Collection of Mana

Genre: Compilation / Action-RPG

Players: 1-3 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Collection of Mana is a collection of the first three games in the Mana series, including the first appearance of the third game (the newly titled Trials of Mana) outside of Japan. Here are my thoughts on each of them:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Final Fantasy Adventure	Action-RPG	1	C+
tl;dr This Zelda-style game with RPG elements, originally released on the Game Boy, was great back in the day, but has aged poorly, with problematic hit detection and a really terrible localization. It’s still got some enjoyable elements, such as a fantastic chiptune soundtrack, but you have to put up with a good amount of frustration to enjoy them.
Secret of Mana	Action-RPG	1-3 Co-Op (Local)	A+
tl;dr This game is still to this day one of the greatest games ever made for this genre, with some unique gameplay elements, memorable characters, a good amount of variety, and an absolutely incredible soundtrack. It even has really good multiplayer support (when you bring additional characters into your party).
Trials of Mana	Action-RPG	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	A-
tl;dr Trials deviates from the prior game a bit by having characters control differently when in combat, and does a few experimental things such as giving players their choice of three out of six main characters and changing the story based on their selections. It’s not quite the instant classic that Secret of Mana was, but it’s still an excellent game.

All three games here are worth playing, but Final Fantasy Adventure is clearly the odd one out here, not just in name, and not just in that it was really struggling with the limitations of the hardware at the time, but in that it has withstood the test of time so much worse than the other games.

However, the other two games are absolutely fantastic, and should be considered must-haves for fans of the genre, with Secret of Mana being damn near legendary, and Trials of Mana being the first official release of the game here… at least until its upcoming 3D remake sees release in 2020.

However, with that being said, this is really a bare-bones release. In addition to the games themselves, we get save states, a few display options, and a brief one page of instructions for each game, and that’s it. No extra materials, not even a full instruction manual – the game even has a QR code to scan to go to a website to get the full instruction manual rather than including it here. For the asking price of $40, that’s shockingly stingy.

With even the newest game in Collection of Mana being nearly two and a half decades old, $40 for three games and a pittance of extra features seems like a really bloated price tag for what we’re being given here. Make no mistake, the quality of the games here (well, two of them, anyway) is damn near beyond reproach, and fans of Zelda-style Action-RPGs should consider this a must-have… but you’ll be paying through the nose to get it.

tl;dr – Collection of Mana is a compilation of 3 classic Zelda-style Action-Adventure games, two of which are phenomenal titles with superb music and great co-op gameplay that have withstood the test of time and are arguably two of the best games the genre has ever seen (and Final Fantasy Adventure has its good qualities too). However, the lack of extras and absurd price tag makes it hard to give this collection the enthusiastic recommendation it would otherwise deserve.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Compilation/Collection

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