Akitoshi Kawazu
"Legend of Mana" was directed by "Mana" series creator Koichi Ishii, who had worked on the three previous games in the series. Many of the other developers were new to the series, including producer Akitoshi Kawazu, the director and producer of many games in Square's "SaGa" series, and designer Akihiko Matsui, who had been the director for "Chrono Trigger". The game's character designs and illustrations were done by Shinichi Kameoka, who was also new to the series. "Retro Gamer", in 2011, stated that although Ishii kept the game tied to previous titles in the series by reusing gameplay elements, Kawazu had a heavy influence on the gameplay design of the game.