Dark Horse and Square Enix are teaming up once again. This time, the two companies will highlight the beauty of the Mana series in a brand-new art book, The Art of Mana. The art book’s release, slated for January 28, 2020, marks the first time the fantasy action-RPG series will officially have its art collected in one volume. Preorders for the $39.99 collection are currently live on Amazon and at comic book stores nationwide.
Collecting over 25 years of the franchise’s history through art and memories, The Art of Mana will span more than 200 pages in length. Packed within these 200-plus pages will be over 400 illustrations from the series’ original creative team. These works are to include original sketches, detailed breakdowns for each character, world designs, and more. Needless to say, Mana fans should probably keep an eye out for this collection’s release early next year.
The Mana franchise’s most recent PlayStation release hit the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and PC in early 2018 with the launch of Secret of Mana’s 3D remake. Mana first entered into the world of games in 1991, originally constituting a side tale for Final Fantasy—Final Fantasy Adventure. At the time, Mana notably differed from the typical Final Fantasy experience by offering real-time battle mechanics more in line with Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda. From there, the series’ next and arguably most celebrated release, Secret of Mana, hit store shelves in the summer of 1993. The Square-published title initially launched on the Super NES.
After Secret of Mana, two more mainline titles have seen the light of day—1995’s Trials of Mana and 2006’s Dawn of Mana. Though Dawn of Mana launched on the PlayStation 2, the franchise’s third mainline entry, Trials of Mana, has yet to arrive on PlayStation platforms. Square Enix recently announced this will soon change. During E3 2019, the publisher revealed a Trials of Mana remake will come West and launch on PS4 for the first time in 2020.
[Source: Dark Horse Blog]
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