Square Enix has announced that a new Mana game is in production and will be released on consoles in the near future. In 1991, the Mana series started as a spin-off of the Final Fantasy brand before evolving into its own property.
Like most of Square Enix’s non-Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy franchises, the Mana series would fade away over time. Square Enix has been aggressively recreating and remastering their older titles for current systems in recent years, so things have changed.
This led to the first three Mana games being released as the Collection of Mana for Nintendo Switch, which included Trials of Mana receiving its first official English localization. Trials of Mana would eventually be remade in 3D for current consoles. Legend of Mana, which was restored and published on current platforms last week, was the most recent game in the series to be re-released.
Square Enix celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Mana series with a livestream, during which it was announced that a new Mana game for consoles was in the works. According to Nintendo Life, producer Masaru Oyamada had wanted to show something for the stream, but the game isn’t far along enough in development to warrant a proper reveal.
At the Mana anniversary broadcast, the only solid information revealed was that the game is being developed for consoles. If this is a whole new game rather than a remake or remaster, it will be the first new Mana game since Rise of Mana in 2014.
The new console Mana game wasn’t the only title presented during the event; Echoes of Mana, a mobile game, was also announced. The teaser for Echoes of Mana included characters from throughout the series’ history, implying that it will be comparable to the inter-franchise crossovers Final Fantasy and Romancing Saga mobile games. Given the success of Square Enix’s other mobile games, it’s not unexpected that the publisher would take this step.
It’s a pity that the Mana series has been inactive for so long because it featured some of the finest games in the 16-bit period. The success of the remakes/remasters has prompted Square Enix to take another look at its old franchises, which means that a new Mana game in the style of the classics could be in the works. Square Enix has hinted that franchises like Live A Live could be returning, and the Mana series is more than deserving of a revival alongside it.
