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The Mana series (also known as Seiken Densetsu) is a series of action role-playing games that originally release on the Game Boy as Final Fantasy Adventure. The Mana moniker comes from the sequel Secret of Mana. The series was born out of the concept of creating a role-playing with different systems from the traditional Final Fantasy.
History[]
The title, Seiken Densetsu, was originally trademarked by Square in 1989. It was originally planned as a Famicom Disk System with the subtitle, The Emergence of Excalibur. This title would have been the largest game on the system, using 5 Disks. Square eventually cancelled it with the decline of the Famicom Disk System. In 1991, Square let Koichi Ishii use it as the title of his new Game Boy role-playing game, unrelated to the original project. Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden was a game styled like the Legend of Zelda series. It followed the adventures of the young hero and heroine as they attempt to thwart the Dark Lord's plan to destroy the Tree of Mana. This game used several series elements of the FInal Fantasy series such as Chocobos and Moogles.
Koichi Ishii and his team followed up the game with a SNES sequel that followed Ishii's vision for a game more than any Final Fantasy he worked on before. The game reworked the combat to be more timing based and reworked the party system into a group of 3 protagonists, each available to be controlled by a different player. This game was originally planned for the Super NES CD-On before the deal between Nintendo and Sony fell through so, the game had to be scaled back.
Series Elements[]
List of games[]
- Final Fantasy Adventure (also known as Adventures of Mana) (1991)
- Sword of Mana (2003)
- Secret of Mana (1993)
- Trials of Mana (1995)
- Trials of Mana (2020)
- Legend of Mana (1999) - Remaster (2021)
- Children of Mana (2006)
- Heroes of Mana (2007)
- Collection of Mana (2017)
Legacy[]
The series has been a noted success for Square. The series has sold over 7 million copies over the years with Secret of Mana selling the most at 1.8 million. The success of Secret of Mana prompted Square Co. to follow up with an unrelated title that mimicked the systems of the game in Secret of Evermore. This title was developed in their North American studio and shared no staff with the Mana series. Trials of Mana originally was going to be localized for the SNES but, the script became too large for a SNES cartridge and localization was abandoned. The press coverage of this game led to a large fan following in the years afterwards with fan-translations of the game becoming noteworthy. Eventually, the outcry for this game encouraged Square Enix to make the Collection of Mana game and finally localize the title in 2019, leading up to the remake releasing the next year.
The team behind the original 4 games eventually left to form Brownie Brown with Koichi Ishii remaining at Square to pilot the World of Mana series. Eventually, he also left to form his own studio, Grezzo. While it is mostly known for remasters, Koichi Ishii eventually led a spiritual successor to the Mana series in Ever Oasis.
| Mana series | |
|---|---|
| Main Series | Final Fantasy Adventure (Sword of Mana) • Secret of Mana • Trials of Mana (Remake) Collection of Mana |
| Spin-offs | Secret of Evermore • Legend of Mana • Children of Mana • Heroes of Mana |
| Related | Square Enix (Square) • 1-Up Studio • Ever Oasis • Egglia Rebirth • Koichi Ishii • Kenji Ito • Hiroki Kikuta |