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Ah yes, Sword of Mana. An ambitious remake of a Gameboy classic that, unfortunately, fell flat in many areas, for various reasons, many of which relate to overambition versus the scope of the title that was being adapted. For those not in the know, Sword of Mana is a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure/Mystic Quest (no, not that one) for the original Gameboy, which happened to be the progenitor of the Mana series.

The original game, while popular for its surprisingly melancholic plot and solid gameplay, did suffer a few shortcomings, mainly related to design philosophies of the 90s and hardware constraints. There is little guidance on where to go, progression even within a given dungeon isn't always obvious, and the difficulty is somewhat unbalanced, there's frequent menu visits due to the Gameboy only having two face buttons, etc.. Despite this, it's still perfectly playable today. In fact, Sword of Mana is not the first remake of the title - it received one for Japanese mobile phones, which was much closer to the original, just with full-color graphics and higher quality sound, and in 2016 it would receive yet another for mobile phones and the PS Vita - once again only updating the visuals and audio. 

Which makes this remake very different; it expands on the original in many ways, incorporating mechanics, lore and even legacy characters from later parts of the series, all while removing all of the Final Fantasy elements.

First things first: I'd like to clear up a common rumor. It's considered "common knowledge" that Final Fantasy Adventure only carries the Final Fantasy for marketing reasons in the West, and was a wholly original game elsewhere. This is wrong - in Japan, it's called Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden, literally meaning "Legend of the Sacred Sword: Final Fantasy Sidestory". So yes, it was always a spin-off piggybacking off of the grander series before eventually becoming its own thing. This was perfectly normal back in the day, as new IPs benefitted from brand name recognition. Even today, the Mana series carries a few leftover Final Fantasy elements, such as the recurring Moogle status or the mini mallet. Anyways, onto the main feature!

Important note: for clarity's sake, I will refer to the hero and heroine by their canon names from the Gameboy version: Sumo (hero) and Fuji (girl). Yes, Sword has different canon names, Duke and Elena (in Japan) or Matt and Rose in the West, but the former ones are more well-known, and it saves everyone a headache. Thank me later.

Also, Sword of Mana will henceforth simply be called Sword.