Square Enix have announced that Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) will be remade in top-down view 3D (similar to what we’ve seen for Adventures of Mana on mobile) and released on PS4, PS Vita and Steam February 15 of 2018. You will soon be able to pre-order the title on the PS Network and receive free DLC costumes for your favourite characters:

You know you want that Moogle Suit!

As well as the 3D graphics, the remake will feature voice-acting, a re-arranged soundtrack, and local multiplayer for Playstation. The game will also have flexible language options to be able to experience the game with Japanese voice acting and subtitles.

And, of course, what would an announcement like this be like without a video.

Secret of Mana will be playable at PAX West from September 1-4 at both the Square Enix booth and the PlayStation booth!

In some fantastic news we learn that a remake of the original Seiken Densetsu game, released in the west as Final Fantasy Adventure, is going to be making its way to the PlayStation Vita, Android and iPhone smartphones. I’ve seen no dates yet, but we do get a glimpse into the art-style of the remake in the video released by Square-Enix on YouTube:

You can also check out the new website covering the new game here.

Thanks Sheexy for the heads-up.

Seiken Densetsu 2 for the Super Famicom hit the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan on June 26, selling for 800 yen. The game supports gameplay using the GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, and Wii Remote and Classic Controller combination. There is currently no word as to when these titles will release on the Wii U in the West.

Mike Fischer, former president and CEO of Square Enix of America, who took over leadership of Square Enix of America in July 2010, quit the company this month and is now the vice president of digital Music and Video for Amazon in Japan.

His plans included spending the company’s money not on creating studios, but building up a core internal team of producers and engineers who would then support the independent studios that Square was publishing for.

The past year has been a tough one for Square Enix. Earlier this month, the company announced significant losses during their most recent fiscal quarter, blaming the shortfall on an “increasingly competitive and oligopolistic” console market. Officials with the company previously announced they were unhappy with the sales of their big three titles: Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution.

Source

The president and representative director of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada, is stepping down from his position following the company revising its financial forecast.

Wada’s resignation is expected to come into effect from June, at which point Yosuke Matsuda, who joined the company in 2001, will replace him.

The move comes as part of a financial revision for the company, in which it’s revealed that Square Enix now “expects to incur extraordinary loss in the settlement of the accounts for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.”

While the company had been predicting net income losses of ¥3.5 billion, this has now been revised to ¥13 billion following a decline in Western retail and digital sales.

The report explains the revision comes, “due to slow sales of major console game titles in North American and European markets. The Company is also experiencing sluggish performance of its arcade machine business.

“In addition to these factors, the Company expects to incur extraordinary loss about loss from restructuring in the settlement of the account for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.”

Wada joined Square in April 2000 and rose to the rank of CEO in December of that year. When Square merged with Enix, he took up the title of president and representative director of the new company and oversaw the acquisitions of both Taito and Eidos Interactive.

Source – IGN

Well, I can’t say that I’m overly sad at this. As far as the direction of a lot of the classic RPG series have been concerned, developments since the Squenix merger have been lack-lustre. I very much doubt that there will be a change of focus with this departure, and the chances of anything good coming to those franchises that we love so much are slim… but who knows.

You can find a sampler of all the tracks for SQ Chips here.

Now this is not normally something I would do, but I want to raise a rather serious point here. Everyone here, I’m sure, knows that I, admitedly, hold a certain bias when it comes to the works of Kikuta in soundtracks, which some may find is swaying my view on this matter, but hear me out for a second.

I’m listening through the samples for all the tracks on this album right now, and I can spot a rather severe drop off at one point. Read the rest of this entry »

Sheexy tipped me off on this one after finding an auction on Yahoo.co.jp, and after a quick search, it turns out that an official album is on the way from the hands of Kenji Ito.

Re:Birth/聖剣伝説 伊藤賢治アレンジアルバム, will be hitting stores on October the 19th to celebrate 20 years of Seiken Densetsu, and will consist of a series of tracks originally composed by Kenji Ito, arranged by… Kenji Ito. It will apparently cover a variety of styles, and although the full track list has not been released yet, it will include the following:

Rising Sun (No, really, ya think?)
Mana’s Mission (SD1)
In Search of the Holy Sword (SD1)
Final Battle (SD1)
The Fool’s Dance (SD4)
The Endless Dream (SD4)

It will be available for the price of 2,500 yen from Amazon.co.jp and The Square Enix e-Store. A sample is available here of the track that includes, are we at all surprised, Rising Sun.

The CD will also be included in the Box Set due to hit stores around the same time for 21,000 yen.

Square Enix are soon to be releasing an album of chiptune versions for songs from several of their later gen titles. SQChips will include songs from Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3. Among other titles of interest are Chrono Trigger, several Final Fantasy games, and a couple from the Saga series. The album is due out on September 7 for ¥1890, and will be available from Amazon Japan, the Sony Music Shop and the Square Enix eStore.

Thanks to Bastian from the forums for pointing this one out to us. Source: GamePro

Browsing around this afternoon I stumbled through the article on Wikipedia for Koichi Ishii, and it states that, at least since October, he has left Square-Enix’s Team 8 to dedicate his time to Grezzo, his own gaming development company.

Now have I been living under a rock for the past 3 months? Is this just an unfounded rumour, as I can’t find anywhere else that mentions anything about it?

Do any of you have any information on the whereabouts of Koichi Ishii?

Answers on a postcard…

Nick spotted Square’s Press Release for their E3 line-up. You can find full details over on the press article itself, with descriptions of the games and features incorporated within. On the remake scene, Chrono Trigger which we have reported on previously, Dragon Quest IV and FF4 going 3D, and a couple of Star Ocean games being given a new breath of life, as well as, of course, new titles.

Here’s the full list (TAITO releases included):

• The Last Remnant (XBOX360 and PS3)
• Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes (iPod)
• Chrono Trigger (DS)
• Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
• Final Fantasy IV (DS)
• Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP)
• Star Ocea: Second Evolution (PSP)
• Infinite Undiscovery (XBOX360)
• Star Ocean: Last Hope (XBOBX360)
• TAITO – EXIT DS (DS)
• TAITO – The Legend of Kage 2 (DS)

Surprisingly, barely any FF there. Unsurprisingly, no Mana. Thanks again to Nick for linking us up to this.