Beat Hero's route. A pretty solid action RPG for Game Boy Advance. It’s supposed to be a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure/Mystic Quest, but very different to the source material, having more to do with Mana series than Final Fantasy.
The combat in this game is pretty straightforward - unlike Secret of Mana, there's no cooldown for your attacks and you can attack at almost any point (I'm aware that you can technically do that in that game as well, but that'll do little damage), if your hit connects, then a calculation is ran the enemy manages to evade it or not – standard RPG stuff. The game instead changes the original's bar that fills over time with a meter that fills with every successful strike, allowing for a more powerful attack to be unleashed, just like in Trials of Mana. Certain weapons, such as a sword, rod or an axe also have an attack combo - press the attack button in a certain rhythm to unleash slightly more powerful attacks. While simple, I think the combat is pretty satisfying. Nothing beats seeing numbers and landing a successful combo and seeing enemies burst into bones or something else. Each of the game’s 9 weapons have its EXP progression – same as aforementioned Secret of Mana. Same with magic, use the spirit for attacks and level them up. Each spirit of the game grants two spells – one passive, giving some bonus like healing or defense up, and offensive. If you hold the magic button for longer, you’ll unleash a magical attack. The attack’s pattern depends on the weapon equipped, like a magical orb that you can guide if you have knucks, which is a neat detail I like.
Each enemy has a weakness and immunity towards a certain element or weapon. I don’t really mind the experimentation aspect, where you have to change your weapon or magic spirit if it doesn’t work on an enemy – changing them is a fairly quick process, just bring the ring menu, enter weapon/magic tab, boom, there’s your magic/weapons. I can understand it being annoying if the enemy in question is immune to many items and it takes a while to test all of them, but once you defeat an enemy, you’ll be granted an entry in Popoi’s Notebook, where you can check the enemy and its attributes.
The game features a few new things compared to the SNES classics. First, the ability to jump, which can be used to jump up or down ledges. I feel like it’s a bit of a gimmick, sometimes it doesn’t make sense why jumping over small gaps wouldn’t work. Though it can be used to jump over enemies that block your path, so there’s that. Second is sitting. Hold R+A, and you’ll sit still to recover MP. If, for some reason you find yourself short on MP healing supplies and are constantly struggling with MP and HP, there’s a baked-in solution. Just sit still, recover a bit of mana, then cast a healing spell. At first, the MP recovering rate is pretty pathetic, but after a bunch of level ups, it’s not so bad, and a totally valid strategy… although I don’t know how you would be running low on supplies, unless you were reckless with them. I thought most RPG gamers are item hoarders… like me. Lastly, there’s a “Hot House” feature. Apparently, this is something from Legend of Mana - you can combine two of the seed items you can find in the game, and plant produce, which can be used to tamper with a weapon or a piece of equipment for better stats, which is available later in the game. Same with forging a completely new item with better-er stats, again, you can find materials inside chests that are scattered about, or spawn when you defeat all enemies in an area. Pretty neat. Also… Li’l Cactus!
The game isn’t without flaws of course, it’s pretty much a staple of any good Mana game… or any game in general, really. First, I didn’t find the game to be that much of a challenge, especially the bosses. I think common enemies can be more dangerous than these guys. I don’t know if I’m just that good at the game, or I had overleveled somewhere along the way, as I beat the game only at level 50. Even the final boss was kind of a pushover. Although, honestly, I’d rather take these easy bosses over inconsistent/busted ones from Secret of Mana or those that seemingly refuse to die in Trials of Mana, but still. Maybe heroine’s path is more challenging? I’ll have to play that and see. Second issue – the AI controlled companion is generally worthless. I didn’t even bother using an Angel Grail to revive them – I think the game actually works best when you’re alone, as the companion tends to be your liability rather than an asset. One small positive the AI companion has is that Square Enix brought back action grid, which allows you to set their NPC behavior and stay away from enemies, use only the weapon, be more reckless with MP, etc. I still think Secret of Mana has the best action grid, as it felt like it had a more tactical use (in addition to AI companions not being quite as worthless), but hey, it’s better than having NO action grid like in Trials of Mana. Third – the way forward isn’t always clear. I’m currently replaying the game, this time as Heroine, and there’s an early part at Vinquette Vicinity that’s confusing on where to go... this is the second time already. Turns out you need to wait for night and approach the mansion's gate. There's a day and night system, similar to Trials of Mana, but the time only changes during transitions, instead of dynamically. I don’t remember any other confusing areas until much later In the game – Subland River, where you’re supposed to find those little spots that you hit and let the water out. I didn’t know that’s what you’re supposed to do, and I had to look it up. The dungeon right after isn’t much better – Subsea Volcano. It feels like a confusing maze of a dungeon, with no clear path forward. I didn’t really feel that confused in any other dungeon, not that I can recall, thankfully.
While it’s debatable whether this is a good remake or not, overall, I think Sword of Mana is a pretty good game in its own right, and should be considered a classic. It features simple, yet engaging gameplay, capturing what worked in Super Nintendo installments. It features classic “Square” pixel art that looks gorgeous, and a decent chiptuny soundtrack. And it’s quite polished – it may have some gameplay faults, but I never really encountered any technical issues. If you liked Secret of Mana, you may like this game as well, even if it’s a little simpler gameplay-wise. It may not be great, but it’s simply solid fun.
The combat in this game is pretty straightforward - unlike Secret of Mana, there's no cooldown for your attacks and you can attack at almost any point (I'm aware that you can technically do that in that game as well, but that'll do little damage), if your hit connects, then a calculation is ran the enemy manages to evade it or not – standard RPG stuff. The game instead changes the original's bar that fills over time with a meter that fills with every successful strike, allowing for a more powerful attack to be unleashed, just like in Trials of Mana. Certain weapons, such as a sword, rod or an axe also have an attack combo - press the attack button in a certain rhythm to unleash slightly more powerful attacks. While simple, I think the combat is pretty satisfying. Nothing beats seeing numbers and landing a successful combo and seeing enemies burst into bones or something else. Each of the game’s 9 weapons have its EXP progression – same as aforementioned Secret of Mana. Same with magic, use the spirit for attacks and level them up. Each spirit of the game grants two spells – one passive, giving some bonus like healing or defense up, and offensive. If you hold the magic button for longer, you’ll unleash a magical attack. The attack’s pattern depends on the weapon equipped, like a magical orb that you can guide if you have knucks, which is a neat detail I like.
Each enemy has a weakness and immunity towards a certain element or weapon. I don’t really mind the experimentation aspect, where you have to change your weapon or magic spirit if it doesn’t work on an enemy – changing them is a fairly quick process, just bring the ring menu, enter weapon/magic tab, boom, there’s your magic/weapons. I can understand it being annoying if the enemy in question is immune to many items and it takes a while to test all of them, but once you defeat an enemy, you’ll be granted an entry in Popoi’s Notebook, where you can check the enemy and its attributes.
The game features a few new things compared to the SNES classics. First, the ability to jump, which can be used to jump up or down ledges. I feel like it’s a bit of a gimmick, sometimes it doesn’t make sense why jumping over small gaps wouldn’t work. Though it can be used to jump over enemies that block your path, so there’s that. Second is sitting. Hold R+A, and you’ll sit still to recover MP. If, for some reason you find yourself short on MP healing supplies and are constantly struggling with MP and HP, there’s a baked-in solution. Just sit still, recover a bit of mana, then cast a healing spell. At first, the MP recovering rate is pretty pathetic, but after a bunch of level ups, it’s not so bad, and a totally valid strategy… although I don’t know how you would be running low on supplies, unless you were reckless with them. I thought most RPG gamers are item hoarders… like me. Lastly, there’s a “Hot House” feature. Apparently, this is something from Legend of Mana - you can combine two of the seed items you can find in the game, and plant produce, which can be used to tamper with a weapon or a piece of equipment for better stats, which is available later in the game. Same with forging a completely new item with better-er stats, again, you can find materials inside chests that are scattered about, or spawn when you defeat all enemies in an area. Pretty neat. Also… Li’l Cactus!
The game isn’t without flaws of course, it’s pretty much a staple of any good Mana game… or any game in general, really. First, I didn’t find the game to be that much of a challenge, especially the bosses. I think common enemies can be more dangerous than these guys. I don’t know if I’m just that good at the game, or I had overleveled somewhere along the way, as I beat the game only at level 50. Even the final boss was kind of a pushover. Although, honestly, I’d rather take these easy bosses over inconsistent/busted ones from Secret of Mana or those that seemingly refuse to die in Trials of Mana, but still. Maybe heroine’s path is more challenging? I’ll have to play that and see. Second issue – the AI controlled companion is generally worthless. I didn’t even bother using an Angel Grail to revive them – I think the game actually works best when you’re alone, as the companion tends to be your liability rather than an asset. One small positive the AI companion has is that Square Enix brought back action grid, which allows you to set their NPC behavior and stay away from enemies, use only the weapon, be more reckless with MP, etc. I still think Secret of Mana has the best action grid, as it felt like it had a more tactical use (in addition to AI companions not being quite as worthless), but hey, it’s better than having NO action grid like in Trials of Mana. Third – the way forward isn’t always clear. I’m currently replaying the game, this time as Heroine, and there’s an early part at Vinquette Vicinity that’s confusing on where to go... this is the second time already. Turns out you need to wait for night and approach the mansion's gate. There's a day and night system, similar to Trials of Mana, but the time only changes during transitions, instead of dynamically. I don’t remember any other confusing areas until much later In the game – Subland River, where you’re supposed to find those little spots that you hit and let the water out. I didn’t know that’s what you’re supposed to do, and I had to look it up. The dungeon right after isn’t much better – Subsea Volcano. It feels like a confusing maze of a dungeon, with no clear path forward. I didn’t really feel that confused in any other dungeon, not that I can recall, thankfully.
While it’s debatable whether this is a good remake or not, overall, I think Sword of Mana is a pretty good game in its own right, and should be considered a classic. It features simple, yet engaging gameplay, capturing what worked in Super Nintendo installments. It features classic “Square” pixel art that looks gorgeous, and a decent chiptuny soundtrack. And it’s quite polished – it may have some gameplay faults, but I never really encountered any technical issues. If you liked Secret of Mana, you may like this game as well, even if it’s a little simpler gameplay-wise. It may not be great, but it’s simply solid fun.