs - awkward throwing angle and they bounce all over the place before exploding, somewhat glitchy hit detection around moving platforms at times+when the floor is moving during the Viy/A5 boss fight)
Some other tedious aspects (no warp point before the final boss, have to hit various breakable walls 10+ times and push a wall in dimensional corridor for almost 10 seconds for it to budge, the lamp of time has a cooldown period of 3 mins, start with 0 ammo for newly bought/found sub weapons - expensive bomb ammo and very expensive pistol ammo, tower of the goddess - annoying forced wall kick segment where there's also a floor trap+medusa heads+if you didn't hit a switch in another part of the area then you have to redo this segment (you'll also have to take this path again later on for the flywheel item in confusion gate and the mini-boss respawns), moonlight temple (if you enter the pyramid you can't get out without warping nor attack anything, waiting for moving platforms+annoying respawn rates during vertical platforming, room c-2 puzzle feels designed to make you waste your weights - clue is too vague, how breakable walls take 10 hits to take down and the rooms with a lot of them also require a later weapon that you probably don't have yet, annoying traps - chest in room c-6 can't be opened so you will trigger its trap and have to warp out), need a relatively expensive laptop upgrade to be able to use it underwater and another one to use it in lava (doesn't prevent you from dying in either), need to hit pots three times to break them (breaks flow - can reduce it to one with bracelet but you get it in the mid-late game) and you can't farm the ones near town for money (can do it in the dungeon by reloading however), have to buy some convenience upgrades and stuff that should've been available from the start or without grinding (save cartridge, scanner and glyph reader items, multiple save slots, map reader upgrades), no green fairies (dramatically increase the ammo and coin drop rates of enemies/pot), some minor dead ends, no HP refill from beating a boss - only opens the door to an area's rear-side, pots still respawn when moving around in the ruins even though their contents don't until you reload a save - this and the low drop rates cause more grinding, the mausoleum boss due to not being able to damage it unless it's stretching its arm out though it is cool that you can climb it, some vertical platforming parts where you can fall down and have to redo several screens, bats can fly through water and aren't visible while doing so, some doors opened with weights don't stay open for seemingly no reason other than to waste your weights, room c-1 trap in graveyard area doesn't reset - permanently blocks off the shortcut from the room below if you did it wrong, some of the slippery platforming in the graveyard, unnecessary walls here and there (below the top part of hills in the background (surface area) that make up platforms in the playing field, on the sides of the same hills (looks like the wall is in the background but it's still impassable to the player)), spike pit and wall trap in twin labyrinths, getting the life jewel/hp upgrade in the dark part of chamber of extinction - lights up later though, opening up the temple of moonlight b-5 room's path from the right is pointless?)
Plenty of backtracking (to save and regain health (no consumable health restoratives you can bring with you), to the rear-side areas until you get the Antarctic Adventure+Comic Bakery rom combo (mid-late game), for the mantra tablets and then the rooms where you input the mantras in the late game, to summon key fairies until you get the Q-Bert+Diviner rom combo (mid-game), to make the jewel appear in twin labyrinths (would've been better if you could open a path from the small space with the chest in room d-2))
Some annoying enemies (bats, medusa head-style enemies, the light blue enemies in dimensional corridor)
No checkpoints or lives means the early game is hard until you find the grail and can teleport back to town (there is a single checkpoint outside one entrance to the twin labyrinths if you die to the gas there)
Area 4 boss would've been more fun if you had better control over your forward momentum in water and if the pattern was less random (can make it easier or harder based on luck as well as kind of tedious since you can't hit it during its dive attack)
Some easy bosses (the blue algol boss (blue giant on surface), most mini-bosses, endless corridor boss)
The "get all roms and something good will happen" tip is false according to the fandom wiki
Lame secret at screen d-3 on the surface (just some weights)
Easy late game in terms of regular enemies and most mini-bosses+spike hazards if you got most of the life jewels and either of the gauntlet/ring/body armor gear, difficulty spike at final boss
Bugs:
-Alt+Enter closes the game when going back to fullscreen and then it starts in windowed mode afterwards with a minor graphical glitch (transparent color is shown as dark grey so you get boxes around every sprite)
-Temporary torches lit in dark rooms only last for a few seconds on newer PCs
Notes:
-From the manual: "If you just operate a mechanism without thinking about how it works, you may end up not ever being able to get a specific item. If you think "I'm trapped! I'm going to warp out!" and do so, you won't be able to get back into that room from the outside. Once you do finally manage to find your way back in, you may be confronted with an even more obnoxious mechanism to overcome than before. If you make enough big mistakes it will even become quite tough to complete the game."
-Table texts: https://lamulana.fandom.com/wiki/Text_Dump
-Have to open Joytokey after loading the game or it won't work
-Version differences: https://lamulana-remake.fandom.com/wiki/Change_List
-Missable items (also the life jewel in shrine of the mother): https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/956920-la-mulana/51388567
-Can get weights from the grey birds on the surface and a pot in area 1
-The fandom wiki is wrong about the 6 pedestals puzzle in confusion gate (the correct order is 534261)
-Remake is less linear according to a YT let's play
-Clear time: 21:55 w/ guides