The game Secret of Mana is a remake of the SNES game, which was initially successful due to its unique features. However, the game has been criticized for its difficulty and lack of stackable spells. The original game had a harder time with Frost Gigas due to the lack of stackable spells. To overcome this issue, players must upgrade their weapons and level them up to gain higher charge levels for higher damage.
Spell stacking in the remake makes bosses easier, but enemies can attack constantly. Undergeared players may struggle with this. The game’s main spell is Cure Water, which can be used to build up the power of spells within it. The Fire Gigas can disappear and float around, making it a good time to cast Cure Water or Magic.
The game also features a poison named The Girl, which specializes in healing and assistance magic. She will keep the group alive, bring them back from the dead, and enchant weapons. The game is generally considered the same difficulty as the SNES original, but the game has some bugs.
The game’s difficulty is similar to the SNES original, but the game has been relegated to the second-tier. Players can use the chain menu on either the Sprite or Girl to cycle through them until they reach the magic menu.
A young boy pulls a mysterious sword from a local waterfall and embarks on a journey to discover the secret behind it. An activated mana ability does not go on the stack, so it cannot be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Despite its early success on the SNES, the Mana series has always been relegated to the second-tier.
📹 Secret of Mana: Why the Hype? – SNESdrunk
Flawed but still great. SNES reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLib8CA6AKJM_RL_XFHUTa-PbqTGzPh9Pi NES …
📹 Secret of Mana SNES Review | Worthy of the Hype?
SecretOfMana #SeikenDensetsu #SNES #SuperNES #Squaresoft Hello all! Here’s my review for Secret of Mana on the SNES.
in 1993, when Secret of Mana was new and I was only a decade or so old, it left an impression on me I will never forget. Those graphics, the incredible score & sound effects, the freedom of exploration, it blew my expectations for a article game right out of the water and I vividly remember the exact moment I laid eyes on it. No game ever hit me that hard upon introduction.
I know this is an old article, but I just wanna say, part of the reason the music for this game was so good was that the composer INSISTED on getting to get a feel for the story and play what was available so that he could figure out the tone of each area and make the music to match. This and Trials of Mana were probably his best work.
Wait wait wait NO you forgot Youtube website rule #1: don’t just jump into your content with a compelling introduction to your argument. NO! Say: “Wut iz up guys SNES Drunk here to host a article that you will be perusal WITH your eyeballs and today I’m here to talk about the thing that is the TITLE of the article” and then make some terrible jokes and launch into general attention-seeking behavior.
Secret of Mana is my all time favorite SNES game. The game play was amazing. The music was phenomenal. Flammie is the greatest aspect of the game. When you could fly around the world and discover new land and hidden islands. The story was enjoyable but mainly it came from you filling in the gaps with the game play. I fell in love with this game so maybe I do over hype it. There are some flaws with some mechanics. Though I did enjoy the magic aspect and the wheel circle menu. I found it still kept you engaged in the game while giving you a quick break to regain your composure especially in a boss battle.I highly recommend this game & would definitely say this is a big hitter RPG.
I know this article is super old, but I’m going to share my story anyway. Christmas of 1993. I was 7 years old and Santa had FINALLY came and left me a SNES on the fireplace. I cannot possibly convey the sheer joy I felt! Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Home Alone were the games unwrapped sitting beside it. Once Mom and Dad woke up, Dad said we couldn’t hook it up until after we had opened presents, had breakfast, ETC. So I’m opening wrapped gifts from under the tree, and I get a copy of Super Mario All-Stars! Sweet!!! I then open another gift and it’s another copy of All-Stars. “Don’t worry.” Dad said. “You can exchange it for another game.” I racked my brain thinking of all the games I had played at friends houses’, trying to decide which one I should get. Later that night, after a long day of playing my new Super Nintendo, I saw a trailer on television for a game called Secret of Mana. “I want that one!” I exclaimed. One week later, I inserted the cartridge for it into said system and my 7 year old mind was blown! I didn’t get very far. I didn’t have a strategy guide, didn’t read the instruction booklet, and of course there was no internet. But that game left such an impression on me that I kept playing off and on for years to come until I got my SNES classic a few years ago and finally finished it. One of the greatest games I’ve ever played hands down. I’m so glad my grandma Got me that extra copy of super Mario all stars that Christmas. If she hadn’t, I may have never even experienced this game the way it was meant to be experienced.
Gaming has changed a lot since Secret of Mana. The entire way the medium tells stories has completely shifted. A lot of the setting and mood was conveyed through the music in these games, which is why I think they stand out so much to us all these years later. The snow level is memorable because the music is helping to tell a story that the graphics lack the ability to convey. I think the human brain fills in the rest, and when you’re young and your imagination is so strong these games really became something magical. Nowadays, games can look, sound and feel exactly how the developer wants for the most part. Games have to be bigger and bigger as they directly compete with Hollywood films. In fact, game developers have been trying to make games more like movies since basically forever. I’m not saying that gaming WAS better back in the day. Only that it was better in SOME ways. I do miss it and I’m glad a lot of youtube websites are helping to preserve gaming’s history.
My niece (who was 4 at the time) saw me play this on the Classic so I plugged in the second controller and she started playing with me (she was Popoi cuz she liked their pink hair). We took down a boss together (by that I mean I just kept spamming Popoi’s magic at it while she was making him run in place) and I even taught her the story of each character. That will forever be one my favorite memories.
You make a good point about how the music makes the game so much better. Growing up I quickly noticed that if a game’s music was good it made me think much more highly of it, despite the the gameplay, and the opposite holds true as well. Going back and playing the old systems I have often had to mute the sound to be able to play the game, but some have such classic soundtracks I forget all about the game’s flaws and just chilled the universe conveyed via the music. Your observations are always so on point. You give reviews that are so insightful yet so simply put and accessible. Keep up what you’re doing even if you have to move on to other systems man! (As long as you still enjoy doing these articles ofcourse)
I think SNES drunk is right in that it just falls victim to its own over-hype, because it IS a great game, but its been hyped so much lately that new players go in expecting it to be teh greatest game of all time, play it, and then are like “it was OK, but not the greatest game evar!” Thankfully I played it when it first came out and LOVED the game. It still ranks as one of my all-time favorite games. Always helps to go into any game/movie/book/whatever with zero expectations. Pro-tip, play it with the Multi Tap and some friends. 😀
I liked the limited story and character back story. It made for one of the best introductions to rpgs for me (Back at age 8), because i didnt really want to read text for hours on end. I wanted to smack stuff with a sword. I wish more rpgs would tone it down like this one did. The rign system was good too. What would the alternative be? A menu system like Final Fantasy? The game was simple for all the right reasons.
Probably still one of the best japanese Action-RPGs ever made. This game has a very sad but beautiful storyline and soundtrack. 2:22 this song is called “a wish” and it’s one of the most beautiful tracks in the role-playing game history. This track fits the szene with Rudolph the reindeer and his missing santa claus so perfect…….
I can see how people find it overrated if the multiplayer is never brought up. It’s one of those game where it was so good that it has been copied enough that it does feel “been there done that” now. The action RPG wasnt much a thing back then and even more important, a multiplayer RPG. I’m a RPG fan who happens to have 5 brothers. RPGs beeing pretty much a single player experience, finally having a multiplayer RPG was pretty cool and welcomed.
i know this vid is old but heres my comment. I loved how there were so many powerful “commander” type of enemy underlings in the empire. seeing all of them together for the first time is great. yeah, the music is wonderful and really helps with grinding, and i always grind my magic in the ice forest for that beautiful melody. the variation of weapons and how they are all fun to use is a manor plus. finding the extra weapon orbs in the mana fortress for the spear was so cool. finally, who could forget that beautiful detailed spread in the Nintendo Power issues!?! that detailed portion dedicated to the game was debatably the best special Nintendo Power ever did, along with the Final Fantasy 3 Amano art special!
Im working on a ROM hack of this game that I thought you might find interesting, it fixes the magic system so you don’t have to pause the game and cant chain-cast spells, It also features a manual block/dodge button and a strong and weak attack (the weak attack does 25% less damage but you power% drops to 25% instead of 0 and the attack is wider). I also fixed the CPU controlled characters getting stuck (they now dont block the screen and teleport back to you if they go out of the screen), you can choose the difficulty settings between easy (like it is in the normal game), normal and hard, altho the “normal” difficulty is not implemented yet, and many other stuff. Its still a work-in-progress but all the stuff I talked about here is done, you can try the beta version if you want : romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,20093.0.html
I tried really hard to like this game. I do love the soundtrack very much. But that’s ultimately one of the only things about this game that I do like. I can’t believe that you think the hit detection is good; it’s like we’re not even playing the same game or something. I’ll admit that I did fall into the trap of expecting some kind of FF6 or chrono trigger-like story at first, but even so, there isn’t much in terms of gameplay to salvage the experience for me since it’s so repetitive, so awkward, and so long. Playing it in multiplayer helped somewhat, but even then I got tired of it after the first 3rd of the game or so. I think the “overhype train” arguments are sound. That said, again, the soundtrack is A+ and really is the game’s strongest asset by miles and miles.
imo the music is the best to grace a article game fullsrop. Great review btw. And agreed – the music is what elevates SoM. That and the multiplayer. I played SoM at launch with my bro and it will always be my fondest gaming memory. 14 years old, summer holidays, chilling to the music and going on an adventure. Nothing else on the SNES could compete.
I ended up with two copies of this game back in the 90s because my friends at the time did not want them. They wanted Final Fantasy and got this instead. I personally never heard of it back then but I knew Squaresoft. They sat for a few months before I played it. When I played it, it became my most loved game on the SNES after that and today the carts have some value and having the box with them makes it even better!!
This game was literally revolutionary and decades ahead of its time. The multiplayer real-time RPG is the most dominant and expansive sub genre of RPGs now. This game had ALL the paradigms of a multiplayer RPG decades before they became truly popular. If you log on to ANY online RPG to this day you can recognize many elements that were present and well developed in this game first. Sure aspects of the game have not aged perfectly but when you really consider what modern RPG gaming is it is amazing to think how much of the foundation this game put down.
You absolutely nailed this one, buddy! I completely love this game but, couldn’t agree more with story development, characters, and switching between players for the ring menu. The world is so beautiful and the music is everything from wonderfully captivating (the Ice Forest, for sure) to psychologically deranged (the Ruins). Flawed yes but still worthy of multiple plays.
Secret of Mana didn’t have the most intriguing story true. However the combat system felt so different yet so good for the era. Mana will always be a nostalgic favorite. That being said I wish it’s almost twin sister was more well known/beloved. Secret of Evermore needs more limelight, combat and ring system identical to Mana. With the addition of alchemy/magic, also had an amazing OST/soundtrack. If you really love Mana and have a chance to, really give Secret of Evermore a chance.
I gave it a try last night for about a half hour. I just didn’t like it that much. I couldn’t get over how badly I was getting my ass kicked by the first boss, apparently you can’t dodge it’s attacks? I don’t like how the camera works. I prefer a Link to the Past’s camera, how you’re always the center of it. Well, I might try it again one day. But… Eh…
I just don’t understand who signed-off on the charging attacks. Why do they take so damn long? Why do your characters have to waddle around like they shit their pants at a snail’s pace the whole time you’re holding the button down? Much easier to just say “fuck it” and spam magic. But then, why is the magic system based around pausing the game and making menu selections in a game that touts its real-time multiplayer capabilities so much? Say what you will about the original Seiken Densetsu (the Game Boy game that preceded SoM in its series, better known as Final Fantasy Adventure), but the charge attacks actually worked there when they didn’t slow you down constantly. The art and music are great, but the gameplay just isn’t up to snuff in this game. In fact, it’s flat-out busted.
I’m currently playing this and while the music, artstyle and the ring system are great, I find the game tedious to play through. This is because you only have 1 regular attack and that attack has a cooldown. Also the different weapons don’t seem to have much of a difference, enemy hit detection is wonky as hell, you can get stun-locked in a wall when multiple enemies hit you, the AI of your teammates is really bad where they can get stuck on walls (I understand its a really old game, but still it’s a frustrating issue) etc. Still I kinda like the game, but I can’t wait to finish it and tick it off my bucket list.
The game is also very broken. You’re right when you say the magic system can be abused, but do you know to what extent? By far the best way to play it is to always play as Randi (the hero) and always cast magic by pressing X. That way your character isn’t stuck doing the casting animation (leaving you free to charge up your attack), and the best thing is you can immediately cast another spell afterwards, stacking them on top even. This way you can totally annihilate any enemy in the game (final boss excluded) and they can’t do anything back. Kind of hard to ignore this trick once you know about it, it totally breaks the game.
I tried playing this one numerous times, and I always wondered why it’s so hailed. Finally a few years ago I checked the savestates for it on my SNES Mini and realized I had made it all the way to the final boss and beat it, and just completely forgot. I’ll replay it someday to confirm the gameplay is as mediocre as I felt. Maybe it got more fun after the first few hours and I just don’t remember, idk. Also, its score is amazing, maybe one of the best on the system, sure. But THE best on the system composition-wise? Lol nah.
Gotta disagree with you on doing the fundamentals well. At least as far as gameplay is concerned, Secret of Mana is absolutely god awful. The discrepancy in quality between the combat and the graphics/music might be one of the worst I’ve ever seen in the thousands of games I’ve played since the early 90s.
I’m not a big fan of Secret of Mana, I’ve tried playing it multiple times with the mindset that it was great for its time. It’s not a bad game, but it is easily one of the most boring games i’ve played. I even played it with my best friend for over 10 hours and it just felt like a chore for the both of us to get through. That being said, Seiken Densetsu 3 is a much better game and fixes all the problems I had with Secret of Mana, especially the combat, which is much more fluid and actually feels satisfying. If you are going to play any of the games in the series, play Seiken Densetsu 3.
You forgot to include 3 player play. It was an amazing experience to share this rpg with friends instead of having to play an rpg by your self or opt out for streets of rage. Not many games had 3 player co op especially for an extensive game like this. You might think it’s over hyped, but I say not enough lol. With all its game breaking glitches and all.
I grew up in the 90s, lucky for sure, and with a dad that was a HUGE gamer even until he passed I was even luckier. I never played this one but I LOVE a good 90s rpg. I just got it and so far I’m pretty impressed. You have to remember that back then EVERYTHING was new in gaming. First person wasn’t even really a thing, platformers and fighters were king, and innovation was ALL OVER THE PLACE. to have an rpg that didn’t FORCE you into a slow battle screen and was so fluid was somewhat revolutionary. The music too guys, damn is it good even today. It’s not perfect but so far it’s a 90s gem.
Haven’t played this, but loved Mario RPG, and if people are bashing both the same way, I agree it must be expectations. Mario RPG is what got me into RPGs. Yet, if you are already into them, I could see how its story would be disappointing if you were expecting Sephiroth. Not every game has to fit that same mold, though, and it’s most beneficial to go into every game looking for what it has to offer before deciding if it does a good job at it, or if you like it or not.
I played it as an underage teen back in 1993 and i thought it was average, not bad not extremely good, by that time though, i played Seiken Densetsu 1 on the gameboy(more known as FFA), FF Legend 2 and FF IV on the Snes. They all had a pretty damn nice story what SM laked a bit. Especially FF IV. And those are the games that appeared before SM made by Square. HOWEVER, after 23 or so years, i replayed SM and it remembered me on childhood things, random stuff not my own childhood alone, and i thought AFTERWARDS its a masterpiece, it was never childish, but its a game that will honor childhood memories of probably all people on earth. For instance they even included Santa Claus in a pretty cool way as a boss. And the music was really good, thats true, in the same way as the game was, it honors good childhood memories, the last music part for example. But as a kid you are looking for cooland impressive games, with enganging villains etc. for that games FF6/FF7 are better made for childs/teens, because they need their part of Kefka and Sepiroth to be excited and SM is more for nostalgic grown ups or very sensitive/relaxed young people. SM is a really relaxed game, i think thats another reasion why it was such a success, too. Compare it with its successor Seiken Densetsu 3 it had more advanced gameplay and a more serious story, it was also made around the time FF6 was made, just a year before and you can tell the game was influenced by it, even the graphics of the surroundings look very similar.
This game came at a time when play length was a major marketing point. We would hear “40 hours of gameplay” “50 hours of gameplay” ifmemory serves this was advertised as having a whopping 60! Hou6r of gameplay!!! Length and replayability was something that appeared as a factor in most game review mags, and short games would get knocked points for it. I remember borrowing this Secret of Mana from the same friend that power leveled my characters in FFII for me (I had gotten to the final dungeon on the moon but found battles so dull I just ran from most… He was shocked most of my characters were only about 25). I think I got about halfway through Secret of Mana before I quit for being bored. It just wasn’t that compelling or interesting. And I think a big part of that was the need to have a really long game instead of a really good-at-every moment game. A few years later, the padded length of September Core would sour me on JRPGs almost completely. That one claimed over 50 hours of gameplay and achieved it by having time consuming but ultimately meaningless battle animations which turned what would have been an absolutely sublime 20 hour he into kind of a chore to get through for the sake of exceeding 50 hours.
I will never pick Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI over Secret of Mana you forgot to mention that these great snes rpgs are jrpgs and Secret of Mana is an action rpg and for the people that we don’t like turn based combat this game is awesome + like you said in the article this soundtrack and donkey kong series probably the best soundtracks on snes from the tech/composition/quality perspective
How did you come up with “non linear” here? Maybe my memory is a bit clouded here, but the only two parts that I remember where you can choose where to go is at the start of the game where you can either get the girl or the sprite and then later when you have to go to the desert or the ice island. No idea what it’s called in the english version, in the german it was Christmas Island.
I was never a huge fan of this game, even back in the day. The hit detection was atrocious. The delay in registering hits was annoying. It was the glitchiest SNES game I ever played. Charging up your weapon and the sound it made was beyond annoying. Boss fights were just casting your most powerful spell over and over again to the point that it couldn’t even be called an “action” RPG anymore. Worst was having to LEVEL YOUR SPELLS, hanging outside an inn and just spamming them forever. God that was tedious. The only thing it enjoyed were the graphics and music. In every other department, I always thought Crystalis blew it out of the water.
And if you think this game was cool, now you get to see it through the lens of FFVII with voiceovers! Day 1 of the HD remix and… oww, my ears! Thank heavens you can change it back to the SNES tracks, but the only way you’re getting rid of the awful acting is the mute button on your TV. Their lips never move.
Loaded this one up recently since never got around to playing it much originally, I think it shows we just didn’t have as much to do back then so getting around all the awful gameplay became the game. -Combat is a crap inbetween zone of real time action and turn based by time limiting any worthwhile attack with the attack gauge. Technically one can keep slashing away, but do super minimal damage and then enemies have odd invincibility moments in their get back up animation cycle. -Especially in single player you can get wrecked with infinite loop hit stuns where can do absolutely nothing but watch yourself be murdered. Due to this it encourages looking for enemy exploits that aren’t exactly “fun” like attacking through obstructions or being diagonal to the ranged enemies that can’t shoot diagonal. Additionally bosses will use magic attacks that always hit, there are no special moves or items to help counter effectively. -The companion AI defaults to near useless and will get themselves killed even when set to be defensive. Notably the behavior system is not really ever explained within the game. -Starting off, the only way to revive teammates is a cup of wishes or stay at an inn. A revive spell doesn’t become available till super far into the game. -All usable items are limited to carrying 4 maximum which is unnecessarily frustrating. Some items have more value and gameplay considerations than others, but all are 4, seemingly with lack of thought. -The screen is not character centered so commonly end up getting hit with surprise border of screen monsters.
WHAT IS MANA??? Help others in the world And you will gain mana. Accomplish ur goals and do positive things and u will gain self MANA. U KNOW THE FEELING U GET WHEN U HELP OTHERS. THAT’s MANA. Mana is a real thing in real life. Not a article game. If u are reading this. Then im talking to you . U can gain real MANA. So go get it. Talking down on people or being negative will drain ur MANA so be positive.
I got this game for the snes when i was like 8 years old or so, and up to this day this is the reason why i love rpgs so much in general. If it wasnt for Secret of Mana id never touched WoW . Nothing ever sucked me in like this game and i replay and finnish it at least once a year just for the memories <3
Easily one of the best soundtracks on the console,hell,maybe even of all time! The characters are easily the weakest point,no doubt about it.I love the game for its gameplay and music.The story isn’t the best but it’s not bad either.It’s a beautiful experience. Nowadays though,i realize there’s one thing that could have been fixed:waiting a few seconds to recharge your power before attacking again.It bothers me,but that’s the only thing that really annoys me.
This work was not originally developed as the Legend of the Holy Sword, it was developed from 1990 to 1991, and was eventually discontinued. Another draft of Final Fantasy IV This is a work that was planned to be re-developed as a software for the Super Nintendo exclusive CD-ROM system and released as ” Chrono Trigger (tentative title)”
I have fond memories of this game. The game itself was very good and all, but for my family, I have two older sisters, so the fact this was 3 player, and it was one of the only games that my sisters had any passing interest in (since neither are gamers), meant that all 3 of us could play at the same time. In fact they would occasionally boot up the game even when I wasn’t there just so they could spend some time grinding up their magic (since I was the boy, so my two older sisters took the girl and the sprite).
This game NEEDS to be played in co-op IMO. The friendly AI is absolutely atrocious, probably the worst I’ve ever experienced in a article game. And I played Daikatana at launch. Without co-op this game is basically “what if Link to the Past was one giant escort mission with lots of grinding?”. If that’s appealing to you, knock yourself out. Otherwise, get at least 1 friend.
Secret of Mana is supposed to be light hearted – it has some general story in there but it was treated like the Doom Guys and Master Chiefs of their age; the characters were supposed to be neutral enough to imprint yourself (and the 1 or 2 friends playing with you) onto them. You’re not controlling Randi, Primm or Popoi… you ARE them because you felt their play style and general attitude. The only complaint I understand with SoM is that playing solo it can be cheesed really hard… like REALLY hard… as in after you get Undine, Popoi (Sprite) makes it so you “1-shot” every boss until you have to fight Mana Dragon using the sword hard. Like any game with exploits like this readily available, if you’re trying to play it normally you’re on the on the honour system and always know you’re deliberately making things harder on yourself, and I totally get the turn off of that. Lord knows I never got into GTA4 because the knowledge of entering cheats was too real and too easy and I can’t even remember the last tie I didn’t punch the wings off a Banshee in HALO to fly into a boss fight door. The best advice is play the game without looking up info on it first time – don’t use the exploit first time playing it so you don’t get a taste for it. Or play as Sprite or have friends play with you because it only works if he’s CPU controlled.
A lot of TLC went into this game, and it shows. The gorgeous spritely graphics and sweet atmospheric music combined with fun gameplay make it an absolute SNES rpg classic. I remember having very fond memories of it as a young teen, coming home from a long day at school, getting my chores done and settling in with Secret of Mana. I wanted my RPGs to be immersive experiences with epic music and visuals, good storytelling and characters. Definitely in my top-10 as a kid. It has a lot of heart and soul. You hit the nail on the head with your review. It gets a lot of love from that generation because of it’s beautiful, beautiful music and whimsical gameplay.
Secret of Mana is one of my favorite SNES games of all time. Great graphics, AMAZING musics, real-time action-RPG gameplay, and interesting storyline. However, this game is in a DESPERATE need of a full-fledged retranslation because of how awfully done the old translation is. Even the mobile phone version didn’t get retranslated, only a few edits here and there. If I want to replay this game again, I will only play either the Japanese version (Seiken Densetsu 2, which actually had a vastly better BG image in its startup intro) or a fully retranslated one if it ever comes out.
There was going to be a rich story and character development in this game, but it was originally planned for an SNES CD version where it could all fit. When the CD version idea was scrapped and they had to put it all onto a cartridge, they had to trim the story to keep the music. Now, had the story and characters been as good as the music, this would still be on its own level, but set apart completely from any other game and probably up there with Chrono Trigger in Drunkard’s favs. Just didn’t have the space back in 1993. DRAT!! Even so, this game rules.
Knowing that this game and Chrono trigger were once supposed to be a big game together for some sort of CD/disk add on for the SNES (before Sony decided to make their own disc gaming console), it makes you wonder how the game that never was could have played out. Would we have had to collect elemental items across different time periods? Would it have been an action rpg like Secret of Mana or would it have been a turn based game like Chrono Trigger? It just boggles my mind, and also let’s not forget that the combined game was meant to be what Final Fantasy IV wasn’t. So knowing that, it kinda makes me wish they had been a full fledged game.
Others have mentioned that this game can be played with THREE players simultaneously — but also: no mention of the weapon skill leveling system! Given that all the characters shared the same set of weapons, and each individually leveled up their skill/available attacks with each weapon, I fondly remember a lot of good-natured fighting over the weapons when playing multi-player — “Hey man, quit hogging the spear and let me level up a bit!”
Mario RPG and this are just fine and I prefer them over a lot of final fantasy games I’ve played especially the “crystal chronicles” garbage which I still hate all though it plays like this just doesn’t feel as good and the bosses suck and the world sucks in final fantasy CC, I know you weren’t talking about those FF games but none the less they are FF. Anyway the most memorable music I’ve heard so far is the goofy ass music in dwaf village! Not my favorite toon but it would be funny to drive around blasting it in my car stereo!
The Nintendo Playstation game we can behold. I love its action real-time battling, the game’s effects & sounds truly offer tremendously satisfying gameplay feedback for wins. I love its bright & environmentally welcoming presentation & world – not the traditional dark & dreary mystical lands of the genre. It’s not a perfect game, & yet it’s perfect for my tastes. Still highly re-playable.
Best music on the system?! Whoa whoa whoa…thats a broad statement. Lufia 2 has a way better OST. The world map theme makes it feel like your wandering the grassy fields, the dungeon music is appropriate for exploring a musty sewer or cave..and the boss theme is by far the BEST boss music of any snes game
THAT MUSIC. I was searching for SNES games that I couldn’t remember anymore bc I was really young when I played them, and because of this music Im hearing from Secret of Mana, I can 100% remember this is one of the games I loved and played for hours. I didn’t even speak or read English at the time, so a lot of it didn’t make sense to me. I just knew I loved to play it, and part of it was the music. It’s crazy how memories just flow in my brain just by listening to a song…
I remember when this first came out but before that happened. They showed a commercial for it and when I finally got it. I mean rented it when there was a time you could do that sorta thing. That was a beautiful start of playing rpg’s. Now, I don’t know wtf happened to rpg’s. World Of Warcraft?…damn, it went to shit. I’ll always remember those days, way back when though.
Totally agree with your review of this, although I haven’t really heard of people slamming this game. Pretty much everyone I knew back in the day loved this game; it made my friends fight over who got to borrow my cartridge! The story and characters weren’t particularly special, sure, but who cares? It’s just such a beautiful game, music and graphics wise, and the gameplay is so fun and addictive. Nice job with this review. I also remember how ridiculous and abusable the magic system was. Just constantly pause, cast, pause, cast, pause, cast, and win. Good times…
Secret of Mana was EPIC because it introduced real time battle into an otherwise turn-based RPG – the Real Time battle advantages of Zelda, while everything else is JRPG… PLUS it was 3 player!!!! amazing – not at all overrated.. Characters aren’t as developed as the FF series with all their romance but please
… For its time, I think it DID have a big, sweeping, epic story. In fact, one of the most sweeping and epic stories of any article game up to that point, even if it was very quickly outdone by Square’s later SNES offerings and the advent of the PS1. Definitely helped even more by the incredible visuals and best-of-all-time tier soundtrack. I think the main problem is that, yeah, people compare it to the VERY best of the best the SNES had to offer as far as story, graphics etc, most of which were, again, made by the same company just a bit later so it’s sort of like saying Super Mario Bros. is overrated because SMB3 did everything better. Also, most players that didn’t grow up with this game seem to have a hell of a time getting used to that stamina system, and swear up and down Seiken Densetsu 3 is a flat-out superior game mostly because you can smack stuff around faster. While I agree SD3 is an awesome game, I still prefer SoM/SD2’s more coherent, epic-feeling narrative and… well, to just be honest, it’s one of the most nostalgic games of all time with me. The memories of this game and sharing playthroughs with my brother, cousins, even friends over the internet via emulation later on, are unforgettable and it’s one of the games that most heavily shaped my taste and opinions in games and media, perhaps only outshone there by Chrono Trigger.
“on it’s own level”… yes i was put off from the game my first time around, expecting it to follow the standard RPG / Action Adventure Style of other titles such as Final Fantasy or Zelda’s Link To The Past. — but if you had to make a comparison, Chrono Trigger and Secret Of Evermore come close. old but gold
Lol I find it funny you said it seems really weird people find it over rated, then you mention it’s because everyone hypes it up beside great games like Chrono Trigger which skew expectations…Yup that’s what over rating is haha. Even if we put it in the correct genre to expect, it still lacks the quality of the games it gets lumped in with. About the SMRPG thing though, I think that game really is just as good as the games it’s lumped up beside but it’s just a different style of RPG that some don’t like. If you’re open minded to all RPG’s from FF6 to Earthbound then you should be able to love Mario RPG almost just as much not because of the mechanics but the things it has that the others don’t like the charm, witty humor, graphical design, timed button presses,etc. Secret of Mana is different though. It should also be loved for some of the things it does uniquely but the sheer quality of what’s there is just one level below the greats even like SMRPG at least in my opinion. I find everything is just good or great but I haven’t found one aspect of SoM that is fantastic. Great article though! This is one of the classics I am always interested in discussing and hearing people’s opinions. I never found a friend to play with me though and that definitely saddens me.
This game hates me, out of 100 chests opened 20 where doom, 30 where bombs, 10 where poison spikes, and another 10 riot gas, the limited item limit of 4 per type, the game no telling you description of items such as this prevents poison, enemies being able to stunlock you bosses randomly dishing out 500 plus damage if you take 5 minutes, slimes constantly evading so the only option to clear them out is magic which at that point in the game you have 5-8 spell casts max unless you drop a grand a walnut to get 50 more magic which only 20 will be used, hit detection on the collection of mana is actually terrible the wall boss constantly evading hits and energy draining you so you deal about 5 damage per level 3 swing, the game is extremely flawed, music is amazing, game play is a solid 2/10 especially when most of your attacks miss and the sprite just becomes the ultimate character after the moon element due to drain MP and Drain HP, the little dude can solo the entire game and all you have to do is go into your menu
i like playing this game a lot for its action RPG and 3 player coop but i only played 2 players with my brother but we never pass the game hopefully if we do a game night we can played this again but with 3 players myself my brother and sister but got to get the party members 1st in order for my brother and sister to play with me
Hi. I recently bought Secret of Mana for SNES and I have this issue where my repro controllers dont work but my original controller works. Since its a coop game I would like to play with my brother but since only one controller works I cant. Repro controllers work on all of my games except this one and all my games are authentic and not reproduction cartridges. Does anyone have idea what might be the issue or am I forced to buy new game/controller.
I believe I can explain why this game isn’t revered like you’d expect. I was in my prime article game playing days at the height of the Snes and I remember even then that Secret of Mana, Illusion of Gaia, and Secret of Evermore were lumped together in my brain before ever playing any of them. All 3 were marketed heavily at the same time. They all had a similar look in magazines, and were indistinguishable from one another in the eyes of kids my age. Looking back I was shocked to find out that SoE was so poorly made bc I’d always assumed it to be equal to IoG and SoM which I knew were great games. Keeping in mind that back information was often limited to box art or a few screen shots and those 3 looked identical in that sense.
It’s probably been mentioned but i’m not gonna go looking through the comments. The biggest reason the story feels so jarring and disjointed was because it Secret of Mana was originally made for the SNES CD add-on but when that fell through with Sony they were forced to cut large parts out and shoe horn it into the cartridge.
First JRPG I ever got, traded in my MK3 for it and have never regretted that. It kindled my interest in english (even though its own translation was more like engrish) and in a genre that kept my attention all through PSX’s lifespan. Admittedly the game did not age well, its story and dialogue are mediocre at best and the battle system kinda iffy, but for me it’s always going to have that special place in memory lane when I look back through my rose tinted glasses.
Final Fantasy VI is really a overrated game, thats for sure! It’s just a game that people played when they were kids and now, as youtubers, they keep saying that is a awesome game. FFVI its a bunch of small stories, weak gameplay combat system, lots os characteres that are meaninfull to the story and has a final boss that has more content than players and, by the second half of the game, just disapears from the story. Thank God this game are not like FFVI because FFVI is one of the most overrated game of all time thanks to youtubers that keep saying that is good only because the only game they know as kids was that.
Secret of Mana’s music was literally too good for the SNES to handle. No, really, it used so many of the SNES’s eight audio websites that basically every time the game engine needed to overlap more than two sound FX it had to commandeer a music website to do it and (in one of the worst technical choices ever), cut the melody website first.
As an intresting note, Secret of Mana is actually sort of a sequel. The Secret of mana series found its orgins in Final Fantasy Adventure, for the orginal gameboy. Later it was remade and retitled Sword of mana. It was definatly a fun game for the times and is worth checking out, however it plays more like legend of zelda, than final fantasy, just like secret of mana.
secret of mana is a neat package: the graphics, the music (especially), the scale, the combat mechanics, the characters, the fun moments …. its all very compelling to me at least. I also think that is one of the games that hold up pretty well after all those years, me and a friend of mine we could always pick up this game and play the heck out of it … because coop is were the game really shines … and this might not be interesting for most folks out there but the colorful game guide that came with secret of mana was just genious. When I saw all the weapons, items, enemies and bosses that i would eventually face, it got me pretty excited to pick up the controller and dive into the world of secret of mana. maybe you would have to be young at the time when the game came out to really appreciate it … i cant speak for anyone else, but to me Secret of mana will always be maybe the best game ive ever played
I rate Secret of Mana right up there with Chrono Trigger and FF6. Yes, both of them has better and more detailed stories and more interesting characters. That doesnt mean SoM doesnt have a good story and whats most important to me, the world of SoM felt WAY more alive. It felt so much like a real world. Both FF6 and Chrono Trigger, as fantastic as the are, felt like games. SoM didnt. 25 years later I still remember every screen of SoM as if I grew up there. If you dropped me into that world I wouldnt need a map. I cant say that about CT or FF6 even tho Ive played those games more times. On a purely objective level, SoM doesnt compare. But for what it is and what it made me experience it is VERY much on the level. Same goes for Seiken Densetsu 3. There is just something about the design and feel of the Mana series that is just unparallelled. It makes things come alive in a way that no other SNES games ever rivaled.
Hey dude, i really like how objective you are and how seemingly unafected you are by Nostalgia (such a horribly negative emotion Nostalgia is), but i just want to correct you on your titles, you’re using the word “Hype” in the wrong context in your titles bud. Hype in 100% of uses and in the context you use it in, refers to “Something eagerly awaited”. You’d only say “Why the hype” about a game that is coming. 🙂 Rename to like “FFVI, why the love?”. T
Great game, but the pacing was off. Starts off slow, like you said, but the last couple hours of the game make it feel like production was rushed. There was a span of a couple hours between getting each of the first Elementals (and corresponding magic) but towards the end of the game you get 3 of them one right after the other with little build-up or story inbetween. Again it felt rushed and it’s like the developers wanted to hurry you along for the last few hours of the game.
i disagree about the characters. granted they could have used a little more fleshing out, but the main guy, straight away, hes ousted as an outsider, elder reveals why, then says he hopes he finds his mother (which hints at a possible story piece) then gets kicked out, and forced into a heroic role, he never wanted. The girl is a little more bland but, shes trying to save her true love, and at the same time, rebelling from her father, to prove that she can do whatever she sets her mind to. The sprite is a complete enigma, as to where it came from, and who it really is. again, a little bland, but great potential. Some of it does not pay off as well as it could have, this is true, BUT, when it does, you can still get a good feel for the characters, and feel some genuine emotion for their plight. ESPECIALLY with the EXCELLENT music. this is just my 2 cents. i know you wont read this, but its my opinion.
Just finished this game a few days ago and I have to say it was one of the best games I’ve played on the snes! The music and the gameplay was so fun! I had a blast! I’m now playing the 3rd installment after finishing the first two and it is even better! If you haven’t tried this series! Go for Final Fantasy Adventure and then secret of mana! Its two very different games but similar in a fun way! Awesome article Drunk!
One of the main reason for the hype about this game is its Europe (and thus worldwide) availability, at the time there was no other RPG master piece like Earthbound, Final Fantasy 4, Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono Trigger available in EU ! These were Japan and North America exclusives, so we only had Secret of Mana to play with…
I just finished Link to the Past on SNES and decided to start this one… yeah, so far – not really impressed, at least not in a good way. I am not far enough to judge the story, but gameplay and combat system are way clunky. “Training” boss in the village took me ungodly amount of time to deal with and I just got him by attrition after numerous deaths. Frustrated, reloaded buttload of times trying to figure out how to dodge homing permastuns, hit the guides, only to find that everything is supposed to be like that. I will do my best to play it through, but so far – not a fan.
anybody who says Secret of mana is overrated they probably played Gear of war, ghost recon and other similar games without knowing the items, wepons and equipment hub was invented by Squaresoft on Secret of mana, every modern game has that round hub option for choosing weapons or any other artifacts. respect the classics
I remember borrowing Secret of Mana from a friend in Jr high… It was a hugely marketed game, highly anticipated. Square’s games were all about being huge and epic and at the time, this was advertised in terms of play length. Secret of Mana was sold on being a cross between Final Fantasy and Zelda and having over 60 hours of gameplay. The thing is, those 60 hours are tedious and dull. I’m not sure I had made it more than halfway through the game when I returned it to my buddy. I was done. It bored the crap out of me.And FWIW I still go back and play Zelda 3 and Illusion of Gaia from time to time. Those games are built around being fun and interesting games, not some arbitrary play length some marketing department required. They are as long as they need to be in order to be expressions of what their designers wanted to express.Same goes for the Final Fantasy games although I consider JRPG’s to be inherently time-padded and have very little interest in playing them anymore… I just don’t generally get much of a feeling of involvent when I play them. Thank FF6 and Septerra Core for that.
Well, I adore this game. Incredible soundtrack, game play, duration and possibility of playing up to 2 & 3 players! And I like a lot the ring menu, very convenient! One of the things I most enjoyed is the non lineal begining where you can find yourself exploring Potos, the Haunted wood, Pandora, the Waterfalls – wandering around while you figure out what to do while you grind levels. Your are not really stuck and and the same time you do not know exactly what to do but you keep on fighting enemies and listening to its fantastic music. And by the way, it is better than its sequel, Secret of Mana 2. Why better? The game play is better, how you move, how you fight, how you avoid blows and counter attack. SOM2 might have a better story and more characters but the actions movements and game play is worse. There are only 3 reasons why I do not consider this game a master piece: 1 Weak story 2 Tasteless characters 3 Childish and abusive magic systems-I remember beating all the final bosses only with the ice spell
I think most every game has some flaws you can find – this depends on taste and user expectation. To call this “one of the most overrated”, “the best of flawed RPGs” in a (sub-) class by itself or “a perfectly OK story” is a bit dismissive. This was released in 1993, two and a half years after North America first played Final Fantasy (it was originally a Final Fantasy game in Japan). Its unused components were later utilized in Chrono Trigger. It suffers from hype? When originally marketed, it had no hype in the US. It has since been recognized as one of the must-haves for the system. Its world dwarfed most RPGs of the time, though trails and routes were more guided than open-world. Its ring system may be flawed, but it was one of the earliest non-turn-based battle systems in an RPG, and allowed simultaneous three-player co-op (which is possibly why your characters have such limited story – players are assuming their personas). The menu system would be refined with later RPGs, but at its time, you hadn’t seen anything like it. To each his/her own.
The storyline in this game COULD have been on the level of Final Fantasy 6 (the world was a great place, then magic disappeared, bla bla bla is pretty much identical in both), but it was ruined by dialogue that sounds like it was written by a 6 year old. It’s cringey and rather weeaboo. Having the hero be a pre-pubescent boy doesn’t help either. Little differences like having adult heroes, getting rid of that weird steampunk pirate side-plot, and actually developing the characters could have made this into something truly next-level. Conversely, the could have just re-made FF6 in the action format of SoM and that would be orgasmic.
So I’ve had this game for years and never finished it until today and I have to say: I hate this game. The combat is just so incredibly unfun and frustrating. You cannot play this like illusion of gaia or link to the past because it has some fucking irritating charge system. You can’t swing constantly if you want to do any kind of damage. Which means you need to wait around a second between each swing. You are also encouraged to use charged attacks. But then you have to realize you can, and will, miss your attacks. Enemies will sometimes just block it. Their pain states can vary wildly. They are invulnerable during these pain states… sometimes… it’s never clear. You can also be stun locked and killed surprisingly easily. Very rarely does a dungeon even have a save point. So I hope you like replaying entire dungeons if you get blindsided by the boss. While I can respect this game, I will never play it again. I might give the multiplayer a try if I ever get the chance though.
Tried playing this game, and kept getting rocked by bosses, especially that damn tiger. Wasn’t too big on the item and menu system either. Felt too archaic, even for SNES. Just made me want to go play Chrono Trigger again, which I did. Although I will concede the music is straight goregous. Fun game, but not the masterpiece I had heard it was. I think nostolgia for the multiplayer shot this game up too high
What a load of bull. The music is mediocre, because you don’t remember a single track after you have turned off the game. The music in Mystic Quest (original GB game) is a lot better, despite inferior hardware. The bosses are confusing as hell and have attacks you can’t avoid. You just need enough MP to spam magic and recovery, otherwise you can’t win. There’s no need trying to learn attacks or patterns when you can’t avoid their attacks. THERE’s NO MAP!! The hit detection is so bad that it affects overall gameplay. Sometimes you hit an enemy and it takes half a second before they take damage. Other times you don’t hit them, even though you clearly strike them head on. The screen scrolls too late, making you run into enemies. The AI of the other two characters constantly get stuck behind objects, which is pretty bad because they also lock screen scrolling. The areas are poorly designed in that you can’t see area limits around you (like in A Link to the Past), which makes it confusing. There’s a lot of unnecessary running around because you can’t see walls and other limits. I could go on. Mystic Quest on Game Boy also had poor hit detection, but it’s a much better game than Secret of Mana.
What I have come to find listening to several reviews from various places is that rpg’s in general are overrated. Take this guy for example. Will typically crap on a games story instantly with barely a sentence of explanation but when it comes to rpg’s gives a more quality critic just because it’s an rpg even if its bad or not.
Check out the unboxing of Secret of Mana (with the strategy guide) here: youtu.be/JxX9SxVdnJM Final Fantasy Adventure Content: Final Fantasy Adventure Playthrough: youtu.be/Mgsy0WOIkWY Final Fantasy Adventure Review: youtu.be/6DBjMfBwXcU Final Fantasy Adventure Unboxing: youtu.be/RBdBSrnnalM
A lot of TLC went into this game, and it shows. The gorgeous spritely graphics and sweet atmospheric music combined with fun gameplay make it an absolute SNES rpg classic. I remember having very fond memories of it as a young teen, coming home from a long day at school, getting my chores done and settling in with Secret of Mana. I wanted my RPGs to be immersive experiences with epic music and visuals, good storytelling and characters. Definitely in my top-10 as a kid. It has a lot of heart and soul.
Higher score than I’d give it. Good review all the same though. I think I just ran into glitches more frequently than most, and I was unaware that Neko spawned *BEHIND* the pyramid (that I already searched prior) in the end game before you go to that final forest before the final dungeon, so I was raging as I did not have the legitimately necessary equipment needed for that final difficulty hike until I was looking up hints and saw people mentioning a final Neko store. Also I thought I only needed one ally to buff my sword for the end boss and not both, so I had no clue why I couldn’t do damage, and was frustrated by the lack of a save point in the final dungeon, as it is long with many boss fights. The game’s at its best when you’re just zoning out, exploring, taking in the music & atmosphere, ala Diablo. The game’s probably amazing when playing through the whole thing with 2 or 3 player. I just had a rough experience with it nearing the end, which kinda spoiled my impression of it.
I feel that anybody reviewing that game these days is going to give it too low of a score. article gaming is too different to really appreciate what this game was when it released. People don’t game together in the same room so playing with 2 or 3 people doesn’t happen anymore. Also, the other rpg games out had turn based attacking which was slow and boring and this game really changed the pace. Just about every game had glitches back then but the few on this game were minor unless maybe your emulator has issues.
love this game.. but the story is kinda wierd sometimes.. santa wants to grow a christmas tree? 7:55 when that red haired dwarf casts a spell like freeze and he bends down, you can select him again and recast it.. but there is a limit to how much dammage you can do so you cant kill bosses like that.. i usually do that 5 or 10 times.. and let him stand up