How Long It Takes to Beat Every Mana Game Before Visions of…

Summary

The Mana franchise, which includes games like Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana, has been around since 1991 and is beloved by fans.
The mainline Mana games vary in length, with the first and last game taking around 10 hours to complete, while the middle two games take around 20-25 hours.
The spin-offs and remakes of Mana games have similar runtimes, with Legend of Mana being the longest spinoff at 18.5 hours, and the remakes of Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana taking fewer hours to complete than their original versions.

Debuting all the way back in 1991, the Mana franchise may not be the longest-running JRPG series, but it's certainly one of the most beloved. Beginning life as Final Fantasy Adventure, a Game Boy spin-off that swapped that franchise's usual love for turn-based combat with a more action-oriented approach, the Mana series took full form in 1993 with the release of the SNES classic Secret of Mana.

Since then, the Mana series has enjoyed a fairly lengthy career in both Japanese and Western markets, with a slew of spin-offs and recent remakes keeping the franchise in the public consciousness. Though, it's been a long time since the last mainline Mana release. Launched in 2006, Dawn of Mana was the last mainline franchise entry to release, meaning that the upcoming Visions of Mana will be the first new mainline entry in 18 years. Visions of Mana is going to be a pretty huge deal this year, and if newcomers want to experience the franchise from the start, they might want to start their homework now.

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By Cameron Swan

How Long It Takes to Beat Every Mana Game

All stats below refer to the average time it takes to beat each Mana game's story, not including any extra collectibles or side activities.

Game	How Long To Beat	Source
Final Fantasy Adventure	10.5 Hours	How Long to Beat
Secret of Mana (1993)	22 Hours	How Long to Beat
Trials of Mana (1995)	24.5 Hours	How Long to Beat
Dawn of Mana	13 Hours	How Long to Beat
Legend of Mana	18.5 Hours	How Long to Beat
Children of Mana	16 Hours	How Long to Beat
Heroes of Mana	17.5 Hours	How Long to Beat
Sword of Mana	16.5 Hours	How Long to Beat
Adventures of Mana	9 Hours	How Long to Beat
Secret of Mana (2018)	16.5 Hours	How Long to Beat
Trials of Mana (2020)	20.5 Hours	How Long to Beat

The table above is loosely categorized into the three main types of Mana games, main entries, spinoffs, and remakes. The four mainline Mana entries, ranging from Final Fantasy Adventure to Dawn of Mana, vary quite heavily in terms of length, with the first and last game taking around just 10 hours, while the middle two - and arguably the best of the mainline entries - come in at around 20-25 hours to complete their main stories.

The Mana spinoffs are ironically a bit more uniform with their runtime. Legend of Mana is the longest of the spinoffs coming in at around 18.5 hours to complete the main story, though the other spinoffs don't follow too far behind at all, all coming within just two hours of one another. The remakes are an interesting oddity. While Adventures of Mana, the remake of Final Fantasy Adventure, has a very similar runtime to its original counterpart, both Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana's remakes take a good few hours less to complete than their original versions, likely due to modern loading screens and quality-of-life improvements.

There's no official word on how long Visions of Mana is going to be, but right now it seems like a safe bet to assume that it'll come in at around the 20-hour mark to complete the game's main story, with 20 hours being the franchise's general average. But then again, for the first new entry in 18 years, Square Enix might want to go above and beyond with Visions of Mana's story, which could easily end up making it the longest game in the franchise.

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Action RPG

Adventure

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Systems

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 74 /100 Critics Rec: 61%

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Released: July 15, 1999
ESRB: T For Teen // Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco
Developer(s): Square Enix, Square
Publisher(s): Square Enix

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Set off on a journey to find the mystical Mana Tree seen in a dream, before discovering... The world map is empty! During your travels, you’ll acquire special artifacts; place these wherever you’d like on the map to bring towns and dungeons to life and advance the story.

Meet a colorful cast of characters, square off against fearsome monsters, and explore the vast world of Fa’Diel. Not only has the music has been rearranged for this remaster, you can also alternate between the new and original soundtrack. Other features have also been added, including the ability to turn off enemy encounters, and the never-before released mini-game "Ring Ring Land".

SHAPE YOUR ENVIRONMENT - Featuring the unique "Land Make" System in which you can build your own World Map.

COMPELLING NARRATIVE - Complete quests and storylines

REAL-TIME COMBAT - Equip a variety of weapons, armors and accessories in exciting battles.

Engine: unreal engine
Multiplayer: Online Multiplayer
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, PC, Microsoft Windows
Genre(s): Action RPG, Adventure
How Long To Beat: 28 hours