My Vita copy of Gal*Gun should be in tomorrow. I need a happy fluffy game before I fall into the trench of madness known as Shadow Tower Abyss.
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Games Ex has beaten in 2016:
87. Malaya's Treasure|MSX2|1988|action adventure|2h 25m|7/10In 1988, Pony Canyon released Malaya No Hihou, or rather "Malaya's Treasure", for the Japanese PC known as the MSX2. Malaya's Treasure saw limited release in its home country, and was never ported to any other platform, nor localized outside of Japan. Due to its obscurity, many gamers have never heard of Malaya's Treasure, understandably. But then in 2010, the fan trans group "MSX Translations" released an English patch for Malaya's Treasure. Hooray for belated unofficial localizations!

The premise of Malaya's Treasure is simple. You play the role of a treasure hunter, who's traveled to the Philippines, in search of Yamashita's gold (or The Tiger of Malaya as he was nicknamed). To find this legendary loot, the player must explore a deadly landscape. Deadly jungles, murky swamps, dangerous mountains, creepy caves, and trap laden temples await. And if that's not tricky enough, there are magical puzzles to solve as well. Thankfully the local village folk are friendly, and will happily aid the player in their quest. For a price, of course.

Malaya's Treasure's core gameplay is one of exploratory platforming. However this is no metroidvania, but rather a collection of five very large stages. Each stage branches and is at times recursive, with various obstacles that must be overcome in the correct order to proceed. The player must kill enemies for gold, and use the gold to buy keys, bombs, and life restoratives. Keys open locked doors of course, but bombs are even more important. The player throws bombs to discover secret passages and hidden powerups. You'll never know which rocks can be destroyed until you try, luckily you can carry up to 99 bombs. But again, they cost cold hard cash, so just tossing them about randomly can get to be expensive fast.

Jumping over spikes, bombing rocks, and solving strange puzzles is capped off by lots of fighting. The player is given a sword to combat monsters with, and this sword can be leveled up with hidden items. The sword also has the ability to shoot fire balls out of itself, when the player finds the magical bonuses that allow for it (but they expire over time). Besides regular wild animals, the player must also fight monsters and ghosts. And of course bosses, from time to time. The bosses can be fairly challenging and are immune to sword magic unfortunately.

Although Malaya's treasure is graphically primitive, its consistent simple graphics have a lot of charm. The controls are easy and highly precise. The fan translation is excellent, and allowed me to finish the game without a walkthrough. The sense of exploration is palpable, you really do feel like an Indiana Jones-esque treasure hunter seeking fame and fortune amongst the wilds of the Philippines. If I have one complaint though, it's that the OST isn't so hot. Actually for the most part, it's pretty bad. There are a few decent tunes, but the MSX2 can do far more than what this game asks of it.

If I were to sum up Malaya's Treasure in a short description, it'd be; Super Pitfall meets Castlevania 2. If that sounds like a good time, then by all means track this one down. Malaya's Treasure is not a very difficult game, but it's quite fulfilling in its own simple ways. Sometimes it's nice to go back and play something that at once feels nostalgic, yet also exotic, and Malaya's Treasure is exactly that. So despite this game languishing in obscurity for nearly three decades, I still enjoyed this unprententious little expedition no worse for the wear. Whether or not you find the legendary titular golden hoard, know that the real treasure here lies in the hunt.
Bonus, check out some nice art from the instruction manual: