For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to RyuMaster's Final Fantasy Adventure (GB) maps.
The Dark Lord seeks a way into the Mana Sanctuary, where he wishes to take control of the Mana Tree. As the Hero, together with the Heroine, you will have to find a way to stop him, and eventually this includes searching for a powerful sword, Excalibur (or the Sword Of Mana).
Speaking of "Sword Of Mana", that is the title of the GBA remake of this game (with its maps recognized here as the Maps Of The Month for February 2012), as this is actually the first Mana game. The Japanese title, "Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden" means that it is a Final Fantasy spin-off, but other than sharing a few elements (such as the Moogle species) the Mana series has grown into something quite different from the typical Final Fantasy games. If you want to get even more confusing, the European title of this game is "Mystic Quest", which is unrelated to the Super NES game, "Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest". (Though the European name for that was "Mystic Quest Legend", and no one should be confusing any of these with the other Final Fantasy games on the Game Boy, The Final Fantasy Legend and its two sequels, which are actually part of the SaGa series...)
Whatever you call it, it's more typically compared with The Legend Of Zelda than Final Fantasy, as it has an overhead perspective and the action is real-time (as opposed to turn-based). But even if it's not turn-based, it's still an epic game, and maps always come in handy for these. One method of mapping that RyuMaster has employed here that should be used more often is indicating the room coordinates with letters and numbers, and underneath having a key indicating items, entrances/exits, anything else noteworthy. While we all love labelled maps, doing it this way means the original graphics are also clutter-free.
Collection Of Mana, a compilation of the first three games of the Mana series, comes out this month in a limited physical edition for the Nintendo Switch, allowing you to play Final Fantasy Adventure if you can't get a hold of the original Game Boy game. Along with the incredible Secret Of Mana (Super NES) and the official North America debut of Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom), now named Trials Of Mana, it's really quite the bundle of adventure! Though you would think they could have included Sword Of Mana, the Game Boy game is indeed where this all began.
So to recognize the effort put into mapping the beginning of the beloved Mana series, RyuMaster's Final Fantasy Adventure (GB) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for August 2019.
