The secret is out! We are looking at the game that I played for roughly 20,000,000 hours over the course of 1994.
Secret of Mana
Aka Seiken Densetsu 2
1993
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
What’s the story?
This is very much an upgraded form of the last game’s story: An evil empire is on the move to claim the ancient/ambiguous powers of Mana, and only a team of random nobodies has the guts/sword to save the day. Our previous Mana Knight had a rotating stable of support staff, but we are sticking to a boy, non-maiden girl, and sprite this go round.
Who are the baddies?
Final Fantasy Adventure had robots and Dime Tower to imply that the previous Mana civilization was a lot more advanced than their current rabite-based society. This time it is explicit: the old guard had their own Death Star floating around the heavens, and a contemporary evil empire is futzing with the world to get that under their grip. Also like last time, the (Dark) Emperor is betrayed by his second, Thanatos, who will ultimately grab the tower of power.
What is the Mana Sword?
The ancient sword of legend is immediately available at the start of the adventure, and our hero claiming it is the worst day of his life. But don’t worry! You can visit all of the Mana shrines and power it up with some Mana seeds. Then it will be strong enough to slay a (your) dragon!
How does it play?
This is an attempt to balance the concept of “turn battles” with “action” combat. It is vaguely (90’s) Zelda-like, but you must wait for a gauge to reach 100% before effectively taking a swing at your opponent. Additionally, there is a larger/longer gauge that can be charged for stronger attacks. Do you want to sit around and wait to poke at your opponent, or come out swinging? The choice is yours! Just so long as you meander long enough for at least one meter to fill up…
Is it pretty?
It is hard to believe this was released two years after Final Fantasy Adventure. This is one of the most gorgeous games on the Super Nintendo, and all of the upgraded monsters are a delight. It just “looks nice” nowadays, but it is hard to describe how this was considered a masterpiece of graphics in its epoch.
What is Magic?
The elemental spirits are first introduced here. Girl gets all of their support magic, and Sprite gets all of their offensive magic. Magic is relatively powerful from a “never need items again” and “wallop monsters without them touching you” perspective, but their menu ring-summoning and complicated animations also slow combat to a crawl. Another situation where you get to pick your slowdown!
What’s Watts?
Watts is a friendly blacksmith that is encountered early in the game when first trying to figure out this whole “rusted sword” thing. He becomes practically an extra party member from there, as he follows your gang to nearly every town across the globe. This might be the Watts that gets the most sun in the franchise!
Are there Duck Soldiers?
Yep! This is where they first become inextricably linked with deserts and exploding pumpkins. Ducks know what they like!
What makes it good?
Let it be said that I am incapable of being impartial regarding Secret of Mana. This is one of my favorite games for its console generation, and I will nab any excuse to take up the spear/sword/javelin again to strike down a Mech Rider or three. So… uh… I’ll say it’s the multiplayer. The multiplayer in Secret of Mana is a lot of fun.
What makes it bad?
I suppose I could admit that the hit detection is bonkers in Secret of Mana, and everything right down to the chest opening animation confirms that these sprites may be interacting with virtual football-fields of distance between them. You do get used to its wonky spacing if you play the game for your entire childhood, though.
Anything else?
Secret of Mana was famously originally designed for the Super Nintendo CD, and was then clipped back dramatically to fit on a cartridge. I plan on mastering dimensional travel to find a universe where Secret of Mana exists in its “complete” form, and finding out what the heck was planned for the lighthouse area. That one always confused me!
Even Worse Streams Presents The Mana Franchise
Night 2
Secret of Mana
August 20, 2024
Random Notes:
- AJ Vark, fanboymaster, Chromes, Cassandralyn, and BEAT are all here with me to secret up some mana. Nobody is allowed to go postal. It is written.
- Bobb reclaims the Mana Sword! First Mana Sword collected on stream!
- “I’m trying to game the system.” “Game it how?” “I don’t know!”
- As Bobb reaches the Water Shrine, a dissertation on Crazy Frog Racer is presented. This will be a frequent topic of the evening.
For your listening pleasure, please enjoy our spontaneous rendition of Axel F.- “A minion hanging dong is not something you want to think about?”
- Accusing a man of finding a gummy bear attractive is slanderous.
- We arrive at dwarf town just as we wrap up a conversation about Disney lawsuits. Please don’t sue us!
- Our Girl is Gogg, and we have settled on the name Sierra for Sprite.
- BEAT believes that writers should stop hoisting backstories on random crap glued to the back of the Millennium Falcon. I disagree.
- Caliscrub appears at my summoning. We’re just about at the werewolves!
- “Legend of Mana believes in itself,” is stated with simultaneous confidence.
- BEAT explains Sigma Males opposite a tiger fight, so I must post this again:
- As we venture to claim Undine, I posit that Kingdom Hearts is the secret successor of Secret of Mana. Nobody agrees with me. Play Visions of Mana! Tell me I am wrong again!
- My suggestion of playing another jigsaw puzzle game is met with nothing but hate.
- Issues with raiding the Earth Shrine leads to verification that ghosts don’t get to sleep.
- Surprising no one, fanboymaster gets back on the topic of Ace Attorney localization as we approach a big ol’ gigas. Let’s learn about mythology!
- And, having defeated the shadow of Santa Claus, we decide to call it a night.
Next week on Manapiece Theatre: The greatest trial is soothing a sad werewolf.
Vore of Mana