"Circle of Mana" is trademarked by Square-Enix

Attachment 37042Just when we thought all hope was lost for the Mana series, Square-Enix surprises everyone and trademarks "Circle of Mana." It seemed like after the debacle that was the World of Mana project (Children of Mana, Dawn of Mana, Heroes of Mana), after which series creator Koichi Iishi left Square-Enix... we'd likely never see another Mana title again. Yet here Square-Enix is: trademarking a new title for the series.

Just what exactly could this trademarked title refer to? At this time, nothing is known. However it seems likely that this could be one of three things. Firstly: finally an English localization of Seiken Densetsu 3. The beloved title has never officially seen the light of day outside of Japan and with Secret of Mana seeing release on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console and then a graphically-updated version for the iPhone and Android, it would make financial sense to finally give the people what they want and bring that hidden gem out of Japan. It would make more sense for this to be an app for the iPhone, but it also seems plausible that Square-Enix might instead release it on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console.

Another possibility is that this is a localization of the Japanese-only mobile game Friends of Mana with a release for the iPhone/Android app stores. However, this seems a bit unlikely as there is no need to change the title from "Friends of" to "Circle of".

A much more likely scenario is that this could be a brand new title built especially for the Nintendo 3DS or perhaps the iPhone/Android market. Square-Enix has been devoting much of their energy in both of those arenas as of late, creating "retro" styled offerings for each (Final Fantasy Dimensions for smartphones and Bravely Default for the 3DS) so it would make sense that their title in the Mana series would be built for one of those platforms.

What do you think? Could this just be a long overdue localization of Seiken Densetsu 3, or could we finally be getting a brand new Mana game?

Source: Seikens

Beat you to this a few days ago, but your thread is better.

There is also the fourth possibility that this is the title for some other non-Mana related game. Kind of like that DLC chapter for FFXIII-2 that sounded like it might be a Chrono series related thing instead. Though I seriously hope this is a Seiken/Mana game.

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Beat you to this a few days ago, but your thread is better.

There is also the fourth possibility that this is the title for some other non-Mana related game. Kind of like that DLC chapter for FFXIII-2 that sounded like it might be a Chrono series related thing instead. Though I seriously hope this is a Seiken/Mana game.

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Nope, it is a Mana game but the question is whether it is a social or not. It is 2012 where Onimusha, Sakura Wars, Megaman X etc are mobile/browser games. (:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Beat you to this a few days ago, but your thread is better.

There is also the fourth possibility that this is the title for some other non-Mana related game. Kind of like that DLC chapter for FFXIII-2 that sounded like it might be a Chrono series related thing instead. Though I seriously hope this is a Seiken/Mana game.

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Yeah, I noticed that, actually. But the only way to write a news post for the front site (that I'm aware of) is starting a thread and "promoting" it to the front page. Felt silly to do when you already had a thread about it, but I wanted to include all the known information and flesh out the possibilities. :D

You can just post a news article straight to the frontsite ;)

I hope it is Seiken Densetsu 3 that would be awesome. It would be a game a lot of fans would want. I know I want that game. Of course I am not holding my breath lol.

I just starten Seiken 3 a couple of weeks back.
So far the game is completetly amazing. I love everything about it. Its replay value is great. If Seiken 3 would have been released on the US when it came out, it would have become as important as FFVI and Chrono Trigger were.

I totally agree with you about that game. I played it off a friends psp that was hacked and it was really impressive. I just wish it would have come out but I just hope this time around it comes true and actually comes out. I am crossing my fingers.