Right off my Mana
Yesterday saw Square Enix hold an information-filled live stream to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the lavish and legendary Mana adventure franchise.
The presentation saw the reveal of several new projects, including an anime and a free-to-play mobile title. For most fans, however, the best news comes in the slightest form: the announcement of a new Mana title in development for console platforms. Unfortunately, there was pretty much nothing in regards to detail, merely that a game is being made, and is being made for consoles… I guess it’s better than nothing.
“We wanted to announce it by running a cool trailer, but we’re only at the start of the 30th anniversary,” said series producer Masaru Oyamada said. “But we are in fact developing [a new game]. Please wait a little while longer until the proper announcement. Although we did have [Mana creator Koichi Ishii] take a look at it a little bit ago. We’re at that [development] level, so please look forward to it. Development still has some way to go. We are developing for console, so I hope you can look forward to it.”
The mystery release will be the first original Mana console title in some time, given that recent years have mostly been populated by collections, remasters, and remakes. Hopefully, the new game can recapture the beauty and magic of Square Enix’s long-running series. But I wouldn’t hold your breath for a trailer anytime soon. I guess you can all look forward to that F2P mobile game in the meantime… right?
New Mana game for console in development [Gematsu / Games Talk]