We recently checked out Square's demo of Sword of Mana, and while it doesn't show us a great deal beyond the bare essentials, many would argue that said essentials are enough. They've conclusively proved that there's a portable Mana game on the way, one that we can carry around on the go as we collect allies, fight in concert, spin our little ring-shaped inventory screens, and watch little rabbity puffball things burst into explosions of bleached bones, and that's reassuring enough for now.

The demo lets players sample some combat, as well as introductions between key characters. One key new feature is the modification of the old weapon power gauge from Secret of Mana. While the charge-up attacks from the old series are still around, it's easier to fire off successive basic attacks, without having to wait for the meter to recharge. Attacks don't seem to vary in power now so much as they vary in speed, taking longer to execute. This seems to reduce the amount of strategic maneuvering that went on in earlier games, but it definitely promises to speed up smaller battles.

Having a friend along also helps in that regard. The demo begins with our anonymous hero rescuing a traveler on her way to Topple Village -- they naturally team up and fight together after brief introductions. It's tough to judge from this small taste of the game, which takes place in relatively simple environments, but it nevertheless seems like the support characters move a little more intelligently than their 16-bit predecessors. They don't get stuck in corners and stop the screen scrolling, and while they will go off on their own to fight independently during combat, they'll follow along with you if you leave one part of the field for another.

The backgrounds that make up that field are very pretty, of course, and they feature one of the niftier graphical qualities from Secret of Mana, the changing of themes around similar areas. In that game, it was the passing of the seasons -- in the GBA sequel, there's a sort of day-night cycle, painting areas in different colors depending on the time of day. When the sun is out, everything is green and pleasant, while twilight turns the colors to more somber shades of blue and purple.

As expected, the GBA game also retains the clever ring-based inventory and option interface employed earlier in the series. The demo offers a pretty limited selection of items and spells to use with it, but the system still clearly works as well as ever, letting players quickly swap through a relatively expansive inventory without slowing down the game too much. Like most everything else about the Sword of Mana, it succeeded purely as a memory trigger, reminding players of what they've seen before and what they'll get to see again.

As such, we'll continue to look forward to this one (as if we needed any encouragement). Its gameplay appears to be cruising in the fast lane paved by its predecessors, and its visuals are plenty sharp, blending in the better elements of artwork and character design introduced in the PlayStation's Legend of Mana (particularly the Lil' Cactus and the rabbity merchant Niccolo). Look forward to more encouraging news through the rest of the year.

Copyright © 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in 1UP.