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If you enjoyed this game, consider leaving a review at RHDN:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/9447/

Subscribe to my e-mail list at okimpala.net and stay informed about my upcoming projects.
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*Embers of Mana*
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Game: Final Fantasy Adventure / Mystic Quest / Seiken Densetsu
System: Game Boy

Works with: Final Fantasy Adventure (USA)
File SHA-1: 8b93c55ee2660c60cf86dd70058f96ace98782c8
File CRC32: 18c78b3a
Size: 262.144 bytes

Patch: Embers of Mana v1.2	
File SHA-1: a7bcc9e056220c9b7d7868633f6b435998584b3b
File CRC32: ccb122c0
Size: 524.288 bytes

Producer: Ok Impala!					

Release: 	v1.0: 24-2-2026
		v1.1: 28-2-2026
		v1.2: 1-3-2026

© 2026 Ok Impala!
http://okimpala.net
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*************************
*Message from the author*
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Four years have flown by since the release of Zelda II - Amida's Curse. Embers of Mana turned out to be a much bigger project than I originally imagined, but here we are—it’s finally ready to be shown to you, the player.

Mystic Quest for Game Boy was one of the first games I bought with my own money as a kid. I still remember hauling my piggy bank to the local toy store and dumping the contents on the counter, dizzying the store clerk because of all the small coins that added up exactly to 79 Guilders. For the next few weeks, I was mesmerized by this ethereal Mana world—the dramatic moments, the huge world, and the emotional soundtrack. These were things I hadn’t experienced in a game before. Mystic Quest claimed a special place in my heart, never to leave it again.

When Zelda II - Amida's Curse was released, I was contemplating which game to work on next. As fate would have it, just at that time, Arathron showed up with a stunningly elaborate editor. Mystic Editor gave me the opportunity to work on my beloved childhood game. Over on the Mystic Editor Discord, I teamed up with several awesome people whom I would like to explicitly name here because, without them, Embers of Mana would not exist.

First of all, xenophile—thank you so much for all your help. The custom changes you created for Mystic Editor, just for Embers of Mana, made it possible to create something truly special. Sometimes my requests might have driven you slightly insane, but I hope you agree the end result was worth it!

Daid—your extensive disassembly of Final Fantasy Adventure was the groundwork everything else was built upon. We often forget that many of the grand ROM hacks started with someone documenting the original game. Your hard work made all the current projects on Final Fantasy Adventure possible. Thank you so much for that!

Arathron—Mystic Editor arrived at just the right time. During my work on Embers, I’ve often been baffled by the sheer robustness of the tool and all the options it gave me. I know you still have lofty ambitions of bringing this editor further, and I hope Embers of Mana will make you proud too.

endlessrepeat—thank you for the friendly response when I reached out after hearing your beautiful rendition of Lascarde Skywalk. Your original creations for Embers of Mana fit the atmosphere I was going for perfectly. Thank you for your awesome work and for playing the role of "grammar police". I hope to work with you again on a future project!

Dagmor—thank you for sharing your speedrunning knowledge about Final Fantasy Adventure and all the numerous ways to break the game. And of course, thanks for all the coding advice and general help!

This game was made for all the people out there who were touched by this special little game by Square. Whether you played Seiken Densetsu, Final Fantasy Adventure, or Mystic Quest... Embers of Mana is for you!

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*About Seiken Densetsu/Final Fantasy Adventure/Mystic Quest*
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This Game Boy game is often dismissed these days as "a Zelda clone." This qualification doesn’t do justice to this little game that punched far above its weight. For starters, Seiken Densetsu was first released by Squaresoft on June 28, 1991—a whole two years before Link's Awakening and five months before A Link to the Past!

Seiken Densetsu was a pretty innovative game for its time, and considering the limits of the Game Boy, this game is nothing short of a development miracle. Working with this engine for Embers of Mana made me appreciate the game engine even more.
The naming confusion caused by Squaresoft probably didn’t help to cement this game as one of the Game Boy classics. Final Fantasy Adventure (North America) doesn’t give away that this is actually the first Mana game ever released, and Mystic Quest (Europe) makes people think it’s the mediocre SNES game with the same name.

Sure, the game was a bit rushed, and some gameplay elements aren’t thought out very well. I hope that Embers of Mana shows what could have been if Square had decided to create a second game using the same engine.

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*Gameplay*
**********
There are some differences between the original game and Embers of Mana. I’d like for you to discover some things for yourself, but I’d like to mention a few major changes:

- Keys will now permanently open doors. As a result, you won’t be able to buy keys, but you’ll find them in dungeons.
- You don’t have to hold a key in your hand to open a door. Just having it in your inventory is enough.
- The Mattock (Watts) can be used indefinitely.
- You won’t get Lucre from monsters. Instead, you can find pearls or rubies in chests. Sell these to get cash! Very rarely, monsters will drop Pearls or Rubies as well.
- The "Ask" command will let your partner help you. Try it!
- Monsters have no weapon-specific resistances. So, feel free to use the weapon of your choice.
- You can only save at a Goddess Statue. Contrary to the original game, you can’t save everywhere. Don’t forget to save when you find a statue!
- On the HUD, you’ll see a number with an upward arrow. That is the amount of exp needed for your next level-up.
- The select menu is disabled; this is not a bug.
- Shields don't give higher defense, but will give better protection against projectiles. Upgrading is always a good thing.
- Every new armor is an improvement. You can sell the old equipment.
- In Final Fantasy Adventure, only walls in the centre could be broken with a Mattock. In Embers of Mana every part of a wall could potentially be broken. Look for hints to find suspicious places to break the wall. If you hit a wall with your weapon, it will make a special sound if it's breakable.
- Maps of all the dungeons and inventory lists are included in this download. Be warned that this will spoil things.


**********
*Features*
**********
- A brand-new story 
- A completely original soundtrack 
- An entirely new world and dungeons 
- Custom graphics
- Thoughtful gameplay tweaks 
- Super Game Boy compatibility 
- And so much more—it’s essentially a brand-new Mana game! 

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*Palette & Border*
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This game can be played on the Game Boy family. Playing the game on a Game Boy Color or Super Game Boy will give you a nice default palette to play with. On Super Game Boy, a border will automatically load. There is also an alternative Super Game Boy palette available in the Super Game Boy directory. Just patch the .ips file after you've patched the game with the main .ips patch.

If you are playing in an emulator, it is recommended to use the default palette for DMG Game Boy games or use the Embers of Mana colors, as can be found in the palette directory of this download. You can also load a border from the border directory of this download.

For gamers that want to get a taste for an eventual color (DX) version of Embers of Mana, I've included color codes for every area in the game. You can manually change the colors in your emulator every time you reach a new area. Of course, be warned that the names of the areas will be spoiled if you take a look at the list.

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*Soundtrack*
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The soundtrack was released on Youtube-and soon all major streaming platforms.
You can find it here:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFdR4a1qgss&list=PLHQeNL_dlcjbCQdbmVpLcZ1d2u97ugUJw

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*Box and Cartridge*
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Studio Elephantastic has created beautiful, original box art for Embers of Mana, including cartridge art. You can download the artwork from my website: https://www.okimpala.net/embers-of-mana.


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*How to play*
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1. You'll need a GB emulator that is able to play Final Fantasy Adventure. BGB is a good choice. You can also play the game on original hardware.
2. Download the correct Final Fantasy Adventure ROM (See the start of the ReadME, and use Google)
3. With http://www.romhacking.net/hash/ you can check whether you have the correct ROM.
4. Go to: https://www.romhacking.net/patch/ to patch the ROM. (the .ips file is the patchfile)
5. Rename your patched ROM to Embers of Mana(so your emulator creates a clean savefile when you start the game).
6. Start the patched ROM in your emulator.
7. Have fun!

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*Version History*
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v1.0: First release.
v1.1: Fixed a rare but severe bug in the final scene of the game.
v1.2: That was a persistent bug! Now it's solved!
          	
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*Special Thanks*
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Arathron - Developer of Mystic Editor
xenophile - ASM
Dagmor - ASM
endlessrepeat - Original music composition / Proofreading
Daid - Disassembly
PowerPanda - Font title screen
WaxPoetic - Graphics Ripping
Radimerry - ASM
TweedleDee1 - Midi arrangements
Flying Omelette - Midi arrangements
Aaron Walz - Midi arrangements
Lot - Writing assistance
Marc Robledo - SGB Injector
YesFem - Together Forever
Studio Elephantastic ( https://www.studioelephantastic.nl/ ) - Original art


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*Music Credits*
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	Music Credits	
Nr	Track Name	- Original Composer
1	Together Forever - Le Couple
2	Embers of the Night - Hiroki Kikuta
3	A New Story - Noriyuki Iwadare
4	Ambush - Akinori Sawa, Shunichi Mikame
5	Beautiful Day - Nobuyuki Hara, Yu Yoshida
6	Good Night! - Hiroki Kikuta
7	Into the Waterfall - Hiroki Kikuta
8	A Curious Celebration - Hiroki Kikuta
9	Watch Out! - Falcom Sound Team jdk
10	Endless Grief - Yuko Takehara
11	A Snowy Day - Nobuyuki Hara, Yu Yoshida
12	Frozen Statues - endlessrepeat
13	Dark Caves - Hiroyuki Masuno
14	A Desolated Land - Unknown
15	Land of the Lost	 - Anne Dudley
16	Creche de Chocobo - Nobuo Uematsu
17	What the Forest Hides - endlessrepeat
18	Danger! - Jeremy Soule, Julian Soule
19	Daily Life - Le Couple
20	A Spectacle of Flowers - Hiroki Kikuta
21	The Color of Flowers - Hiroki Kikuta
22	Embers of Mana - Hiroki Kikuta
23	Eternal Adventure - Nobuo Uematsu
24	City of the Past	 - Tomohito Nishiura
25	Wind from the Mountain - Falcom Sound Team jdk
26	Monarch in the Dark - Robert Strating
27	Sunken Shrine - Kenji Ito
28	High Stakes - Yasunori Shiono
29	Eternal Forest - Yasunori Mitsuda
30	Saving the World	 - Nobuo Uematsu
31	Together Forever	 - Le Couple

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*Other Projects by Ok Impala!*
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Zelda II - Amida's Curse
(https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6292/)
Super Mario Kart - Epic Racers (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5514/)
Super Mario Kart - The Impala Battles
(https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/154/)
Lufia - Encounter Rate Fix (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7259/)
Breath of Fire - Encounter Rate Fix (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7294/)
Breath of Fire II - Encounter Rate Fix (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7317/)

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*Contact*
*********
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/okimpala.bsky.social
Site: http://okimpala.net
Mail: impala@okimpala.net
