In 1991, the company that we know now as Square-Enix (Squaresoft) had just began to root as what we now know as one of, if not the greatest RPG developing companies in our day. And there were no exceptions to developing titles for handheld systems. The Final Fantasy Adventure, or what is also known as the prequel to the Secret of Mana series is an early gameboy classic and continues to hold a position as one of the better 2D action RPGs of the 90s.

The story consists of a general template of 'Bad guy desires power, good guy goes and kicks bad guy in the hiney'.. These days, that sort of storyline is highly outdated. However, considering that Final Fantasy Adventure was developed at the turn of the decade, this form of storyline was fairly new.

A Tree of Mana exists and grows atop Mount Illusia containing the power and energy of everything in the world. It is said that anyone who comes in contact with this mighty tree will be granted eternal power. An evil individual known as the Dark Lord seeks a way to the Tree of Mana to control this power and conquer the land. A young fighter of the Glaive Empire who lived his life like a prisoner of the empire is forced to fight for the entertainment of Dark Lord.. Just before the fighter's friend Willy dies from the wounds of his many battles, he warns the fighter of the danger that the Tree of Mana is in. The fighter is left with no option but to escape the empire on a quest to protect the Tree of Mana.

During the early 90s, gaming companies were just beginning to develop character sprites that could actually be destinguished and recognized. Final Fantasy Adventure consists of very smooth graphics for its time and decently-detailed character and enemy sprites. The screen scrolling action makes for solid organization of the graphical layout of each area. On another note, each boss/enemy has their own unique animation and graphic which would later contribute to other enemy designs in later games.

The sound/music in Final Fantasy Adventure is fairly decent and does not consist of any melodies that can get irritating to the point of wanting to turn the game off (Or in some cases, toss it against the wall). Each melody fits its particular area and each sound effect plays smoothly and goes with the animation (I.E. Weapon slashing). The sound within the game is good for the system that it is played on. Most gameboy games during this time had sound that could get old fast or just all-out aggrevating. But Final Final Fantasy adventure shows that even the older systems had the capability to create a good sound.

The gameplay of Final Fantasy Adventure is very simple and layed out the playing field for many later games with the same addictive hack-and-slash Action-RPG statistical-base style (I.E. Secret of Mana, Baldurs Gate, Diablo). I am personally impressed with the smooth and simple gameplay system and controls due to its simplicity to addictiveness ratio. The gameplay is laid out somewhat similar to the original Zelda when it comes to the map layout and character movement. And yes, this is one of those games in which - if you are a fan of the genre - you will not be able to put down until you finish it.

The average gamer could probably beat this game in between 40 to 50 hours, fairly decent for this time. I personally like a lengthy game with a decent replay value..

As stated above, Final Fantasy Adventure is highly addictive, simple, and has a very decent replay value due to that simplicity.. I recommend that if you find this gem somewhere you should buy it immediately. It's one of those games that you will not regret adding to your collection of classic gameboy games! Nicely done Squaresoft!

© 1998-2006 RPG Realm. All Rights Reserved. The RPG Realm is not affiliated with any company or product mentioned herein unless explicitly stated. The RPG Realm was created by Greg Davis on 05/03/1998 and is owned and operated by Alex Wreschnig.