An awesome rpg then, and it still is today.

One of the best rpgs I've ever played on the snes, Secret of Mana still remains one of SquareSoft's greatest rpgs along with final fantasy and chrono trigger before the merge with Enix. I asked for this game as a birthday present from my grandparents after reading three issues of nintendo power that detailed a walkthrough and story about it; I also saw this game being played by one of my relatives. The game's plot tells the tale of one of the games heroes, a boy, having intervertedly unleashed monsters near his home by removing the mana sword and being exiled as a result. Before being exiled the boy meets a knight named Jema and tells him to come to the water palace; there he learns from Jema and the palace's caretaker Luka, about Mana becoming weaker, which resulted in more monsters appearing in conjuction of the mana sword being removed. To revive the sword and mana itself, the boy embarks on a journey to find the other palaces and receive power from the mana seeds. The boy gains two other allies in his quest, a girl and a sprite, who join him due to their own agendas that ultimately tie into the boy's quest. The games mechanics allows 1 to 3 players to take control of the heroes as they fight monsters and powerful bosses; even without two other players, one player can manually switch between them and make use of their unique skills. The games menus are done by the ring system, which includes weapons, spells, equipment, stratgey grid, and other options. Weapons and spells become more powerful through use and require much effort to make them stronger in order to beat bosses. As you beat bosses, you'll receive weapon orbs which are used to upgrade into stronger weapons and make them powerful. The story itself is great and you'll enjoy the lighthearted moments down to the sad traigc events as you play the game. The graphics may not be well received in todays standards, but the game utilizies the snes's 7-mode for being shot to different places via cannon to flying flammie and landing. Overall the graphics for this game are still great as they were in 1993. Likes: -Great story. -real-time battles. -upgrading weapons. Dislikes: -repitive grinding to build higher weapon and spell levels. -hard to get bearings while flying flammie. -Limited amount of items your allowed to carry. SquareSoft set the tone for rpgs in the days before its merger with Enix; nowadays rpgs have become more focused on graphics and battle systems rather than storytelling and striking a balance between battle systems, graphics, and core aspects that were seen in rpgs back. However games such as Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story have shown to go back to the basics of rpgs while maintaing todays standards. While Secret of Mana may not match up today's rpgs in graphics, it help the genre go beyond the traditional battle system and tried something new. Secret of Mana is and still remains a crown jewel in rpgs, and its definitly worth playing.Read full review