This is one I wish I had when I first had my Game Boy. Fortunately I too have picked it up and did a good play through. It was actually kind of neat seeing all the sprites that I only knew from the sequel over on the SNES! Definitely worth a play though if you like the later games. I can’t believe I use to be able to play on that small lightless screen! For anyone who wants to play the series without needing an elaborate set up then all you need is a Switch! It’s called “Collection of Mana” and it has the first three games all in one! There is also the “Secret of Mana Remake” out there, but I prefer the original on Collections. If you want to play more after that then a rerelease of the PS1 title “Legends of Mana” is available, and a great remake of the third game “Trials of Mana” bringing the series into 3D! Guess I’ll quit my plug 😂 as you can see I am a huge Mana fan!
I used to play my Game Boy plugged in by the window at my kitchen table. It's amazing how much my eyeballs could tolerate back then too! Thanks for the info! I'll pin your comment here so everyone can know where to find/play this one.
Memories of long night time car trips, me trying to turn on a light so I could play Gameboy in the back seat, and my parents yelling at me to turn it off because it reflected off the windshield =(
When the Game Boy first came out and everyone at school was saying "Its such a downgrade from the NES" "There won't be able to do a big game like Zelda" Then this came along and everyone stopped saying that. I loaned this game out to sooooo many of my friends lol. After this came out we all realized that a Zelda game was possible and not long after Link's Awakening came along. This game holds a special place in my heart for giving me hope that the Game Boy could be just as fulfilling as the NES in my hand. And yes...that soundtrack is still burned into my brain more than 30 years down the road.
I loved the Game Boy! I had an NES and a Genesis growing up with a few games, and we ended up getting a Game Boy from a neighbour with a few things, LInk's Awakening included. It's still my favourite Zelda game to this very day and so many of the adventures I've played on it in the last decade or so have been great too. Thank you for sharing your memories! Also, your childhood friends were very lucky you lent them this one!
4:20 You can't shove townspeople out of the way, but you can knock them back by attacking them. If you hit them enough times they will perish, still saying their usual text. They respawn if you go offscreen and come back. Me: *Hits villager 20 times with a sword* Villager: *explodes* "Hello, young man! Welcome to Topple!"
I remember getting this game for Easter in 1992 when I was 14 years old. I love this game and its playthrough, it was the closest thing to Zelda I had played that made me feel like it was an expansion of what that could have been. I swear if I go digging through my old artwork from when I was a kid I can find the hand-drawn maps I made of the dungeons including the corners where the maddocks could break through the wall and into another room. Thanks for the awesome video!
Awww I wish you had too! I made a map of the desert in King's Quest V on NES when I was a kid and thankfully hung onto it, but I didn't have graph paper. I had to make my own grids! I still love doing that stuff.
Hi there Goriya! This was my all time favorite Game Boy game growing up. The very end of the game was probably the first time I ever cried at a video game as a kid. Much later as an adult it was incredible to learn it was a Seiken Densetsu game and not really a Final Fantasy game. It also made me so happy later on in the GBA generation when they released the remake, Sword of Mana. I need to play through both of these again. Thanks for the great video as always Goriya.
The ending was so sad. I cried too! I've also heard a lot of things about Sword of Mana that have intrigued me but I haven't taken the plunge yet because I just got through this one and want to give myself a little breathing room before I put myself through all that again, haha
For sure. Lots of QOL improvements for a much smoother experience and the art style of Legend of Mana. Also the ability to play as the female lead and have a different POV of the game is fantastic. Anyways, keep up the awesome work HG. I need to start watching the Twitch streams again. Work has been hellishly busy lately.
I can't express how happy I am to see you review this game. This was one of the first games I ever beat as a child! I still have my original childhood cartridge and I managed to transfer the save to my computer with a dumper. Forever made me a fan of the mana series. The opening theme song has lived rent free in my head for 33 years, I hummed it to my children as a lullaby.
Your taste in gaming is awesome. I played this the month it came out and enjoyed it thoroughly. My biggest gripe was tilting my original GB to the perfect lighting angle to see the screen for 20 hours as the Super GameBoy was not available yet.
Right right! I didn't grow up with an SNES, so I spent a lot of my younger days playing my Game Boy in the kitchen under the window at my parents' house. I played Link's Awakening back then so I feel your pain!
Thanks so much! I only have my husband and his mad scientist tendencies to blame for that bit of creativity. It made for a few interesting streams though!
Ah, trapped by a villager in a town. No classic RPG experience is complete without this moment. I remember watching your stream with the palm tree puzzle. Thought we were going to stay there forever. 😅 Personally I like the idea of a poison effect that deals deadly damage. One of my pet peeves in video games in general is negative status effects that can just be ignored. Like when your character is "blind" but still consistently hits the enemy.
I'm currently playing through Final Fantasy V, and the fact that I can shove townspeople is so vindicating after playing this! But about the status effects, I agree! It's neat when there's actually a risk to what enemies are trying to do to you. The one game that I feel had crazy status effects was Sailor Moon: Another Story on the Super Famicom. They were incredibly effective there, especially the poison as well. It brings a new level of risk to the experience for sure.
This game was remade twice. First as Sword of Mana on the GBA and then again as a top down 3D game called Adventures Of Mana. Sword Of Mana is like a reimagining of the game while Adventures Of Mana stays much closer to the original. I got softlocked in the last dungeon of the game! I ran out of keys.
Thanks for bringing thses up. Adventures of Mana is the remake, but I think you're right in listing Sword of Mana as a "reimagining". The best description I have for it is that it takes the "Final Fantasy" out of the game and replaces it with elements from the then-established Mana series. I actually like that there were 2 remakes, because it lets you choose your style.
Yeah! I didn't have a lot of friends into gaming back then so I had very few of those moments myself. I remember just being stuck forever in lots of my childhood games and looking stuff up when the internet came around, haha
Nintendo Power was a lifesaver for me with this game, ended up being the go to for gaming info because of it. Even would get multiple phone calls from friends about this exact puzzle lol.
I either had to contact the Nintendo helpline or read it in Nintendo Power. Been so long that I dont remember which. But pretty sure it was the helpline
i found a copy of Nintendo Power with the solution, but mom wouldn't let me read it in the store and i didn't have the money to buy it - she said it was stealing to read a magazine without buying it
This was the first game I played that hit me in the feels and made me realise games could be more than *just* fun. In the UK it's just called 'Mystic Quest' so I had no idea it had anything to do with Final Fantasy until many years after first playing it.
There were so many sad moments in this game, but the worst by far was the ending. I had a good cry after I finished it. I love how different regions got different titles! Back when I first started looking into Game Boy stuff, Final Fantasy Adventure and the Legend games confused me since I thought I knew all the Final Fantasy releases. I'm glad I did a little research and now I have them all.
This was one of the first games RPG style games I fell in love with (Final Fantasy Legend being the first) and was so excited to see you cover this! Happy you enjoyed it so much. It's been 30 years or so since I first finished it and can still remember exactly where I was sitting and how much an impact it made on 10 year old me.
Awww! I'm so glad you got to experience this game when you were young. I really loved this game, especially the story and characters. I think I would've really enjoyed it if I'd had the opportunity to play it as a kid. Lucky!
8:55 ah yes, why game instruction manuals were actually valuable, and why it's so sad that they've been reduced to little more than a warranty and legal information pamphlet for the few games that are given physical releases at all.
Your review are calming as always. I have yet to play this game, but I do believe I read "always save 4 keys" somewhere when reading about this game. As I was watching your review I immediately remembered that.
Hey thanks so much! I appreciate the kind words. And always saving four keys is a great rule of thumb. The person who wrote those words was very smart!
I'm late to the show on your channel. Showed up on my feed about a week ago. Love your style and even though we don't see eye to eye on every thing about some games your reviews are well thought out and give me reason to look at my own views of certain games. Am running through your play reviews. Thanks for the informative and entertaining look back at games I played years ago ( decades ).
Awww well I'm glad you found me here. I try to keep these videos personal and am never out to convince anyone to change their minds on how they feel about games. I'm just giving my own opinion about my experience and hopefully that's an interesting perspective! I appreciate the kind and thoughtful comment too.
I've watched a few of your videos over the years and for some reason always assumed you had 100k+ subscribers. Just noticed the actual number... and subscribed.
Hey thanks for subscribing! That's a very kind sentiment. Maybe someday that many more people will find me, but I'm happy with how it's been going here.
Good god I got Final Fantasy Adventure when I was 7 with a handful of other games that were super discounted at K Mart. It was Mega Man Xtreme, Final Fantasy Adventure, and Dragon Warrior 2 Tara's Adventure. This was such a great review, and damn that music is still timeless.
Another great view. You really are one of the best reviewers around...keep it up! I am a little surprised it took you so long to play this game. It's such a classic that I would have been sure you had already played it...one of the best Game Boy games, if not the best
I grew up gaming, but I had the same handful of games for the systems we had almost my entire life. It's only in the last decade or so that I've really upped the collecting and found out about a lot of the games I missed out on back then, this being one of them. And thanks so much for your kindness! I'm glad you're enjoying the channel here.
This was my favorite long road trip game as a kid. Whenever I had to sit in the back of a car crossing multiple state lines and then spend several nights in a hotel room, Tetris just wouldn't cut it. I actually tried that again when I went on vacation not that long ago because I was feeling nostalgic and I had forgotten both how long this game is and how difficult it is to see the screen in any kind of shifting lighting on the classic Game Boy because it wasn't backlit. Getting home and finishing it on Super Game Boy was much easier on my eyes at my age.
So funny how little we can tolerate now that we tolerated as kids eh? I used to play Link's Awakening plugged into an outlet under a bright kitchen window growing up. I can't imagine taking the Game Boy out on car trips. The Super Game Boy was a big positive change for me! As soon as I discovered it existed back in the day, I was on the lookout.
I played this game back in the day, I love how far the host bends over backwards to find good points. I mean, the line, “The airship flew West,” is provided as a bit of the story SO GOOD, SO UTTERLY PERFECT that was shown on-screen to illustrate the might of that game’s plot. So fantastic that I’m sure a number of new converts just went out to buy a copy so they could see if that lines was equally mind-blowing on original hardware.
I don't know if getting directions from an NPC is really what made me like the game's story, but I don't like putting spoilers in my reviews either and didn't get into the specifics. Lots of the touching sacrifices of the characters you meet that ensure you got to finish the quest were what made the story great. A clear translation helps too. I do hope more people play this game. It's available in lots of different forms for people to enjoy.
So glad you found this one!! Easily one of the strongest titles on the Game Boy. The soundtrack still blows my mind, considering the limitations of the hardware and memory. Growing up with this, the palm trees and 8 had my brother and I stuck for months. It wasn’t until we came across a game magazine in an electronics boutique that explained the message that we finally were able to figure it out. Also, accidentally soft locked on the final boss fight - Ugh! Oh well, playing through again was not a terrible experience at all. Still play through this one every other year or so. This game scratched a lot of the itches for a proper RPG that Legend missed. It’s the one I always end up coming back to.
I absolutely loved it. It's just a shame it took me so long to play it, but better late than never! I'm glad you eventually found the solution to the palm trees and 8 problem, even if it was a little unconventional. Nice work! And I'm so, so sorry that you got yourself stuck on the final boss fight. Did you save in the room with him? I did that once in Final Fantasy Legend, but with a boss that was a huge difficulty spike. It took me two hours to get lucky enough to get out :( I can see myself playing through this again in the future, definitely. It's quick enough to pick up and play without feeling like it's going to eat up weeks of my life. Thanks for sharing some memories with me!
Yeah, saved right on top of his spawn point! This was all pre-internet so we had no idea what we were doing. As an aside, thanks for refraining from the Zelda comparisons. This game is completely different, and I don’t think a lot of modern reviewers really understand the context of what was out at the time and how cutting edge this actually was. I mean, the only options were really sides scroll, top down, and isometric.
@@mumm-ratheeverliving3138 Nooooo that's the worst :( I saw that happen to a friend playing Ys 1, but it happened on a random enemy spawn point and he died every time he loaded up his game. It was so sad. And thank you for noticing! I think there are so many better ways to talk about games rather than comparing them to other games. This is really nothing like Zelda apart from the perspective similarity! Calling a game a Zelda Clone or Metroidvania feels really lazy if you're taking the time to review something.
@@hungrygoriya no problem! Your videos are consistently some of the most thoughtful and well-presented of countless retro gaming channels on TH-cam. I always look forward to the work you put in.
Love it when you release an episode, but love it so much more when, like this, its a game I used to have. I had never played a FF before, and got this on the strength of the name alone. I had no idea it wasn't legit until many many years later. I have some fond memories playing it, but never got very far.
Funny how influential the Final Fantasy name has become eh? I think you still got a fantastic game regardless of its legitimacy. And on the bright side, it's still the beginning of the beloved Mana series anyway! I hope you get a chance to play it through sometime if that's something you've been wanting to do.
I loved this game as a youngling, and really got into the story as young, hopeful adventures tend to be. I love this review from you, as you're always in depth with your own natural charm.❤
Great review! I got this back when it was new and it was a godsend because my parents took us on a long vacation where I had to stay in for hours every day with nothing to do but play the Game Boy, and luckily I had Final Fantasy Adventure, which I beat. Great memories, but my judgement may be slightly tainted by nostalgia.
Oh thank goodness, haha... this is a good game to have on board for a long adventure. I have no nostalgia for this game since I just played it for the first time recently, but I thought it was great. I imagine your nostalgia's not swaying your opinion too heavily. It deserves a "great" ranking!
Strong video start, with the best music of the game :D Fantastic GB game, though the "Palm Trees" gave me troubles as a kid... I played it in french (game was titled Mystic Quest) but I don't remember how (bad?) the hint was translated... I'd say its main drawback is inventory management: frequent weapon switching and limited inventory spaces
I loved this game as a kid, but I definitely abused the fact that you could save at any time and burned myself by saving right before the final boss dealt a death blow to my character. Never did finish the game. 😂
Oh yay, I love this game. I played it as part of the Collection of Mana for Switch. It is a really impressively big game for being an early Game Boy release. And it's still really fun to play now ! The music is really great too. Also props on the GBC setup.
I'm so glad that more people are able to enjoy this one with the Switch release. I've been pretty impressed with almost every adventure-based Game Boy game I've played to date. They always do so much more than I'm expecting. And thanks about the setup! My husband's a bit of a tech wizard and set that up for me. I think the shots of the screen came out looking pretty nice!
This game had so many great moments. A gladiator turned hero, a brother playing music in memory of someone he lost, a brave automaton sinking into the depths after saving someone important, it really had it all. That is to say nothing at all of the amazing score of an adventure that more people should really have. Secret of Mana came close, but FFA still laps it easily. It did so much so easily. The folks at Square at that time just understood how to make games.
0:40 - Oh, uh... Oh dear... I guess it's a teensy bit late to mention this game was actually rereleased sometime back as part of Collection of Mana? Also as an aside, a few songs did also make it to Final Fantasy Theatrhythm
The main character name is Sumo with the heroine as Fuji. It's the first mainline game in the series (Secret of mana, Trials of Mana). Really loved this game when I was a kid and still remember the music on the back of my head. Thanks for reviewing and showcasing it. Can't wait for Visions of Mana!
The last dungeon was pretty longwinded but I eventually made it through. Glad you got to enjoy this one in part when you were younger. I'm convinced I would've adored this if I'd played it when I was little.
Oh dear, the Palm Tree 8 puzzle... The only time I ever called the Nintendo Power hotline (and they knew *immediately* what I was talking about :D). FWIW, in the German translation (The game is called "Mystic Quest" in Europe since we didn't get Final Fantasy until FF7) it's actually a lot better, but still to complex for my child brain, it says "Follow the 8 at the Palm trees". But yeah, this is one of the best Game Boy games, and I even enjoyed the modern remake on the PS Vita (Adventures of Mana) though of course when that one came out, it was criticized for being such a simple game. I still have Sword of Mana on my To-Do list, which apparently isn't a straight remake but more like a re-imagination of the original with some of the Secret of Mana ideas in it.
Oh that's funny that the German translation was actually a bit clearer! I don't know if that would've been enough of a push for me to clue in. I wonder how much money Nintendo made on that one puzzle, haha... probably paid for free lunches for a whole year! I'm really curious about the remakes of this one. I've heard mixed reviews but I'd like to see what they're all about sometime.
I did figure that one out at the time, but it wasn't because of the hint(even if the German hint was better), but because of the slight slowdown when walking around those palm trees - I figured something was up then and tried stuff out and suddenly cave open!
I played this in the Switch collection several years ago, but gave up on it after I managed to go to a place too early and couldn't figure out how to get back "on the path" (As an aside, I appreciate Collection of Mana giving you a palette beyond black & white for FFA, but wish it gave you more color options than "Default SGB")
Oh really? I wonder how you got out of sequence. When things first opened up, I had a really hard time figuring out where to go (that's the part I mentioned about going east and then north). I wandered for way too long. Otherwise, things felt pretty locked in. I hope if you start it over again sometime that you get through it. The ending was totally worth the trials of the rest of the game.
I beat this game for the first time last year on the Collection of Mana and I'm already nostalgic for the soundtrack. The biggest mistake I made was naming my Boy "Girl" and my Girl "Boy."
This was one of my favorite games on the Gameboy when I was young. It was a real treat being able to see someone experience it for the first time and see that they enjoyed it, as well!
one of the best game critics on this website easily. You've introduced me to a few gems. All your criticisms sounded totally fair but the review still got me really excited to try this game out!
Hooray! That's what I'm hoping to do: let people know about the games I enjoy and why I enjoyed them. If you play this, I hope it's a great experience!
I have owned this game since 1991 and it's the most cherished memory of the Gameboy from my childhood. It took me more than a year to finish it, and I was stuck for months on the "palm trees and 8" riddle, but it only added to the game's mystery and charm.
Awww that's great that you played it as a kid! If I hadn't stumbled into the solution for "palm trees and 8", I think I would've been stuck there a lot longer as well. Glad you eventually got through!
It was '98 or '99 when I borrowed this outstanding trilogy from my best friend, and it brought many days of new life into my old Gameboy. I remember playing it after school while waiting for my dad to finish work. I had many game systems, but nothing could match the portability of a Gameboy at that time. This game and the sequels were top tier Gameboy titles that deserve to be remembered.
Are you thinking of the Legend games? There are three of those on the Game Boy, but as far as I know, the sequels to Adventure were on the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom.
That damn Oasis riddle... I wandered around the desert aimlessly to find the answer. Took me so long that I had grinded up to level 65ish when I noticed that you very briefly stop on your track when you are are on the right spot doing what you have to do. I was so overleveled that I simply breezed through the rest of the game... except against that Lich fellow, who kept 2 hitting me.
I had a similar experience except that I kept trying to go around hitting all the palm trees 8 times and just happened to walk in a figure 8 around the two that mattered. I was overlevelled for a long time as well!
I haven't tried Legend of Mana yet, but it looks gorgeous based on what I've seen of it. I hope you enjoy this one in whatever form you tackle it in the future. I've heard mixed things about Sword of Mana, and people either seem to love it or hate it. And thanks so much for your kindness! I really enjoy making these reviews, so that kind of feedback means a lot.
@@hungrygoriya if you do play it, keep in mind its sort of an anthology of sort of 'short stories'. And... honestly, do not be ashamed to use a guide, there are some B.S. areas lol, and I say that as someone who loves the game! EDIT: I say playstation below, because the new remaster took out Co-Op play (which is a brutal loss, if you ask me) If you have a friend or partner, and can play it on playstation (or a MiSTer FPGA, or PS2, or PS3, or even Duckstation), it is some of the most enjoyable couch co-op I've ever had in my life. I still miss it, 22 years later haha. And the music, my gawd, the fact that Yoko Shimomura says its the OST that most represents her and how she feels just makes it all that bit more sweet. I would think of Legend of Mana as more of a... Diablo style game. like Diablo 1. Theres a narrative, and some threads, but its mostly just a fun romp of leveling, an adventure (less confined in a dungeon - though there are some settings like that) and getting new pets, and creating golems and crafting their A.I. with like a tetris like system, and crafting weapons, and armor, and magic instruments (you literally will magic into the world by playing mana-infused musical instruments!!!). God, I could go on all day Goriya! You'll love it. Just go into it with an open mind, and an open heart, and if you can, a friend or partner, and it is pure magic. Legendary, some might say :). " Pokiehl the poet told me that the town of Domina exists because I think so. People say this world isn't an illusion, but the Sproutlings know! If you can't find Domina, use your imagination to find it."
Had this as a kid and absolutely loved it. Fortunately I never soft locked my game but I do remember getting stuck for a bit due to vague instructions. Also, I had no clue that you could ask the tag along character and that action would be performed. Looking at your footage, I have forgotten a lot about this game and may replay it this weekend.
5:20-5:35 I have read that the Final Fantasy Adventure games on the Game Boy are actually part of the Mana series, which explains why it plays more like an Action-RPG and not a Turn-Based RPG.
Wow, I must have played this one DOZENS of times. Well done on going the extra mile to capture gameplay on a vintage device for that authentic 1991 feel.
Oh wow! I played it once and I need to let my soul heal from all the sadness the story delivers. And thanks about the original hardware footage. My husband's a wizard when it comes to this sort of stuff and I only have him to blame for that creativity. I think it looked pretty good!
Incidentally, nice to see another fan of that one Super Gameboy border with the cabin in the background. I often like to wait until it turns to night and continue playing with it in that state.
0:36 OK, that's frigging awesome. Props for going the extra mile! What controller did you wire up to the GBC? A NES one or something more modern? Also surprised that Link's Awakening is not on the short list. Does that not count because it doesn't have a stat/leveling progression outside of heart containers?
Thank you! My husband did all the magic for that setup, and we used a modified Sega Genesis controller. It was perfect with four buttons total with the D-pad. What's nice is that the Game Boy can go back to normal at any time as well since there are little solder points on the button connections. It's all reversible in a snap! I didn't include Link's Awakening with that group because I played it as a kid rather than over the past few years, though it's definitely a favourite of mine. Growing up, I used to play it under the kitchen window since that had the best light for most of the day.
@@hungrygoriyaI was lucky to get Link's Awakening as a kid. I had no idea about the series and just thought the box looked cool. First game that made me tear up with its ending reveal. 😊 BTW, I couldn't find your reviews of Survival Kids and River King so I hope you consider making them eventually. The games are both pretty unique/interesting!
I must have gotten extremely lucky with this as a kid because I was very young and managed to beat it without getting soft locked. This was actually one of the first games I beat on my own without help from my brothers.
Oh nice! I was really careful about saving after that incident I mentioned but it seemed like it could've been easy to get stuck. I'm glad you didn't have to suffer that fate.
What a nice coincidence, I just finished the Japanese version of this game on original cart. I can speak to the translation of the palm tree puzzle - in Japanese, the villager says "yashinoki, hachi no ji." It's a nice little sing-song phrase and it also has one additional drop of meaning - translated, it would come out to "Palm trees, shape of 8." BUT: because the game doesn't use kanji, and the word "ji" can mean lots of things, a non-native speaker like me still got stuck on this puzzle for a while. A friend of mine who knew the solution had to tell me I was onto something with translating "ji" as "shape," and once I had that idea in my head, I solved the puzzle pretty quickly. I also did not have much issue understanding Dr. Bowow / Bomboyaji's directions to the anemone beach, so I'm guessing there was a translation issue there as well. Loved this game, and I agree with your review points.
These are some great insights. I'm happy to know that the original text was a bit more illustrative. And Dr. Bowow's direction blunders might've just been a me problem. Maybe other people might've gone the right way immediately, but I wasn't really sure what he meant. I got really close to the town you're supposed to be going to but couldn't find a way in, so the way I went was definitely misleading. I wasn't sure if I was missing a way in on land or not, but it turned out I was supposed to go a different direction entirely, wrap around from the top of the map to the bottom again, and get in that way.
Nice review and again it bring back some memories :)! I never had a Game Boy, but the kid of a friend of my dad did and they lent me their Game Boy for some time and this game was included. I remember it being awesome, a bit like Zelda 1, but somewhat more streamlined (sidenote: I guess that Neutopia should have better tried to copy this game). I never got too far if I recall correctly, maybe I got a few weapos, but the cartridge had a save by the final boss, so that's something. Secret of Mana was/is one of my favorites games and it was great to know that FF Adventure was the first one in the line (no disappointment at all with the lack of FF pedigree). Fast forward to the future, just a few years ago I played the remake in an iPad and it was surprinsingly close to the original, I even got stuck without keys in one of the final dungeons xD. I don't remember if it had the palms riddle though.
Oh awesome that you got to play this one when you were younger! I think I would've adored it if I'd had the opportunity to try it when I was little, but better late than never. I'm sorry you got stuck without keys in the final dungeon! Oh no!! I only lost 20 minutes of progress when I ran into my softlock issue, but it was because the skeletons that drop keys were on the wrong side of the locked door. I couldn't find any other enemies that dropped keys on the other side.
@@hungrygoriya I think that something similar happened to me in the last dungeon too, the monsters with the keys weren't in the area. Fortunately (though we should call it good practice) I saved at the start of the dungeon, so I didn't lose too much time and was able to finish the game :). It's scary to think that you can end up in an unwinnable state (though right now I don't remember what happens if you die; if the game only lets you load saved games, then you can get screwed badly). Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful response :)
OMG what wonderful timing! I am playing through this game via Collection of Mana on Switch, and I was desperately looking for an in-depth review for this game. No matter the shortcomings of the Gameboy's two buttons and the outdated design decisions by the developers, I find the simplicity in its gameplay so refreshing and charming, To me it is a great companion piece to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, which has an equally strong and elegant marriage of story and gameplay. The only thing I actively hate about this game (besides that horrible dungeon music) is its name, which really hurts its searchability . I often confuse 'Final Fantasy Adventure' with 'Final Fantasy Legend" and even the European title 'Mystic Quest' does not help since there is a 'Final Fantasy Mystic Quest' is on the Super Nintendo. Therefore, I go with the Japanese title 'Seiken Densetsu'. Thank you for the awesome video Ms. Goriya! Love your videos 3000!!
The naming conventions between regions is super confusing, I agree. And I can only assume they tried jumping on the Final Fantasy name since it was well-established at the time, and put some moogles and chocobos in there for good measure. Other than that, there's nothing really "Final Fantasy" about it. I'm always in awe of what Game Boy adventure games turn out like. I always come into them with quiet expectations and am usually blown away by the end. They're always really good!
I need to finish this one of these years. I played thru about half of it on the Collection of Mana but got lost in one part, put it down, and never went back. Also thank you for the He-Man & Skeletor cameos. GG!
Yeah, there's one part where the game opens up a bit, and I got lost there for a little while because of those weird directions I was given. I hope you get back to it sometime and finish it. And you can thank my husband for both of those cameos... he's a menace!
I sold this game years ago because I really didnt enjoy it in the 90s. I watched the video to see what i missed. It still doesn't seem like anything i have the patience for but i appreciate what they were able to do on the Gameboy. I bought mine at launch, still play it...have about 80 games and of course usually play the same favorite 10 or so. Very good video.
Can relate with the save file situation. Years ago I was casually playing Phantasy Star II, emulated on my phone. At some point my actual in game save files became corrupted, however my sketchy emulator savestate file survived so I was forced to play the whole game with that. By the end the audio was starting to get erratic lol. As for FF Adventure. I have beaten this however I don't remember anything although I vaguely recall the mattock and inventory issues, as well as the 8 tree puzzle. Somehow I figured that out. Maybe I'll have to play this again
Ah booo :( I'm sorry you ran into troubles with Phantasy Star II. That's game's tough enough to get through without all that added stuff on top of it! If you do tackle FFA again sometime soon, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for checking out the video here!
4:56 This right here is why I got stuck at this part of the game for a few years as a kid. It was only with the magic of the internet I was able to find out what to do to progress. Needless to say, I was vastly overleveled for the rest of the game.
5:50 That song is driving me crazy... its like an edited version of the town song from Dragon Warrior 1 / Dragon Quest 1. Its like, Mozart, remaking Salieri's welcome march. Adding extra notes, removing a few, still keeping the pacing. lol
I actually only bought a copy of this game relatively later in life, like my mid 20's if I remember right, and I'm impressed how fun it really is, even with no nostalgia involved. A lot of old Gameboy games I own are.... just not great honestly, but when a GB game was good, it was REALLY good.
Game Boy games seem to always exceed my expectations. Rolan's Curse and Ninja Taro were the only two that didn't really do it for me, but everything else I've tried has been great!
you can shove people out of the way, by swinging your weapon at them. They do take damage, and will eventually explode the same way that monsters do, if you deal maybe 65535 damage to them or something (which results in the same dialogue as if you had bumped into them) , but most of the time your weapon will just move them out of the way.
GREAT video, and I absolutely love this game! This felt like SquareSoft's response to the Zelda craze. What a heckuva response! I grew up as a young kid playing this with my older brother, though oddly enough we didn't like Secret of Mana when we rented it the one time as kids. Compared to the great-feeling controls and combat, SoM felt very slippery and inprecise.
This was an awesome one for sure! I think I like this one a lot more than Secret of Mana as well, though I'm really curious to see what the third Mana game is like someday. I wonder if I'll like it more than FFAdventure!
As far as mattocks and keys are concerned, you can usually avoid being soft locked. Whenever your in a dungeon that needs those certain enemies will drop one or the other, so its just a matter of rng when planning fails. I totally understand not knowing that though, i dont think its explained anywhere. Edit: changed can't to something less definite lol
The one dungeon where I was stuck, the Skeleton enemies that drop keys were on the wrong side of the locked door. :( I couldn't find any others that dropped keys.
I remember borrowing this from my friend in highschool about 25 years ago. The annoyances mentioned in the video were all true but they didn't stop the game from being awesome and the story was great for a GB game. That figure 8 puzzle was the only pain but the rest of the game was brilliant.
Man I really do miss games with maps and lists of equipment on the back. My siblings would always pour over the map, looking for cool places to explore or set up a pretend house. And we'd always check the equipment and decide what 'our' loadout would be if we lived in that world, mostly going by how cool the weapon and armor pictures were. So even when we weren't playing the game, we were getting entertained by the box includes!
That's awesome! I loved looking at the map that game with The Legend of Zelda on NES as a kid too. I spent so much time wandering around that world growing up. I really loved the manuals too. I read through quite a few of those until they started falling apart! I miss those physical bits of video games that we just don't get anyomre.
My cousin give me this game in a car for a road trip, and I thought it was Zelda'y. Suprisingly, I really loved the Mana series games that would follow up after this. This was an awesome experience. STILL haven't beaten it, to this day!
Yeah, top-down perspective, sword swinging... I can see why you felt that way. It's a lot more than that though! I hope you get back to it sometime and finish it, if that's something you're hoping to do of course! I still need to play SD3 one of these days.
I think TH-cam might be phasing out comments. It's virtually gone from the mobile app, but I'm writing this via a workaround. That's a serious shame if so, especially for nostalgia channels like this. It'll motivate me to use the platform a lot less if so. Back on topic, I think this has a GBA remake? It's so much better, resembles SD3.
I've heard the remake's interesting, but also very different from this game. People seem pretty split on which version's better. I'd like to try it someday. I think it's called Sword of Mana.
One of my favorite games of all time, so much nostalgia. I spent months wondering around jad looking for the figure 8 thing, before internet could help out lmao. There was one time i forgot the game cart in my jeans and it went through the wash! X.x i was so devastated until it dried out and i found out it still ran perfect 👌 man so many memories
Goodness, old games are so resilient! I'm so glad your cart still worked after the trip through the washing machine. Thanks for sharing your memories too!
This is one of my favorite games, and my favorite action RPG. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :) Due to how the game reads any person who is not the main character, town NPCs count as monsters. You can kill them if you hit them enough. Also, poison isn't programmed properly in relation to your actions; if you continuously attack while poisoned, the game will be unable to read the status effect as active. This is easy with the sickle, or holding forward to stab with your sword. You can bypass poison with only one or two reductions of your HP while the status effect music plays.
This is one I wish I had when I first had my Game Boy. Fortunately I too have picked it up and did a good play through. It was actually kind of neat seeing all the sprites that I only knew from the sequel over on the SNES! Definitely worth a play though if you like the later games. I can’t believe I use to be able to play on that small lightless screen!
For anyone who wants to play the series without needing an elaborate set up then all you need is a Switch! It’s called “Collection of Mana” and it has the first three games all in one! There is also the “Secret of Mana Remake” out there, but I prefer the original on Collections. If you want to play more after that then a rerelease of the PS1 title “Legends of Mana” is available, and a great remake of the third game “Trials of Mana” bringing the series into 3D!
Guess I’ll quit my plug 😂 as you can see I am a huge Mana fan!
I used to play my Game Boy plugged in by the window at my kitchen table. It's amazing how much my eyeballs could tolerate back then too!
Thanks for the info! I'll pin your comment here so everyone can know where to find/play this one.
Was looking for this. Luckily it's pinned. Thanx
@@TheBathrobeWizard ya HG was kind enough to pin it, glad to be of service 😊
Yeah I didn't have an actual Gameboy for years, I played mainly on the Super Gameboy.
Memories of long night time car trips, me trying to turn on a light so I could play Gameboy in the back seat, and my parents yelling at me to turn it off because it reflected off the windshield =(
I got this game when I was 9 and remember every thing about it even 300 years later
Sometimes games just stick to your soul like that. Nice!
@hungrygoriya I give this game a 10/10 if you where a little one in the early 90s
Bro is some kinda time traveling vampire gameboy jrpg fan 😮
Lol good one
@@justinbladedemonsouldo you sometimes forget to breath?
When the Game Boy first came out and everyone at school was saying "Its such a downgrade from the NES" "There won't be able to do a big game like Zelda" Then this came along and everyone stopped saying that. I loaned this game out to sooooo many of my friends lol. After this came out we all realized that a Zelda game was possible and not long after Link's Awakening came along. This game holds a special place in my heart for giving me hope that the Game Boy could be just as fulfilling as the NES in my hand. And yes...that soundtrack is still burned into my brain more than 30 years down the road.
I loved the Game Boy! I had an NES and a Genesis growing up with a few games, and we ended up getting a Game Boy from a neighbour with a few things, LInk's Awakening included. It's still my favourite Zelda game to this very day and so many of the adventures I've played on it in the last decade or so have been great too. Thank you for sharing your memories! Also, your childhood friends were very lucky you lent them this one!
4:20 You can't shove townspeople out of the way, but you can knock them back by attacking them. If you hit them enough times they will perish, still saying their usual text. They respawn if you go offscreen and come back.
Me: *Hits villager 20 times with a sword*
Villager: *explodes* "Hello, young man! Welcome to Topple!"
😂 That’s hilarious! … and useful!
I never tried that, but I wish I had... haha
Reminds me of in secret of mana in the kakkara desert town i would push all the dancing motis together and watch em dance together
I guess that's one way to Topple intrusive townspeople who won't stop blocking the entrance to the item shop.
lol, you’re like me.
I remember getting this game for Easter in 1992 when I was 14 years old. I love this game and its playthrough, it was the closest thing to Zelda I had played that made me feel like it was an expansion of what that could have been.
I swear if I go digging through my old artwork from when I was a kid I can find the hand-drawn maps I made of the dungeons including the corners where the maddocks could break through the wall and into another room.
Thanks for the awesome video!
I made maps on grid paper I took from school back then!!!wish I kept them now haha..
Awww I wish you had too! I made a map of the desert in King's Quest V on NES when I was a kid and thankfully hung onto it, but I didn't have graph paper. I had to make my own grids! I still love doing that stuff.
Oh I hope you find them! That's cool that you went through so much effort to really map it all out with all the mattock walls too!
The original game came with a foldable paper map.
0:09 that domino was wonderful
Thank you! It was fun to set up!
@hungrygoriya how many takes?
Hi there Goriya! This was my all time favorite Game Boy game growing up. The very end of the game was probably the first time I ever cried at a video game as a kid. Much later as an adult it was incredible to learn it was a Seiken Densetsu game and not really a Final Fantasy game. It also made me so happy later on in the GBA generation when they released the remake, Sword of Mana. I need to play through both of these again. Thanks for the great video as always Goriya.
The ending was so sad. I cried too! I've also heard a lot of things about Sword of Mana that have intrigued me but I haven't taken the plunge yet because I just got through this one and want to give myself a little breathing room before I put myself through all that again, haha
For sure. Lots of QOL improvements for a much smoother experience and the art style of Legend of Mana. Also the ability to play as the female lead and have a different POV of the game is fantastic.
Anyways, keep up the awesome work HG. I need to start watching the Twitch streams again. Work has been hellishly busy lately.
I can't express how happy I am to see you review this game. This was one of the first games I ever beat as a child!
I still have my original childhood cartridge and I managed to transfer the save to my computer with a dumper. Forever made me a fan of the mana series. The opening theme song has lived rent free in my head for 33 years, I hummed it to my children as a lullaby.
Awww it clearly had a huge impact on you! It's a great one, so I definitely understand why.
Your complaint about chatty townspeople perfectly mirrors my own feelings about encountering real life humans.
I hear ya!
Too real, too relatable...
Move to a city. Strangers won't even make eye contact: it's great 😁
:(
Just push em outta the way like she said. Nothing bad will happen. I promise
Your taste in gaming is awesome. I played this the month it came out and enjoyed it thoroughly. My biggest gripe was tilting my original GB to the perfect lighting angle to see the screen for 20 hours as the Super GameBoy was not available yet.
Right right! I didn't grow up with an SNES, so I spent a lot of my younger days playing my Game Boy in the kitchen under the window at my parents' house. I played Link's Awakening back then so I feel your pain!
That streaming set up is so cool
Thanks so much! I only have my husband and his mad scientist tendencies to blame for that bit of creativity. It made for a few interesting streams though!
Ah, trapped by a villager in a town. No classic RPG experience is complete without this moment. I remember watching your stream with the palm tree puzzle. Thought we were going to stay there forever. 😅 Personally I like the idea of a poison effect that deals deadly damage. One of my pet peeves in video games in general is negative status effects that can just be ignored. Like when your character is "blind" but still consistently hits the enemy.
I'm currently playing through Final Fantasy V, and the fact that I can shove townspeople is so vindicating after playing this!
But about the status effects, I agree! It's neat when there's actually a risk to what enemies are trying to do to you. The one game that I feel had crazy status effects was Sailor Moon: Another Story on the Super Famicom. They were incredibly effective there, especially the poison as well. It brings a new level of risk to the experience for sure.
This game was remade twice. First as Sword of Mana on the GBA and then again as a top down 3D game called Adventures Of Mana. Sword Of Mana is like a reimagining of the game while Adventures Of Mana stays much closer to the original. I got softlocked in the last dungeon of the game! I ran out of keys.
It was so hard to plan how many keys to bring. Sorry that happened :(
Did now know about those versions! Geez now I’m on the hunt for even more versions 😊
Thanks for bringing thses up. Adventures of Mana is the remake, but I think you're right in listing Sword of Mana as a "reimagining". The best description I have for it is that it takes the "Final Fantasy" out of the game and replaces it with elements from the then-established Mana series. I actually like that there were 2 remakes, because it lets you choose your style.
@@zeliardforty-two4692 Sword of Mana is incredible. It's one of the best GBA games in the library.
Arent there monsters who can spawn keys?
Man… listening to that music brings back so many memories. Thank you so much for posting this.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
I also just played this game recently!
Thanks for the timely review!
My pleasure! I hope you had a nice time with it.
I snorted at the angry faced He-Man popping up looking like he was passing an especially difficult stool.
Those 80s toy casts were certainly something. One of my He-Man's eye has always looked a little squished.
Great review! Definitely gonna check it out 🎉
Awww thanks so much for the tip! I hope you enjoy your adventuring!
I remember being stuck at the palm trees 8 clue for days until a friend on the school bus told me the solution, ah those pre-internet days!
Yeah! I didn't have a lot of friends into gaming back then so I had very few of those moments myself. I remember just being stuck forever in lots of my childhood games and looking stuff up when the internet came around, haha
That was walking in an "8" around the two palm trees, right?
Nintendo Power was a lifesaver for me with this game, ended up being the go to for gaming info because of it. Even would get multiple phone calls from friends about this exact puzzle lol.
I either had to contact the Nintendo helpline or read it in Nintendo Power. Been so long that I dont remember which. But pretty sure it was the helpline
i found a copy of Nintendo Power with the solution, but mom wouldn't let me read it in the store and i didn't have the money to buy it - she said it was stealing to read a magazine without buying it
This was the first game I played that hit me in the feels and made me realise games could be more than *just* fun. In the UK it's just called 'Mystic Quest' so I had no idea it had anything to do with Final Fantasy until many years after first playing it.
There were so many sad moments in this game, but the worst by far was the ending. I had a good cry after I finished it. I love how different regions got different titles! Back when I first started looking into Game Boy stuff, Final Fantasy Adventure and the Legend games confused me since I thought I knew all the Final Fantasy releases. I'm glad I did a little research and now I have them all.
I've been saving this to watch with coffee on a nice Saturday morning. Great as always, HG!
Thank you very much! I hope the coffee was good too.
This was one of the first games RPG style games I fell in love with (Final Fantasy Legend being the first) and was so excited to see you cover this! Happy you enjoyed it so much. It's been 30 years or so since I first finished it and can still remember exactly where I was sitting and how much an impact it made on 10 year old me.
Awww! I'm so glad you got to experience this game when you were young. I really loved this game, especially the story and characters. I think I would've really enjoyed it if I'd had the opportunity to play it as a kid. Lucky!
This was a favorite of mine as a kid. So glad to hear you had a great time with it!
It's so good! I understand why you love it so much!
8:55 ah yes, why game instruction manuals were actually valuable, and why it's so sad that they've been reduced to little more than a warranty and legal information pamphlet for the few games that are given physical releases at all.
Yeah, it's a bummer. I used to read my NES manuals all the time until they fell apart.
Great review! I'm glad you're getting the community support you deserve
Awww thank you!
My favorite Gameboy game and probably favorite game of the Mana series as well.
I haven't played the third Mana game yet, but so far, this one's my favourite.
@@hungrygoriya It's very ambitious, I would only say this. And I think it was meant to be replayed, but I only played it once.
Excellent and thoughtful video as always! Thank you! Such a classic.
Awww that's very nice of you to say! Thank you!
@@hungrygoriyayou are very welcome! 😊
I love the video and your take on the game. Your editing is amazing, really awesome job
Hey thank you very much! That's very kind!
Your review are calming as always.
I have yet to play this game, but I do believe I read "always save 4 keys" somewhere when reading about this game. As I was watching your review I immediately remembered that.
Hey thanks so much! I appreciate the kind words. And always saving four keys is a great rule of thumb. The person who wrote those words was very smart!
I'm late to the show on your channel. Showed up on my feed about a week ago. Love your style and even though we don't see eye to eye on every thing about some games your reviews are well thought out and give me reason to look at my own views of certain games. Am running through your play reviews. Thanks for the informative and entertaining look back at games I played years ago ( decades ).
Awww well I'm glad you found me here. I try to keep these videos personal and am never out to convince anyone to change their minds on how they feel about games. I'm just giving my own opinion about my experience and hopefully that's an interesting perspective! I appreciate the kind and thoughtful comment too.
This is one of my favorite GB games growing up. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I really did! I totally get why it'd be one of your favourites. It's now one of mine as well.
Oh man, I was so into this game as a kid! Glad you were able to experience it and that you enjoyed it.
I really did love this one. I cried at the ending and everything. It was great!
Me too! But I owned the Seiken Densetsu one and for God I don't know how I finish it without read anything 😂
I've watched a few of your videos over the years and for some reason always assumed you had 100k+ subscribers. Just noticed the actual number... and subscribed.
Hey thanks for subscribing! That's a very kind sentiment. Maybe someday that many more people will find me, but I'm happy with how it's been going here.
Good god I got Final Fantasy Adventure when I was 7 with a handful of other games that were super discounted at K Mart. It was Mega Man Xtreme, Final Fantasy Adventure, and Dragon Warrior 2 Tara's Adventure. This was such a great review, and damn that music is still timeless.
Oh wow! That KMart adventure sounds like it was a memorable one for you. Thanks so much about the review. I'm glad you enjoyed!
Another great view. You really are one of the best reviewers around...keep it up! I am a little surprised it took you so long to play this game. It's such a classic that I would have been sure you had already played it...one of the best Game Boy games, if not the best
I grew up gaming, but I had the same handful of games for the systems we had almost my entire life. It's only in the last decade or so that I've really upped the collecting and found out about a lot of the games I missed out on back then, this being one of them.
And thanks so much for your kindness! I'm glad you're enjoying the channel here.
Good review. I especially enjoyed your attention to the musical component and your generosity sharing those game recommendations.Thanks for the video!
My pleasure! Thanks so much for watching!
Let’s gooooooooooooooo new hungry goriya video!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the hype!
This was my favorite long road trip game as a kid. Whenever I had to sit in the back of a car crossing multiple state lines and then spend several nights in a hotel room, Tetris just wouldn't cut it. I actually tried that again when I went on vacation not that long ago because I was feeling nostalgic and I had forgotten both how long this game is and how difficult it is to see the screen in any kind of shifting lighting on the classic Game Boy because it wasn't backlit. Getting home and finishing it on Super Game Boy was much easier on my eyes at my age.
So funny how little we can tolerate now that we tolerated as kids eh? I used to play Link's Awakening plugged into an outlet under a bright kitchen window growing up. I can't imagine taking the Game Boy out on car trips. The Super Game Boy was a big positive change for me! As soon as I discovered it existed back in the day, I was on the lookout.
I played this game back in the day, I love how far the host bends over backwards to find good points. I mean, the line, “The airship flew West,” is provided as a bit of the story SO GOOD, SO UTTERLY PERFECT that was shown on-screen to illustrate the might of that game’s plot. So fantastic that I’m sure a number of new converts just went out to buy a copy so they could see if that lines was equally mind-blowing on original hardware.
I don't know if getting directions from an NPC is really what made me like the game's story, but I don't like putting spoilers in my reviews either and didn't get into the specifics. Lots of the touching sacrifices of the characters you meet that ensure you got to finish the quest were what made the story great. A clear translation helps too.
I do hope more people play this game. It's available in lots of different forms for people to enjoy.
So glad you found this one!! Easily one of the strongest titles on the Game Boy. The soundtrack still blows my mind, considering the limitations of the hardware and memory.
Growing up with this, the palm trees and 8 had my brother and I stuck for months. It wasn’t until we came across a game magazine in an electronics boutique that explained the message that we finally were able to figure it out. Also, accidentally soft locked on the final boss fight - Ugh! Oh well, playing through again was not a terrible experience at all.
Still play through this one every other year or so. This game scratched a lot of the itches for a proper RPG that Legend missed. It’s the one I always end up coming back to.
I absolutely loved it. It's just a shame it took me so long to play it, but better late than never!
I'm glad you eventually found the solution to the palm trees and 8 problem, even if it was a little unconventional. Nice work! And I'm so, so sorry that you got yourself stuck on the final boss fight. Did you save in the room with him? I did that once in Final Fantasy Legend, but with a boss that was a huge difficulty spike. It took me two hours to get lucky enough to get out :(
I can see myself playing through this again in the future, definitely. It's quick enough to pick up and play without feeling like it's going to eat up weeks of my life. Thanks for sharing some memories with me!
Yeah, saved right on top of his spawn point! This was all pre-internet so we had no idea what we were doing.
As an aside, thanks for refraining from the Zelda comparisons. This game is completely different, and I don’t think a lot of modern reviewers really understand the context of what was out at the time and how cutting edge this actually was. I mean, the only options were really sides scroll, top down, and isometric.
@@mumm-ratheeverliving3138 Nooooo that's the worst :( I saw that happen to a friend playing Ys 1, but it happened on a random enemy spawn point and he died every time he loaded up his game. It was so sad.
And thank you for noticing! I think there are so many better ways to talk about games rather than comparing them to other games. This is really nothing like Zelda apart from the perspective similarity! Calling a game a Zelda Clone or Metroidvania feels really lazy if you're taking the time to review something.
Thanks!
Hey thank you so much for the tip!
@@hungrygoriya no problem! Your videos are consistently some of the most thoughtful and well-presented of countless retro gaming channels on TH-cam. I always look forward to the work you put in.
Love it when you release an episode, but love it so much more when, like this, its a game I used to have. I had never played a FF before, and got this on the strength of the name alone. I had no idea it wasn't legit until many many years later. I have some fond memories playing it, but never got very far.
Funny how influential the Final Fantasy name has become eh? I think you still got a fantastic game regardless of its legitimacy. And on the bright side, it's still the beginning of the beloved Mana series anyway! I hope you get a chance to play it through sometime if that's something you've been wanting to do.
@@hungrygoriya I have picked up the steam port last time it was on sale, and do play to run through it that way eventually.
I loved this game as a youngling, and really got into the story as young, hopeful adventures tend to be. I love this review from you, as you're always in depth with your own natural charm.❤
So glad you enjoyed the video and this game when you were little. I wish I'd gotten to play it back when I was young too.
Great review! I got this back when it was new and it was a godsend because my parents took us on a long vacation where I had to stay in for hours every day with nothing to do but play the Game Boy, and luckily I had Final Fantasy Adventure, which I beat. Great memories, but my judgement may be slightly tainted by nostalgia.
Oh thank goodness, haha... this is a good game to have on board for a long adventure. I have no nostalgia for this game since I just played it for the first time recently, but I thought it was great. I imagine your nostalgia's not swaying your opinion too heavily. It deserves a "great" ranking!
Strong video start, with the best music of the game :D
Fantastic GB game, though the "Palm Trees" gave me troubles as a kid... I played it in french (game was titled Mystic Quest) but I don't remember how (bad?) the hint was translated...
I'd say its main drawback is inventory management: frequent weapon switching and limited inventory spaces
I loved this game as a kid, but I definitely abused the fact that you could save at any time and burned myself by saving right before the final boss dealt a death blow to my character. Never did finish the game. 😂
Noooooooooo that's horrible :( I'm so sorry that happened to you.
Oh yay, I love this game. I played it as part of the Collection of Mana for Switch. It is a really impressively big game for being an early Game Boy release. And it's still really fun to play now ! The music is really great too. Also props on the GBC setup.
I'm so glad that more people are able to enjoy this one with the Switch release. I've been pretty impressed with almost every adventure-based Game Boy game I've played to date. They always do so much more than I'm expecting.
And thanks about the setup! My husband's a bit of a tech wizard and set that up for me. I think the shots of the screen came out looking pretty nice!
This game had so many great moments. A gladiator turned hero, a brother playing music in memory of someone he lost, a brave automaton sinking into the depths after saving someone important, it really had it all. That is to say nothing at all of the amazing score of an adventure that more people should really have. Secret of Mana came close, but FFA still laps it easily. It did so much so easily. The folks at Square at that time just understood how to make games.
I agree. The story here is wonderful, and the characters all had really meaningful and impactful parts to play. It's a pretty special experience!
0:40 - Oh, uh... Oh dear... I guess it's a teensy bit late to mention this game was actually rereleased sometime back as part of Collection of Mana?
Also as an aside, a few songs did also make it to Final Fantasy Theatrhythm
I always try to play the originals if I've collected them, so no uh oh necessary! No Game Boys were permanently harmed in the making of this video!
The main character name is Sumo with the heroine as Fuji. It's the first mainline game in the series (Secret of mana, Trials of Mana). Really loved this game when I was a kid and still remember the music on the back of my head. Thanks for reviewing and showcasing it. Can't wait for Visions of Mana!
Visions of Mana looks like it's going to be great!
Thanks for sharing! Never beat this one but always loved playing it, especially when I found out it was the first game in the Mana series.
The last dungeon was pretty longwinded but I eventually made it through. Glad you got to enjoy this one in part when you were younger. I'm convinced I would've adored this if I'd played it when I was little.
Love your work, thank you as always!
Thank you for watching!
Oh dear, the Palm Tree 8 puzzle... The only time I ever called the Nintendo Power hotline (and they knew *immediately* what I was talking about :D). FWIW, in the German translation (The game is called "Mystic Quest" in Europe since we didn't get Final Fantasy until FF7) it's actually a lot better, but still to complex for my child brain, it says "Follow the 8 at the Palm trees". But yeah, this is one of the best Game Boy games, and I even enjoyed the modern remake on the PS Vita (Adventures of Mana) though of course when that one came out, it was criticized for being such a simple game. I still have Sword of Mana on my To-Do list, which apparently isn't a straight remake but more like a re-imagination of the original with some of the Secret of Mana ideas in it.
Stumped me as a kid too -- only problem was I did it backwards, lol.
Oh that's funny that the German translation was actually a bit clearer! I don't know if that would've been enough of a push for me to clue in. I wonder how much money Nintendo made on that one puzzle, haha... probably paid for free lunches for a whole year! I'm really curious about the remakes of this one. I've heard mixed reviews but I'd like to see what they're all about sometime.
I did figure that one out at the time, but it wasn't because of the hint(even if the German hint was better), but because of the slight slowdown when walking around those palm trees - I figured something was up then and tried stuff out and suddenly cave open!
I could not click this video quick enough seeing the topic. Love the game and love your reviews!
Awww thanks! I hope the video was enjoyable!
@@hungrygoriya Very much so. Your reviews are always entertaining and insightful. Thank you very much!
I played this in the Switch collection several years ago, but gave up on it after I managed to go to a place too early and couldn't figure out how to get back "on the path"
(As an aside, I appreciate Collection of Mana giving you a palette beyond black & white for FFA, but wish it gave you more color options than "Default SGB")
Oh really? I wonder how you got out of sequence. When things first opened up, I had a really hard time figuring out where to go (that's the part I mentioned about going east and then north). I wandered for way too long. Otherwise, things felt pretty locked in. I hope if you start it over again sometime that you get through it. The ending was totally worth the trials of the rest of the game.
I beat this game for the first time last year on the Collection of Mana and I'm already nostalgic for the soundtrack.
The biggest mistake I made was naming my Boy "Girl" and my Girl "Boy."
The music was so, so good. Definitely a highlight for this experience for me!
There's funnier names you can give them
@@TonyTheTGR ok
Still one of my favorite memories on the GB. Love your channel!
Awww thanks very much! I appreciate the kind comment!
This was one of my favorite games on the Gameboy when I was young. It was a real treat being able to see someone experience it for the first time and see that they enjoyed it, as well!
I think it's one of my favourites now. Thanks so much for coming along on the adventure with me!
I remember this game fondly.
...Including being very paranoid about savegames. Despite being less than ten years old. This game was scary.
Save paranoia is real!
one of the best game critics on this website easily. You've introduced me to a few gems. All your criticisms sounded totally fair but the review still got me really excited to try this game out!
Hooray! That's what I'm hoping to do: let people know about the games I enjoy and why I enjoyed them. If you play this, I hope it's a great experience!
I have owned this game since 1991 and it's the most cherished memory of the Gameboy from my childhood. It took me more than a year to finish it, and I was stuck for months on the "palm trees and 8" riddle, but it only added to the game's mystery and charm.
Awww that's great that you played it as a kid! If I hadn't stumbled into the solution for "palm trees and 8", I think I would've been stuck there a lot longer as well. Glad you eventually got through!
It was '98 or '99 when I borrowed this outstanding trilogy from my best friend, and it brought many days of new life into my old Gameboy. I remember playing it after school while waiting for my dad to finish work. I had many game systems, but nothing could match the portability of a Gameboy at that time. This game and the sequels were top tier Gameboy titles that deserve to be remembered.
Are you thinking of the Legend games? There are three of those on the Game Boy, but as far as I know, the sequels to Adventure were on the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom.
That damn Oasis riddle... I wandered around the desert aimlessly to find the answer. Took me so long that I had grinded up to level 65ish when I noticed that you very briefly stop on your track when you are are on the right spot doing what you have to do. I was so overleveled that I simply breezed through the rest of the game... except against that Lich fellow, who kept 2 hitting me.
I had a similar experience except that I kept trying to go around hitting all the palm trees 8 times and just happened to walk in a figure 8 around the two that mattered. I was overlevelled for a long time as well!
I ended up attacking A LOT of villagers just to knock them out of my way and avoid conversations.
Apparently I never thought to try attacking them!
@@hungrygoriya you can even defeat them, if you keep attacking for hours! XD
Wow. You finally got to my favorite nostalgic game. Thank you so much.
My pleasure! This is a fantastic game and it's nice that I finally got around to playing it.
The first mana game
I haven't tried Legend of Mana yet, but it looks gorgeous based on what I've seen of it. I hope you enjoy this one in whatever form you tackle it in the future. I've heard mixed things about Sword of Mana, and people either seem to love it or hate it.
And thanks so much for your kindness! I really enjoy making these reviews, so that kind of feedback means a lot.
@@hungrygoriya if you do play it, keep in mind its sort of an anthology of sort of 'short stories'. And... honestly, do not be ashamed to use a guide, there are some B.S. areas lol, and I say that as someone who loves the game!
EDIT: I say playstation below, because the new remaster took out Co-Op play (which is a brutal loss, if you ask me)
If you have a friend or partner, and can play it on playstation (or a MiSTer FPGA, or PS2, or PS3, or even Duckstation), it is some of the most enjoyable couch co-op I've ever had in my life. I still miss it, 22 years later haha. And the music, my gawd, the fact that Yoko Shimomura says its the OST that most represents her and how she feels just makes it all that bit more sweet.
I would think of Legend of Mana as more of a... Diablo style game. like Diablo 1. Theres a narrative, and some threads, but its mostly just a fun romp of leveling, an adventure (less confined in a dungeon - though there are some settings like that) and getting new pets, and creating golems and crafting their A.I. with like a tetris like system, and crafting weapons, and armor, and magic instruments (you literally will magic into the world by playing mana-infused musical instruments!!!). God, I could go on all day Goriya! You'll love it. Just go into it with an open mind, and an open heart, and if you can, a friend or partner, and it is pure magic. Legendary, some might say :).
" Pokiehl the poet told me that the town of Domina exists because I think so. People say this world isn't an illusion, but the Sproutlings know! If you can't find Domina, use your imagination to find it."
Had this as a kid and absolutely loved it. Fortunately I never soft locked my game but I do remember getting stuck for a bit due to vague instructions. Also, I had no clue that you could ask the tag along character and that action would be performed. Looking at your footage, I have forgotten a lot about this game and may replay it this weekend.
I hope you enjoy the replay and reaping the benefits of your tag-alongs. They do some pretty helpful stuff.
5:20-5:35 I have read that the Final Fantasy Adventure games on the Game Boy are actually part of the Mana series, which explains why it plays more like an Action-RPG and not a Turn-Based RPG.
Yep, it's technically Seiken Densetsu 1 (the game that game before Secret of Mana).
There was only 1 game. The other two (Legend) were the start of the SaGa series.
Wow, I must have played this one DOZENS of times. Well done on going the extra mile to capture gameplay on a vintage device for that authentic 1991 feel.
Oh wow! I played it once and I need to let my soul heal from all the sadness the story delivers. And thanks about the original hardware footage. My husband's a wizard when it comes to this sort of stuff and I only have him to blame for that creativity. I think it looked pretty good!
I first played this as the remake "Sword of Mana" and it's an awesome game. It's awesome that you're reviewing it.
I'll have to try out Sword of Mana one day. I enjoy starting with the original before trying a remake.
Incidentally, nice to see another fan of that one Super Gameboy border with the cabin in the background. I often like to wait until it turns to night and continue playing with it in that state.
That one's pretty nice. I like that and the regular Game Boy background.
0:36 OK, that's frigging awesome. Props for going the extra mile! What controller did you wire up to the GBC? A NES one or something more modern?
Also surprised that Link's Awakening is not on the short list. Does that not count because it doesn't have a stat/leveling progression outside of heart containers?
Thank you! My husband did all the magic for that setup, and we used a modified Sega Genesis controller. It was perfect with four buttons total with the D-pad. What's nice is that the Game Boy can go back to normal at any time as well since there are little solder points on the button connections. It's all reversible in a snap!
I didn't include Link's Awakening with that group because I played it as a kid rather than over the past few years, though it's definitely a favourite of mine. Growing up, I used to play it under the kitchen window since that had the best light for most of the day.
@@hungrygoriyaI was lucky to get Link's Awakening as a kid. I had no idea about the series and just thought the box looked cool. First game that made me tear up with its ending reveal. 😊
BTW, I couldn't find your reviews of Survival Kids and River King so I hope you consider making them eventually. The games are both pretty unique/interesting!
I must have gotten extremely lucky with this as a kid because I was very young and managed to beat it without getting soft locked. This was actually one of the first games I beat on my own without help from my brothers.
Oh nice! I was really careful about saving after that incident I mentioned but it seemed like it could've been easy to get stuck. I'm glad you didn't have to suffer that fate.
What a nice coincidence, I just finished the Japanese version of this game on original cart. I can speak to the translation of the palm tree puzzle - in Japanese, the villager says "yashinoki, hachi no ji." It's a nice little sing-song phrase and it also has one additional drop of meaning - translated, it would come out to "Palm trees, shape of 8." BUT: because the game doesn't use kanji, and the word "ji" can mean lots of things, a non-native speaker like me still got stuck on this puzzle for a while. A friend of mine who knew the solution had to tell me I was onto something with translating "ji" as "shape," and once I had that idea in my head, I solved the puzzle pretty quickly.
I also did not have much issue understanding Dr. Bowow / Bomboyaji's directions to the anemone beach, so I'm guessing there was a translation issue there as well.
Loved this game, and I agree with your review points.
These are some great insights. I'm happy to know that the original text was a bit more illustrative. And Dr. Bowow's direction blunders might've just been a me problem. Maybe other people might've gone the right way immediately, but I wasn't really sure what he meant. I got really close to the town you're supposed to be going to but couldn't find a way in, so the way I went was definitely misleading. I wasn't sure if I was missing a way in on land or not, but it turned out I was supposed to go a different direction entirely, wrap around from the top of the map to the bottom again, and get in that way.
Nice review and again it bring back some memories :)! I never had a Game Boy, but the kid of a friend of my dad did and they lent me their Game Boy for some time and this game was included. I remember it being awesome, a bit like Zelda 1, but somewhat more streamlined (sidenote: I guess that Neutopia should have better tried to copy this game). I never got too far if I recall correctly, maybe I got a few weapos, but the cartridge had a save by the final boss, so that's something. Secret of Mana was/is one of my favorites games and it was great to know that FF Adventure was the first one in the line (no disappointment at all with the lack of FF pedigree).
Fast forward to the future, just a few years ago I played the remake in an iPad and it was surprinsingly close to the original, I even got stuck without keys in one of the final dungeons xD. I don't remember if it had the palms riddle though.
Oh awesome that you got to play this one when you were younger! I think I would've adored it if I'd had the opportunity to try it when I was little, but better late than never. I'm sorry you got stuck without keys in the final dungeon! Oh no!! I only lost 20 minutes of progress when I ran into my softlock issue, but it was because the skeletons that drop keys were on the wrong side of the locked door. I couldn't find any other enemies that dropped keys on the other side.
@@hungrygoriya I think that something similar happened to me in the last dungeon too, the monsters with the keys weren't in the area. Fortunately (though we should call it good practice) I saved at the start of the dungeon, so I didn't lose too much time and was able to finish the game :). It's scary to think that you can end up in an unwinnable state (though right now I don't remember what happens if you die; if the game only lets you load saved games, then you can get screwed badly).
Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful response :)
OMG what wonderful timing! I am playing through this game via Collection of Mana on Switch, and I was desperately looking for an in-depth review for this game. No matter the shortcomings of the Gameboy's two buttons and the outdated design decisions by the developers, I find the simplicity in its gameplay so refreshing and charming, To me it is a great companion piece to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, which has an equally strong and elegant marriage of story and gameplay.
The only thing I actively hate about this game (besides that horrible dungeon music) is its name, which really hurts its searchability . I often confuse 'Final Fantasy Adventure' with 'Final Fantasy Legend" and even the European title 'Mystic Quest' does not help since there is a 'Final Fantasy Mystic Quest' is on the Super Nintendo. Therefore, I go with the Japanese title 'Seiken Densetsu'.
Thank you for the awesome video Ms. Goriya! Love your videos 3000!!
The naming conventions between regions is super confusing, I agree. And I can only assume they tried jumping on the Final Fantasy name since it was well-established at the time, and put some moogles and chocobos in there for good measure. Other than that, there's nothing really "Final Fantasy" about it.
I'm always in awe of what Game Boy adventure games turn out like. I always come into them with quiet expectations and am usually blown away by the end. They're always really good!
I need to finish this one of these years. I played thru about half of it on the Collection of Mana but got lost in one part, put it down, and never went back. Also thank you for the He-Man & Skeletor cameos. GG!
Yeah, there's one part where the game opens up a bit, and I got lost there for a little while because of those weird directions I was given. I hope you get back to it sometime and finish it.
And you can thank my husband for both of those cameos... he's a menace!
@@hungrygoriya maybe after I finish FF9....and 10...and 10-2...and 12...
I sold this game years ago because I really didnt enjoy it in the 90s. I watched the video to see what i missed. It still doesn't seem like anything i have the patience for but i appreciate what they were able to do on the Gameboy. I bought mine at launch, still play it...have about 80 games and of course usually play the same favorite 10 or so. Very good video.
Not every game will be for every person. I'm glad yours made it to someone who will play and enjoy it!
@@hungrygoriya true! But I enjoyed seeing it. Thanks
This is such a well made video with heart
Awww thank you!
What a special surprise to see a Hungry Goriya video 😁I clicked immediately!!!
Thanks for taking the time! I appreciate it!
Thank you for taking us through your adventure!
My pleasure!
Can relate with the save file situation. Years ago I was casually playing Phantasy Star II, emulated on my phone. At some point my actual in game save files became corrupted, however my sketchy emulator savestate file survived so I was forced to play the whole game with that. By the end the audio was starting to get erratic lol. As for FF Adventure. I have beaten this however I don't remember anything although I vaguely recall the mattock and inventory issues, as well as the 8 tree puzzle. Somehow I figured that out. Maybe I'll have to play this again
Ah booo :( I'm sorry you ran into troubles with Phantasy Star II. That's game's tough enough to get through without all that added stuff on top of it!
If you do tackle FFA again sometime soon, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for checking out the video here!
4:56
This right here is why I got stuck at this part of the game for a few years as a kid. It was only with the magic of the internet I was able to find out what to do to progress. Needless to say, I was vastly overleveled for the rest of the game.
I got stuck in a few point and clicks growing up for months and months until the internet came around. I'm glad you eventually got through!
4:12 ah so that's where Skyward Sword got the idea.
Wow the song at the end was like, the slowed-down emotional version of Bloody Tears XD
A sad and wistful Bloody Tears, perhaps...
editing and production quality looking good😎
Oh thank you! I like to try new stuff with every new video. My husband's been helping me set up some cool shots too. I appreciate the feedback!
5:50 That song is driving me crazy... its like an edited version of the town song from Dragon Warrior 1 / Dragon Quest 1.
Its like, Mozart, remaking Salieri's welcome march. Adding extra notes, removing a few, still keeping the pacing. lol
I actually only bought a copy of this game relatively later in life, like my mid 20's if I remember right, and I'm impressed how fun it really is, even with no nostalgia involved. A lot of old Gameboy games I own are.... just not great honestly, but when a GB game was good, it was REALLY good.
Game Boy games seem to always exceed my expectations. Rolan's Curse and Ninja Taro were the only two that didn't really do it for me, but everything else I've tried has been great!
What a lovely video. Thank you!
Thanks for checking it out!
an all-time fave! loved this game as a youth. can't wait to watch the review!
"if i'd had this one as a kid, i don't think i would have been able to put it down"... i know i couldn't! glad you liked it
I hope you enjoyed the video. I think I would've adored this as a kid too!
you can shove people out of the way, by swinging your weapon at them. They do take damage, and will eventually explode the same way that monsters do, if you deal maybe 65535 damage to them or something (which results in the same dialogue as if you had bumped into them) , but most of the time your weapon will just move them out of the way.
I guess I never thought to try harming the townspeople! Interesting!
Wonderful job on your review as always, Hungry!
Thank you very much! I appreciate you taking the time to check out my videos, good sir.
GREAT video, and I absolutely love this game! This felt like SquareSoft's response to the Zelda craze. What a heckuva response! I grew up as a young kid playing this with my older brother, though oddly enough we didn't like Secret of Mana when we rented it the one time as kids. Compared to the great-feeling controls and combat, SoM felt very slippery and inprecise.
This was an awesome one for sure! I think I like this one a lot more than Secret of Mana as well, though I'm really curious to see what the third Mana game is like someday. I wonder if I'll like it more than FFAdventure!
As far as mattocks and keys are concerned, you can usually avoid being soft locked. Whenever your in a dungeon that needs those certain enemies will drop one or the other, so its just a matter of rng when planning fails. I totally understand not knowing that though, i dont think its explained anywhere.
Edit: changed can't to something less definite lol
The one dungeon where I was stuck, the Skeleton enemies that drop keys were on the wrong side of the locked door. :( I couldn't find any others that dropped keys.
@@hungrygoriya oh I hadn't considered that possibility, I guess it's a close swing and a miss for the devs on that one then 😅
I remember borrowing this from my friend in highschool about 25 years ago.
The annoyances mentioned in the video were all true but they didn't stop the game from being awesome and the story was great for a GB game. That figure 8 puzzle was the only pain but the rest of the game was brilliant.
Yeah, I really loved this game even with its little flaws. They don't add up to anything significant to ruin the experience.
Played this in the early 90s. It was my first RPG and I loved it. Holds a special place in my heart.
Understandably. It's a really great game. I'm glad you got to experience it back when it was new!
The first appearance of the Chocobo in the US
Given the bond you develop with your pet it was a great introduction.
Oh really? That's an interesting bit of info!
Man I really do miss games with maps and lists of equipment on the back. My siblings would always pour over the map, looking for cool places to explore or set up a pretend house. And we'd always check the equipment and decide what 'our' loadout would be if we lived in that world, mostly going by how cool the weapon and armor pictures were. So even when we weren't playing the game, we were getting entertained by the box includes!
That's awesome! I loved looking at the map that game with The Legend of Zelda on NES as a kid too. I spent so much time wandering around that world growing up. I really loved the manuals too. I read through quite a few of those until they started falling apart! I miss those physical bits of video games that we just don't get anyomre.
My cousin give me this game in a car for a road trip, and I thought it was Zelda'y. Suprisingly, I really loved the Mana series games that would follow up after this. This was an awesome experience. STILL haven't beaten it, to this day!
Yeah, top-down perspective, sword swinging... I can see why you felt that way. It's a lot more than that though! I hope you get back to it sometime and finish it, if that's something you're hoping to do of course! I still need to play SD3 one of these days.
I think TH-cam might be phasing out comments. It's virtually gone from the mobile app, but I'm writing this via a workaround. That's a serious shame if so, especially for nostalgia channels like this. It'll motivate me to use the platform a lot less if so.
Back on topic, I think this has a GBA remake? It's so much better, resembles SD3.
I've heard the remake's interesting, but also very different from this game. People seem pretty split on which version's better. I'd like to try it someday. I think it's called Sword of Mana.
One of my favorite games of all time, so much nostalgia. I spent months wondering around jad looking for the figure 8 thing, before internet could help out lmao. There was one time i forgot the game cart in my jeans and it went through the wash! X.x i was so devastated until it dried out and i found out it still ran perfect 👌 man so many memories
Goodness, old games are so resilient! I'm so glad your cart still worked after the trip through the washing machine. Thanks for sharing your memories too!
This is one of my favorite games, and my favorite action RPG. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
Due to how the game reads any person who is not the main character, town NPCs count as monsters. You can kill them if you hit them enough. Also, poison isn't programmed properly in relation to your actions; if you continuously attack while poisoned, the game will be unable to read the status effect as active. This is easy with the sickle, or holding forward to stab with your sword. You can bypass poison with only one or two reductions of your HP while the status effect music plays.