The Mana series celebrated its 30th anniversary, and there were a few announcements that we will recap.

Throughout the stream, Masaru Oyamada, the producer confirmed that the Mana series is getting a new instalment. „We wanted to announce it by running a cool trailer, but we’re only at the start of the 30th anniversary, but we are developing [a new title], but please wait a little while longer until the proper announcement. Although we did have [Mana series creator Koichi Ishii] take a look at it a little bit ago. We’re at that level [of development], so please look forward to it. Development still has some way to go… We are developing for console[s], so I hope you can look forward to it,” he said.

He also announced that an anime, called Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal is also in the works. It will be produced by Warner Bros. Japan and animated by Graphinica and Yokohama Animation Lab. We don’t know when it will premiere. „When the animation project was first pitched to me, the remastering of Legend of Mana was not even in the discussion. I initially attended the meeting without deep thoughts, but when Mr Yawata from Warner Bros. Japan passionately pitched the Legend of Mana animation project (with so much love), I realized I need to create the game as soon as I can. So rumour has it, that’s how the HD remaster project began. Fans of the Legend of Mana, please be assured. The people involved in the project still have the love for the series just the same as back then,” Oyamada added.

Then, they revealed an action RPG for iOS and Android called Echoes of Mana. It’s going to be a free-to-play title with in-app purchases with a worldwide 2022 launch, developed by WFS. The first details are somewhat scarce: it’s an all-star game featuring characters from previous Mana games. We can choose between two protagonists: Kilt (male) and Kilte (female), and the game is set in a world where all has been lost. The protagonist, guided by the goddess, sets off on an adventure to various worlds of memories in search of the legendary sword to restore the world.

All illustrations are original to this game. Original worlds will appear in addition to worlds from previous Mana games. All characters from previous Mana games will be playable. Characters from Legend of Mana and Children of Mana will also appear. Characters previously without voices will also appear, such as Amanda. In battle, you can form a party with three characters and freely switch between them in combat. While simple and easy to play, it aims to be a battle system worthy of the Mana series name. Gameplay can be seen in the broadcast from 1:11:52 to 1:17:30.

Two short news. First, there will be an update for the Legend of Mana remaster (which, on PC, has Denuvo, despite it being nothing more than a facelift to a 21-year-old PS1 game…?), available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. The update will arrive in the fall, and it will restore the original font from the PS1 game.

And finally, Trials of Mana (which launched on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in April 2020) is coming to iOS and Android on July 15 for 24 USD. We will only mention the smartphone-specific updates: the menus are touch-operated, and you can control characters with the directional pad overlay display. Newly added features will be auto-target, auto-camera, and auto-battle. Graphic quality options are available. Cloud save compatible. You can also obtain the starting gear “Rabite Adornment,“ which increases the EXP gained in battle up to level 17 and “Silktail Adornment,” which increases the amount of lucre gained in battle up to level 17.

That’s all they revealed.

Source: Gematsu, Gematsu, Gematsu, Gematsu, Gematsu