This Week in Games

Quests of Mana

Welcome back, folks! I've been keeping up with the first .hack//GU game in my spare time, and it's... disappointing me some. I love the .hack games' conceit of your party members being other players, making some of them unavailable during certain stretches of the game. But in the GU titles, this unfortunately works against it: you rarely have the characters you want available. The IMOQ games worked around this by giving you a ton of characters to play around with, all with their own unique personalities. You've got fewer folks to play with in GU, so even Piros the Third is barely around when you want him. What a shame.

Surrender Your Apple Fritters: Yujiro Hanma is Coming to Tekken 8

Combobreaker 2026 was this past weekend, at the time of writing. I've never gone, but I'd like to someday. I appreciate the fighting game community, albeit from the sidelines. In this day and age, where games stop mattering within months of their release, there's something to be said about people coming together and still running rounds for games older than many gamers today. There's a lot of genuine grassroots love for older games like Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike or Soulcalibur; it speaks to the community's passion that these games are still held up to this day.

Anyway, Bandai Namco dropped a freaking bomb on us with the reveal of their newest character to Tekken 8. A few weeks back, after Kunimitsu's reveal, we noted that the final character for the current season hadn't been revealed yet. I struggled to imagine what would justify the mystery. A new character? A returning favorite? Gon? Great news: it's neither, it's a collab character! And for folks rolling their eyes at another licensed character being in a fighting game, rest assured: Bandai Namco left no scraps on the illusory table after making this imaginary miso soup.

It's Yujiro Hanma, infamously from Baki The Grappler. You might be familiar with Baki on a second-hand basis. This is understandable: Baki The Grappler is infamous for many things: how seemingly-intentionally off-putting the art is, with characters being grotesque humanoid lumps of muscle and sinew. The over-the-top philosophical narration goes deep into the hearts of martial arts. The ridiculous feats, such as characters surviving bullet wounds to the head by simply flexing their brain to make it dodge aside. But no character in Baki The Grappler is more over-the-top than Yujiro Hanma. The father of the titular Baki, Yujiro Hanma, is the strongest lifeform on the planet, who looms over politicians until they submit to him. There are panels in Baki where Yujiro has stand-ins for actual American presidents kneeling and swearing an oath to the guy. In true Mishima fashion, he's also a relentless and brutal father, battering Baki within an inch of his life to bring out his true potential.

In the grand scheme of characters that could've been added, you really couldn't go any further than Hanma. I mean, sure, I'd also have gone with Ippo Makunouchi from Hajime no Ippo (boxing can work in Tekken!). But to go full Baki The Grappler? Way to go big.

We'll have to wait a bit for Yujiro to join the cast; the trailer notes his release date as "early 2027." But, uh... way to make an impression.

Square Puts Some Mana In Your Good Old Games

Funny story: I've had the Mana games on the mind lately. While I have very little hands-on experience with them, having only played Sword of Mana on the GameBoy Advance, I still know the Mana games by reputation: Square Enix's old and venerated series of action RPGs set in a world fueled by the divine Mana Tree, and the bittersweet stories of doomed lovers destined to sacrifice it all to resuscitate it. You're likely more familiar with Secret of Mana—for good reason. Warts and all, it's one of the best and most-beloved games on the Super Nintendo: its cover art and soundtrack are iconic and legendary in equal measure. While none of the other Mana games ever quite broke the mainstream the way Secret of Mana did, and the franchise has largely languished over the years (alas, poor Visions of Mana), they're still fun and emotional action RPGs worth seeking out. And great news, it's easier to play two of the better ones now: Square Enix has released Trials of Mana and Legend of Mana on GOG.com!

Twials of Mana Trials of Mana was a white whale for Mana fans in America for a very long time; the third game in the Mana series, it was originally never released in the United States. It had to go by its Japanese name, Seiken Densetsu 3, before it was compiled as part of the Collection of Mana and given a proper American title. It also received a comprehensive 3D remake, which is the version released on GOG. Trials of Mana is nothing but ambitious: there are six playable characters in the game, each with their own abilities and specialities. Angela the sorceress, for example, is best at casting attack spells, while Hawkeye the thief is better at weak, quick attacks that overwhelm the enemy. Upon starting the game, you'd be given a choice of three of the six characters to use: the first would dictate your game's main scenario, while the second character would serve as a deuteronomist. The third character wouldn't influence the game much, but would be included to third-wheel (and possibly cover your chosen team's weaknesses). Of course, the Mana Tree was central to the game's many scenarios, and there is much heartbreak to be had at the end of these games. There's a ton of replay value in Trials of Mana, from the various promotions each character has to the myriad stories and how they interweave with each other. While the original 2D version is still worth playing for that gorgeous 2D art, the 3D remake is great.

Legend of Mana is a bit more experimental, having been released during Square Enix's (then Squaresoft) Summer of Adventure in 2000, where they were releasing a slew of RPGs on PlayStation 1. You play as a youth who's had dreams of the legendary Mana Tree, and is tasked with reconstructing the world by finding artifacts and placing them on the map, thusly recreating towns, cities, and other places to explore along your journey. Legend of Mana received middling scores upon its release, but it's an RPG for sickos: tons of crunchy systems at work, along with more of Shinichi Kameoka's absolutely gorgeous artwork. The GOG release also restores the Ring Ring Land mini-game, which was previously excluded from American releases of Legend of Mana. It also includes a few quality-of-life options, like the ability to choose between the game's original soundtrack or its remastered soundtrack, and the option to shut off enemy encounters.

Square has been pretty good about making the Mana games mostly accessible to modern audiences—mostly. The Collection of Mana includes the big heavy-hitters of the franchise, compiling the original Final Fantasy Adventure (the first Mana game—long story), Secret of Mana, and Trials of Mana in one package. Final Fantasy Adventure would go on to get two remakes. There was the aforementioned Sword of Mana on Game Boy Advance, which expanded the heroine's role and incorporated more latter-day Mana lore (including stuff from Legend of Mana). It was a very pretty game on GBA, but also very mechanically complicated. It's sadly gridlocked on the GBA. Final Fantasy Adventure would later get remade as Adventure of Mana, which ditched a bunch of Sword of Mana's updates and simply stuck to being a 3D remake of the original game. That one is only available on mobile devices and, of all things, the PS Vita—no other ports have been made since.

Secret of Mana also got a 3D remake, and that one is at least available on Steam, as well as the PS4 and PS Vita. It never even got a Switch port. It's got issues (you can't attack diagonally, but enemies can), but it really brings the game's artwork to life. The PlayStation 2 had a fully 3D action-adventure entry, Dawn of Mana, which has never been released elsewhere. The Nintendo DS saw Children of Mana, a dungeon-crawler, and Heroes of Mana, an RTS game—these, too, are in limbo. And then there was the tragic Visions of Mana, whose studio was shut down by NetEase and Tencent the day after the game launched. While it's still available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam, there's no Switch port and probably won't ever be one. We can only hope that with Legend of Mana and Trials of Mana being put on GOG, we can see more of the Mana games made available again.

Square Enix Celebrates Dragon Quest's 40th Anniversary With... News

Long-time readers of this column know that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Dragon Quest fan. I've played the games since they were still being called "Dragon Warrior" in the United States, and I've been a very vocal proponent of them. It hasn't been easy, since Square Enix has skipped so many of the games for American release, and American audiences would seemingly prefer gnawing their fingers off than actually play a Dragon Quest game. And this week's special announcement from Square Enix doesn't help that; this past May 27 represents the day-and-date of Dragon Quest's 40th anniversary. So how did Square celebrate the anniversary? With a teaser and news that the anticipated Dragon Quest XII has not only been delayed, but was given a complete mulligan.

Now, delays are nothing new for Dragon Quest; the original game was delayed plenty during development (and back in the 1980s, that meant something!). But as executive producer Yōsuke Saitō and game designer Yūji Horii pointed out in the video, the original tone and design for Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate just wasn't working. The original intent was for the game to have a much more "mature" tone, with Game of Thrones being used as a comparison. They had also intended for some action-game elements, which likely ruffled some feathers. Dragon Quest is a national institution in Japan, not some Mickey Mouse avant-garde Final Fantasy. The last time they threatened to make Dragon Quest an action game with Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky, the backlash in Japan was so strong they backpedaled into making the game a turn-based affair (and somehow, one that incorporated wireless co-op). When it comes to the tone, I'm indifferent: anyone who's actually played a Dragon Quest knows that these bright, colorful games with silly characters can get very melodramatic in a hurry through their many vignettes. Of course, there being a major team restructuring was likely an issue; who knows what kind of musical chairs they have going on out there as Square Enix's executive suite chases after the latest techbro buzzword.

So, what's new in Dragon Quest XII? Well, the game has been given a completely new subtitle, going from The Flames of Fate to Beyond Dreams. The game stars a rather sleep-deprived-looking young man who's beset by strange visions in his dreams. The teaser doesn't show much of what he does, but we see him jumping off a cliff and tucking and rolling as he lands. We also see that enemies are still placed on the overworld map; hopefully, it's better incorporated than in Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. We also see a few teases towards possible party members: there's a punky-looking girl with pink hair who seems to be an engineer, and a large egg-shaped robot who accompanies her. There's also a curious green lizard-boy we see a few times; his relation to the protagonist is still a mystery, but some theorize he's an alternate form for the protagonist, given their similar hairstyles and their swords having the same hilt.

There's some consternation over the protagonist's design, but I'm actually really soft on the new hero's look. I like his hairstyle, and I like that the protagonist of a game about dreams looks like he hasn't had a good night's sleep in ages. He has a very Tobal No. 1 look about him (fitting, since that was another game the late Akira Toriyama provided designs for). My bigger issue is with the subtitle. Folks might whinge about the translations in Dragon Quest games, but the games have always had a degree of whimsy: even in Japanese, spell names are onomatopoeia because that helped kids grok what spells did. Enemies had cutesy pun names (I recall seeing a Japanese Twitter user marvel at how the cat-wizards in the game were still called "Nekomancers" in English). Yes, these games have heart-wrenching vignettes, but that doesn't stop the games from featuring blue blobs with faces as the series mascot. So it is that Dragon Quest games all have whimsical, evocative subtitles with a charming bit of alliteration: Seeds of Salvation, Fragments of the Forgotten Past, Journey of the Cursed King, Echoes of the Elusive Age. Even the spin-offs got into it, with Dragon Quest Heroes being subtitled The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below, or the second Dragon Quest Monsters game with Iru and Luca's Marvelous Mysterious Key. The titles roll off the tongue. They're evocative. By comparison, Beyond Dreams is just so boring. It's flat, it's vague, there's no charm to it. It's the equivalent of a Disney "I want" song using the line "follow your heart," it's a complete cop-out of sentimental glurge that doesn't mean anything. What kind of dreams are we talking about here? Why do we want to go 'beyond' them? That's the kind of title David Cage would come up with and pat himself on the back for being "so out there." There isn't even any alliteration. You could've salvaged that with something like Visions Beyond the Dragon's Dream or Beyond the Baleful Dreamsof Doom. This is Dragon Quest, we are not above using "doom" in our title! Not when there are enemies named "Terminatator!"

The other bit of news was the reveal that we're getting a new Dragon Quest Monsters game. I'm a bit bitter about the Dragon Quest Monsters games. Not that I don't like them—I love them, actually. My heart goes out to Ángel from middle school, who'd loan me his copy of Dragon Quest Monsters 2 on Game Boy (still think about him, hope he's alright). They're great monster-taming RPGs released in the wake of Pokémon's popularity, expanding upon the old monster-recruiting mechanics pioneered in Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride. We've missed getting a ton of these games in America, no thanks to Square Enix being precious about them, so bully on us for not wanting Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart or the 3D remake of Terry's Wonderland enough, I guess. Provided, I say again: folks don't play Dragon Quest, so I can't blame Square Enix. This especially gets my goat, because for all of the kvetching some people make about Pokémon "not having competition," the Dragon Quest Monsters games are right over there and perfectly fun to play. But I guess it's easier to retweet that annoying image about how Shellder kinda-sorta looks like one random clam monster from a random Dragon Quest than it is to play Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, which came out literally the month before Palworld. As I said, I'm bitter. Especially since people now caterwaul about turn-based RPGs, which Dragon Quest games are.

I digress. The 40th Anniversary video teased a new Dragon Quest Monsters, subtitled The Withered World. (See? Alliteration! Whimsy!) We don't know anything about the game outside of it being in development with no hard release date. All we know is that it stars two protagonists: Dragon Quest V's Bianca and Nera, as children. Now, there are layers to this: there's a tendency for Dragon Quest Monsters games to star younger versions of Dragon Quest characters, filling in the blanks for their characterization in their respective games. The original Dragon Quest Monsters starred Dragon Quest VI's Terry as a child, with the game even forming a closed loop regarding plot events in Dragon Quest VI. Similarly, Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart stars a young Keifer from Dragon Quest VII, and Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince stars the younger Psaro from Dragon Quest IV. So here we have a game starring Bianca and Nera, your party members and potential heavenly brides from Dragon Quest V. There are already sections in Dragon Quest V where you (as a child) team up with young Bianca and explore the world behind your father's back. You and Bianca even set right to some problems in the Fairy World, which is notably only accessible to children; once your protagonist grows up some in Dragon Quest V, you can't go back—but other kids can. Of course, the dark side to all of this, considering Bianca and Nera look a little older than how they look when you recruit them as children, is that this would all take place during that stretch of Dragon Quest V where the main character has been captured and enslaved by the forces of the villainous Ladja.

As mentioned earlier: Dragon Quest V introduced many of the monster-recruiting mechanics that would later inform the Dragon Quest Monsters games. There was a reason for this: you'd spend long stretches of Dragon Quest V without your full party (read: your whole family), so recruiting monsters allowed you to fill out your reserves with monsters that fulfilled certain roles. Even in-game, your protagonist was noted as having a way to soothe monsters' hearts, hence one of your official party members being a Sabrecat. Putting two and two together, it's likely that Bianca and Nera will have some adventures in the Fairy World, where they'll need the help of monsters. 

It's still too soon to tell, but I have to wonder if Deborah will factor into things; she was a new sister of Bianca and Nera, introduced as a potential new love interest in Dragon Quest V's DS remake. She sadly doesn't factor into things much: while you have your adventures with Bianca in the fairy world and even Nera has her moments with the protagonist, Deborah is mostly standoffish towards you until you have the option of choosing one of her sisters for marriage. Even Yūji Horii described her as someone "nobody in their right mind would choose to marry." But make no mistake, she's got her appeal, and she's woefully underused as a character—I'd argue that you could've had her be the standalone protagonist of this game and we'd all be better for it. Given her strong personality, it'd be cute to see a kid Deborah recruit monsters by way of her overwhelming tsundere nature, busting their chops into submission. Think the obscure Nintendo DS RPG, My World, My Way. But all we have to go by is some key art of Bianca and Nera. Alas, poor Deborah...

(Hi folks, Another-Jean-Karlo here! Unbeknownst to my past-self but likely knownst to you at the moment, there's been a last-minute reveal from Horii-san himself confirming that Deborah will indeed play a role in The Withered World, though exactly how is yet unknown. More reasons to be excited for it! Okay, back to my past-self now that this vital last-minute info has been dropped, I'm going back to my own timeline...)

Let's wrap up with some quick tidbits:

That'll do it for this week. I'd hate to vaguepost, but we've got a handful of neat surprises lined up for next week—stay tuned! There's also Sony's State of Play scheduled for the 2nd of June. How nice of them to announce it a week in advance so folks can plan around it. What a concept, yeah? Be good to each other. I'll see you in seven...

This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing Japanese RPGs, eating popcorn, watching VTuber content, and watching tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @ventcard.bsky.social.