“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” -Roald Dahl

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There exists a unique sort of glamorization within retro gaming. This is not true with every game of the past, and I myself hold that there is much to learn from the perennial classics, but there exist several retro games with glaring weaknesses covered over by the tenderness of nostalgia.

We may say of these flawed artifacts that they “don’t stand the test of time” or that they “didn’t age well”. By those phrases we mean that the steady march of time and the advancement of modern technology have rendered the antiquities unappealing and unsavory, most often said in terms of graphics. The gist is that we perhaps didn’t know better back then but now that tech has evolved, we can see things as they really are, clutched like gems to the heart of childhood but cracked and lightless. We are in this sense spoiled by the gaming industry’s advancements.

With Secret of Mana, that’s not really the case. It is far from a perfect game; that’s not to excuse it and then to proclaim it great. In fact, it could have turned out a lot better. It is a fundamentally flawed game and in realizing that, the glamorizing of retro games fell like scales from my eyes as I (finally) played through it from start to finish as an adult.

Seiken Densetsu 2, or Secret of Mana (since I’m reviewing specifically the US release of the game), doesn’t just fail to stand the test of time. It entered the Western world through a turbulent and rushed localization process, earning scars that ought to have been as plain as day nearly 25 years ago as they are right now. Maybe they were. Maybe these specific flaws were par for the course back then. I wasn’t a critic at the time.

When I was younger, Secret of Mana was always a source of fascination to me. I never owned it but I rented it many times from local Blockbusters and gas station rentals. Further, I grew up with a brother two years younger than me so this was a game we could both play at the same time and sink our teeth into. Never being able to beat it likely meant that the mystery of Secret of Mana’s last chapters elevated it to legend in my mind. It’s secrets guaranteed it became bigger in memory than it actually turned out to be.

What is apparent to me now, though, is that Secret of Mana is a unique and fun RPG experience for two players but it doesn’t sit at the top of Square’s storytelling (or localization) achievements.

Secret of Mana opens with a good ol’ fashioned text crawl explaining with almost religious gravity how the power of Mana is fading from the land. Magic is dying. The world awaits an Arthurian hero who can wield the legendary blade, known by many names throughout history, celebrated in myths. Excalibur. Herald. Gigas. The Sword of Mana.

Many years ago, an ancient civilization harnessed the power of Mana and created the ultimate weapon: the Mana Fortress. In this familiar theme in Japanese storytelling where the Mana Fortress takes the place of the nuclear weapons, the natural gods of Secret of Mana send their divine beasts to tear the Fortress out of the sky. War broke out across the earth and the power of Mana vanished.

In desperation, a hero appeared at the thirteenth hour. Taking up the fabled Mana Sword, this champion smashed the Fortress. Though civilization had come to an end, the world knew peace. Time, however, flows like a river. This pattern of the abuse of Mana and the calling of a new hero is a pattern repeated throughout history. The time has come for a new Mana Knight to arise, for a new imperial civilization seeks the Mana Seeds to unseal the path to the Fortress.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.com/2017/12/19/secret-of-mana/

Gameplay, Story and Value:

While I docked Final Fantasy Adventure (the prequel to this game) for being too derivative, there were still enough unique elements to the game to keep it interesting for a while. Additionally, the gameplay was very good and the combat was precise to make for an ultimately enjoyable experience, despite its inability to hold my attention long enough to see it through.

Secret of Mana takes all of my thoughts on Final Fantasy Adventure and effectively flips them. While FF Adventure had a fairly bland world to explore with mechanics that never felt fully intuitive, Secret of Mana brings varied and beautiful zones and dungeons to travel and fight through, with fun magic and weapon leveling systems. Meanwhile, while FF Adventure's combat system was fun and precise with a menu and leveling system that was easy to understand, Secret of Mana's combat is horribly inaccurate and its menu system is, while original, very cumbersome.

Like FF Adventure before it, Secret of Mana's story is fairly... generic. Being generic in and of itself is fine, but the story isn't told in a particularly compelling way and as such didn't really draw me into the world. Characters are introduced at a much better pace than in the previous game, and you're never left feeling like there was ever too much information left out for you to follow along.

Combat is, conceptually, very interesting. Your weapons all gain levels along with new levels of charge attacks. Many of them are multipurpose and finding new weapon orbs is always exciting. It's the actually act of fighting things where the game falls apart, however. Combat is floaty and inaccurate, and timing your attacks is very unintuitive. Things get even worse when you pick up your second and third character, and you never know when or if your attacks will actually land on a target! Combat had the potential to be satisfying, as on occasion it really was, but the overall "jankiness" of it just made it unenjoyable for the most part.

Likewise, the game's ring menu system was fine at first, but as the game went on and found myself with more items, equipment, spells and characters to manage it just started to feel like a mess. It's not something so terrible to judge the entire game on, but it stands out amidst the rest of the issues I have with Secret of Mana's gameplay.

Presentation, Music and Sound:

All the issues I have with Secret of Mana on a technical level can almost be completely forgiven thanks to the game's audio and visuals alone. The game has an excellent art style that's both soft yet vibrant and bear an almost mystical quality that lets you get lost in its visuals. The forests, caves, dungeons, towns and temples all look fantastic, and the sprite work is great as well. As you travel through the game you'll encounter new seasons and color schemes and everything comes together very nicely.

Of course, while the graphics are great it's the game's audio that really shines. Sound effects are all serviceable but the music is simply amazing. The game's opening piano piece grabs you instantly and the rest of the music is just as good. Towns and forests are upbeat and exciting while still being somewhat playful, while temples, caves and dungeons all have perfectly accommodating tracks. The boss fight music is also quite epic. Secret of Mana's music has stuck with me over the last 20 years and with good reason!

Afterthoughts:

I dunno... I feel like I'm letting someone down here. Maybe myself? All the love I had for this game 20 years ago just couldn't save it for me. I tried and I tried but with every passing day I wanted to play this game less and less until finally I just had to call it. The story isn't bad, but it's not good enough to keep me playing through the other issues I have with the game either. The lasting memories, though... The music, the atmosphere, the... Rabites... All that is still fantastic in my mind, and they're memories I'll always value.

The actual game though? I just really didn't care for it...

Review:

Gameplay:

This title is one of Square’s most iconic action RPGs, praised for blending fast-paced combat with an accessible, storybook-like adventure. Unlike the traditional turn-based RPGs of its era, it features real-time battles where timing and positioning matter, creating a more dynamic feel. For today's standards this may not sound like a big deal, but this title set new standards to action RPGs at the time, especially because of how complex the combat could get, compared to more simpler titles such as ALTTP.

The innovative ring menu system (also used in Secret of Evermore) allows players to pause the action briefly to equip weapons, cast spells, or use items, keeping the pace fluid without overwhelming the player. The game also shines in its cooperative multiplayer, letting up to three players join forces, a rare and highly memorable feature for the genre at the time. Unfortunately I never experienced the coop experience since I never played this back in the day, and I choose the original version of this game to play, but I highly recommend the newer versions which are more accessible, for modern platforms.

Its vibrant pixel art and expressive animations give the world a sense of warmth and charm, while the soundtrack is still celebrated for its emotional range, from mysterious forest themes to grand battle tracks. That said, Secret of Mana isn’t without flaws, hit detection can feel imprecise, and AI-controlled companions often struggle to keep up in combat. Still, these issues are outweighed by the game’s sense of wonder, accessibility, and cooperative spirit. Decades later, it remains a standout in the SNES library and a milestone in the evolution of action RPGs, this is a must-play for fans of JRPG in general, and I suggest going with the re-releases for modern platforms, don't skip this.

Preliminary: Good music so far. This beginning is having me think I might ahve rented this back in the day because it's familiar? Smooth fast controls so far and nice fast movement, great colors and Look, seems solid so far. I'm surprised this can be cooperatively played? That seems wild.

Day 2

I'm not in love with the combat so far. Assuming I stick with this, this will have to be divided by Early, Mid, and Late Game like most RPGs.

I don't like how long it takes to open chests and I'm still not sold on the combat, tho it's decent enough. But the music and Look continue to be amazing.

Tbh the music and Look and conversations of the first town are making me very nostalgic and tearing up, I have had a very emotional last week or so and fighting someting again (I'm convinced I have a stress allergy thing, if that exists lol), and this is just so nice feeling and the cozy feeling I needed tho I assume once I get back to the action I will feel otherwise :-p and switch over to Bitcraft + cozy movies for the night.

The world map is giving Tomba vibes. And I just love the Feel of this. I had a weird glitch, I hope that doesn't happen again. I am playing the Relocalized version to avoid the censorship and be as close to the Japanese original as possible. The way the computer controlled character can trap you is a bit annoying, the pathfinding isn't great I suppose. And these unnecessary meanderings to move the plot along is silly. But still, the music and Look shine and it has a Feel I can't deny, with an RPG hook to boot (even if the action elements and gameplay aren't my favorite, the Feel of them somehow still is!)

Day 3

Well this is really several days later, I've been too anxious and slightly sick to really play much. There were bad storms last night so I was just an anxious wreck all night lol the joys of homeownership

Anyway, I'm still really liking the game, the Tomba Feels keep coming up as I go to the Dwarven Village. The combat still is just not it, it coudl be fun with a second player etc, but it really just needs a different system where you hit more often and don't need to wait for you to get back up in percentage. And the weird way where enemies are stunned after you hit them results in a clunkiness. It should've just been Zelda style fighting, no extra gimmicks except maybe a hit rate but even then it should've just been based on stats determining how hard you hit--and if you hit the enemy, you hit! Not liking the way some chests after a fight ahve Poison Darts and Boxing Gloves etc, I can get that for a dungeon chest being a Mimic etc, but for a reward from an enemy?! And finally, the AI is a bit silly, my character slowing me down like I mentioned earlier. In short, the initial love is dying down and tho I still love the Look and Sound, we will see if that will be enogh to get me to push through the lots-of-potential-but-in-the-end-just-okay Play.

I really wish I had somebody to play this with, I think that would add an element to the combat/gameplay that might help save it.

Early Game

I'm switching to teh proper way of reviewing for RPGs/long games. Yesterday I was real close to dropping the game, but ugh, the Tomba Feel Sound and Look keep coming and there are so many nice QoL things for 93. Passages open up that make traveling easier etc. And how fast you move (thank goodness). Combat is still my least favorite part of the game, tho I have gotten the rhythm down quite nicely and have all 3 party members now. I'm hoping magic will revitalize my initial love.

Hmmmm wood posts across a gap? Is this going to be another hookshot situation? :-p I love that Goof Troop incorporated the classic Hookshot mechanic.

Finally got some magic! And turns out it was a whip not a hookshot to cross the pole :-p

Ahhh I really am unsure about this game. But I am liking the Whip's long range for fighting.

Yesss the gamelan-esque music of the Pandora Ruins.

It's disappointing that I just choose not to open chests from enemies anymore. More often than not they harm me significantly, these status ailments are a huge problem, and when they are an item, it's mediocre or a low amount of gold.

Ugh I was just about to call it quits (with respect to the game, tho) but then I was enjoying my knowledge of the shortcuts to get around and upgrade with Watts etc. They definitely did an excellent job creating a world to get hooked to with strong Feels, maybe this will change things to get it to a 4 star... but dang is the combat tedious when exploring around. I wonder what could've been with the SNES CD version.

Omg I love the colors around Upper Lands.

Look: 8.5/10 Tomba, SNES coziness, so many things about the Look were great. Even the UI of the menu have a nice Look

Sound: 8.5/10 Yes. Not in love with the boss tune but I usually don't like battle music. Everything else stood out.

Play: 7.5/10 So much about this I should like, but the way the charging up of the weapons works and the mechanics of the enemies and stun elements really detracted from the Feel. EDIT: Okay after palying quite a bit more, I suppose I will bump this a bit. I do really wish the combat were different, but it has so many elements I like and fast walking and the combat has potential and I like how many grinds you can do from spells to weapons to levels and upgrading your weapons etc etc.

Feel: 8/10 I loved the Feel of this but the Play brought it down for sure.

Attachment: 7.5/10

Overall: 8/10 As close to a 4 star as you can get :-p I think if I had gotten more properly hooked, which for the record I was hooked in "waves" but then would get frustrated by another Play mechanic, this would've easily been a 4. Well, indeed, if I had liked the combat this had all the makings for a 5 star even! EDIT: Well, it wound up being bumped up after I fell in love with the Moogles all over again and admitted that I was obviously quite hooked considering how frustrated I was with the combat.

Completion: Just got to the super long legged bird after the Moogle segment :-p

Story (3.5/5) | Characters (3/5) | World (4.5/5) | Gameplay (4/5) | Visuals (4.5/5) | Music (5/5) = 80% overall score

Previously, when I was much younger, I played the Secret of Mana and while I didn't get too far, I loved the game and had a lot of fond memories of it. Having now had the opportunity to replay it, as well as the other Mana games that came out in the 90s, my love for the series has grown even more. Like FFA, my favorite part about Secret of Mana was the variety of different locations that you get to explore throughout the game. Anticipating the different locations I'd get to visit and experience is really what made me the most excited while playing through the game. The story and the characters, while not bad, are very basic but enjoyable. The Sprite was probably my favorite character overall.

The gameplay of Secret of Mana can be pretty broken (spells, when leveled up, can absolutely wreck bosses); however, despite this, I really enjoyed leveling up my weapons and skills and the overall flow of combat.

Visually this game is a feast and, as mentioned earlier, the world is so much fun to explore and there are a ton of different environments you find yourself in from snowscapes to mushroom forests. The music in this game is absolutely amazing and not to be missed, it almost always fits the situation at hand. I listen to a lot of JRPG soundtracks outside of gaming and SoM is one I listen to very often while working.

Time to Complete: 20 hours

Favorite Chill Theme: Snowfield

Favorite Action Theme: Prophecy