World of Mana is DS title?

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 July, 2005

Senior source suggests so.

A senior source close to Square Enix believes that World of Mana is the previously confirmed Mana title for Nintendo DS, with full confirmation anticipated at the Square Enix Party 2005 event that takes place in Japan at the end of this month.

However it's impossible to say for certain one way or the other, because Square Enix has been playing its cards very close to its chest on this one - even internally.

Recent Internet chatter has suggested that the game is in fact a PS2 title, but our source says that internally it's believed to be the DS "Seiken Densetsu" game previously mentioned in connection with Nintendo's dual screen handheld.

The popularity of the Seiken Densetu/Mana series has led to all sorts of excited speculation on web forums, although talk of an online or even Nintendo Revolution title is now thought to be wide of the mark.

Up to now the Japanese publisher has kept schtum about World of Mana, which it registered a trademark for earlier this year, and concrete details are close to non-existent. We'll bring you more detail following Square Enix Party 2005, which takes place on July 30th and 31st.

Square Enix Europe had yet to comment at the time of publication.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 7 years ago

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  • Blerk #1 7 years ago

    Square Enix Europe had yet to comment at the time of publication.

    There's a Square Enix Europe?

  • Navi #2 7 years ago

    Yeah, its a single roomed office in soho with a guy emailing "No plans for European release." every time a new game is release in Japan.

  • ProfessorLesser #3 7 years ago

    I thought we'd already cleared this up?

    It's Square Enix Europa
    Edited by 1 at 20/07/05 @ 12:48

  • Rahul #4 7 years ago

    World of Mana is the name for a polymorphic brand/IP, if you look at the E3 brochure that was handed out. While that might mean that there is a DS title under the brand (which would make sense, given that DS Seiken Densetsu is already confirmed), it doesn't mean that World of Mana itself is the DS title. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw multiple titles announced at some point, including the DS one. Developing some more straightforward 2d sprite-based multiplayer action RPGs is cheap, effective, and excellent for online handheld systems like DS and PSP, not to mention that the Mana franchise thusfar has done Square Enix quite well in the pockets.

  • Ranger101 #5 7 years ago

    Hehe, excellent comment there Navi.

  • deaner #6 7 years ago

    Secret of Mana remains my favourite 2D-RPG.

    A sequel/spin-off would probably be cause for me to buy a handheld system - but a PS2 version would be great.

    Personally, I think Squenix have dropped the ball lately.

    FF9 and upwards, and across, and around and around - have been getting consistantly worse.

    FFX is the exception that proves the rule.

  • Kalinin #7 7 years ago

    "Yeah, its a single roomed office in soho with a guy emailing "No plans for European release." every time a new game is release in Japan."

    I still maintain that it's not a guy, but rather a monkey with an autoresponder script.

  • wattoo #8 7 years ago

    nah, it will be a guy, but with a suitably pretentious job title mentioning the word 'manager' at least twice

  • Galvanizer #9 7 years ago

    I reckon it's "polymorphic" like what they are doing with FFVII.

    I see a DS, PS2, PSP and Revolution title coming!

  • Nikanoru #10 7 years ago

    As long as they don't make it 3D! That will ruin the art, the Mana series have always been prettier than any 3D game could ever be.

  • KraftWerk #11 7 years ago

    "Yeah, its a single roomed office in soho with a guy emailing "No plans for European release." every time a new game is release in Japan."

    :D