Secret of Mana SNES Review | Worthy of the Hype?

Подписаться 3 тыс.

Просмотров 11 тыс.

50% 1

#SecretOfMana #SeikenDensetsu #SNES #SuperNES #Squaresoft
Hello all! Here's my review for Secret of Mana on the SNES. This is a game that I never got around to fully playing through until recently. I've seen tons of people say it's GOATed, and others recently saying it's overrated... well, which is it? Find out in my review!
Thanks so much for all of the support, I truly appreciate it.
--------------------------------------
Check out the unboxing of Secret of Mana (with the strategy guide) here: • Secret of Mana SNES Un...
Final Fantasy Adventure Content
Final Fantasy Adventure Playthrough: • Let's Play Final Fanta...
Final Fantasy Adventure Review: • Final Fantasy Adventur...
Final Fantasy Adventure Unboxing: • Final Fantasy Adventur...
--------------------------------------
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @bitsandglory
Leave a like, comment and subscribe if you haven't already. Thanks everyone!
--------------------------------------
Secret of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game Seiken Densetsu, released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest, and it was the first Seiken Densetsu title to be marketed as part of the Mana series rather than the Final Fantasy series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world with the power of an ancient flying fortress.
From Wikipedia.
--------------------------------------
[BITS LINKS]
Help Me Out
Want to help out the channel? Since I don't stream on Twitch anymore, I don't get any supplemental income from my online gaming endeavors. Which is totally fine! But if you wish to donate, consider leaving me a tip on Streamlabs. See below. Thanks!
» Streamlabs Donation: streamlabs.com...
--------------------------------------
Connect With Me
Check me out on the social medias!
» Website: bitsandglory.com/
» Facebook: / bitsandglory
» Twitter: / bitsandglory
» Instagram: / bitsandglory
» Discord: www.bitsdiscor...
--------------------------------------
TeeSpring Link
Check out Bits & Glory t-shirts at my TeeSpring! Another great way to support the channel & yourself!
» bits-and-glory...

Опубликовано:

27 сен 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 107

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Check out the unboxing of Secret of Mana (with the strategy guide) here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JxX9SxVdnJM.html Final Fantasy Adventure Content: Final Fantasy Adventure Playthrough: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Mgsy0WOIkWY.html Final Fantasy Adventure Review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6DBjMfBwXcU.html Final Fantasy Adventure Unboxing: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RBdBSrnnalM.html

@Spidernick88 Год назад

A friend had it as a kid. So I played it sporadically. I finally played through the entire thing finally as an adult when I got a SNES Classic.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

I forgot about it being on the classic! I did not own it as a kid and nor did my neighbor, my other buddy at the time was a Sega kid. So other than emulator, I was out of luck. I actually didn’t get my cart until about 2018. Very late on this one, but glad I finally got to it!

@modelcitizen1977 Год назад

The best part about the game is the multiplayer. Playing through with a friend when it came out was absolutely magical.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

I could only imagine! Unfortunately, I did not own this one as a kid and couldn’t experience the multiplayer for myself recently either - but I’ve heard great things

@PistolPattt 11 месяцев назад

I played it with my brother and cousin, but only me and my brother were having fun, as my cousin would throw fits because we were always casting spells to level them up, and he just had melee.

@ReallyBadJuJu 21 день назад

@@modelcitizen1977 my wife and I just started playing the game co-op.

@kaox44 2 месяца назад

The game was ahead of its time, the music was beyond great…it’s godly.

@jamesmoss3424 Год назад

Secret of Mana is an work of art 🎨. 😀👍🎮

@Bitsandglory Год назад

I agree. I loved this one. I felt fully immersed in the fantasy world & environments. A few spots that would have been nicer if touched up, but I can't complain too much!

@Fingolfin4859 7 месяцев назад

I admit this is not my favourite game. But I truly like it! I think I enjoy Secret of Mana more than Final Fantasy 3 (6). Great review, my friend. Thank you! ❤

@Bitsandglory 7 месяцев назад

Definitely not the best the SNES has to offer, but still really enjoyable. Thanks for watching!

@Telmarine55 Год назад

As someone who grew up with the SNES, and having mainly played SOM and SOE, I have to say I’m in love with the ring command system. I might be the only person that actually likes it. I wish they made another “Secret of” game that utilizes this system.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

I definitely don't hate the ring command system, you get used to it pretty quickly. I often find myself wanting to replay Secret of Evermore... wish we got a sequel or some crazy ROM hack at least.

@TheRealNintendoKid 8 месяцев назад

They did, it just never released outside of Japan until fairly recently.

@adamdesanti6713 Год назад

A lot of TLC went into this game, and it shows. The gorgeous spritely graphics and sweet atmospheric music combined with fun gameplay make it an absolute SNES rpg classic. I remember having very fond memories of it as a young teen, coming home from a long day at school, getting my chores done and settling in with Secret of Mana. I wanted my RPGs to be immersive experiences with epic music and visuals, good storytelling and characters. Definitely in my top-10 as a kid. It has a lot of heart and soul.

@WhatGameBefore Год назад

I'm with you on the score for this game. I loved playing it as a kid but I wasn't able to finish it (got to the Black Fortress but no further). Now I have to go back and finish this great game 😀

@Bitsandglory Год назад

The end of the game is SUPER difficulty spikey! I almost ran out of resources against the Lich & Mana Beast. My one thing I would change in a future playthrough is grind up all the attack magic pretty quickly, just makes things soooo much easier. But, truth be told, I was a bit lazy with the grinding until the end haha.

@LordSephleon Год назад

@@Bitsandglory Honestly, if you keep magic levels up-to-date, it makes the game almost too easy since magic gets REALLY strong. But yeah, grinding magic (at least for Sprite) is a pain. With Girl, you can just hang out by an inn that's close to a combat zone and just spam spells that target allies. Keeping weapon levels up only affects charge attacks, and while the later attacks are strong (even if not very practical, in terms of some attack animations), it's counterbalanced by the long charge times. However, if you set the AI partners to always charge to certain levels....

@Bitsandglory Год назад

@@LordSephleon thankfully the game gifts you that great end game grind spot for XP, gold and magic (with the weird talon foot creatures). That made things super easy. But yeah, magic systems are both broken in SoM and SoE. In Evermore I basically spam Crush (the fist magic) the entire time haha. And truthfully, I didn’t do ANY weapon leveling that wasn’t organic haha. I kind of felt the shift towards OP magic early on and focused almost primarily on that.

@LordSephleon Год назад

@@Bitsandglory A great mid-to-late game grind spot in SoM is the Ice Country area with all the winter wolves. That's always been my go-to for some reason... I think because the inn was relatively cheap? I don't remember at the moment. Man, I used to spam Crush against bosses back when I played SoE. It was just too good a spell, even at its low levels. The problem I had was that I was an item miser in my youth, so I only cast spells in SoE if I absolutely needed to (the ingredients/reagents were like gold to me). Hell, I spent too long in the Classical Era because of the marketplace, just trying to get plenty of the ingredients I wanted (which, of course, I barely used for spells). It's why I always leaned towards magic and MP over items: it's an easily-renewable source of power, whereas items are costly and sometimes hard to find.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

@@LordSephleon yup! I actually covered that in my SoM grinding short, by far the two places most convenient and best yielding were the ice areas and then the Pure Land (finally remembered the name). I’ve seen a few people not like the alchemy system, and I remember at times lacking ingredients and being annoyed - but idk. Something about it appealed to me! Plus I mean, Cecil is in the game. Probably my favorite dev Easter egg ever, flip flop maybe with Chun Li in Breath of Fire.

@Digital_David Год назад

I love this game! It looked beautiful and the music was awesome - it was probably the only RPG that I played back then that allowed for 1-3 players. Too bad Square couldn't have first made this game for a console like PS5 - imagine how flawless it would have been with modern technology.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Definitely not without its technical flaws, but a really great game indeed! I need to wrap back around to Seiken Densetsu 3 one of these days as well

@nicosisland7347 Год назад

Love this review! You are totally on point with the pros and cons.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Hey, I appreciate it! Thanks for watching. I try to stay as objective as possible (although my bias gets in the way once in a while, but I’ll admit that haha).

@backinthedaygamer Год назад

This game has been in my backlog for a long time. I'm trying to finish Phantasy Star 1st (that's how I found your channel). Then I'm going to start with Final Fantasy Adventure on GB. Loving your vids! Time to binge...

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Trust me, I hear you! People are often surprised to hear games I have never fully played - this was one of them. So happy to get through it finally. And awesome! Hope you're enjoying Phantasy Star. I really, really want to replay that in 2023. FFA is a great time & I'm happy to hear you're like me starting at the beginning instead of jumping ahead. Enjoy the journeys & thank you for watching!

@maxwuertt 2 месяца назад

Great review! I share most of you points, just would like to add one thing: to me, it is hard to point out what fascinated me so much about this game. It is something that is bigger than the sum of its parts. The atmosphere is just so consuming. Got to start it once more now ;)

@Bitsandglory 2 месяца назад

Thank you for watching & the comment! I wish I had more time (currently Shadow of the Erdtree Elden Ring DLC is eating up all of it haha). Would love to replay this for the channel, as well as the remake. Enjoy your replay!

@nx_lnkd 2 месяца назад

Loved this game as a kid

@nintendude1988 12 дней назад

You had me on the first second with the intro

@Bitsandglory 12 дней назад

Hahaha, I need to revisit RE2 soon. I was doing some cruddy speedruns during Covid and haven’t touched it in a while

@nintendude1988 12 дней назад

I just picked it up again for the third time, in almost a year. Keep getting distracted with Elden Ring and Zelda games haha. Taking another break off it, just past the darkness palace. At least it's an easy one to pick back up on!

@Bitsandglory 11 дней назад

@@nintendude1988 Haha, I hear that! I just wrapped up my RL1/0 Blessing run of the DLC a few weeks ago for Elden Ring. If you're a big FromSoft fan and haven't already, I recommend trying Lies of P as well. I just started that a few weeks ago and have been loving it!

@Myrdraall 2 месяца назад

When your magic is maxed spells have critical casts that do different animations.

@SchmittWylde Год назад

This might be your best review yet! GG man! Loved it!

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Schmitty! Thank you for the kind words. Trying to level myself up for the reviews on these longer games. Glad you enjoyed!

@gugelizer4279 Год назад

Surprisingly, SoM and SoE don't share the same engine. Squaresoft NA developed the engine for SoE from scratch, although they copied SoM very closely. This is also the big reason SoE didn't have multiplayer.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Holy moly, that IS surprising! The games are basically carbon copies between the combat, ring menus, teammates (granted only one in SoE), etc. that’s nuts. But that does make sense, and I’m assuming since they are so closely designed that’s the reason someone was able to hack** in the 2P COOP for SoE? Edit: typos

@gugelizer4279 Год назад

@@Bitsandglory from what I’ve read about it, the multiplayer was partially developed because the team wanted to include it. They left it out because they didn’t have time to deal with other issues like character blocking and getting stuck in terrain. I’m not very familiar with the mod, but I presume it wasn’t too difficult to reenable multiplayer itself but there was likely other work to make it a good experience There’s a good interview with the lead programmer Brian Fehdrau, and members of the team have been known to pop into Reddit to comment at times.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

@@gugelizer4279 that’s awesome, I’ll look into that later! I’ve been feeling the itch for Evermore again despite having a million other games to play haha

@ryanbrowne8244 Год назад

Really great review man 😀

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Thanks! This review has been getting some traction here and there, every comment I see it makes me wanna play again haha

@franzfleur7472 2 месяца назад

Dude I love that Creepshow shirt >< where did you come upon it sir? Great review btw.

@Bitsandglory 2 месяца назад

Haha, I got it from Chiller Theater in NJ a few years ago! And thanks for watching and the comment

@MichaelA-rr6hb 2 месяца назад

I feel that anybody reviewing that game these days is going to give it too low of a score. Video gaming is too different to really appreciate what this game was when it released. People don't game together in the same room so playing with 2 or 3 people doesn't happen anymore. Also, the other rpg games out had turn based attacking which was slow and boring and this game really changed the pace. Just about every game had glitches back then but the few on this game were minor unless maybe your emulator has issues.

@Jimmyagaming1988 Год назад

I still should probably try and finish this.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

It's one of the best RPGs on the console, despite what some new-age negative nancies say!

@trias418 Год назад

Secret of Mana is cool, but has some flaws. A bit grindy, not much variety, combat a bit boring. Classic soundtrack though and paved the way for Secret of Mana 2 is just a better game in almost every regard.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Definitely does get a bit grindy. But that never really bothers me too much, some of my favorite RPGs are grindy as hell (IE. Dragon Warrior). I can see some people not liking the combat, but I actually don't mind the sit & wait style and the spell spamming - I also enjoy Secret of Evermore (probably more than SoM). I still need to get to Secret of Mana 2, hopefully sometime in 2023!

@jimsmit-h7c 10 месяцев назад

Great game top 10

@Bitsandglory 10 месяцев назад

I’ve been meaning to replay it soon, maybe for a stream. Great game indeed.

@The_Sage_of_Six_Paths 14 дней назад

Im in the camp of pronouncing it Man ah

@melissak1037 Год назад

Loves it loves it king truf

@Bitsandglory Год назад

I knew that he would be your favorite!

@rpghero46 Год назад

man who is this cutie 💓 😍 sumping sub!

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Haha, thanks!

@Jbisagrifterandasociopath 8 месяцев назад

Do you like to be farted on?

@ItsDangerousGoAlone Месяц назад

Secret of mana is the worst game i ever tried to give a fair shot at. I am surprised it is so beloved, i cant see it.

@Bitsandglory Месяц назад

Plenty of games that are beloved that I don’t enjoy either!

@iPanachay 6 месяцев назад

The game must have been great back then. But by now, its barely playable, ia and hitbox ruin the game. Trials of mana outlive him way better

@Marc_Araujo Год назад

The game is very mid. It's a rushed, half-assed, and broken game. The whole point of the quest is to obtain the Mana Sword and it's impossible to do so cuz of a glitch that prevents you from being able to upgrade it all the way. The story is stupid AF and revolves around paper-thin characters. The graphics are good and the soundtrack is great but that's about it.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

I can definitely see & understand your criticisms. I still quite enjoyed the game and had a fun time playing. To each their own, I don't like a few very popular RPGs as well.

@ThatGamingFurry Месяц назад

This game is unironically one of the WORST games ever made. The enemies all hit you back to back with no way of fighting back at all, the “wait to attack fully” thing is awful, I just hate it so much!

@freakswat Год назад

Love the diff angle of the game room. But solid and detailed review!

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Thanks! I felt like this was the best angle for the best audio quality for the mic haha, Ideally the coolest angle would be a big shift to the left (showing my built in shelves w/ all the games) but not conducive to good quality!

@montefisto Год назад

Higher score than I'd give it. Good review all the same though. I think I just ran into glitches more frequently than most, and I was unaware that Neko spawned **BEHIND** the pyramid (that I already searched prior) in the end game before you go to that final forest before the final dungeon, so I was raging as I did not have the legitimately necessary equipment needed for that final difficulty hike until I was looking up hints and saw people mentioning a final Neko store. Also I thought I only needed one ally to buff my sword for the end boss and not both, so I had no clue why I couldn't do damage, and was frustrated by the lack of a save point in the final dungeon, as it is long with many boss fights. The game's at its best when you're just zoning out, exploring, taking in the music & atmosphere, ala Diablo. The game's probably amazing when playing through the whole thing with 2 or 3 player. I just had a rough experience with it nearing the end, which kinda spoiled my impression of it.

@Bitsandglory Год назад

I heard horror stories of glitches before playing, I must have been lucky because the ones I experienced weren't too bad - mostly the music glitches, characters getting stuck everywhere (which I guess isn't really a glitch, just crappy AI/collision stuff), and a fair share of annoying magic spells not casting. I was lucky enough to find Neko because at that point of the playthrough I was done but had like 10 mins to spare so I started wandering around and found him (Then proceeded to grind next playthrough to get all the equipment). I will say though, I struggled MIGHTILY with the Mana beast. I beat it in the first try, but it legit took me like 20+ minutes. I just wasn't "getting it" regarding the buffing, the crit attack boost and so forth, wasn't until the end that I realized I could hit it without being fully charged (which could be annoying because you could be close to fully charged, get hit with an attack and back to attack level 0). All in all, for me, this was neck and neck with Secret of Evermore. I gave them both the same score. But I think I prefer Evermore just because it's so odd and atmospheric. I also prefer the soundtrack in Secret of Evermore slightly.

@Telmarine55 Год назад

Just played through this game. The Mana Beast was hard, but I felt getting through the Mana Fortress was harder! What always killed me were the enemies casting magic, and not being able to get away once they start attacking you. They spam you so you can’t even heal and recover. So annoying. I never fought a Mana fortress boss more than once unless it was to get through it again after having been killed by regular enemies.

@howieb4217 9 месяцев назад

Cheers for the review! Got a sub from me. Playing SoM at release with my bro will always be my fondest gaming memory. It's impossible to be objective about it - there's way too much nostalgia! Objectively, I do think it has the best soundtrack of any game - and will die on that hill!

@Bitsandglory 9 месяцев назад

Appreciate the sub, watch & comment! I really have been meaning to replay it for the channel since I chose to, for some reason, not do a Let's Play or stream. I saw that there's a new Mana game coming out soon, so I expect this review to get a few more views in the coming days haha... great game, wonderful soundtrack, and definitely worthy of the hype. I'm jealous you got to play multi-player! Gonna be tough for me these days to pull that off.

@zevin_actionman 5 месяцев назад

The soundtrack 💙💙💙💙💙

@Bitsandglory 5 месяцев назад

So good!

@RyuRonin1 Год назад

You continue to get better and better with each review. Keep it up. Definitely your bread and butter

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Thank you, Ryu! It's definitely what I have the most fun doing. I'm glad to be getting all the positive feedback & feeling better about making them these days. They're fun!

@ecchiowl5905 2 месяца назад

the graphics and music hooked me as a kid. i had never seen anything like it before

@Bitsandglory 2 месяца назад

I remember tinkering as a kid on emulator, the color palettes stayed in my head a long time. Very memorable.

@Eternal.moth.winged Месяц назад

znes was such is a childhood staple

@Bitsandglory Месяц назад

For sure, seeing that pixelated snowfall or whatever brings me back!

@aleksandroechavarria-merci4288 Год назад

Amazing review! You should've outlined the fact that this game can be played multiplayer! With the (shaky) netplay options on some of the SNES emulators, it's possible to play this game with others

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Thanks! Yeah, there’s been a few games I reviewed with multiplayer experiences but I pretty much just tackle everything solo so I didn’t wanna BS my way through too much when I didn’t play it, know what I mean?

@medleysa 2 месяца назад

Excellent soundtrack, good graphics, mid gameplay. It’s kinds like a plate of cookies that got pulled out of the oven a minutes too early. They look great, and the first bite on the edge is good, but once you get into it, it’s mushy and half-baked.

@Bitsandglory 2 месяца назад

While I do slightly prefer Secret of Evermore myself (only natural to compare), I do really like Mana even if the combat can be a little jank.

@oyvinator 2 месяца назад

love this game.. but the story is kinda wierd sometimes.. santa wants to grow a christmas tree? 7:55 when that red haired dwarf casts a spell like freeze and he bends down, you can select him again and recast it.. but there is a limit to how much dammage you can do so you cant kill bosses like that.. i usually do that 5 or 10 times.. and let him stand up

@Bitsandglory 2 месяца назад

Hahaha, yeah the Santa thing was very strange. At this point just a funny quirk that I look forward to. Thanks for the comment!

@inka5815 4 месяца назад

I think i try this classic in 2024. Never played it, but the original at First and After this the Remake

@Bitsandglory 4 месяца назад

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for watching

@KobraKai2388 Год назад

Nice review, man. Been on the fence on playing this for a long time. I’ve had several ways to play it for a long time and never got around to it. Subscribed. Keep up the great work!

@Bitsandglory Год назад

Appreciate the sub and the kind comment! When you get around to SoM I hope you enjoy! I’ve been meaning to replay this again sometime soon, every time I get a comment it stokes the fire haha 😂