My 3rd Favourite Video Game of All Time

Secret of Mana (a.k.a. Seiken Densetsu 2 [The Legend of the Holy Sword 2]) (SNES – 1993)

Darkness sweeps the troubled land, as Mana's power fades...

People await a hero who will wield the sword...

Excalibur, Herald, Gigas...

The blade has had many names, for it has been celebrated in myths and legends throughout time.

But all of these speak to just one weapon: The Sword of Mana.

My list of my all time favourite video games now reaches the business end, and the game in the bronze medal position is Secret of Mana, which is a classic action RPG.

In Japan the game was released as Seiken Densetsu 2, which translates as The Legend of the Holy Sword 2. The game which preceded it, Seiken Densetsu, was a GameBoy game, which was released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure (as with the original SaGa games, it was rebranded as a Final Fantasy game to help market it in America), and released in Europe as Mystic Quest (not to be confused with Mystic Quest Legend on the SNES, which is a completely different game!). And, to confuse matters further, it later got a remake on the GameBoy Advance as Sword of Mana.

But, it is the second game in the series, Secret of Mana, which is one of the best known games in the Mana series. The “Mana” name became so popular that later games in the series also carried the “Mana” branding, including in their original Japanese releases.

Using the power of Mana, a civilization had grown strong...

In time, Mana was used to create the ultimate weapon: the Mana Fortress...

This angered the gods. They sent their beasts to destroy the Fortress...

A violent war rocked the world, and Mana seemed to disappear...

Before all was lost, a hero with the Mana Sword smashed the Fortress...

Though the civilization had been destroyed, the world was peaceful again.

But time flows like a river... and history repeats...

The story of the game centres on a boy who recovers an ancient sword, which also releases evil forces into the world. He has to go and fight these forces, whilst trying to fully revive the sword by visiting the eight Mana Shrines. Along the way he is joined by a girl, and a sprite. The Empire is also trying to reach all of the Mana Shrines, but their plan is to revive the dreaded Mana Fortress in order to rule the world.

Protecting the world, in a secret location, is the great Mana Tree (a regular feature in the Mana series), and it is seen on the box art for the game. But, an interesting thing about this image, showing our three heroes by the Mana Tree, is that it’s not a scene which actually takes place within the game...

One innovative feature of the game is the ring menu system, where you can select the various options you need, a feature which I’ve only ever seen used in one other game, the vastly inferior Secret of Evermore.

The game is a very entertaining action RPG, with plenty to keep the player interested along the way. The world is immersive, and our heroes have to travel to all corners of it in order to achieve their quest (which at one point involves saving Father Christmas!). Lots of people who played video games in the early 90’s will have fond memories of this game, and there are people who have come to discover the SNES more recently who then find that they love this game.

The game has a very memorable soundtrack as well, and on YouTube there are many versions of the various pieces of music from the game. Here’s the Super Guitar Bros with their version of “The Color of the Summer Sky”:

Here’s Lara de Wit’s and Aivi Tran’s piano duet of “Into the Thick of It”:

And here’s Smooth McGroove’s acapella rendition of the same piece:

Finally, here’s an orchestrated version of the “Dark Star” theme, from late in the game, arranged by David Graey:

Join me again next week when I’ll be revealing my second favourite video game of all time, a game which could be described as a game of two halves...