Within the pantheon of Square Enix franchises, the Mana series (known as Seiken Densetsu in Japan) has always been something of a cult favorite undercurrent. It’s never enjoyed the same level of mass popularity of the Final Fantasy series, yet Sword of Mana, Legend of Mana, and Seiken Densetsu 3 (which never officially released in the West, but can be played via emulation) enjoy a tender spot in the hearts of many RPG fans. In recent years, the Mana series has taken to other genres, including real-time strategy games and free-to-play smartphone games.
Square Enix announced a remake of the first game in the series – Final Fantasy Adventure – last year, which would be named Adventures of Mana. They gave no release date, but Square Enix did note that the game would release in Japan on the PlayStation Vita. An English site for the game surfaced last week as well, which confirmed Western localization for the game. In addition, the game’s official Twitter account released art for each of the main characters earlier today, which can be viewed here.
Final Fantasy Adventure first released in 1991 for the Game Boy, back when Square was still Square. The game would later be remade in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance as Sword of Mana, which was co-developed by Square Enix and Brownie Brown, Inc. Adventure‘s premise is simple: a young warrior joins forces with a young heroine to defeat the Dark Lord, who aims to control the Mana Tree for his own nefarious purposes. What follows is a top-down, hack-and-slash adventure that helped define RPGs beyond the scope of turn-based combat for years to come.
One foreboding message on Adventures’ official website, however, has left many fans of the series distraught. While the game will be releasing on both the PS Vita and mobile phone platforms in Japan, the English Adventures page only lists iOS and Android devices. Many Western fans are worried that mobile touch screen controls will make gameplay clunky and frustrating.
While the news is upsetting for the marjoity of Mana fans, other posters argue that Square Enix’s decision to purely go mobile in the west for Adventures makes sense from a business standpoint. The Vita has reputation for underselling in the West, though it enjoys a healthy popularity in Japan. Mobile gaming is massively popular in Japan as well, with $7 billion US revenue last year – the largest in the world, as it turns out.
It is unlikely that the West will ever receive a Vita release of Adventures of Mana at this point. But there’s always hope for a PC port of the game, considering how Square Enix has steadily been bringing more of its classic titles to Steam over the past few years (with the most recent announcement being mobile device and PC port of Final Fantasy IX). No release date has yet been given for Adventures, but it is expected to release on mobile devices in the West later this year.