Secret of Mana

I've decided just to speak freely about this game. I think it needs to be reviewed in an abstract form. No form just explanation of why this game owns so much. This little intro is just to show how much I love this game. I never owned it, but that just added my thirst, my addiction, my lust for this game. This game is probably the most beautiful creations by man ever. It’s perfect in every way. I looked at the Gamespot rating criteria surely thinking that I could critique some aspect lower but no, I couldn’t. It just simply overrides the system.

 See, it’s hard for me to explain. This game just brings back so many memories. It makes me cry every time I here the music and I get emotional just thinking about it. This game reminds me of better times, back when I was little and I didn’t know a whole lot. It reminds me of being innocent, just loving life, no cares, no worries. I realize now that I can never feel this again, but even if I can just get a little shred of that feeling I felt it makes me feel happy. Of course this makes no sense to you and by now you’ve probably stopped reading just because this is boring and it’s hard to understand. But this review is more for me than you. This game proves that videogames are surely an art form, not just entertainment. This introduction is long I can see so I’ll break it up into paragraphs and then eventually get to the actual game itself.

When I was little and I went to “day care” my day care had an SNES. It had many games but the only one I can really remember now is Secret of Mana. I was really young and I was too stupid to know how to play it or even to know how RPGs worked. So I would watch my friend Joe (who was 5 years older than me) at the day care play it. I watched him obsessively. We never beat it. Got close but know. Joe grew up and so did I no longer went to day care. So months later I remember the game, I call up the local trade-a-game and ask if they have it. The store employee replies “oh my, your have good taste in games, sorry that is a very rare game and we do not have it” those were his exact words. I felt sort of bad that I might not ever get to play it again. So every month I’d call back and get the same reply. So finally I just gave up. But me and my bro did rent it almost every week and play it for a while. But little f****** would delete our saves. Also we use to mark the copies so when we’d go into the store wed know which one was the previous one we rented and we’d get it. Now thinking about it, it seems very sad to me. The game is soooo epic and great and I had to wait that long to play it. Later in life I had a friend named Alex (lol my name too). I went to his lake cabin. Guess what he had a SNES and guess what game he had… Secret of Mana. I nearly died of excitement. I sat there for about 5 hours just soaking in the awesomeness. So I got my SOM fix and since then I feel satisfied. But now I can’t wait for the VC revival so I can finally BEAT IT. (No disgusting joke intended). Lol. *on a side note now I remember that my daycare had Super Mario RPG. No wonder I love that game too*. So finally the game review.

Gameplay: Secret of Mana’s gameplay can only be described in one word, perfect. But ironically this would be the only portion of the game that can be faulted. The only thing in the entire game I can criticize is that sometimes the gameplay can be repetitive. But since I love the game soooo much and if you like it too, you can get passed that and it doesn’t hinder the game. The game is an Action RPG. No turn based stuff just plain button mashing, hack and slash, sword combat at its best. The game centered around 3 characters and there journey. The game supports 3 players also which is odd at that time because you need a multitap for your SNES. You control one of the 3 characters and hack and slash enemies in an RPG like atmosphere. Your character would level the more enemies you would kill and he would obtain different, more powerful, weapons and spells as the game progressed. The game can be compared to the Castelvania series in that way in terms of leveling. But the game is most like Zelda in the ways you would attack. The game is top down similar to Zelda. It’s basically a standard action RPG.

Graphics: the game can be compared to looking exactly like Chrono Trigger because it had the same artist. The graphics are great for the SNES. The game uses Mode 7 to create the rotatable background and when flying Flammie (a dragon for transportation) it shows uses Mode 7 to make it look 3d. But the graphics are pretty standard. It’s very colorful and the enemies and characters look great

Sound: probably my favorite part of the game and in my opinion the greatest game soundtrack of all time. Composed by Hiroki Kikuta this master piece still holds its own today. The opening song is so breathtaking and so magical it still isn’t rivaled in my mind by anything today. Here let the Wikipedia.org show you.

The game's soundtrack was composed by Hiroki Kikuta, and is perhaps his most famous work. It is known for its variety of tunes which tend to focus on the use of percussion and woodwind instruments, ranging from a lighthearted dwarves' polka to a somber, wistful snow melody to a tribal-like dance. Kikuta also incorporated elements of Balinese music into the score, which include gamelan (metallic, pitched percussion) and kecak (a percussive, extremely fast vocal technique). The most notable section of Balinese style music is heard while fighting the Dark Lich. Secret of Mana's title theme, 天使の怖れ/Tenshi no Osore (often translated as Angels' Fear) is well known by video game music aficionados for its haunting, echoing piano melody, and was featured in the third Orchestral Game Concert as well as serving as the base for many remixes. Parts of the game's soundtrack were incorporated into the Seiken Densetsu 2 Shiikuretto obu Mana/Secret of Mana+ compilation arrangement CD.

Value: the games value is astonishing. I can’t even count how many times I died in this game. Leveling is a necessity because if you don’t then you’re going to be screwed. The game is really long to boot. 30-50 hours of solid gameplay and that is without doing certain side quests.

Tilt: obviously perfect. As shown by the intro I find this game to be the of games and I hold it in my heart as a memory holder as well as a piece of fine art. Its fun and priceless.

Edit: My old Gamespot Review. My favorite Game of all time. If I could it would be a 6/5. This game is perfect. The nostalgia makes me feel giddy.