Binding: Video Game Brand: SQUARE EAN: 0094689131094 ESRB Age Rating: Everyone Feature: The Mana tree keeps good and evil in perfect balance Label: Square Enix Manufacturer: Square Enix Platform: Nintendo Super NES Publisher: Square Enix Studio: Square Enix
Features
The Mana tree keeps good and evil in perfect balance A magic sword has tricked a young warrior into upsetting the balance Restore harmony by embarking on a dangerous journey to find the seeds of the Mara tree Magic swords release and fight evil; treasure chests hold booby traps; monsters are friends and enemies It's a world turned upside down that you must help the warrior make right
There is one force in the universe that keeps good and evil in perfect balance. It is called the tree of Mana. But a magic sword has tricked a young warrior into upsetting the balance, spreading evil throughout the land. Thus, the warrior must undertake a dangerous journey to find the seeds of the Mara tree which have been hidden for centuries. Only then can perfect harmony be restored. In this incredible adventure, things are not as they seem. Magic swords release evil as well as fight it. Treasure chests hold booby traps. Monsters are friends and friends are enemies. Dragons fly, weapons change. It's a world turned upside down that you must help the warrior make right. And the only way to succeed is to solve the Secret of Mana
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: A charming, very nice story. Comment: I would actually give Secret of Mana 4.5 stars if I could figure out how!
Secret of Mana is a very aesthetically pleasing, fun, nice game. While all the characters and scenery are done with bright, vibrant colors, and much of the music is cheery and uplifting, there is an underlying theme of sorrow that traces its way through the story in a very complimentary fashion. Personally I feel it is a great parallel to what is going on in the real world, in the sense that as beautiful and wonderful and mentally absorbing as nature is, there are villains behind the scenes who seek to destroy it by using up natural resources. The interactions and dialogue between the game's characters in general are somewhat limited for an RPG, but the combination of intense visuals and intuitive music, along with the heavy natural themes, seem to add a layer of depth and understanding that requires no verbal explanation. Most of the environments are wilderness areas of some sort, and many of the enemies resemble real animals, though I suppose they are supposed to be evil versions since you must kill them to earn points. The movements of the Mana Seeds affect the natural environment directly, and spirits representing elements such as Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind add an extra level of personification to mother earth. All of these things make you care very much about the outcome of this world's struggles, and about the survival of the Mana Tree. All in all, the atmosphere of this game is fantastic. The Pure Land, I might add, is on my top ten list of imaginary places I would love to go, and/or take up residence.
My only real problem with this game is the lack of complexity in the playable characters' stories. Their beginning and end stories are very interesting, but there isn't very much in between; they really sort of silently put their heads down and plow through with their duties. While this is an admirable character trait in anyone, real life or not, it makes the middle part of this game feel more like a single-player game than an RPG. I like all of the characters, but I wish they had more complicated stories. I also was somewhat baffled at the varied amounts of power orbs available for the different weapons; I found myself able to upgrade my Javelin higher than I thought possible, but my Gloves fell short one orb. However, I found out recently that the cause for this has to do with random treasure chests towards the end of the game, and is not a bug, as I had previously thought.
Secret of Mana is definitely worth a play if you can get your hands on it. It is a pleasantly long game with a variety of settings, tasks to accomplish, interesting NPCs, and real-time battles in which you can experiment with a variety of attacks.
The gameplay is easy, and the graphics are beautiful. Buy it if you can. Customer Rating: Summary: best snes game Comment: This is the best rpg SNES game in my opinion. Couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Bought it on here used and played it for hours. Customer Rating: Summary: hmm, not so much Comment: I found this game at a pawn shop and couldn't wait to get home and start playing it. I'd heard nothing but glowing recommendations about it, but I have to admit it was a little disappointing. I didn't realize it was an action RPG, which I tend to hate due to the almost universally disappointing AI. I imagine multiplayer would improve things immensely, but I went into it solo which was a big mistake. I spent the majority of my time keeping the girl and the sprite alive because they just stand there, or doubling back to get them when they got caught behind a bush, wall, etc. Boring and frustrating for the most part, with very little dialogue and a nonexistent story. If you're looking for a true SNES RPG, get a turn-based one like Super Mario RPG or Final Fantasy II (IV). Customer Rating: Summary: Seiken Densetsu II Comment: How many ways can I say that this game changed my life as a child? It's almost impossible to say how many ways. Most people fell in love with Squaresoft (now SquareEnix) because of Final Fantasy, but not me, this game was the catalyst for me. Don't get me wrong, I love Final Fantasy games, but Secret of Mana is my most favorite game of all time. The formula was perfect; it starts out kind of like something out of King Arthur. The boy finds a rusty sword that looks to have sat in a stone for years, and then suddenly a spirit appears in front of him. The spirit tells the boy to pull the sword, little does he know that this spirit is actually his father and that by pulling the sword he will start down a path that will change his and many others lives forever.
It was 1993 when this game came onto the American market as Secret of Mana, when in truth it was actually the second game in a series that would grow into a large franchise. The first Seiken Densetsu was on the Gameboy handheld, but in the states it was renamed Final Fantasy Adventure as a way to make it sell better, rather shrewd I'd say. Nowadays, they never would have done something like that, but back then Square was still something of a fledgling company that had to battle the likes of Enix (ironically it's future partner) and even Nintendo itself (due to the sales of Zelda games and the like) for shelf-space.
Unfortunately the franchise that this game created was a hit or miss kind of deal. Some of its sequels were great, like Seiken Densetsu III which to this day is the closest thing to it's predecessors greatness, it was for the Super Famicom (the Japanese SNES) and was never released here due to the fact that stupid decisions like that were the norm back then, they were afraid that it would be too difficult for American gamers...tsk. But there were also many awful Mana's like, Sword of Mana for the Gameboy Advance. It had so many quirky things about its gameplay plus the music was like regular Gameboy music which was vastly beneath the GBA's technological prowess, it was just lame, it could have been a sure winner had it followed the formula better and had a musical score that didn't insult the GBA's technology. People that have never played the older games might like Sword of Mana enough to give it a chance however.
Secret of Mana is a wonderful adventure that has great graphics for its time and an incredible musical score (I'm not kidding, I love it, Hiroki Kikuta is right up there with Motoi Sakuraba and Nobuo Uematsu!!), it can be played by just about anyone that understands RPG's and even by novice players because it starts out simple and builds up from there. The adventure is quite linear however, so some might be turned off by that, but that in no way takes away from its greatness. The gameplay mechanics of the game were amazing at the time with so many weapons to level up and strengthen with orbs, there was something for everyone to enjoy, plus you could charge up for a special attack and eventually you could do an ultimate attack later in the game after much experience is gained. The way the story went was very fairytail-esque with many comical moments and very funny animations to the sprites (no pun intended). You could even get some friends together and they could control the other characters for even more fun adventuring, I had a lot of great memories of playing this way with my Father and my brother, it was a blast!!! It changed the way that RPG's had to be and it did it better than The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (people will hate me for saying that, I know), even though I love that game too.
I just wish they'd either re-release this or Seiken Densetsu III on GBA (or both), either that or remake them for the Wii or PS3. It can be done SquareEnix, you have more than enough money and more than enough influence to round up all the original creators rather than these new guys that make all the new Mana's that apart from Children of Mana (Nintendo DS, great music, great graphics, and a great story), simply pale by comparison. Customer Rating: Summary: Fantastic! Comment: I love this game so much, I've played it since I was a little kid and completed the game several times.
The fightingsystem is fun, the characters are loveable, the game is beautiful and there's a lot of weapons/magic to be found.
I highly recommend this game, I never got bored with it.
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