Often overlooked as one of the red-headed stepchildren of the Final Fantasy series, FFA plays more like the early Zelda games than the incarnations of Final Fantasy that we are used to. That aside, the game is amazing, with an amazingly deep plot for the time period and plenty of options to customize your weapons and armor, four character traits that you can level up, and eight spells you pick up automatically through the game. While it can't compete with the depth or graphics of its successors, FFA is definitely an oft-overlooked classic from the original Game Boy era.

I remember a few years ago playing this game. This was my introduction to the Secret of Mana series even though I believed this to be part of the Final Fantasy series. Maybe they called it this because they didn't know that they were going to make more games with the Mana tree, so no sense in saying FFAII and FFAIII. But the story line is definatly great. You start out as [your name for charecter here] in a forteress where the Dark Lord uses people to play in gladiator like fights. This seems like some of the Final Fantasy games where you start off with normal life for the charecter and then you delve into a rich story line. When you escape the castle, you meet up with a man who was freshly slain by monsters and a girl crying at his side. After talking to her, she tells you that she is looking for an old man. I forget his name since the time it's been, and from there, the story line becomes increasingly better. It was way ahead of it's time where it has plot twists and can bring out emotion in you. I was sad after fighting Medusa (won't say what happened) and at the tree of mana (my lips are still sealed) I don't have this game anymore so I am planning on buying it to beat it again -it's that great! There is also a remake of this game called Sword of Mana for the GBA but has minor changes that are enough for me to shun it because it will ruin my thoughts on one of the most gripping original Game Boy games ever. Buy it now!

The first thing to mention is that Final Fantasy Adventure is really part of the Mana series (Secret of Mana, Legend of Mana). This is, I believe, the first game in the series with the sequel being the excellent Secret of Mana for the SNES. I suspect that the reason for the name change is simply that Square thought that the Final Fantasy name would sell more copies when released in America. This is an adventure RPG.

Final Fantasy Adventure is similar to a Zelda game in that you control a character from the top down and wander around whacking enemies with your weapon (you get different weapons throughout the game). You must get clues to find where the next place to go is and what the next piece of the storyline is. It is as simple as finding and rescuing the princess, but is deeper than that with side story and the Mana Tree. Like other Mana games you do end up at the tree of Mana after a long adventure. When I first played this for the Gameboy I was about 12 years old (or so) and I loved it. This game was a lot of fun and exploring that world was at times a small challenge but overall was just a blast. It really isn't part of the Final Fantasy series (though you will see chocobos), but this is worth playing for fans of the Mana series as well as any who like old school games.