Magical Vacation

Magical Vacation (マジカルバケーション, Majikarubakēshon) is a connection role-playing game developed by Brownie Brown (now 1-UP Studio) as their first original game. It was released for the Game Boy Advance on December 7, 2001 in Japan, and has never been released outside of the country. It is the first game in the Magical Vacation duology, and the prequel to Magical Starsign on the DS. The game was also ported to the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2015, but still remained Japan-exclusive.

The story follows a group of 16 students who attend Will-o'-Wisp Academy; a school where youths are trained to master their magical talents. Over the summer, they are sent out to Valencia Beach Seaside School with their teacher chaperone, Miss Madeleine. Players take on the role of a silent protagonist, whose gender and element are chosen at the start of the game. 13 of the 16 elements are available while the remaining 3 are unlocked through multiplayer functionality.

Magical Vacation features extremely detailed environments and unique character designs from Shinichi Kameoka, whose previous works include various titles in the Mana/Seiken Densetsu series and SaGa Frontier. The game's soundtrack was written by early Megami Tensei series composer Tsukasa Masuko.

Setting
In terms of Magical Vacation's plot and setting, it exhibits fantasy traits from other games in the classic RPG genre. The planet of Kovomaka is made up of infinite elemental Realms, which occupy the same space in different dimensions. Each Realm is drastically different from one another, as their landscapes are reflective of the element or concept they represent. The only way to shift between Realms is by slipping through a natural disturbance in reality, using Realm-shifting technology, or by mastering Warp Magic. Will-o'-Wisp Academy is in the Material Realm.

Backstory
Long ago, a destructive war broke out in the Kingdom of Kovomaka. Countless swordsmen and wizards were killed, and Kovomaka was dealt a heavy blow. To cover up the events of the war, a lie was spread amongst the townspeople, and they were told that thousands of soldiers had died as a result of an experiment gone awry. The battle lasted for 3 days and a long peace followed, but a man named Biscotti chose to keep a watchful eye.

A few years after the war, the protagonist is introduced. Raised in a village on the kingdom's edge, they were born with the ability to communicate with elemental Spirits hiding inside artifacts of nature. Unfortunately, others did not see their power as a blessing and became fearful of what it could bring. The townspeople called the child a misfit and had them exiled from the village.

Shortly after their exultation, the child encountered Principal Biscotti and was asked if they liked Spirits, to which a multitude of them appeared behind the great wizard. Thrilled to see someone who could also see Spirits, the child answered yes. Biscotti then invited them to enroll in his school of magic with the promise of meeting even more Spirits, and the two set off for Will-o'-Wisp Academy.

Commercials
Gameplay of Magical Vacation was first revealed for the Game Boy Advance on August 23rd, 2001 at a Nintendo Space World event. It was presented in a 30-second-long trailer with the planned release date being December 7th. Journalists were quick to praise its detailed environments and visual homages to 16-bit console RPGs, as well as its Mana series attributes. Hopeful for an overseas release, they assumed the game would not leave Japan until 2002, but their anticipation was in vain.

The first commercials to advertise Magical Vacation featured Japanese singer, model, and actress Mika Nakashima. In the commercials, Nakashima runs to the shore of a beach at sunset and cries out a promise to save her friends, followed by the slogan, "The mightiest weapon of all... is Friendship".

Public Events
Main Article: Let's Amigo Events



Two events were held shortly after Magical Vacation's release in Japan. They would act as large get-togethers for owners of the game, who could meet up and use the Let's Amigo feature to unlock special content in their own copies of Magical Vacation. Casual fans, superfans, cosplayers and Brownie Brown staff alike appeared for both venues.

The first venue was held in Osaka on January 26th, 2002, with around 300 participating players. The second one took place in Tokyo on January 27th, 2002, with a much higher turnout of around 900 players.

Reception
Famitsu magazine gave Magical Vacation a score of 35/40 on release.

Sword of Mana


Sword of Mana is a 2003 action RPG developed by Square Enix and Brownie Brown for the Game Boy Advance, and is the fifth release in the Seiken Densetsu series. Shinichi Kameoka was involved with this game as its character designer. In the heroine's route, she visits a boy in the town of Topple and offers to help him find his book. By retrieving the lost book and returning it to the boy, he will reveal that it is titled Magical Vacation.

"Wow! Thanks a lot! Sweet! My book! It's a weird story called "Magical Vacation." Kids at a magic school do all sorts of stuff! They beat up enemies with fire, lightning, poison and stuff! Bam! Pow! BOOM! Giant acorns!"

Super Smash Bros.
Characters from Magical Vacation appear in the Super Smash Bros. series as collectibles. Those with descriptions summarize their roles in Magical Starsign.

Egglia Series
Egglia: Legend of the Redcap is a role-playing simulation game developed by Brownies for iOS and Android devices. It was released in Japan on April 30th, 2017, but its servers were shut down on August 30th, 2018 (with the game subsequently being retitled to Egglia: Offline). In February of 2022, Brownies released an enhanced port of the game for the Nintendo Switch, dubbing it Egglia Rebirth.

Many elements of Egglia can be considered as direct callbacks to Magical Vacation, and Shinichi Kameoka's history with game production as a whole. Some notable examples of these callbacks include, but are not limited to; a baby Pooka Enigma, a wolks with pants for a hat, and recruitable elemental spirits.