Using the power of Mana,
a civilization had grown
strong...

In time, Mana was used to
create the ultimate weapon:
The Mana Fortress...

This angered the gods.
They sent their beasts to
destroy the Fortress...

A violent war rocked the
world, and Mana seemed to
disappear....

Before all was lost, a hero
with the Mana Sword smashed
the Fortress...

Though the civilization had
been destroyed, the world
was peaceful again.

But time flows like a
river... and history
repeats...

Secret of Mana is Square's second game in the Seiken Densetsu series. The first one is for Gameboy and it was released in Usa as Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. It didn't take long time for Square to translate this game; only two months i think. It has even been released in Europe, but that was a year after the US release, so it didn't sell too well there, mainly because everyone who wanted it already had imported it directly from Usa. As for the game itself i can say that it is an action rpg and the fights are not menu driven as in the FF games. This is one of Square's most known and best games, created by the same team that created FF1-3 for Nes, Nasir.

Story

A boy (Put in your name here) is above a waterfall with his friends. When they are playing around there this boy accidentally falls down. When he tries to find a way back to the village, he founds it impossible without. Lucky as he is he finds a sword pulled down in a stump that he pulls out without any problems. Now a shadow appears from nowhere and begins talk about some nonsense, and then disappears. The boy doesn't understand exactly what happened, but he does understand that he now has a sword a can make it home. At the way he fights many dangerous monsters that never have been there before. Finally, he gets home and meets the village elder. He isn't at the best mood because of all the monsters that have appeared. When he and the other villagers see the sword and understand that it's because of it the monsters have appeared, they decide to banish the boy from the village. The boy doesn't feel that happy, but he finds out that the best he can do is to go to the water palace in the north, as someone in the village told him. When he so reaches the palace he meets man called Jema and a woman who protects the water (or something like that). They talk a while and the boy understands that it wasn't an accident that he pulled out the sword; it was the fate. Higher evil powers are around the corner and they can only be eliminated with this sword. But firstly, it has to be reenergized, which should be done through eight orbs that are hidden around the world. Now, that's your task to find these and save the world from tyranny. On your journey you'll team up with a girl and later with a spirit (doesn't have to be in that order). Get your friends to grab a controller too, because then they can control the girl and the spirit instead of the stupid cpu!

Music

Hiroki Kikuta composed SoM, and he did it well. There are many instruments in all the songs, so they get a very "real" sound. Most songs are good, but i especially like the forest song, and the village tune isn't bad either. It's kind of catchy in some way and has one of the cooler drums i've heard. I tell you, try the game out and you'll understand what i mean.

Graphics

The graphics is very colourful and nice to look at. It maybe isn't the best graphics found in a Snes game, but it's very good for its time. SoM also makes use of one of the better resolutions the Snes can produce, 512x224. This, however, is only used in a very few menus and text windows, not everywhere. Go to the screenshot section to take a look at a few hires shots.

Battles, menus, & gameplay

There aren't any special battle screens in SoM as at it is in most other rpgs. You just go around and fight enemies right in the field like in Zelda. However, there still are experience points and you have to fight to get stronger and so on. There are eight different weapons, each gaining experience according to how much you use it. You can use magic spells too by finding special orbs and then learn how to use it. It works in the same way as in most rpgs; you select the magic in a menu and then cast it, if you have enough MPs. One very good issue in SoM is that there can be three of you playing it at the same time, controlling one character each. You'll need a special device plugged into your Snes though, so you can put in three controllers. Oh well, as you didn't understand that yourself. The menus are very original in SoM; you browse through a ring to find items, status, and everything else. Some of the submenus use higher resolution than usually. Read about it in the graphics section. One very important note is that Square decided to put in a run button into this game. Now you don't need to fall asleep while going through villages.