Sword of Mana, originally released in Japan as Shin'yaku: Seiken Densetsu (新約 聖剣伝説, lit.

Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows an unnamed hero and heroine as they seek to defeat the Dark Lord and defend the Mana Tree from enemies who wish to misuse its power.

The plot is modified to allow the player to follow the parallel stories of either the hero or the heroine, and the backstory and dialogue is expanded from the original.

Like previous games in the series, Sword of Mana displays a top-down perspective, in which the player characters navigate the terrain and fight off hostile creatures.

Unlike the original game, the terrain is in color, is not composed of square tiles, and the player is not restricted to moving only in the cardinal directions.

[1] The player is often joined by either the unchosen protagonist or by temporary companions, and at any point during battles can choose to take direct control of the other party member instead of their chosen character.

Instead, players can connect their Game Boy Advances together via a Link Cable to give their characters powerful attacks to be used at a later time, known as the "Amigo" system.

Options such as changing equipment, casting spells, or checking status are performed by cycling through the game's Ring Commands, a circular menu which hovers over the currently controlled party member.

[3] A version of the day-and-night system introduced in Trials of Mana was added to the game, whereby some enemies are only present at different times of day, which changes whenever the player enters a new area.

[1] Much like Legend of Mana, players can forge weapons and plant produce in an orchard in the game's "Hot House" feature.

[4] Sword of Mana has a similar story to Final Fantasy Adventure with additional details and dialogue added.

The hero's story begins with a flashback dream of the death of his parents at the hands of the Dark Lord, the ruler of the nation of Granz.

The heroine's story also begins with a flashback dream of the Dark Lord and his assistant, Julius, killing her stepmother and destroying her village.

In Wendell, the two protagonists learn that Bogard and several other knights were instrumental in overthrowing the Vandole Empire twenty years prior, which had been abusing Mana, the source of magic.

After the hero passes trials to prove himself worthy of the sword, which first appears as a rusty blade, the two join forces to storm the Mana Tree and defeat Julius.

[6] The crew that stayed was merged with those behind Parasite Eve II, Brave Fencer Musashi and Chrono Cross to make Final Fantasy XI.

Ishii had served as the director for the original game in the series, Final Fantasy Adventure, of which Sword of Mana is a remake.

[9] To help the character stand out when converted to pixel art design, cross patterns were added to the back of his gloves and his shoulder pads.

[11] In order to hide the Dark Lord’s identity, a mask was designed so that this aspect of the plot could remain hidden until later on in the game.

[17] Those who purchased the game's soundtrack and strategy guide between August 27 and September 30, 2003, were given the opportunity to win a Cactus character cushion and a cellphone strap.

[2][28][30] The Japanese magazine Famitsu said that it was a good update to Final Fantasy Adventure without innovating the gameplay much beyond the original game.

[35] Two novels based on the game were written by Matsui Oohama with illustrations by Yumiko Murakami and were also published by Enterbrain on February 27, 2004.