Secret of Mana

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On the 25th anniversary of its original release, the remake of the classic action-adventure RPG Secret of Mana is here. Many of us will remember the Super Nintendo game as one of the original RPGs and the remake very much plays up to it. Relive the memorable adventures of Randi, Primm and Popoi as they try to save the world by defeating the evil ancient sorcerer Thanatos, after stumbling over the mystical mana sword.

Available on PC, PS4 and PS Vita, the remake sees the original 2D, 16-bit graphics given a makeover in the form of a fresh 3D model. There’s also some new features which include dialogue scenes between characters which enhances the story telling element. This remake is all about nostalgia though and a great little feature taps into that. With the ability to switch between the new music and the original sound track, you’ll feel like you’ve travelled back in time to 1993, a simpler time when your mum was still choosing your underwear for you. Now who wouldn’t want that?


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Secret of Mana Reviews & Ratings

60
Review by kogokogomoo [user]
May 12, 2020

It's okay. I would say that if you get this game on sale, it is not bad idea to get it. However, know that this is a remaster of the old game.It's okay. I would say that if you get this game on sale, it is not bad idea to get it. However, know that this is a remaster of the old game. The graphics are improved and some neat features are added, but in the end of the day it is better graphic version of the old game. Don't expect to get your mind blown.

90
Review by SenseiMiguel [user]
September 1, 2019

Me encanta esta saga. Me gusto el remake. Me hubiera gustado q las musicas hubieran estado mejor... que eso fue lo que mas me encantaba de laMe encanta esta saga. Me gusto el remake. Me hubiera gustado q las musicas hubieran estado mejor... que eso fue lo que mas me encantaba de la version de snes. No senti esa magia del snes, pero overall.... esta bien hecho. Ahora a esperar Trials of Mana en switch.

70
Review by Naedeslus [user]
March 2, 2019

When I heard that Secret of Mana, one of the first real action RPG's on the SNES was getting remade, I was very excited. I played it when IWhen I heard that Secret of Mana, one of the first real action RPG's on the SNES was getting remade, I was very excited. I played it when I was a child and I loved it. Though, I never beat it I remember renting it off and on and really enjoying what I played. As I grew up, I never got around to playing it even though I wanted to, so the idea of a SNES classic being remade really excited me.Then I played it.So, first of all, it's not a horrible remake, after all, I'm giving it a 7/10 so it's not broken or anything like that, the issue is that the game feels very low budget. It's obvious Square Enix must've outsourced most of the work for the remake. The visuals are pretty bad by PS4's standards. While it's most likely just a port from the PS Vita, the problem is the PS Vita itself can do better. The character designs are very low quality. They barely animated and while they probably didn't want to change the original's art style too much, it looks to be very jarring.The environments are okay. There are some low-quality textures but I found the environments were done well enough. They could've been better, especially some of the grass textures but the one thing the remake does right, visually is the enemy design. It's funny how the characters can look pretty low quality but the enemies somehow look pretty good! I'm not sure why there is a bit of inconsistency with this but it's there. The overall visual design of the locations is nice but had it spent another 3-6 month making the graphics even better it would’ve overall improved the quality of the game. Of course, graphics are not everything but when the original game has better character design you know that the game made a serious error.One touch I love is how there is a mini-map and the mini-map has the original’s graphics. It’s a neat touch and helps to navigate the environments. You, of course, can turn this off if you don’t like it.The music is… pretty bad. Thankfully you can play with the original OST, which is a great OST. I highly recommend that. The voice acting is almost Resident Evil 1 ps1 bad. It’s good for a few laughs but I turned it off and thankfully there was that option.What saves the remake from being a 5 instead of a 7 is the changes they did to the core gameplay. It plays the same, has that meter that you have to get to 100% to do an effective attack but they made some smart changes that really improve the feel of it. There is an autosave feature which is a lifesaver considering that most of the dungeons didn’t have the option to save in them, including a rather long final dungeon and you can map skills to L1 or R1 which helps out a lot in boss fights since magic is the best way to do damage mid-late game.It still has the quirks where enemies have super high evasion and about 30-40% of your attacks will miss post-mid-game. It’s annoying but once you get in the grove you get used to it. I would’ve loved for an option to decrease this to close to zero because all it does is make combat more annoying than it has to be. It’s something they didn’t change but it is what it is. It would’ve made it better, or at least an item you can equip that would help out with that.I’ve noticed a lot of reviewers claimed it gets too hard about halfway through. The difficulty does jump up about then, but I didn’t have any trouble. I feel that good advice is to fight most battles and buy the best equipment, spend an hour here or there grinding and you’ll be good to go. At the end of the game I was overpowered, and I just ran from battles in the final dungeon because I knew I’d take on anyone and I was right. It was a cake walk. Of course, if you forget to buy new equipment, it will make it much harder. The plus about this is if you want a challenge, there’s an idea to get one. It felt a bit easy, especially with powering up magic, which is very easy to do.The story is also improved. There is more dialog added and it works nicely. The original script was fine but I did like what they did to add more character development. It helps. There are these skits whenever you rest in an inn. The problem is that sometimes they’re not synced with what you do. I found myself seeing them talk about an event that happened way before I rested at this inn. A patch to keep them more with what is going on with the plot would work wonders. Not a huge deal but sometimes it’s a bit jarring.All and all, it’s not a bad remake. I’ve heard people say it ruins the game for them. I don’t see how. If you ask me, if you wanted to try out Secret of Mana, the remake is the best way to do it. Though, there is a problem here.With how much of a budget title this feels like, I can’t really justify telling someone to spend 40 USD on this. It’s a good game and a good way to play the SNES classic but it’s overpriced. I'd either rent it or wait for a sale. It took me 15 hours to finish it.

50
Review by philzlz [user]
December 19, 2018

A 3D remaster of the 1993 released SNES action role playing game. Follows the story of Randi who finds the ancient Mana sword and has to saveA 3D remaster of the 1993 released SNES action role playing game. Follows the story of Randi who finds the ancient Mana sword and has to save the world from the Empire, trying to reconstruct a flying warship called the Mana fortress.Unfortunately the transition to a modern look does not work and Seiken Densetsu 2 loses a lot of charm by introducing an orchestral soundtrack and a new graphics engine.Story and combat mechanics that still allow insta-spamming magic spells to defeat bosses do not hold up 25 years later. A full remake would have been the better idea.

40
Review by CD-Action
June 5, 2018

The remake not only highlights all flaws of the original, making me wonder why I loved the 1993’s Secret of Mana in the first place, but also introduces some new problems.

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Game Information
Release Date February 15, 2018
Publisher Square Enix
Content Rated E10+ (Everyone 10+)
Game Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
Player Perspectives Bird view / Isometric
Genres Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
Themes Action, Fantasy
Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4