Heroes of Mana

Heroes of Mana
European cover art
Developer(s)	Square Enix Brownie Brown
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Takeo Oin
Producer(s)	Koichi Ishii
Artist(s)	Ryoma Ito
Writer(s)	Masato Kato
Composer(s)	Yoko Shimomura
Series	Mana
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release	JP: March 8, 2007 NA: August 14, 2007 EU: September 14, 2007
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Heroes of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana, is a 2007 real-time strategy game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Brownie Brown and Square Enix and published by Square Enix. It is the ninth game of the Mana series and the fourth entry in the World of Mana subseries, following the release of Dawn of Mana three months prior. Set in a high fantasy universe, Heroes of Mana follows a young soldier, Roget, as he journeys to defend several nations from the ruthless aggression of his own country in a series of battles.

While it contains some small role-playing elements, Heroes of Mana diverges from the prior action role-playing game titles of the series to instead be a real-time strategy game. Composed of a series of strategic battles, the player gathers resources, constructs buildings and units, and fights enemy forces to achieve objectives on fixed isometric grid maps. The Nintendo DS's second screen displays a map of the ongoing battle, and buildings and units are constructed inside of the player's airship and dropped onto the map by the flying base. Players can fight several dozen required and optional battles in the single-player game, as well as local multiplayer matches.

Heroes of Mana was produced by series creator Koichi Ishii and directed by Takeo Oin. The story was written by Masato Kato, and the music was composed by Yoko Shimomura. The game was not a commercial success, selling around 180,000 copies worldwide by the end of 2007, less than contemporary Mana games. While critics generally praised the graphics, they were dismissive of the plot, mixed on the actual gameplay and sharply negative on what they saw as poor artificial intelligence and pathfinding inhibiting actual play.

Like previous games in the Mana series, Heroes of Mana features a top-down perspective, in which the player characters navigate the terrain and fight off hostile creatures and enemies. Unlike prior games in the series, which are typically action role-playing games, Heroes is a real-time strategy game (RTS), in which the player controls up to 25 units in battles on fixed maps. Units are controlled via the Nintendo DS touch screen, selected by tapping on them and sent to destinations or to attack by tapping on their target. The game world is divided into an isometric grid, with one unit allowed per space. The Nintendo DS's second screen shows a map of the current mission, including which parts of the map can currently be seen by the player's units and which parts are covered by fog of war. Individual units and enemies are shown on the map in the visible areas.