Flawed but still great. New SNES-related video every Tuesday, and something else (Genesis, Game Boy, whatever) on Thursdays Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/snesdrunk Binge watch SNESdrunk: • All Reviews (Newest to...
in 1993, when Secret of Mana was new and I was only a decade or so old, it left an impression on me I will never forget. Those graphics, the incredible score & sound effects, the freedom of exploration, it blew my expectations for a video game right out of the water and I vividly remember the exact moment I laid eyes on it. No game ever hit me that hard upon introduction.
I can recall, I was much younger than you though, when this game came out I was six, but I remember the excitement I had when I got the game and played it.
I was only 7 and it did the same for me. Maybe it's because I was so young but the ostracisation of the hero in the beginning left such an impression on me that it is still one of the saddest moment in video gamme for me: the hero who's still but a boy is banned from everything he ever knew place and people alike and his father figure essentially says he can do nothing about it. This really got to me at the time and what allowed for it I think is the music, which is an awesomely sad.
I know this is an old video, but I just wanna say, part of the reason the music for this game was so good was that the composer INSISTED on getting to get a feel for the story and play what was available so that he could figure out the tone of each area and make the music to match. This and Trials of Mana were probably his best work.
I know this video is super old, but I’m going to share my story anyway. Christmas of 1993. I was 7 years old and Santa had FINALLY came and left me a SNES on the fireplace. I cannot possibly convey the sheer joy I felt! Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Home Alone were the games unwrapped sitting beside it. Once Mom and Dad woke up, Dad said we couldn’t hook it up until after we had opened presents, had breakfast, ETC. So I’m opening wrapped gifts from under the tree, and I get a copy of Super Mario All-Stars! Sweet!!! I then open another gift and it’s another copy of All-Stars. “Don’t worry.” Dad said. “You can exchange it for another game.” I racked my brain thinking of all the games I had played at friends houses’, trying to decide which one I should get. Later that night, after a long day of playing my new Super Nintendo, I saw a trailer on television for a game called Secret of Mana. “I want that one!” I exclaimed. One week later, I inserted the cartridge for it into said system and my 7 year old mind was blown! I didn’t get very far. I didn’t have a strategy guide, didn’t read the instruction booklet, and of course there was no internet. But that game left such an impression on me that I kept playing off and on for years to come until I got my SNES classic a few years ago and finally finished it. One of the greatest games I’ve ever played hands down. I’m so glad my grandma Got me that extra copy of super Mario all stars that Christmas. If she hadn’t, I may have never even experienced this game the way it was meant to be experienced. This game will forever hold a special place in my heart.
My niece (who was 4 at the time) saw me play this on the Classic so I plugged in the second controller and she started playing with me (she was Popoi cuz she liked their pink hair). We took down a boss together (by that I mean I just kept spamming Popoi's magic at it while she was making him run in place) and I even taught her the story of each character. That will forever be one my favorite memories.
It's blowing my mind that no one has chimed in on the fact that you can, indeed, play this game with THREE people using a Multi-Tap. My favorite game of all time :)
Secret of Mana is my all time favorite SNES game. The game play was amazing. The music was phenomenal. Flammie is the greatest aspect of the game. When you could fly around the world and discover new land and hidden islands. The story was enjoyable but mainly it came from you filling in the gaps with the game play. I fell in love with this game so maybe I do over hype it. There are some flaws with some mechanics. Though I did enjoy the magic aspect and the wheel circle menu. I found it still kept you engaged in the game while giving you a quick break to regain your composure especially in a boss battle.I highly recommend this game & would definitely say this is a big hitter RPG.
@@miamimagicians There are more games you could play with three or more players, not just SoM. Most notably the Super Bomberman games. Here's a list of more games: nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Multitap
Gaming has changed a lot since Secret of Mana. The entire way the medium tells stories has completely shifted. A lot of the setting and mood was conveyed through the music in these games, which is why I think they stand out so much to us all these years later. The snow level is memorable because the music is helping to tell a story that the graphics lack the ability to convey. I think the human brain fills in the rest, and when you're young and your imagination is so strong these games really became something magical. Nowadays, games can look, sound and feel exactly how the developer wants for the most part. Games have to be bigger and bigger as they directly compete with Hollywood films. In fact, game developers have been trying to make games more like movies since basically forever. I'm not saying that gaming WAS better back in the day. Only that it was better in SOME ways. I do miss it and I'm glad a lot of youtube channels are helping to preserve gaming's history.
well said man. I have always felt this way and its why I still go back and play retro games. I am a big fan of phantasy star online (not that old but old now) and find the game holds up real well because the mood and atmosphere is so strong and my imagination did so much work and it had so much mystery to it. Where as the newer versions just took all that away and became kinda lame to me. The original sent me into a whole other world.
Totally agree on this and it's why I'm glad I was a kid back then : the lack of graphic details made the player imagine and fill the rest and in this regard it felt almost like an experience between reading and playing and that was so awesome !
Living in Buffalo, New York and that winter music IS seeing the first snowfall of the season. Hauntingly beautiful and pristine. Then you actually have to shovel said snow. Cue the boss fight music. Great vid.
The game was intended for the SNES CD hardware addon. 40% of the game's original content was cut off when Sony backed out of the SNES CD project and they had to cram it all on a cartridge. Thing is, most of the people who love it played it first as a child, and their imaginations could fill the gaps
When you had no other game like this hit the shelves back in 93/94, it hit different. It has it's flaw but everything else makes up for it. I disagree with how you view the game but this game is one the best that ever landed on the super nintendo.
Yeah and if you had a sibling it was awesome since you could both play . I even had the multitap and played with 3 players which was un heard of at the time .
I missed the part where you mentioned this game could be played with 3 people co-op style back in the nineties (or now). That is definitely not an overrated feature, I'd say it is pretty unique / almost one of a kind for its time.
Wait wait wait NO you forgot RU-vid channel rule #1: don't just jump into your content with a compelling introduction to your argument. NO! Say: "Wut iz up guys SNES Drunk here to host a video that you will be watching WITH your eyeballs and today I'm here to talk about the thing that is the TITLE of the video" and then make some terrible jokes and launch into general attention-seeking behavior.
+SNES drunk Lol in all seriousness thank you for eschewing the absolute worst qualities in RU-vid channels in favor of some actual good script writing and editing. Seriously: why do people think they need to say "What's up guys?" Like, we're not in the room with you. You can just start saying what you wanted to say. Also, these 16 min to hour long unedited/unscripted videos are worse than getting root canal. People should look to channels like yours to understand you can say a lot and keep it interesting in a short time with a little planning and attention to detail. Or, y'know, you could just shout into the microphone and consider yourself the most adorable person on Earth for 30 mins at a time.
I liked the limited story and character back story. It made for one of the best introductions to rpgs for me (Back at age 8), because i didnt really want to read text for hours on end. I wanted to smack stuff with a sword. I wish more rpgs would tone it down like this one did. The rign system was good too. What would the alternative be? A menu system like Final Fantasy? The game was simple for all the right reasons.
Probably still one of the best japanese Action-RPGs ever made. This game has a very sad but beautiful storyline and soundtrack. 2:22 this song is called "a wish" and it's one of the most beautiful tracks in the role-playing game history. This track fits the szene with Rudolph the reindeer and his missing santa claus so perfect.......
You make a good point about how the music makes the game so much better. Growing up I quickly noticed that if a game's music was good it made me think much more highly of it, despite the the gameplay, and the opposite holds true as well. Going back and playing the old systems I have often had to mute the sound to be able to play the game, but some have such classic soundtracks I forget all about the game's flaws and just chilled the universe conveyed via the music. Your observations are always so on point. You give reviews that are so insightful yet so simply put and accessible. Keep up what you're doing even if you have to move on to other systems man! (As long as you still enjoy doing these videos ofcourse)
I think SNES drunk is right in that it just falls victim to its own over-hype, because it IS a great game, but its been hyped so much lately that new players go in expecting it to be teh greatest game of all time, play it, and then are like "it was OK, but not the greatest game evar!" Thankfully I played it when it first came out and LOVED the game. It still ranks as one of my all-time favorite games. Always helps to go into any game/movie/book/whatever with zero expectations. Pro-tip, play it with the Multi Tap and some friends. :D
Over-hype is certainly a real phenomenon but it's not like there aren't any games that really are overrated. If enough people say it, there's probably something to it.
i know this vid is old but heres my comment. I loved how there were so many powerful "commander" type of enemy underlings in the empire. seeing all of them together for the first time is great. yeah, the music is wonderful and really helps with grinding, and i always grind my magic in the ice forest for that beautiful melody. the variation of weapons and how they are all fun to use is a manor plus. finding the extra weapon orbs in the mana fortress for the spear was so cool. finally, who could forget that beautiful detailed spread in the Nintendo Power issues!?! that detailed portion dedicated to the game was debatably the best special Nintendo Power ever did, along with the Final Fantasy 3 Amano art special!
I'm finally playing this again. It was one of my biggest childhood games, though I never beat it. I had legit nostalgia shudders when you played the winter world music.
This was one of my absolute faves in my 20s and more recently I was like "eh..." but now I'm going to play it again, and Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger, and maybe Secret of Evermore. I've been enjoying these videos. Thanks!
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. You hit the nail on the head with your review. It gets a lot of love from that generation because of it's beautiful, beautiful music and whimsical gameplay.
Would be an excellent game to see redone on 3ds. That would help resolve the ring menu issue. They could even amp the difficulty with a live cast mode where the game doesn't pause when accessing your spells on the lower screen of the ds!
great music, great art design, great color palette, great gameplay, great graphics = great game Also one of the most beautiful game box art in the whole snes library
Hi. I recently bought Secret of Mana for SNES and I have this issue where my repro controllers dont work but my original controller works. Since its a coop game I would like to play with my brother but since only one controller works I cant. Repro controllers work on all of my games except this one and all my games are authentic and not reproduction cartridges. Does anyone have idea what might be the issue or am I forced to buy new game/controller.
THAT MUSIC. I was searching for SNES games that I couldn’t remember anymore bc I was really young when I played them, and because of this music Im hearing from Secret of Mana, I can 100% remember this is one of the games I loved and played for hours. I didn’t even speak or read English at the time, so a lot of it didn’t make sense to me. I just knew I loved to play it, and part of it was the music. It’s crazy how memories just flow in my brain just by listening to a song…
I can see how people find it overrated if the multiplayer is never brought up. It's one of those game where it was so good that it has been copied enough that it does feel "been there done that" now. The action RPG wasnt much a thing back then and even more important, a multiplayer RPG. I'm a RPG fan who happens to have 5 brothers. RPGs beeing pretty much a single player experience, finally having a multiplayer RPG was pretty cool and welcomed.
Secret of Mana's beautiful color palette, fantastic soundtrack, and generally serene atmosphere make this a very enjoyable experience even if a little flawed. Never actually heard anyone call it overrated tho lol.
i think the "flaws" of this game is what gives this game a personality and charm of its own, like when your using magic and all the colors get all messed up, just fkin awesome! i grew up on this game and is still my fave to this day.
I remember my older brother having that game... I was like 5 years old or something - too young to understand or play anyway. But i always loved to watch him play because the colours, athmosphere and the music were so nice - I even remember turning on the game just so I can listen to the music
He probably missed the best part of the game where you can not only play with 2 of your friends, BUT 3 OF YOUR FRIENDS CAN CONTROL ALL CHARACTERS!! NOW THAT IS HELLA-COOL!
imo the music is the best to grace a video game fullsrop. Great review btw. And agreed - the music is what elevates SoM. That and the multiplayer. I played SoM at launch with my bro and it will always be my fondest gaming memory. 14 years old, summer holidays, chilling to the music and going on an adventure. Nothing else on the SNES could compete.
I have fond memories of this game. The game itself was very good and all, but for my family, I have two older sisters, so the fact this was 3 player, and it was one of the only games that my sisters had any passing interest in (since neither are gamers), meant that all 3 of us could play at the same time. In fact they would occasionally boot up the game even when I wasn't there just so they could spend some time grinding up their magic (since I was the boy, so my two older sisters took the girl and the sprite).
How did you come up with "non linear" here? Maybe my memory is a bit clouded here, but the only two parts that I remember where you can choose where to go is at the start of the game where you can either get the girl or the sprite and then later when you have to go to the desert or the ice island. No idea what it's called in the english version, in the german it was Christmas Island.
It is called that in the US version too. I mean - Santa was there with Rudolf outside... I always thought that was SO WEIRD as a kid. Still loved it to death though. haha
I ended up with two copies of this game back in the 90s because my friends at the time did not want them. They wanted Final Fantasy and got this instead. I personally never heard of it back then but I knew Squaresoft. They sat for a few months before I played it. When I played it, it became my most loved game on the SNES after that and today the carts have some value and having the box with them makes it even better!!
You forgot to include 3 player play. It was an amazing experience to share this rpg with friends instead of having to play an rpg by your self or opt out for streets of rage. Not many games had 3 player co op especially for an extensive game like this. You might think it's over hyped, but I say not enough lol. With all its game breaking glitches and all.
I grew up in the 90s, lucky for sure, and with a dad that was a HUGE gamer even until he passed I was even luckier. I never played this one but I LOVE a good 90s rpg. I just got it and so far I'm pretty impressed. You have to remember that back then EVERYTHING was new in gaming. First person wasn't even really a thing, platformers and fighters were king, and innovation was ALL OVER THE PLACE. to have an rpg that didn't FORCE you into a slow battle screen and was so fluid was somewhat revolutionary. The music too guys, damn is it good even today. It's not perfect but so far it's a 90s gem.
Just finished this game a few days ago and I have to say it was one of the best games I've played on the snes! The music and the gameplay was so fun! I had a blast! I'm now playing the 3rd installment after finishing the first two and it is even better! If you haven't tried this series! Go for Final Fantasy Adventure and then secret of mana! Its two very different games but similar in a fun way! Awesome video Drunk!
You absolutely nailed this one, buddy! I completely love this game but, couldn't agree more with story development, characters, and switching between players for the ring menu. The world is so beautiful and the music is everything from wonderfully captivating (the Ice Forest, for sure) to psychologically deranged (the Ruins). Flawed yes but still worthy of multiple plays.
I loved this game and still own it today... I liked how it was "sort of" a continuation of Final Fantasy Adventure on the GameBoy. Both games were played all of the time.
secret of mana is a neat package: the graphics, the music (especially), the scale, the combat mechanics, the characters, the fun moments .... its all very compelling to me at least. I also think that is one of the games that hold up pretty well after all those years, me and a friend of mine we could always pick up this game and play the heck out of it ... because coop is were the game really shines ... and this might not be interesting for most folks out there but the colorful game guide that came with secret of mana was just genious. When I saw all the weapons, items, enemies and bosses that i would eventually face, it got me pretty excited to pick up the controller and dive into the world of secret of mana. maybe you would have to be young at the time when the game came out to really appreciate it ... i cant speak for anyone else, but to me Secret of mana will always be maybe the best game ive ever played
I only played this when I got a snes classic but if I would of played it when I was little it definitely would of added to my child hood with its music
What a lot of people don't realize is that the game we got was only half of the game. A lot of the story was cut out which is why it sometimes seems like parts are missing.
The game is also very broken. You're right when you say the magic system can be abused, but do you know to what extent? By far the best way to play it is to always play as Randi (the hero) and always cast magic by pressing X. That way your character isn't stuck doing the casting animation (leaving you free to charge up your attack), and the best thing is you can immediately cast another spell afterwards, stacking them on top even. This way you can totally annihilate any enemy in the game (final boss excluded) and they can't do anything back. Kind of hard to ignore this trick once you know about it, it totally breaks the game.
It was extremely fun. a great balance of story and freedoms, but yeah it was kinda lacking in user experience hard to understand. Have you done anything on Lost Vikings? Does anyone remember that game?
It is my absolutely favorite game of all time, I enjoyed it as al little kid back days so much and also now as an adult,I play this game every 2 Years until forever. When you are a little kid and have very highly fantasy in your mind, this game gives you the best time of your life.
Im working on a ROM hack of this game that I thought you might find interesting, it fixes the magic system so you don't have to pause the game and cant chain-cast spells, It also features a manual block/dodge button and a strong and weak attack (the weak attack does 25% less damage but you power% drops to 25% instead of 0 and the attack is wider). I also fixed the CPU controlled characters getting stuck (they now dont block the screen and teleport back to you if they go out of the screen), you can choose the difficulty settings between easy (like it is in the normal game), normal and hard, altho the "normal" difficulty is not implemented yet, and many other stuff. Its still a work-in-progress but all the stuff I talked about here is done, you can try the beta version if you want : www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,20093.0.html
I love your reviews drunk. On a side note, did anyone ever rent earthbound or bomberman from their local video store just to get the multitap and play with 2 other friends?
I actually love the hit detection in this game. Sometimes the sword hits, sometimes it doesn't. That always felt RPG-ish for me, at least in this game.
I got this game for the snes when i was like 8 years old or so, and up to this day this is the reason why i love rpgs so much in general. If it wasnt for Secret of Mana id never touched WoW . Nothing ever sucked me in like this game and i replay and finnish it at least once a year just for the memories
Others have mentioned that this game can be played with THREE players simultaneously -- but also: no mention of the weapon skill leveling system! Given that all the characters shared the same set of weapons, and each individually leveled up their skill/available attacks with each weapon, I fondly remember a lot of good-natured fighting over the weapons when playing multi-player -- "Hey man, quit hogging the spear and let me level up a bit!"
This game was literally revolutionary and decades ahead of its time. The multiplayer real-time RPG is the most dominant and expansive sub genre of RPGs now. This game had ALL the paradigms of a multiplayer RPG decades before they became truly popular. If you log on to ANY online RPG to this day you can recognize many elements that were present and well developed in this game first. Sure aspects of the game have not aged perfectly but when you really consider what modern RPG gaming is it is amazing to think how much of the foundation this game put down.
Secret of Mana didn't have the most intriguing story true. However the combat system felt so different yet so good for the era. Mana will always be a nostalgic favorite. That being said I wish it's almost twin sister was more well known/beloved. Secret of Evermore needs more limelight, combat and ring system identical to Mana. With the addition of alchemy/magic, also had an amazing OST/soundtrack. If you really love Mana and have a chance to, really give Secret of Evermore a chance.
Thanks Marcus, hard to do requests because I work far ahead in advance and stick to a schedule. But I'll take a look at Marvelous, I talked about it very briefly in one of the Super Famicom videos
Knowing that this game and Chrono trigger were once supposed to be a big game together for some sort of CD/disk add on for the SNES (before Sony decided to make their own disc gaming console), it makes you wonder how the game that never was could have played out. Would we have had to collect elemental items across different time periods? Would it have been an action rpg like Secret of Mana or would it have been a turn based game like Chrono Trigger? It just boggles my mind, and also let's not forget that the combined game was meant to be what Final Fantasy IV wasn't. So knowing that, it kinda makes me wish they had been a full fledged game.
I just started playing it on my snes mini, not far in but i think its really cool. Its the only game apart from link to the past and the mario games that i can really get into
i love how you say "hang out" its exactly how i feel about snes games. you just wanna hang out some places. haha. and dont miss AETHERs secret of mana soundtracks. youtube it now if you havent yet.
As an intresting note, Secret of Mana is actually sort of a sequel. The Secret of mana series found its orgins in Final Fantasy Adventure, for the orginal gameboy. Later it was remade and retitled Sword of mana. It was definatly a fun game for the times and is worth checking out, however it plays more like legend of zelda, than final fantasy, just like secret of mana.
The SNES has such great quality sounding music because of the incredibly high quality sound chip which was ironically made by Sony. It destroyed any of the competitors consoles in terms of music quality, for the most part--especially the Genesis.
This was and a still think is one of the best rpg’s ever. I still play it to this day. It outshines many modern rpg games despite it’s few flaws. But i think those mentioned in your video gives it character.
Loved the video and I agree on many points but in my opinion the ring menu system was innovative, intuitive and functioned very well. I think some of the issue is that you're comparing that element to a lot of realtime beatemups rather than comparing it to a turn based rpg battle system.
i've been trying to find a rom of this game but couldn't remember its title... All I could remember is Of Mana... I also remember never getting far in the game... Its time to revisit Secret of Mana. Childhood here I come
