Visions of Mana is the first new installment in Square Enix’s Mana series in 15 years, and with it comes some fundamental changes. After his hands-on preview of Visions of Mana, I asked producer Masaru Oyamada if cooperative multiplayer was ever considered for Visions of Mana, and if multiplayer is in the future of the Mana series. I had a chance to ask if they had a place to stay.
“When I played Secret of Mana, the multiplayer cooperative mode really stood out and left a strong impression on me,” Oyamada said. “So when we were pitching this game internally and discussing what it should be, we actually debated whether we should include such a feature.”
1993’s Secret of Mana was the second game in the Mana series, but the first to incorporate co-op play. Many subsequent Mana games continued this tradition, including the Super Famicom versions of Trials of Mana, Legends of Mana, and Children of Mana for the Nintendo DS.
“As things evolved further internally, we discussed not only the different things that could be done through multiplayer mode, but also some of the challenges that multiplayer mode presented,” Oyamada said. “Having multiple players playing can impact the overall design of the field and the tempo of the play experience. However, when I think about the series and look to the future, I know what it’s like to go on an adventure with a friend or complete something together, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do that in the future. I would like to be able to implement functionality like this.
“So [once we can address] Although there are some technical issues, people will be able to experience that element of the Mana series as well. ”
While this may disturb longtime fans of Visions of Mana, this change is not unprecedented. Oyamada explained that the remake of 2020’s single-player Trials of Mana was a big influence on Visions of Mana. In fact, Oyamada’s team felt that “from the beginning of the development phase of Trials of Mana” Mana had laid the foundation for an entirely new title in his series.
Oyamada said, “There were things in Trials of Mana that we wanted to do but couldn’t do,” so it’s possible that any of those will come as DLC or serve as the basis for a future multiplayer Mana game. I’m planning to check whether that’s the case. Anyway, Square Enix continues to make mid-budget games.
