NIGHT GAME, CAVE STORY DEVS BRINGING CULT FREEWARE GAME LA MULANA TO WIIWARE

Indie devs Nicalis are quickly gaining a reputation as the go-to house to make indie gaming’s freeware hits console-consumable — first with Pixel’s Cave Story, due soon on WiiWare, then in partnership with Knytt creator Nicklas Nygren to create his original Night Game, and now: a newly announced partnership with Japan’s Nigoro for a WiiWare version of La Mulana.

La Mulana‘s a name you frequently hear right next to Cave Story (and, later Spelunky) for its retro-inspired free-roaming exploration, and it’s also one you often hear lauded cursed in the same breath for its brutal difficulty.

That’s presumably something Nicalis will be looking to counter-balance, as they also bring the original game — which was heavily inspired by games for, and full of references to, Japan’s 8-bit home computer MSX — up to a more widely palatable 16-bit feel.

Nicalis say the game, as they’re doing with Cave Story, will include “downloadable content support including new gameplay modes (such as Boss Rush), special stages and more,” and expect it to be available on the Wii by winter of this year. In the meantime, you can still download and play the freeware original in English via Aeon Genesis.