Secret of Mana (1993 Video Game) User Reviews

Seiken densetsu 2: A masterpiece

[Platypuschow · 10/10 · 10 December 2017]

Made by the same people who have brought us Final Fantasy games for the past 30yrs Secret Of Mana is a true masterpiece which came years before it's time.

Telling the story of a boy who by uprooting a mysterious sword brings trouble to his home village, they respond by exiling him and thus his story begins.

First of all unlike the Final Fantasy titles the combat is live action not turn based, what also sets it apart is the fact that it was multi-player.Our hero, the lady and the sprite are characters you can switch between or play with side by side with your friends.

Each character is highly cutomisable, from spells to the weapon categories everything could be tweeked.

The story? Flawless. The playability? Excellent. And the soundtrack? One of the best I've ever heard, one particular bossfight theme is one of my all time favourites.

So many great moments,so many fantastic boss battles and the 3D graphic moments were outstanding when released.

Secret Of Mana is in this persons opinion one of the greatest video games ever made.

The Good:

Fantastic soundtrack

Flawless RPG elements

Multiplayer is excellent

The Bad:

Can't think of a sausage

Things I Learnt From This Game:

Flammie should have appeared in more Square titles

Moogles get everywhere

My favourite Game

[ZombieRing · 10/10 · 3 July 2001]

I can't explain why I like this game so much, having owned it for over 7 years I've played through it at least that many times. No other video game before it (or after it) has compelled me to play so much. It appealed to me mostly because of it's dramatic story (which playing now, I realize has suffered from a poor translation,)and its imaginative environments. The music in the game is also top notch, some of the scores are very haunting well others...aren't. Essentialy the plot follow that of a young boy who pulls a sword from a stone and is then thrust into an adventure to save the world from ultimate destruction, their are of course plot twist (for instance the identity of his mother is quite shocking.) I don't want to say much more on the game, if you see it in a store you probably should buy it... it's really that simple!

A very detailed world and wonderful story make this a great game for the SNES.

[Aaron1375 · 9/10 · 4 May 2012]

This game was a favorite of mine when I was younger. It was hard to find, but unlike a couple of others my parents were able to find this one kind of like Xenogears, by searching everywhere for it! Others I have missed out on or have gotten later in life thanks to the internet. This one is made by the same company as Final Fantasy and they would go on to make more games using the format of game play this one does. This one, however, is the best game I have played to use this particular format. It is not even close as the story is very well done and the worlds varied enough to keep you playing. The format is a top down perspective with real time combat. I am usually more of a fan of turn based combat, but this one's real time is actually pretty good. So for all of you out there (and I know there are a lot) who do not care for random battles, you are in the clear with this one. This one has a boy going on an adventure that gets very complicated as near the end you are battling a strange cult along with two companions...a young girl and a sprite trying to save the world from disaster. The visuals are wonderful in this one for the time and like I said the story is simple to start, but then keeps getting better. Something about role playing games that feature crazy religious cults...I do not know, they always have the more interesting stories. The fighting, while better than a lot of games featuring real time and multiple characters, can get a bit repetitive at times. This is mainly when you are trying to level up your weapons. Speaking of weapons, you get a wide variety here and every character can use every weapon. You level the weapons up for each character by fighting with said weapon. The music is also good in this one too, so minus the repetitive nature of the combat this game is a very grand adventure.

The best damn RPG Squaresoft ever made.

[BlazeFox · 16 January 2004]

Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2 in the USA) is the continuation of Final Fantasy Adventure (also called Mystic Quest) which was made for the gameboy. It still follows the same concepts of the Tribe of Mana. The Mana Tribe are a group of people who must maintain balence in the world. To do this they must make sacrifices. The men of the tribe become the Mana Sword and the women of the tribe become the Mana Tree. The Mana Knight uses the sword to protect the tree from evil. The characters do not have set names in this adventure, you name them yourself which is pretty nifty.

There are several things that make this a great game.

[1]Storyline: the characters are well made, the dialogue is simply awesome. Its a very long game and this makes it fun. Most people spend days if not weeks on this game. Its not short by any means at all.

[2]Weapons system: You acquire a plethora of weapons, each weapon you must level up just as you level up your characters via experience points. The weapons also go through changes using the Mana Orbs that you get after you beat each boss. You can do special attacks with each weapon depending on how leveled up it is and how long you charge it with the attack button.

[3]Magic system: You choose from a great host of Elemental Spirits to cast your offensive, defensive, and healing spells. Each time you use a spell you level up that elemental. There's also a bit of an easter egg, you can level your magic's up to level 8.99 and you'll notice a change to each spell. For instance if you get Gnome up to level 8.99 and cast "Earth Slide" you'll see the mud ball is larger and has a face. Salamando's "fireball" turns into 3 serpent-like fire dragons that encircle your enemies. Sylph's "Air Blast" changes from 3 blades of air to a large yellow tornado.

[4] Color!: Some games just aren't colorful enough, S.o.M. is definately not one of them! All the colors as well as the characters themselves are very vibrant and bright, even those gothie badguys.

[5] Travel: You do lots of travel in this game, a good bit of it is on foot. You're other method of travel is by cannon. The game map is flat the same way it is in T.o.P. and Secret of Evermore but still pretty neat looking. Later in the game you get Flammie, the legendary White Dragon. How cool is riding on the back of a dragon eh? Kinda makes ya' feel like Bastian from Never Ending Story.

This has to be one of the best RPG games Square ever made. To be honest, I'd rather play the older stuff than the newer fancy-schmancy Final Fantasy X2's or Everquests or Zelda: Windwakers. So its 3-Dimensional.. big whoop! Give me 2D game sprites and decent gameplay. I'm an emulation puritan and damn proud.

If you liked this game, try to find translated versions of Seiken Densetsu 3 and Tales of Phantasia. Also try Tales of Destiney for the Playstation (it has a story very similar to S.O.M.'s) You definately won't be bored with those games. In fact you just might get obsessed with them like me ^_^ Though sadly it seems like there is a lack of sites to get emulated games nowadays, good thing I've got my collection backed up on CDR.

Preserve our video-game heritage!

One of the best SNES games out there

[black_wolve0 · 10/10 · 29 May 2006]

This game really is worth the ridiculous prices out there.

The graphics really are great for the SNES, though the magic spells don't look particularly great. However, the map looks spectacular. 7/10

The combat system it fairly good, but it does get a bit repetitive after a while. This does take a while though, with many weapons and spells at hand. 9/10

This game is dangerously addictive, once completing the game you'll find yourself wanting to play it again. The adventure lasts for a very long time, taking approximately forty to sixty hours to complete the first time. Completing the game fully (full stats) takes even longer. 10/10

Single Player-The game is pretty fun alone, but the bad AI path-finding might get fairly annoying after a while. Luckily this doesn't happen too much and isn't much of a problem. Multiplayer-Sadly this game is only possible with two players and not three. However, it's great with two, as it makes the game easier and a lot more enjoyable. This is definitely a game I'd recommend. It really shows off the SNES's power and Square Soft/Enix's skill.

What a magnificent game, always loved it.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 10/10 · 5 January 2016]

Oh you better believe that I'm gonna be heaping on the praise in this review, it's a frigging' stone-cold masterpiece to me! In the Secret of Mana you take control of an unnamed orphan warrior who is banished from his village after releasing the legendary Mana Sword from its resting place and unleashing chaos upon the world. It is the epic task of your team of fighter, healer, and mage to find and bring to life the scattered elemental seeds of the Mana Tree, a force that keeps the proper balance between good and evil in nature... It's a real hefty adventure and a half to play through, and for me it's a great joy and a labour of love! It features an interesting and very engaging combat system that requires the player to constantly micromanage and pause the action to make critical decisions. It can be played by three people but I always just played it solo. It plays nothing like a Final Fantasy game and is an overhead slash and hack RPG. No random battles here, all the enemies you fight are right there on screen and home in on you. They start you out small with the adorable Rabbites and Lullabuds and it only gets tougher from there! And FYI: No matter how strong you are, by the time that you reach the Pure Land be prepared to get your ass handed to you! It's so satisfying and so much fun to level up the wide variety of weapons and magic sprites for a power level of one to eight depending on your skill level for more powerful magic attacks or physical strikes! The enchanting visuals are excellently done and have an artistry to them that gives the game so much wonderful personality and infectious charm. And it pulls me in right away, with the simple yet captivating opening theme. It's in a league of its own when it comes to the music. There's always a perfectly suitable theme tied to every new environment that you visit that captures the mood, be it tragic, humorous. joyful, poignant and awe-inspiring. My favourite is the music that plays in Undine's Cave, it has given me tears. It's a real game of my childhood and holds a very dear place in my heart. Eventually in the story you get a cute dragon named Flammie to fly you all over the world at warp speed - whee!!! With a fantastic plot, colourful and memorable graphics and a phenomenal soundtrack, this is one of the SNES' very finest. An irreplaceable favourite and an all-time magical classic. Any game that lets you rescue Santa Claus is a winner in my book!

One of the most overrated RPGs ever

[flyingzombie · 2/10 · 5 May 2020]

I really do not understand why this game gets so much praise, is it nostalgia? Most people I've seen calling this "the best game ever" made have mentioned playing it as a kid. Well, I haven't played it when I was younger, so what do I think about it? IT SUCKS. I'm sorry, I really wanted to like this game, I really did. But this game just REEKS of terrible design. First off, the combat is bad. It tries to make it so you don't just mash the attack button to win by adding a stamina meter that drops to 0% every time you attack and goes back to 100%. This completely fails at making the combat less repetitive because you're still just constantly pressing the attack button, only now you're waiting a few seconds between each attack. The only thing this accomplishes is making the combat more boring. Also, I absolutely hate the level up system. You know how in most games, leveling up raises everything? Well SOM says frick that and makes you level up every little thing. See that sword? Level that up. See that magic spell? Level it up. What make this even worse is that this is VITAL to the game. You must level up everything to stand a chance. This means that grinding is a essential part of the game, and grinding is never fun in any game. Also, the magic spells are just overpowered (when you level them up at least.) This applies to both you and the enemies. There is absolutely no way of avoiding magic attacks. This means that when certain enemies spam magic attacks they can just absolutely destroy you, and the same applies to the player. This turns any challenge into boredom, and most challenge that is present isn't organic. Also, the soundtrack is just terrible. Most tracks either have me an ear migraine or were just plain annoying. The overworld theme made me want to die after the thousandth time of hearing it. Speaking of the overworld, I constantly found myself getting lost within it. There is no sense of direction and finding out how to progress can be frustrating. I will say the visual presentation is alright, though it leave a bit to be desired. Overall, this game is a dumpster fire. It really does not deserve the praise it gets. I truly believe this game is only fondly remembered is because of nostalgia and maybe the multiplayer, ( which has problems of it's own, but this review is dragging on.) In conclusion, don't buy game suk.

One of the greatest. Ever.

[BLDJ · 29 July 2000]

Get lost, Link- you don't stand a chance against Square's Secret of Mana. Why? Simply because it is five times bigger than any Zelda game, features levels for weapons, spells and characters, a large amount of weapons, a devastating, incredible world design and a number of villages and equipment that makes you kiss your back goodbye. So you go play your Ocarina inside of your Deku tree while I explore the universe on the back of a dragon. I will keep flying on the skies until a decent sequel come out- Legend of Mana just doesn't do its job.

Wow!!

[plok253 · 18 June 2000]

This is truly an exceptional game! Not only is it a adventure game like the popular Zelda series, but you are able to have 3 players at once! Each of the 3 characters are very inspired, each with their own little story and background. Once excellent feature in this game was the ability to power up weapons and magic. Once a weapon or magic has been used a numerous amount of times, it will gain a level, and become more powerful. It's very innovative! Try this game, you'll love it!

One of the best games ever

[Daniel Karlsson · 14 July 2001]

Square's best game together with Final Fantasy VI and my favorite game. One of the best games ever made. I have never had so much fun; I probably finished it about 15 times. The game itself is a mixture of Zelda and Final Fantasy, an action-RPG game and best of its kind. Its magic, level-system, 3-player ability, music and atmosphere make this game something special and imho better than Zelda.

Wonderful game,despite the downer ending.

[Chibi Riza · 26 May 2000]

Now how could I have forgotten the wonderful prequel to "Seiken Densetsu 3"? "Seiken Densetsu 2" (which is the 1st Secret of Mana in NA and Europe) lives up to it's quality for seven years!

Randi (the boy) was one day playing with his so-called "friends" Eliott and Terry until he fell off the bridge and discovers this Mana Sword and a phantom of someone of his past.When he decides to keep the sword,he fights a giant mantis at his home village and is finally an outcast in his homeland.As Randi is on his journey to purify the world,two other heroines meet up.Purim (the girl) runs away from home after her boyfriend gets captured by the brain-washed witch Eilene and later,by an evil spirit named Thanantos,whom manipulates just aobut anyone he wants to.Poppi (the sprite,whom is a boy in the North American version),whom was adopted by dwarves,joins Randi and Purim after they fight a plant monster.I can't explain all the storyline,but the story is incredibly immense!

But the thing I hated about this game is that the ending is rather a bleak one.One of the key protagonists and some of their friends pass away (I'm not telling who,then it'll be a spoiler!).Despite the ending,it's a must play!