Sword of Mana, or the game that tried

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.

And of course, the game couldn't just let the characters exist - everybody needed a tragic backstory or, in some cases, absorb traits of another character. Here's a comparison of key pieces:

Willy

The hero's best friends. Dies less than five seconds into the original, has one line. Is the hero's motivation to escape. In Sword, he not only survives the entire game, but becomes an insanely annoying comic relief character who basically just exists to ruin serious scenes - if the terrible writing didn't already accomplish that.

Hasim

Fuji's protector in the original. Much like Willy, he's already almost dead by the time you meet him. He asks you to protect Fuji in his stead and then dies. Hasim is completely erased from the remake, with his job as the girl's protector going to Bogard, which leads us to...

Bogard

Originally a fairly minor character. He gives you your first mattock, and then later joins you in order to infiltrate the airship. He disappears until the ending from then on. In the remake, he is Fuji's protector instead of Hasim, a stern mentor and "cool old dude with a sword". Except, close to the end, he reveals he's also the heroine's father, which serves no narrative purpose beyond providing a twist for the sake of a twist, and it happens right before the final boss fight, ruining any possible shot at nuance.

Isabella and Goremand

Listing the two together, because in the original, they didn't exist. They're legacy characters who were added to the game in order to... what, exactly? Their scenes are ultimately inconsequential to the story, and you could cut them all out with no loss at all. After Dark Lord dies, Isabella disappears from the narrative. Goremand makes one final token appearance to taunt you afterwards and then... likewise disappears. 

Julius

Why bring him up? Truthfully, beyond being more petty, he hasn't REALLY changed. I'm mentioning him because the part where he dresses up as a red mage and helps you undercover? Completely gone. Out of all the twists that could've received some additional background - because in the original, there's no explanation for why Julius helps you - this one does not and is excised completely. Good thing we got Willy, though.

The Chocobo

Yes, you read that right. In the original, you could hatch a chocobo which you could ride to cross rivers and travel faster. It was replaced by the cannon travel system. Why? Because one of the remake's goals was to remove all Final Fantasy elements... except it now introduced a Moogle status effect, but okay.

In case the constant recaps and over-explaining weren't enough, the game also went out of its way to give almost every boss battle a backstory - that is naturally overexplained again. In the original, the bosses existed as setpieces. They were there because a dungeon simply needed to end in a boss fight, it was a natural design philosophy. And yet, for whatever reason, the game needs to hammer it home that these bosses have an in-universe reason to exist. Let's compare:

The Vampire/Count Lee

In the original, Lee was an unnamed vampire masquerading as an innkeeper who kidnaps Fuji. You infiltrate his dungeon, defeat him and save Fuji - plot carries on, just a small detour. In Sword, he's not actually evil, he's actually benevolent - he's protecting the remaining mana tribe survivors... by putting them to sleep and having them hidden in coffins in the same room of an easily accessible inn. The reason he attacks you? He transforms involuntarily and then explains all of this to you. Ignoring the fact that this is anything but protective for the mana people, it was just shoehorned in to justify his existence.

Plant/Boison Vine(sic)

In the original, just another boss guarding progression. In Sword, somehow captured the wood spirit. Why bring up this one in particular? Well, simply: how is the wood spirit held captive by a plant? She should logically dominate it! Ah right, because 

Demon/Malyris

Fought in a cave in Lorimar. In the Gameboy original, he's just a roadblock. In Sword, he's actually a former human who made a pact with the king of Lorimar which froze the entire population of the kingdom, and upon his defeat he reveals how he "just wanted to stargaze" and then somehow causes a bloody mist to appear. Boom - Lorimar is back to normal. Yeah, I got nothin'.

And that's just a few select examples. See just how much bloat is added to the story by way of these explanations?