The search is over: After a one year processKonami announced the winner of the grand prize of an open call for independent developers to revive old series from the company’s back catalogue. A Tokyo game showWe learned that first place will go to Takumi Naramura, director of La Mulana and La Mulana 2, as he plans to remake Konami’s The Maze of Galious.
Originally released as a sequel to Knightmare for the MSX computer platform in Japan in 1987, Konami brought The Maze of Galious to the Famicom later that same year. The side-scrolling platform RPG featured two heroes with their own unique abilities, Popolon and Aphrodite, trying to get out of a castle full of monsters.
The Maze of Galious could be described in modern terms as a Metroidvania, as the player explores a series of interconnected rooms, earning experience points for defeating enemies, and searching for power-ups and keys. The MSX version made it to Europe, but the Famicom version was never localized for the NES.
In a press release announcing the winners, representatives of the contest’s judging panel wrote that they “could feel a tremendous passion for The Maze of Gallious” in Naramura’s initial submission, as it described the strengths of the original game and the challenges involved in bringing it to the modern version. audiences The release also had a comment from Naramura as she stated that if she hadn’t won the contest, “I’d probably just keep quiet and make the game anyway.” Years before this contest was held, Naramura openly talked about her fandom for The Maze of Galious, citing him as a main influence for La Mulana.
Naramura was present at the Tokyo Game Show when the announcement was made, and visited IGN’s live stream to talk to us and give us a glimpse of what his version of The Maze of Gallious could look like. “I was watching last year’s TGS when this contest was announced,” said Naramura, “and thought ‘there’s no way The Maze of Gallious is going to make the list.’ But there it was! I quickly contacted my teammates to figure out what we should do.” Naramura acknowledged that his interest in this particular title was a bit out of the ordinary. “I think most people looked at that list and said ‘Gradius, that’s great, Goemon, I like it,’ so they might be disappointed Galious was selected.”
While Naramura’s entry won first place, four other developers also received awards for their ideas. The runners-up included new versions of Star Soldier, Parodius, Twinbee and Pooyan. Elsewhere, we learned that Konami Suikoden 1 & 2 RPGs Return With New HD Remasters.
