Brownie Brown might sound like a delicious cookie, but for fans of Secret of Mana it translates into something even more delicious. The company - currently operating under the name 1-UP Studio - was setup by Nintendo from hand-picked ex-Square employees, namely folks that had worked on both Game Boy and SNES Mana titles. The first product of this company was none other than Game Boy Advance's Magical Vacation, a beautiful and charming RPG that traded action for the more classic turn-based JRPG mechanics.
If the name of the game sounds familiar, you might have stumbled upon its sequel on DS - Magical Starsign, a game that was fortunately localized and released in the West. Sadly Magical Vacation never had that chance, remaining yet another interesting Japan-only title. Sword of Mana was the only game from the company that was officially released to western GBA owners.
The game sees you picking either a boy or a girl and one magic spirit. That last bit would certainly seem out of place were you not a student of the Will-O-Wisp Magical Academy in the Kingdom of Kovomaka. Everyone is preparing for a field trip to the mysterious Valencia Beach where an incident a few years prior still troubles both teachers and students. But kids being kids, it's off to have fun and adventure - until everyone is attacked and kidnapped by mysterious beasts know as Enigmas. By the end of the prologue, you are left alone on Valencia Beach and it's up to you to rescue everyone (teachers included), burdened with the knowledge that there's a secret magic war taking place which is being kept a secret from the general population while magic users are secretly being trained as soldiers. Harry Potter, anyone?
If this all sounds interesting then you'll be happy to know that a complete English translation patch has just been released. Despite a few minor text placement glitches, it is yet another excellent example of dedicated fan work bringing amazing games to a wider audience. Check out the first half hour of the game in the video below.
You can grab the patch from here and run it on your Retron5 or Retro Freak system using the original Japanese cartridge. Besides working on this game and Sword of Mana, Brownie Brown also helped HAL Laboratory to make another quirky JRPG, an obscure title very few people have heard or care about called Mother 3. (Just kidding!) Yes indeed, Shigesato Itoi's last chapter of the Mother series on Game Boy Advance would not have happened without the direct involvement of this studio.
Comments 33
Brownie Brown. Haven't heard that name in a long while. If it's anywhere near Secret of Mana's quality then it must be a great game. SOM is like Man(n)a from Heaven.
Really enjoyed Magical Starsign on the DS
Sweet. They were also responsible for London Life in Professor Layton and the Last Specter, but you'll need to import a US version as it was removed from the European release.
Oh Brownie Brown, 1-UP Studio is not a delicious name for you.
I've been waiting for this!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I imported this for my GBA, and i loved every second of it, and made me buy Magical Starsign (not as good though). And now i can finnaly play it and understand it?! This just made my year!
Guess i need to get myself a Retron 5 now.
Please note that video has the music bugged due to emulation error. I assure you the music sounds delightful in proper hardware.
The emulation audio sucks, best to play this with a patch cartridge instead. Just patch the rom and load it through an EZ Flash IV cartridge and play it on an actual GBA otherwise you had to deal with the horrifying audios.
Hopefully GBA carts of the game with the English translation will start appearing on eBay soon. I've got Mother 3 and Fire Emblem Sword of Seals that way and they work great.
I'd still buy them officially if they released them on the VC with English translations too.
you gotta love this typical GBA graphics
@YouSeemFRAZZLED Well it was developed by Level 5 but Brownie Brown helped.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Life
This is great. I'll get a repro cart if I ever find one.
@vonseux Yeah, totally loving the GBA graphics.
Oh man I had completely forgotten about this game. I remember being so frustrated this wasn't available in the West. Will definitely look into grabbing this at some point.
Holy cow, I remember I wanted this game so bad when it came out. Looks like I've gotta clear some space on my flash cart!
I remember reading about this years ago... I'll have to check it out! (Through an immolator, though, thanks...)
The Retron 5 SKU that can support GBA carts is currently out of stock on their main website, and they're about $150, so most people would have no way to get them right now. And as noted in NL's own review, the Retro Freak is a royal pain to set up depending on what you have. It's mainly shipped through Play Asia, since it's sold in Japan, and it costs $200.
I don't know about you guys, but not everyone has that kind of disposable income for a single article of retro gear, nor the inclination to wait for whenever stock is replenished, or perhaps even for waiting on something large enough to get inspected for days by customs officials to make sure they're not transporting a bomb or something from across the other side of the planet. It's fair enough just to own the original cart, then immolate the game with the patch applied, in this case.
@retro_player_22 The GCN Game Boy Player probably would have the best audio, though... Even with headphones, those old Game Boys really do not hold up, hardware audio wise. And of course, the DS Lite isn't going to beat a TV. That's quite a bit of kit needed to make that happen for non Japanese, though...
@SLIGEACH_EIRE It's a hidden gem, or so the reviews say... Obviously a bit dated now, but I suspect it holds up better than a lot of GBA titles.
Note to any Retron 5 or Retro Freak users: The patch that was linked in this article is not in a compatible format as it is. I've taken the steps needed to put it in a format that will work. You can download the adjusted patch here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/sc81imeiwi212n3/Magical+Vacation.ips
I don't like RPGs but the artwork for this game is gorgeous. Definitely one of the best looking GBA games.
Hmm......I want to try the series out but I can't get the DS one.
Guess all that's left is this one for me.
That said, I wonder...besides Mario, Pokemon Fire Emblem and Golden Sun and mother i guess..... what other RPG series does Nintendo have?
I suppose I will play this on the 3DS to avoid the sound issues.
Looks nice. The graphics are gorgeous.
reallly good looking game
That's wonderful, but really how about they cater to the much larger gamer group who would LOVE to play Sword of Mana and especially Secret of Mana on the 3ds, downloaded from the very neglected virtual console in the Nintendo eShop!
These are the games we want from virtual console. I just love GBA and SNES graphics, gaming has declined since that era.
@PlywoodStick
It's "emulate" not "immolate". "Immolate" means to sacrificially set something on fire. Just had to mention, cuz your comment to "immolate the game with the patch applied" made me chuckle.
I wasn't a fan of Magical Starsign back in the day, but I always felt like it had potential. I'll be sure to check this out, thanks.
EDIT: According to the fan translator, there are still a few kinks that he might iron out later, so I guess I won't be too hasty. Give it a few weeks, at least before I check it out.
@Arngrim
Just wait a month or so, Krikzz is finishing up his GBA Everdrive and then you can play it on real GBA hardware
@schopaia Yup, both Vacation and Starsign have some of the best graphics of their respective consoles.
@the_shpydar Yeah, I know, I just use that term as a joke referencing how many people think of emulation as basically a weapon that burns all sorts of things: the developers, the publishers, the game itself, the entire industry, any related economy, and perhaps even themselves!
"an obscure title very few people have heard or care about called Mother 3. (Just kidding!) "
nice
@PlywoodStick Ha! I thought that might actually be the case, that it was intentional. That's pretty good, i may steal it from you.
I was just reading about this game in an old issue of Nintendo Power! They were talking it up as an upcoming game, and I was like, "I bet this never got localized..." So I looked it up and sure enough.
Oh goodness! I'm so happy to see this article! Oh jeez that audio. It's been a while since I've heard the vomit-inducing emulation audio. The best recommendation for an emulator for this game would be the mGBA. It can freeze quite a bit but the audio sounds much better. Trust me.
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