![]() Composed by Hiroki Kikuta, the score is a strange mix between game music, pop music and Balinese gamelan. Secret of Mana had one of the best soundtracks on the Super Nintendo - if not one of the best video game soundtracks of all time. I was also a little disappointed with the game’s music, though it may be silly to expect a complex and moving soundtrack from a Game Boy title. You’ll need to carry around plenty of items, especially early in the game when you don’t have healing spells or a weapon that can break walls, and knowing which ones you’ll need isn’t very clear. Luckily, the game isn’t so brutal as to make backtracking a huge risk of losing your progress. I also needed to exit dungeons after running out of supplies a few times (enemies don’t drop useful items too often). I did occasionally get lost (the in-game map is useless) which was a waste of time. ![]() I only faced a few frustrations with the game. Early RPGs can sometimes feel like a chore to play, but Final Fantasy Adventure is a pleasure. You’ll be joined occasionally by friends, which are surprisingly smart, though they can get in the way of solving some puzzles. Levelling up is a fast and easy process, there are tons of different weapons to collect, and they don’t just affect your stats - they also change your attack style and grant useful abilities like crossing gaps or breaking down walls. I was surprised by how fluid - and almost modern - the game is. To be honest, Final Fantasy Adventure has aged much better than the 8-bit Final Fantasy. You’ll ride a chocobo and enemies will turn you into a helpless moogle. That said, it’s fun to see remnants of Square’s breakout RPG. While the Seiken Densetsu series is a close cousin to Final Fantasy, they aren’t one and the same. Games like Dark Souls take a nearly identical approach to make melee attacks more realistic and imbue games with more strategy - should you take a swing at the enemy while you have a good shot, or should you wait until your stamina bar is full and make it really count? Using such an early example of this mechanic is interesting, not just because it would be put to use again in Secret of Mana, but because it’s still used today. Though combat takes place in real time, stats like your character’s experience level, HP and MP play important roles, and magic spells can be powerful alternatives to melee attacks or curative items. Rather, it had more of an action / adventure feel - somewhat similar to The Legend of Zelda - while leaving in some vestigial RPG elements. The 1991 title didn’t take the typical turn-based RPG approach like the games in the main Final Fantasy series. I’ve spent the last month putting about 15 hours into Final Fantasy Adventure, and I’m kicking myself for waiting so long.įinal Fantasy Adventure was originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden on the Game Boy. But once Collection of Mana came out, I knew it was time. 25 years later and I still hadn’t gotten around to playing Adventure, despite my love for Secret of Mana. I made the wrong choice and bought the latter. I held Final Fantasy Adventure in one hand and Final Fantasy Legend in the other. I’ve played Secret of Mana before, so I was particularly interested in seeing how the first game in the Seiken Densetsu series informed the second one.Īs a young and foolish boy in the mid ‘90s, I ventured to what was then the only Best Buy in the Boston area. Or, if Japanese company M2 - which handled the Sega Ages series and the games on the Sega Genesis Mini - is involved in a port, I can be reasonably sure that a title has been lovingly and thoroughly recreated.Ĭollection of Mana ticks both of those boxes, so I picked up the compilation - which includes Final Fantasy Adventure (the first game in the Mana series), Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana - on the Nintendo Switch. ![]() For example, I’d rather play an RPG on a console I know is going to keep my progress safe, since cartridge batteries can be iffy. (I still have all of my 8- and 16-bit consoles, the Japanese equivalents of each, as well as a few CRTs to play them on.) There are a few situations, though, when playing on a more modern system is warranted. ![]() When I play older games, I usually prefer to do so with the original cartridge and on original hardware.
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