La Mulana WiiWare shelving blamed on DLC, certification difficulties

Director Takumi Naramura has said the cancelled western WiiWare release of La Mulana came about because of differing territorial expectations and Nigoro's insistence on getting extra content in.

Speaking to IndieGames, Naramura revealed that the three-man team at Nigoro was responsible for interfacing with Nintendo of Japan, while Nicalis handled the certification negotitations of the European and US versions.

"We have responded quickly and in good faith. We are puzzled that the matters pointed out received through the lot check of NOA / NOE is different from Nintendo Japan," Naramura said.

As well as the difficulty of balancing the two territories' requirements, Nigoro stubbornly refused to cut its plans to release DLC for the game - an ambition it nurtured as a way to circumvent the strict download size limit of WiiWare, which would otherwise have resulted in significant content cuts.

"Unfortunately we wanted to release DLC, but we were supposed to cancel the DLC because of a number of factors and Nicalis's request. If there is a person who has neglected their duties, it would be us," the director said.

Naramura had nothing but praise for Nicalis despite the failed collaboration.

"I believe Nicalis had a sense of responsibility as a publisher in good faith, too. If there was no offer from Nicalis, we would not have remade La Mulana. We are grateful to Nicalis even now," he said.

"Before an offer from Nicalis came, we did not even know how to enter the consumer world. Because we have spent a lot of time in the making of the original La Mulana, we did not intend to remake it as our first consumer game."

A PC release of La Mulana is expected to be detailed soon.

Thanks, Destructoid.