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Secret of Mana is a
computer role-playing game developed by
Squaresoft for the
Super NES and released in
1993. In
Japan, it was entitled Seiken Densetsu 2 (English:
"Legend of the Sword 2").
Story
You, the
hero, are the discoverer of the
Mana Sword, which when removed from the
rock on which it stands, sets off a change of events that result in
you being banished from your hometown on a mission to restore the power of
Mana of which there are 8 elements. You encounter two friends to help you
on your
journey and improve your skills and stamina as you fight
monsters along the way.
Gameplay
A departure from other RPGs, this game offers direct control of the
hero's movements and actions. The player can assume control of the other
two
player characters with a single button press and non-played characters
fall under the control of the
AI. The player instructs the computer to make these characters
agressive or introverted.
Items
There are various
items in the game such as
candy which increases HP (health points) that are found in
treasure
boxes left behind by defeated enemies.
Weapons and magic
There are 8
weapons to be collected and 8 magical elements that each provide 3
spells to be summoned. Each is allocated to one of the three characters.
The degree of damage inflicted to enemies is largely based on each
character's experience with these weapons and
magic spells. It becomes important to monitor the progress each
character is making towards perfecting their skills. When a character
masters the use of a weapon or a magical element he or she can trade it
for one that the character has less experience until all characters are
masters with all weapons and magical elements.
Enemies
Enemies range from lowly rabites to
armored guards. Each has an inherent weakness to a particular weapon
or magic spell and the player must learn each. Occasionally there are boss
enemies which pose more of a challenge but the reward for defeating them
is higher and may consist of a new weapon.
Travel
Aside from walking throughout the world the characters can be blasted
out of a
cannon to a chosen destination or can summon Flamey the white
dragon to pick them up and
fly to any point that has a grassy landing spot.
Other games in the series
-
Final Fantasy Adventure (USA) /
Seiken Densetsu (Japan) for the
Gameboy
-
Seiken Densetsu 3 (Japan only, but
fan-translated) for the
SNES
-
Legend of Mana (USA) /
Seiken Densetsu 4 (Japan) for
Playstation
-
Sword of Mana (USA) /
Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu (Japan) for
GameBoy Advance
A less successful
spin-off of Secret of Mana was developed and released by
Square USA and was entitled
Secret of Evermore. It used the same basic engine as Secret
of Mana but the graphics and scenes were tailored to more American
audience.
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