Legend of mana update series#
Legend of mana update ps2#

The original soundtrack from Street Fighter and Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura has been lovingly remastered - and the arrangements, well, slap. It works, and it looks pretty damn nice.īetter than the visual splendor is the audio, which has also seen a significant upgrade. The painterly background undoubtedly look better on modern displays than the original PS1 versions would’ve in their original presentation, while the sprites ‘pop’ against those backgrounds thanks to their pixelated nature. The two styles don’t clash and while initially it might feel a little strange, pretty quickly the two intertwine and cease to feel like two separate art styles - they complement each other. It’s a combination that I wouldn’t necessarily have thought was a good one on paper - but in practice, it works remarkably well. Crucially, the part of the game you’ll be most focused on retains its original appearance. That sounds like the sort of description that sets alarm bells ringing - we see a lot of terrible vaseline filters over classic games - but these elements look good, with little to no detail lost. Meanwhile, more static elements such as backgrounds have been given a high definition makeover where everything just looks a little… smoother. Legend of Mana takes a different approach - keeping the original spite-based visuals to retain an exacting recreation of it as fans remember it - or at least, partially.Ĭharacters, monsters and other more ‘active’ elements of the game world are lovely sprites, unfiltered and unashamed of their pixelated nature.

Legend of mana update series#

Legend of Mana was always the next obvious Mana series do-over, as its direct predecessors, Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana, have both been remade as 3D games. But a contender for the best style of remastering, for the most eager stroking of nostalgia may very well be that on show in the new HD Remaster of PS1 classic Legend of Mana.

Legend of mana update ps2#

We’ve seen bare-bones ports of the PS2 Kingdom Hearts games, previously unlocalized Japanese versions like Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age, and of course lore-bending, earth-shattering remakes as with Final Fantasy 7.

Of all the companies with a lavish back catalogue of classics to use and abuse, Square Enix seems to be one of those most confidently diving into its old work. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Square Enix's methodology for remastering Legend of Mana is an admirable one, retaining much of what made the original game special - even where it won't hold up great in 2021.