| Graphics: |   4 |
| SFX: | 4 |
| Music: | 4 |
| Gameplay: | 4 |
| Challenge: | 4 |
| Replay: | 5 |
| Overall: |  4.5 |
| Genre: | RPG |
| Reading ability: | U.S. Release |
| Company: | Squaresoft |
Background:
This game is actually part of a series of games in Japan called Seiken Densetsu. The first one was released domestically as Final Fantasy Adventure for the Gameboy, with many of the names being changed. Seiken Densetsu III was released for the SFC, and was supposed to be released as Secret of Mana II domestically. It is said that this was cancelled because Secret of Evermore was released in America at that time, and that SDIII did not pass American quality control standards because it had too many bugs in the game.
The Game:
This game is truly fascinating, and it has a beutiful fantasy storyline, full of folklore and history of an imaginary world. As typical with Squaresoft RPGs, it blends the past and the future with swordplay and mecha. Long ago, mortals misused the power of Mana to construct a Mana Fortress for evil purposes. They were ultimately defeated, but the result was the destruction of the Land of Mana. Similar to the legend of King Arthur, your character pulls the Mana Sword out from a stone as a young boy, making him the Mana Knight. As you play the game, you befriend other adventurers who help you on your quest. Along the way, you collect weapons and upgrade them, and your characters learn new magic spells by binding elemental spirits to their will. In the story, hoards of creatures are unleashed upon the world, and it is up to your trio of characters to save the world from the resurrected Mana Fortress by obtaining the magical power from the Mana Seeds.
This is not a typical RPG from Squaresoft. Unlike most other RPGs, you actually get to command the fighting yourselves. You control up to three heroic adventurers on the screen at once, instead of one character that represents a group of other characters. You get to see the enemies approaching, and as I mentioned before, you get to control the fighting yourself. It's not like Final Fantasy games where your characters line up and they each take turns running up to an opponent, attacking it, and running back in line. This way, it's more focused on action instead of an abstract representation of the battles. The gameplay is similar to a Zelda game in that respect. If you have an SNES Multi-Player Adaptor, up to three people can control the fighting. The only other SNES RPG I've seen that has a Multi-Player option is Lord of the Rings.
The Good:
The graphics in this game are amazing. The game takes you to places all over the Land of Mana. Throughout your journey, you will visit towns, castles, caves, hot deserts, cold winter lands, and bluish dark forests where sunlight filters through the shifting canopy of tree foliage. Music is fantastic. It can be sentimental, exciting, haunting, and whimsical. The music is very memorable, making the music instantly recognizable and nostalgic. The only music I'm not very fond of is the boss battle theme, which is a bit grating. Gameplay is great, and with two or more players, it's extremely fun.
The Bad:
I have noticed that on occasion, when I order one of my players to cast a magic spell, it sometimes doesn't work. This can get frustrating at times. Also, the computer controlled characters do not follow your characters very efficiently sometimes, so you'll probably often have to back up when they get stuck on staircases and such. The sprite is the usual culprit on both accounts, for some reason.
Overall:
I love this game, particularly for the reason that you get to control the fighting yourself instead of just watching it happen. I was introduced to RPGs through my SNES. Initially, the abstract battles of Final Fantasy were a turnoff to me, and as a result Secret of Mana is the game that was my gateway into RPGs. There are only a few RPG games out there that are like this, such as Legend of Zelda and Shadowrun. It's a shame that the sequel wasn't released domestically as Secret of Mana 2. Although I haven't played it much, the graphics and music are beautiful.
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