We’ve got a format change, kiddies! For the next three weeks, we’ll be looking at three games that are remakes of games we have already covered. Since a lot of the details do not change (no need to worry, Watts is still the same Watts), we’ll look at different items for these remasters of classics.
Adventures of Mana
Aka Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (again)
2016
Mobile, Playstation Vita
What is this again?
Adventures of Mana is based on the Gameboy game, Final Fantasy Adventure. Unlike Sword of Mana, this remake does not make significant (or, really, any) changes to the plot, and could best be described as a “faithful reimagining”. Yes, this does mean you will spend a half hour waiting for your sword to charge again.
Does it look any better?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We are seeing straight-Final Fantasy Adventure in color for the first time, and all the human designs look a lot less basic than the previous “boy” “girl” and “red mage” sprites that were meant to represent everybody. On the other hand, this is a very mobile game aesthetic, and previously iconic monsters become extremely generic.
Is the gameplay improved?
First and foremost, you now can assign items and spells to hotkeys, so you do not have to open the pause menu every seven steps. This is a godsend! Every locked door or mattock wall no longer requires juggling your inventory to find the tool you (constantly) need. And Boy can move in eight directions! You don’t scare me anymore, Shadow Zero!
Could the gameplay have been improved more?
Rationing keys and testing every border for hidden passages is the kind of “gameplay” we have gotten past in the last few decades. Even Zelda rarely hides a rupee cache behind a bombable wall anymore. And just tossing in an Exit spell or alike would alleviate a lot of anxiety regarding dungeon resource management and traumatic memories of being forever trapped without extra keys.
Any additions to the game?
There is one (1) extra weapon tossed in there (the Mantis Sickle), presumably because it is part of a weapon line that never saw an upgrade back in the original. And boss patterns are now marginally more complex. Other than that, the best you can hope for is the Dark Lord’s death scene involving beautiful girl hair.
Any localization upgrades?
The original level up choices in the Japanese version were all references to Final Fantasy jobs. Presumably because we never even saw Final Fantasy 3 and its Sages, the English version had those upgrades renamed to corresponding stats like “Power” or “Will”. The FF job labels (with cute icons) have now returned, presumably because we have access to every Final Fantasy that has ever existed.
Any retroactive upgrades?
Professor Bowow was always supposed to be something closer to Professor Boom/Bomb (thus all the explosions when he is working on building your bird legs), and this evolved into the Cannon Brothers and Inventor Von Boyage in later titles. Now (simply) Professor looks a whole heck of a lot like his hairy descendants.
Is it worth it?
As of this writing, Adventures of Mana is confirmed to still be available and $13 on the Google Play store. So you technically can still play this version… or slide over to any modern console and play the original Final Fantasy Adventure on the Collection of Mana (released 2019). Is one better than the other? I will go on record stating (again) that the extra buttons make a world of difference in this adaptation, and not having to acknowledge the constraints of the Gameboy makes for a more playable experience. However, this Mobile upgrade takes a critical hit in the charm department, so it is not a 100% recommendation. Maybe 75%. How do you feel about a game having color?
Anything else?
Final Fantasy Adventure had a glitch where you could be killed by a boss monster while it was detonating as part of its death animation. This glitch was not seen very often, as only a handful of players attempt to get up close and kiss a medusa while it is dying. But it likely ruined a few kids’ days. Now this problem has been fixed by forbidding movement while a boss monster is keeling over. Maybe that exploding Vampire would kill you, but you can no longer check. Sorry, the Spirit of Discovery!
Even Worse Streams Presents The Mana Franchise
Night 9
Adventures of Mana
December 10, 2024
Random Notes:
- BEAT, Cassandralyn, Caliscrub, Caithness, Chromes, and fanboymaster are all mostly here (nobody is on time anymore), and we are kicking off with a brief recap of what happened so far in Final Fantasy Adventure. I guess you can just watch that old recording if you want to skip the speedy version…
- “Okay, so this has fixed one thing out of the 70 things that needed fixing.”
- Ample Vigour joins just as fanboymaster calls today’s game “completely useless”.
The game must be rebooted because a goddamned monster that needs to be a goddamned snowman simply will not respawn. Don’t worry! That’s the only time we’ll have to reset the whole stupid game to make progress.- Lester is de-parrotted and we all discuss the wonders of Wheatus.
- Ample Vigour calls these characters “funkos”, presumably because he missed the most funko-game we ever played.
- Asking the important question: what elements comprise the perfect fart?
- “I’m fighting a mindflayer! It is basic D&D here!” “You’re fighting Rusty from Squidbillies!”
- The world needs more t-shirts for enormous children.
- Let’s talk about Christmas gifts and people getting their eyes boxed out.
- As we venture through the sewers of the empire, there is tepid debate on the nature of preserving Gameboy games. We all want to play Super Mario Land 2, but does Nintendo want to admit to it?
- Remakes! Do we need ‘em? And do we need Captain America 4? Now with Hulks?
- SkreaminRedSkull joins as we (temporarily) rescue Gogg the Girl.
- “I hope a Dementor becomes real,” is a thought that goes in a very weird direction. Pauly Shore may be involved.
- BEAT notices the Dark Lord has similar moves to Bobb, and asks if there is some familial relationship reveal. Sorry, that only happens in Dawn of Mana and at least one of the cancelled Mana games.
“We’re gonna talk about Minions. We’re gonna rise like Gru.”- Let’s make a class-shooter featuring Transformers and GI Joe where all the characters are properly scaled. Soundwave superior!
- And we close on some chocobo riding, the war between man and cat, and skeletons crumbling into sleep.
Next time on Manapiece Theatre: The Secret to a lack of success.