Mana and SaGa to get ports, no new games

[Bastian]

At the Squeenix shareholders meeting Wada mentioned that while no new games are yet planned for the Mana or Saga series, they do plan on some ports.

I know nothing about the SaGa series, so cannot comment on that.

But what I can say about the Mana series is that this is a great idea. I still feel Dawn of Mana may have fared much better had it been released on the Wii instead of the PS2 (during the PS2s death) and had it utilized Wii MotionPlus swordplay like Skyward Sword. Could this be what they have in mind?

Probably not. Probably just a port of the iPhone remake of Secret of Mana to Virtual Consol or 3DS. Which I still would whole heartedly welcome since though the updated graphics are gorgeous, I have zero interest in finishing the game. I gave up mid-game due to the constant frustration of trying to use the touchscreen on the iPhone as a directional pad. Ported over to the 3DS or Wii's Virtual Console would solve that annoyance. :D

Of course, if these ports sell well, I'm sure we could finally expect to see actual new games! :D

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/06/22/wada_shareholder_questions/

[Del Murder]

Any chance of SD3 getting ported over?

[Bastian]

Any chance of SD3 getting ported over?
I really wish they had asked this question at the shareholder's meeting. Since it never got an official translation, I can't see this on the top of their list since localisation would cost more than just a straight up port. I really suspect their first move will be the iPhone remake of SoM ported over to Wii's virtual console. Maybe even 3D enhanced for the 3DS. But I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if it ends up making its way over here as long as the SoM remake sells.

[Wolf Kanno]

Wii already has SoM on the Virtual Console. I foresee SE porting it over to the DS or 3DS instead. I would be more happy to finally get a translation for SD3 to be honest, and technically, it would actually not be that much of an undertaking cause its not like it has a phonbook of dialogue like modern games, so localization might actually be cheap.

Personally, I would love to get an anthology pack (which I could see coming to Virtual Console, PSN, and XBLA) that would put together some of the Mana games like SoM and LoM.

As for Saga, I just wish SE would finally translate the DS ports they already did. They have already done all three of the main games. I would also love to see Saga Frontier 1 and 2 finally make its way to DL.

[Bastian]

Wii already has SoM on the Virtual Console. I foresee SE porting it over to the DS or 3DS instead.
That's a good point... yeah, probably not the Wii. And probably not the 3DS without some sort of 3D-ization first, and I can't really see them putting the money in that. And I can't really see them releasing anything on the now-dead DS... So I'm not really sure what to think except maybe the PSP version of virtual consol? I forget what it's called.


I would be more happy to finally get a translation for SD3 to be honest, and technically, it would actually not be that much of an undertaking cause its not like it has a phonbook of dialogue like modern games, so localization might actually be cheap.
I think ANY kind of localisation is more money than Squeenix is willing to put toward Mana at this point. Heck, Xenoblade Chronicles got an English translation and STILL isn't making it to NA simply because of the money involved in the rest of the localisation. :/

[Wolf Kanno]

^ I like to think its because Nintendo of America is run by an idiot.

I don't know, if SE is willing to port and try to re-establish Mana and Saga, then they can easily place some money for a localization. I mean they remade a game only a handful of SRPG nerds have heard of (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactics_Ogre:_Let_Us_Cling_Together)and even got the director to come back and do the whole thing.

They even remade SoM for the iPhone of all things with touch controls, which is way more money intensive to do than just hire some guys to translate and others to program in the new dialogue. Its not like its getting VA work or anything, so localization wouldn't be that expensive. Making it a download on the console networks would also eliminate the cost of making copies for stores, and let SE take more of the profit. Why they haven't done this yet for Live A Live, Seiken Denetsu 3, and Bahamut Lagoon, I don't know why.

[Bolivar]

I think Tactics Ogre made it over because its original team had an interest in the project that the developers of other Square franchises just don't have for their games, unfortunately. That, and the fact that its sequels had "Final Fantasy" in the title.

I wouldn't mind getting some SaGa games on PSOne Classics, I've had a great experience with those so far, especially on PSP. But honestly I wouldn't be surprised if whatever these ports end up being just stay in Japan. I'm still crossing my fingers for that Dragon Quest Collection to make it over here.

[Bastian]

They even remade SoM for the iPhone of all things with touch controls, which is way more money intensive to do than just hire some guys to translate and others to program in the new dialogue
While that's a good point, I should point out that surely the reason WHY they did that was because they how much games were raking in and also saw that there were virtually NO decent ARPGs. They saw that there were these cheap inferrior games making money and wanted a piece of that by offering a legit beloved game.

I'm not sure that localising a game that most Americans have never heard of would make them as much money?