Legend of Mana

"The Legend Continues"

Hello again, I'm sure you're wondering where I've been. . .well actually I'm not sure but I'm rather hoping you haven't forgetten about 'ol Deniki. Well to make a long story short I had a run in with an adept of Muay Thai and he made short work of me (May Thailand sink to the bottomless depths of the ocean, of course I don't mean that.)
Anyway enough of my personal lack of existence lets get on to the important part.

Ahh the Sekken Densetsu series, the jewel of the house of Square some would say. This is one of those long running serieses that doesn't have many installments and can proudly trace it's roots back to the 8-bit era. As most so called ''Hard Core'' gamers would know (should know, and better know if they dare have the termity to call themselves by such an elitist and pompous title.) Sekken Densetsu began it's life on the Game Boy, Nintendo's little portable gaming system that captured the heart of the people. (Of course back then it was the size of a small child but so what? If anything it told us that those tight jeans with the butt-hugging pockets that could squeeze a quarter till the eagle squaked had to go. I mean realy. Did you ever try to stuff a Game Boy into a pair of Levi's 505's from 1992? And those were the only cool pants in the store back then! No you had to carry it around and look like a geek who can't get enough of his video games, so you lied! ''Hey Deniki, whats that? A Game Boy?'' ''No, no I asure it's my uhh. . .my thermos yes, my Super Mario Brothers Super Show Thermos!'' For you see gamers got no respect back then.)

Uhh anyway in America they re-named the game Final Fantasy Legend (Once again Final Fantasy desperatly tries to gain a foothold in other plains of existence. And I bet Hinorobu Sakaguchi didn't even come near Sekken Densetsu.)

But we all know and love the Secret Of Mana series from that beautiful classic title on the SNES. Who doesn't have fond memories of the little nameless kid who walked like a girl and that cute elf chick, and the loveable WoodSprite (Who reapears as a statue you can save at in Legend of Mana)
I remember many of the long hours spent among friends playing this multi-player RPG and loving every minuete of it. From the uplifting music to the colorfull graphics and easy fighting system.

Well there are some differences in the knew game that you might enjoy, but the multi-player option is still there.
The battle system is basically the same save for the need to get into a fight first, you can learn and master new special moves and later on magickal spells of immeanse power that can be cast in an instant with push of a button instead of those pesky little rings you had to call up.
This makes the battle more intense and the game more fun.

The graphics are beautifull and they bear a striking resemblance to that of Saga Frontier 2 only better. You begin the game with a choice of characters much like Sekken Densetsu 3 which was never released here only this time you only have two, a boy and a girl. You then can choose any weapon you'd like to start with and the game begins.

Unlike the other games this one has no fixed story and you affect it with your decisions. Each choice you make will set off another series of events thats leads to an adventure. One of the things I dislike about this game is that you dont get to roam the world at will, you have a map and use artifacts to create places to go.

The characters are somewhat ecentric but likeable all the same and the game is great fun.

This game gets a 9 and Deniki's seal of approval, I highly recomend it to all RPG fans.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/23/00, Updated 07/23/00