#nigoro

I ended my La Mulana review wishing for improvements in the sequel, and boy howdy I got them! The cinematic intro and slick new interface gives a good first impression, and it doesn't stop there. The tired Indiana Jones pastiche protagonist has been swapped out for an action heroine with fun unlockable costumes. Lumisa's physics have been reworked, giving her—for example—greater air control and mid-air ladder grabbing, making for a much better play experience from a play control standpoint.

What surprised me most about La Mulana 2 was how similar it was in look, feel, and structure, but how much improved it was in less obvious ways. There's nice quality of life features, a deeper focus on story, the map actually makes sense, and most importantly the puzzles feel more fair to the player. I certainly had fewer "how was I supposed to know that?" moments. It's still a difficult platformer with intricate, game-spanning riddles, but I enjoyed my time with this immensely more. Some diehards apparently prefer the first game, which now is unfathomable to me.

As before I played along with a few friends watching. Having a veteran prompt you to reread certain clues, or tell you when certain things can or cannot be solved, is a great balm for the rough spots, and I'm eternally grateful for them. I will look back fondly on these sessions.

While the story seems like a copout at first glance (there's a new ruin, which is the original that the other ruin was based on!), it provides an effective avenue for a rich exploration of concepts that were only brushed over in the last game. A plethora of NPCs provide hints, comic relief, and lore about the races and cultures that preceded humanity. They even have interactions and evolving stories that encourage repeat visits! The mythological sources skew Norse this time, but there's still a broad set of influences besides that, including Mesopotamian, Japanese, and Egyptian.

The general flow of the game follows a similar pattern to Punch-Out, involving watching your opponent’s patterns then counterattacking when you find an opening. Rose and Camelia further formalizes the idea of fighters taking turns with an actual turn meter that switches between the titular flowers, signaling the start of the attack and defense phases. 

Attacks require you to precisely swipe as many times as you can, looking for weak points, while attempting not to miss. Defending requires you to time swipes to dodge incoming attacks, but as the fights progress the timing gets more tricky, with opponents telegraphing moves in new ways, or feinting to keep you off rhythm. It forces you to adapt to each of their “fighting style” so to speak, and alongside the use of familiar shojo archetypes, gets across each of their personalities. 

The whole thing has this haughty sense of propriety to it, with plenty of unspoken violence beneath, but physical violence only allowed in particular forms, inflicted with particular decorum. Which makes it more scandalous when those rules are broken, with opponents counter attacking during your turn, or straight up punch you. It gives a great sense of the highly held rules of aristocracy breaking down as the emotional stakes run wild. 

The contrast between the brutality of the scenes and the flowery, embellished shojo aesthetics highlights the comedy. The classic empty eyed looks of amazement on defeated opponent’s faces, and small flourishes they perform upon winning add a touch of exaggerated femininity that's at odds with their previous behavior. It's simple, but those small touches make it a real loving homage to the games and manga it's riffing on.

Unsurprisingly, playing it now will require jumping through some hoops. The NIGORO site hasn’t been kept current, and none of their old work has been ported to HTML5, so their formative games--including the sequel to Rose and Camelia, and the La Mulana spin off--remain accessible only through Flashpoint. Rose and Camelia does have a slightly enhanced port for iOS and Android, although it lacks basic functionality like saving progress and has severely intrusive video ads between retries, making it functionally unplayable unless you pay to remove them.

Incredulously, while I was writing this, Playism announced a Nintendo Switch port of the game during the Tokyo Game Show. The Switch version uses motion controls to mimic the slapping motions, making it a sort of successor to the Wii version that was previously scrapped. The announcement was Japanese only, so it remains to be seen if it gets an English release.