The story follows the hero and the heroine as they attempt to thwart the Dark Lord of Glaive and his sorcerer assistant, Julius, from destroying the Tree of Mana and dooming their world.

[3] The main character possesses several statistics, including hit points, power, and stamina, which can all increase upon gaining an experience level.

One day, the Hero's friend informs him of the Dark Lord's goals, and he urges him to seek a Knight named Bogard.

When they meet Cibba, he plays a message left by the Heroine's mother, who reveals she is a descendant of the guardians of the Mana Tree and her pendant is the key to it.

The mysterious man, upon discovering that the heroine holds the pendant, reveals himself to be Julius, the Dark Lord's advisor, and kidnaps her.

The Hero is then reunited with Amanda, an escapee from his prison, who steals the pendant in order to win her brother Lester's freedom.

Lester avenges Amanda's death by killing Davias, who reveals that he gave the pendant to the Dark Lord.

After obtaining and passing the sword's trials, the Hero confronts and defeats Julius at the cost of the Mana Tree's life.

Square trademarked Seiken Densetsu in 1987 intending to use it for a game project subtitled The Emergence of Excalibur, and led by Kazuhiko Aoki for the Famicom Disk System.

[6] According to early advertisements, the game would consist of an unprecedented five floppy disks, making it one of the largest titles developed for the Famicom up until that point.

The letter also suggested to consider placing an order on another upcoming Square role-playing game in a similar vein: Final Fantasy.

[6] After the release of the third Final Fantasy title in 1990, Square offered designer Koichi Ishii to direct a spin-off series game.

The Mana series, of which Final Fantasy Adventure was the first game, was the result of Koichi Ishii's desire to create a fictional world.

[9] When working on the series, Koichi Ishii drew inspiration from abstract images from his memories of childhood, as well as films and fantasy books that captivated him as a child.

Nonetheless, among his literary influences, he acknowledges Tove Jansson's Moomin, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

Seiken Densetsu/Arranged Version Omoi wa Shirabe ni Nosete[d], a set of arranged tracks was also released on September 30 the same year.

[12] Both albums were compiled into Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden Sound Collections, originally released on August 18, 1995.

[18] RPGamer reported in July 2004 that Square Enix was polling die-hard customers, testing the feasibility of porting Final Fantasy Adventure to the Nintendo DS.

[22][23] The gameplay of the mobile phone version is closer to the original game's design, but featuring updated graphics and sound, an improved world map, and other minor changes.

They additionally praised the game's puzzle elements as innovative and drew comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, though noted that its role-playing gameplay did not blend well with its action-oriented nature.

[44] 1UP.com called the game ambitious for its time, writing that it represented an evolution of the overhead perspective action adventure genre.