La-Mulana Director To Remake Obscure Konami MSX IP After Winning Contest

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Maze of Galious Box art
Image: Konami

La-Mulana series director Takumi Naramura has proven his chops at creating games inspired by the MSX computer, and now it looks like he’s going to get his hands on one of the most well-known games on the system. The director has won a competition run by Konami to have the chance at remaking the 1987 classic, The Maze of Galious, IGN reports.

How did Naramura get the chance to direct this remake, then? By winning a year-long competition. Konami held this to allow indie developers the chance to show their skills and revive some of Konami’s older titles. And Naramura won first place, as announced at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

The Maze of Galious is a sequel to the 1986 game Knightmare, and as well as releasing on the MSX, it also got a Japan-only release on the Famicom. Nowadays, this side-scrolling action RPG is considered to be one of the best games on the system, with reviews at the time praising the graphics and music. Now, the very game that inspired La-Mulana and its sequel will be reimagined by the director of those fiendish platforming indie gems.

In an interview with IGN, Naramura said that he didn’t think that The Maze of Galious would even be on the original list of IPs developers could attempt to remake. So the La-Mulana creator contacted his team to see how they could bring back this obscure classic. Though he admitted he thought it might have limited appeal, telling the publication “I think most people saw that list and said ‘Gradius, that’s cool, Goemon, I like that,’ so they might be disappointed that Galious was selected.”

Well, we’re not disappointed! It’s always fantastic to see these oft-forgotten classics be brought back. We don’t know what platforms this remake will come to, or even when it’ll come out, but we’re looking forward to hearing more about it. You can check out the original version of the game in the below video:

You can find out about all of the winners from Konami’s competition right here. And it seems like Konami is feeling a bit generous with its classic IPs at the moment, as the company is bringing back the Suikoden series in 2023.

Have you played The Maze of Galious before? Are you a fan of La-Mulana? Let us know what you think of this in the comments.