Kara Dennison
June 28, 2021 
If you’ve had your ear to the ground today, you’ve likely heard that we’re getting a Legend of Mana anime adaptation soon. The 1999 JRPG was a critical success, and popular enough to get a remaster recently, too. We’re excited for it… but now we’re going back to our game shelves.
It’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see two of these animated. In fairness, there’s a pitch out for the third as we speak… but at the time of posting there’s no official word, so it’s still speculative. Would you watch anime adaptations of these games?
Golden Sun
Twenty years ago, Camelot’s Golden Sun came out for the Game Boy Advance. Just two years after Legend of Mana came out, it was a promising title for fans of JRPGs. The series took place a flat world called Weyard, populated by elemental magic users known as Adepts. When the balance of Weyard falls into flux, a group of young adventurers is tasked with lighting four elemental Lighthouses to rebalance the world. But four other adventurers are trying to stop the Lighthouses from being lit. And over the course of two games, you will control both parties.
The storyline of Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age is straightforward but exciting, with lots of cool magic and cute collectible cryptids called Djinn. The main characters are a cool mixed bag of personality types, too. Sadly, we’re about as likely to get an anime adaptation as we are to get a fourth game. (We’re not.)
The EarthBound/Mother Series
One of the foremost titles in JRPG history, it only feels right that EarthBound eventually get an anime adaptation of some sort. A predecessor of Legend of Mana, the games have inspired designers the world over. Most people will probably know EarthBound (a.k.a. Mother 2) best, starring player character and Super Smash Bros. fighter Ness.
If for some reason you don’t know the story of the game by now — party of four kids, malevolent alien force making the world fight against them. The game was unique at the time for taking place in a more real-world setting, though you ended up in worlds both fantastic and horrific along the way. All of them would be amazing to see animated… though really, we just want to see what they’d making of Giygas.
The Legend of Zelda
It’s tradition to wish for a Legend of Zelda anime, so who are we to mess with tradition? The minds behind Castlevania have apparently pitched one, but nothing is certain yet.
As for which Legend of Zelda we’d like to see animated? Just about any of them. A creepy one like Majora’s Mask would be fun, but so would something more traditional, like A Link to the Past. If nothing else, we can always go back to the Super Mario Bros. Super Show if we’re really desperate for animation.
The Legend of Mana anime feels like a long shot, but at least it’s proof that long shots can come through. What games would you like to see on your small screen?
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