Trials of Mana producer discusses the challenge of translating the original 2D game into 3D

Trials of Mana hits the Switch next week, and it's looking to present the original Seiken Densetsu 3 in a whole new way. Seiken Densetsu 3 was originally released for the SNES, and it was a top-down, 2D affair. Trials of Mana takes that game and completely remakes it in 3D. In an interview with Vooks, producer Shinichi Tatsuke opens up about how challenging that was.

When we were making the game in 3D, we had to make large scale amendments to the placement of the maps. You will probably get an understanding of this if you play the demo, but we changed the layout of some of the maps that were designed in 2D, in order to make hunting for treasure chests and items more fun in 3D. For the event scenes too, there were sections that felt right in 2D, but which lacked substance when translated into 3D, so it was hard work going back and adding in new dialogue and character performances to flesh those out.