So...what do we have here?

Japanese Game Box Front

Female Esper and Male Esper

This game is part of a popular series known as "SaGa". Originally, SaGa was a Game Boy game and it was released in the U.S. as "The Final Fantasy Legend". As far as I know, this remake of the original SaGa was only made on the WonderSwan, which if this is the case, would make it a special entry for the WonderSwan from Square. The plot still remains very simple: you must reach the top of some tower as it holds the answers to several questions. Along the way, you will fight ghost, zombies, lizards, and various other monsters that will make the journey long and perilous.

The graphics of the game are quite good. They are a little better than Final Fantasy IV for WSC (WonderSwan Color. Sharper visuals and colors) and the game received a much needed face-lift. The game is now in color (obviously) and menus are cleaner and navigation is more organized. Spells used on your characters also possess neat little special effects whereas in the original, spells you would cast on yourself (such as healing and such) had no graphic. The overworld graphics also make a big jump. The environments are much more detailed as well as the sprites and enemy models. The animation of spells are more fluid and overall, the graphics are quite impressive. The music is generally the same as the original, remixed a little and with better quality. This was done to keep the feeling of nostalgia that people had for the original game, while at the same time, touching up on the original concepts and making them "new". Many games have tried to maintain that balance when recreating an original idea and while some fail at it, I feel that Square has succeeded.

The gameplay is mostly the same which is good. They did this to keep the game mostly identical to the original as well. The game starts you off with 8 different characters, each with their own strengths and weakness. You have humans and espers (espers shown in the image to the left) and you can choose male or female types as well as four types of monsters. Besides having different initial characteristics, the way they grow stronger is also different. You must purchase stat upgrades for the humans while espers grow in the traditional "SaGa" way. SaGa is known for characters that grow at stats depending on how you fight. For example, using magic helps boost int, while fighting with the sword helps boost attack or speed. Espers also learn their own magic by casting spells numerous times whereas humans must purchase books to cast spells. As for monsters, they grow by eating meat to morph them into more powerful creatures. There is no "level up" system in this game and abilities can only be used a certain number of times.

While there are some exceptions, this is the general rule for the original SaGa game and the same holds true to the remake. Speaking of the original SaGa, a cool novelty feature the game provides is to play the full length SaGa for Game Boy!

- Written by Vyse the determined -