Two New Seiken Densetsu Games Announced

[Finch]

The gameplay wasn't bad, it was just weak. Exploring was fun, fighting was fun, and the boss battles were pretty nice. Even the story was good, but there wasn't nearly enough of anything. If it was released in the SNES days, CC would've been Secret of Mana.

[rama]

wasn't there supposed to be a re-release or port of seiken 3 for the ps1 some time ago? ...at least that's what i remember hearing.

[Finch]

:D New chara designs!







Cute.

SPECULATION! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? It means that character designs will be cute.

[1CCOSA]

Story and gameplay details:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/660/660023p1.html

First in game screens, looks beautiful:

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/695/695657/imgs_1.html

[Compass]

Story and gameplay details:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/660/660023p1.html

First in game screens, looks beautiful:

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/695/695657/imgs_1.html

How is that a DS screen?

[1CCOSA]

How is that a DS screen?

Hmmm, I dunno. Maybe it's not. The other screens don't look quite as good, true.

[Finch]

The DS can do some beautiful stuff. Kirby sez so. You're right, tho, that looks tons better than anything else from the game and the weapon set-up is missing. Maybe it's on the top screen or something. It's got TEH ANIME, too.

[Finch]

A few more tidbits. From http://www.rpgfan.com

The game's animation sequences are being created by Production I.G., the studio behind Ghost in the Shell: Innocence.

I shat.

From http://ds.ign.com/articles/660/660903p1.html

October 24, 2005 - A surprise revelation in the latest issue of Nintendo Dream. The magazine has a lengthy look at Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana for the DS. In the feature, series producer Kouichi Ishii reveals that this first entry in Square Enix's World of Mana project is being developed by an outside developer, Next Entertainment.


We won't blame you if you don't recognizing the development studio. It's actually the new name for the studio once known as Nextech. Nextech has been around since the days of the Genesis, when it was known for its work on Ranger-X and the 16-bit system's adaptation of Virtua Fighter 2. On the Saturn, the company developed games like Gran Chaser and ported Resident Evil to the system. It went on to bigger things following that, serving as the developer of Resident Evil: Code Veronica for the Dreamcast. Most recently, the company's website lists work on Shining Soul for Game Boy Advance, Shin Megami Tensei 9 for Xbox and Time Crisis 3 for the arcades.
As Ishii explains, the use of an external developer is part of the plan for the World of Mana project. While it's possible for a single development group to work on the same series constantly, he believes that by having many different teams work on Mana games, gamers will get a chance to experience the series in many different ways. Next Entertainment apparently worked hard to get the gig, doing extensive research into the series before filing a report to Ishii that even managed to surprise him with some of the details.

We'll be able to see the fruits of Next Entertainment's labor soon. Children of Mana is set for Japanese release this Winter.

Seems like every company's employing every other company these days. I like the idea of different developers.

[rama]

HEY WAIT WOAH SLOW DOWN.....when's the ds getting smaller?

in any case...them screens look great. i think i'll go back and play some legend of mana. OH SHIT! i just noticed...3 CHARACTERS!?!? so it's gonna be like old school mana with 3 players instead of 2?...i hope it's multiplayer/wifi whatever. that'd be so great.

[NeoZeedeater]

in Square Enix's World of Mana project is being developed by an outside developer, Next Entertainment.

We won't blame you if you don't recognizing the development studio. It's actually the new name for the studio once known as Nextech.

Interesting. I didn't know they had changed their name again.

It looks awesome, sort of a return to the style of the first SNES game.