Mana (series)
Action RPG series born from a Final Fantasy side story.
The Mana series, originally called *Seiken Densetsu* (Japanese for "The Legend of the Sacred Sword"), is a collection of action role-playing games. Koichi Ishii created the series, which was first developed by Square and is now owned by Square Enix. It started in 1991 with *Final Fantasy Adventure* on the Game Boy, a spin-off of Square's main *Final Fantasy* series. The second game, *Secret of Mana*, removed the *Final Fantasy* connections and turned the series into its own brand. Over time, the series expanded into different game types, all set in the same fictional world. Common story elements include a world tree, a holy sword, and battles against those who want to steal their power. Many character designs, creatures, and pieces of music show up again and again across the games.
Between 1991 and 1999, four games came out: the original *Seiken Densetsu* (known as *Final Fantasy Adventure* in North America and *Mystic Quest* in Europe) for the Game Boy, *Secret of Mana* (1993) for the Super Nintendo, *Trials of Mana* (1995) for the Super Famicom, and *Legend of Mana* for the PlayStation. A remake of the first game, *Sword of Mana*, was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. All of these early games were action role-playing games, though they used a wide range of gameplay mechanics, and their stories were only loosely connected by themes.
From 2006 to 2007, Square Enix launched the *World of Mana* subseries, an effort to release games across many genres and consoles. These four titles were *Children of Mana* (2006), an action-focused dungeon crawler for the Nintendo DS; *Friends of Mana* (2006), a Japan-only multiplayer mobile phone RPG; *Dawn of Mana* (2006), a 3D action-adventure for the PlayStation 2; and *Heroes of Mana* (2007), a real-time strategy game for the DS. Nex Entertainment developed *Children*, and Brownie Brown—founded by several *Legend of Mana* developers—handled *Heroes*. Ishii oversaw development on all four games.
After the *World of Mana* subseries ended, three more games appeared: *Circle of Mana* (2013), a Japan-only card battle game for the GREE mobile platform; *Rise of Mana* (2014), a Japan-only free-to-play action RPG for iOS, Android, and PlayStation Vita; and *Adventures of Mana* (2016), a 3D remake of *Final Fantasy Adventure* for PlayStation Vita, iOS, and Android.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Mana
- Creator
- Koichi Ishii
- Artist
- Shinichi Kameoka, Nao Ikeda, Hirō Isono, HACCAN
- Publisher
- Square, Square Enix
- Platforms
- Game Boy, Super NES, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Android, iOS, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
- First Release Version
- Final Fantasy Adventure
- First Release Date
- June 28, 1991
- Latest Release Version
- Visions of Mana
- Latest Release Date
- August 29, 2024
- Parent
- Final Fantasy
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Mana series originated from a canceled Square project titled Seiken Densetsu, trademarked in 1989 for the Famicom Disk System. That ambitious five-disk game was canceled before advancing beyond early planning. In 1991, Square reused the Seiken Densetsu trademark for an unrelated Game Boy action role-playing game directed by Koichi Ishii, originally developed under the title Gemma Knights and released as Final Fantasy Adventure in North America and Mystic Quest in Europe.
Four games were released between 1991 and 1999: the original Seiken Densetsu (1991), Secret of Mana (1993) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Trials of Mana (1995) for the Super Famicom, and Legend of Mana (1999) for the PlayStation.
Reader's Guide
The Mana series holds a significant place in the history of action role-playing games, particularly for its early entries. Secret of Mana has been regarded as one of the best 2D action role-playing games ever made, and its music has inspired several orchestral concerts. The series' reception has been very uneven, with early games rated significantly higher by critics than more recent titles; the World of Mana series games were rated considerably lower. By 2021, the series had sold over 8 million copies worldwide.
The series is notable for its thematic rather than direct narrative connections between games, with recurring elements such as a world tree, a holy sword, and battles against forces seeking to steal their power. The World of Mana subseries represented Square Enix's strategy of "polymorphic content," releasing multiple games across different genres and platforms simultaneously. Koichi Ishii left Square Enix in April 2007 to lead his own development company, Grezzo, after the final World of Mana game. The series' legacy includes multiple remakes and re-releases, including 3D remakes of Secret of Mana (2018) and Trials of Mana (2019), as well as the Collection of Mana compilation.
Did You Know?
- The series began as a Final Fantasy side story titled Final Fantasy Adventure, but Final Fantasy elements were dropped starting with Secret of Mana.
- Secret of Mana was originally planned as a launch title for the Super NES CD-ROM Adapter, which was canceled.
- Trials of Mana was originally planned for English release as Secret of Mana 2 but was canceled due to technical issues and localization costs.
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