Tree of Mana grows with the energy of will from each and everything of this world.

It grows high above the clouds in the air on top of Mount Illusia.

Legend tells that it gives eternal power to the one who touched it.

Dark Lord was trying to find the way to the Tree of Mana to get the mighty power to conquer the world.

Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden was the first game in what is now known as the Seiken Densetsu series. Initially the game was released as a spin-off of the inreasingly popular Final Fantasy series, sharing the graphical style of other Final Fantasy titles on the Gameboy, but opting for an Action-RPG gameplay rather than the turn-based/random-encounter style of other Final Fantasy titles.

The name Seiken Densetsu (Legend of the Holy Sword) was originally intended for a game in development in 1987 for the Famicom Disk System, “Seiken Densetsu: The Emergence of Excalibur”, but the game never saw the light of day, and was dropped in favour of developing Final Fantasy.

The story tells of a young fighter who sneaks into Castle Glaive one night trying to discover the plans of Dark Lord, but is captured by Julius and imprisoned as a slave, forced to fight as a gladiator. He learns of a man named Bogard and the Knights of Gemma who must act to stop Dark Lord from fellow slave dying in his arms, Willy. With that in mind, our hero sets out to find Bogard and thwart Dark Lord’s evil schemes, avenging the death of his friend.

In spite of the technical limitations the Gameboy imposed, Kenji Ito managed to compose a soundtrack that helped carry the story along, and set in motion tunes that have become time and time again set pieces for several titles in the series. These tracks were later taken to a new level when orchestrated by Takayuki Hattori.

The game has received several remakes, most notably for the Gameboy Advance under the title “Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu: Sword of Mana”. It would receive a full graphical overhaul, rearranged soundtrack, and several alterations to the storyline (including the removal of Willy’s death at the beginning of the game).

More recently the game was re-released for certain Mobile phones in Japan, as part of the World of Mana project, for the price of 525 yen. While the story, game layout and overall feel remain the same, there are a set of improvements made:

– Graphics upgraded to full colour, and enhanced detail to some sprites.
– Controls adapted to better suit mobile phones.
– Added the option to shortcut to weapons.
– Force-feedback support.
– Improved menu navigation.
– Added new Flail: Mantis Bite.

Final Fantasy Adventure (GB)	Seiken Densetsu (Mobile)