What started out as a side story for the final fantasy series, evolved into a franchise that
was capable of rivaling the greats. Some even argue that this franchise has grown to be
square's best RPG series to date. Let's examine the West's first official look at the mana
series.
This.
Is the secret of mana iceberg.
Identity Crisis
This is one of the few J RPGs where we are forced to create our own names for the protaggonists.
Instead, the protaggonists are known only as, the boy, the girl, and the sprite. This
was a gift and a curse, as some players enjoyed the aspect of forging characters with identities,
others felt it was a missing component to a captivating plot. No matter how you felt
about it, the Japanese instruction manual informs us of their true names, Randi, Primm,
and popoi. We also see alternative non-canonical names in the english game instruction manual.
The boy is called Jeff, while the girl is called karen.
No Fall Damage
There is no apparent repercussions for falling long distances in this universe. The party
drops into multiple pits throughout the game, and they receive no ill effects as a result
of this. The primary means of long distance travel is by being shot out of a cannon, without
any plans for landing, they just hit the ground. Amusingly, we see in the re make that Primm
is even afraid of heights, both riding flammie and taking the cannon travel service.
First but not really
The very first game within the mana series was technically not even named as a mana game.
Secret of Mana is actually the second in the series, however, it was the first game named
as such. Its predecessor was actually named seiken densetsu final fantasy guyden, in Japan.
In America, it released as final fantasy adventure. And In europe, it was released as mystic quest.
And although its origin began even before final fantasy, It was released shortly after
FF 3, when square opted to create a spin-off series. Some people theorize it used the final
fantasy name to capitalize on the series' popularity. It was considered a pet project
that incorporated legend of zelda style gameplay and elements, with the captivating story of
a final fantasy game. In any case, Because of the game's success, square eventually decided
to not only create a sequel, but branch into an entirely new series. Although secret of
mana was the first game to use the name, it is technically a sequel. Final fantasy adventure
was re made in 2003, more appropriately named sword of mana.
Multiplayer single player game
While the game was designed as a single player game, we receive 2 NPC allies that attempt
to follow us around and assist us in our adventure. Despite being able to somewhat control their
behavior, they can become a nuisance, either endangering themselves, or getting stuck somewhere.
This is one of the few J RPGs to implement this style of gameplay. And perhaps what's
most interesting is that another player can take control of one of your allies to fight
alongside of you. It was actually the first RPG to feature a co-operative multiplayer
mechanic where a second or third player could drop-in and out at any time. Although it's
akin to early Sonic games, in that the other player is forced to follow the first player,
with limited capabilities.
Awful Final Upgrades
Ironically, the final level 9 spells are often considered downgrades to lower level spells.
It's impossible to effectively chain cast once a level 9 animation goes off. And it's
arguable if the effect of the spell is even increased from level 8. Luckily, this was
changed in the re make, making it so level 9 spells will no longer freeze the action
while the animation plays out.
It does seem that many of the level 8 weapons are included solely for the point of being
there, as some of them are hinderence instead of a boon. The gloves, in particular, are
often seen as the worst weapon in the game. They force the player to engage with an enemy
at point blank range. They will pick the enemies up and slam them back on the ground behind
them. But this does not incapacitate the enemies at all, leaving them vulnerable to counterattacks
from the enemies.
In general, attack spell damage does not climb linearly with MP cost, so oftentimes it's
truly the best option to stick with the cheapest attack spell that's available to cast. This
is especially the case in the s n e s version, where you were able to literally chain cast
spells, keeping them stun locked and unable to react.
A Mana Sword Upgrade
The Secret of Mana allows you to collect various weapons. As you keep playing, you will notice
that there are orbs that will help you upgrade weapons. You can upgrade all the weapons to
level 9, except the Mana sword.
The typical level you can upgrade the Mana sword to is level eight. However, during the
final battle against the Mana Beast, the sword transforms into a level nine upgrade. On the
other hand, it is possible to acquire the ninth orb for the Mana sword through glitching,
without needing to go to the final battle for the upgrade.
The best part is that the game has entire data on it, which only means that this was
planned at some stage during the development. However, you will still need to use magic
on the sword in the final battle because that is the only way it will cause harm to the
Mana beast.
The Character Of Popoi Is Gender Neutral
Many Secret of Mana players don't know this, but the gender of Popoi was left like this
intentionally because of the unique racial and genetic makeup. However, the original
U.S translation used male pronouns for Popoi, but that was an error. That is why we see
this issue finally fixed in the remake of the Secret of Mana.
The makers fixed this issue because they wanted the script to coincide with the Japanese version.
Because of this, the gender of Popoi was unfixed and uncertain. Players think that this was
done to raise awareness, but the real reason was that the makers wanted it to be in sync
with the Japanese script.
One Month to translate
If you are an avid J RPG player, you may know who Ted Woolzey is. He has translated some
of the best games of Squaresoft into English. These include many games, from Chrono Trigger,
to Final Fantasy III, to Secret of Mana.
One of the main issues Woolzey faced during these translations, was that there was never
enough room for the games to have an English script, that matched the exact length of the
original Japanese script. Because of this, Woolzey had to change or cut some parts.
Besides that, Woolzey added his personal touch to the games by adding some corny puns and
jokes. When Secret of Mana remake was under development, the script was barebones. That
is because the studio gave Woolzey thirty days to translate the script.
Primm's Marriage
There is one easily missed conversation that reveals that the girl, Primm, is actually
in an arranged marriage with the son of a noble. We quickly find out about her love,
Dyluck, who was the reason for her running away from her home and marriage. Unfortunately
for her as her love would eventually become brainwashed and sacrifice himself. Nevertheless,
we learn in the re make that Primm's husband is actually an insufferable brat, making us
feel she was further justified in her decision.
The Dark Meaning of Names
If there is one character fans believe is the most memorable of the game, it is Thanatos.
That is because he begins as a powerful villain who is working for the Empire, but he finally
reveals himself to be Dark Litch, a horrendous monster. Of course, the name Thanatos has
a dark meaning behind it.
The name Thanatos is derived from the ancient Greek word that means death. If you translate
it to Latin, it comes to Tantalus, the son of Pluto and Zeus, which is mostly associated
with human sacrifice.
Another fan favorite in the game is undine . Her character is the first element of magic
we witness in the game as it appears to help the party. Of course, because of this, Undine
is the most benevolent and generous character you will find.
However, the meaning of her name does not live up to what the character portrays. In
German myth, undine, a water nymph, gave up her immortality to love a mortal man and give
birth to his child. The man broke his promise of love and was having an affair with another
woman.
When undine found this, she cursed him with suffocation if he was to ever sleep. That
is the meaning of Undine’s name, as it is in reference to the German fable. So, her
character might seem excellent, but it has sinister roots many players are unaware of.
Town Leveling
The best part about the character Primm is that the game designers created this character
with magic support in mind. Because of this, Primm can easily enhance her abilities in
a town without attacking enemies. Many gamers have used this trick to level Primm up and
give her an advantage.
However, what many players don’t know, is that the designers also cut the learning rate
of the character in half. So, Primm can enhance her abilities in a town, but it is challenging
for her to do so because of the low learning rate. You will have to work harder to boost
her abilities in a town and use it to your advantage.
Of course, with some practice and consistency, you can easily do this. After all, the difficulty
level is what makes the leveling up journey more interesting and mentally stimulating.
Players that love a challenge will excel in leveling Primm up in towns.
Hard Mod
Many players claimed that the secret of mana, most notably the re make, was far too easy.
This is because you can damage much faster than in the original game, especially the
bosses. Because of this, fans have made mods that increase the challenge of the game. Some
mods simply increase the HP of all enemies. While others change the game's figures completely,
increase the difficulty and modifying the experience all around. This mod in particular
ramps up the difficulty of the game while also compensating for the challenge by increasing
your characters HP and MP levels accordingly. On top of this, it also decreases the rate
at which you acquire experience and money. These projects will be linked down below.
Censorships
Nintendo has always had fairly strict guidelines and policies when it comes to international
releases, as they don't want The western snowflakes to melt. With the western localization, we
saw all hexagrams removed, hell hounds changed to heck hounds, as well as an interesting
censorship with a certain boss fight. The final Thrillboy robot boss fight originally
had a chainsaw weapon, but it was changed to hammers instead. The name of the monster
was originally known as death machine, which of course was changed. The game's re make
also included the highly controversial chainsaw weapon. Heaven only knows what kids would
have done if they actually saw that chainsaw.
Another interesting censorship was their method of censoring the scorpion boss. The fight
featured a scantily clad female, complete with suggestive poses. Instead of modifying
the sprites, they simply changed the script to refer to the character as a male. With
limited pixels to work with, no one seemed to notice that it was even female, and it
was passed through Nintendo of America.
Another thing that was surprising to see passed by censorship was the book enemy that can
be found. It normally will be flipping through its pages rapidly. It has a very small chance
of portraying a 2 page display of a nude woman. But there was only a very mynoote chance of
this even happening, allowing it to get by nintendo's censorship. It also had its name
changed from Devil Magazine, to national scar. This can be found in all versions of the game.
The Moogles Mystery
Let’s settle the age old debate of who has Moogles first. After all, one of the first
times we witnessed Moogles was in the Final Fantasy Adventure for the Gameboy. It was
the predecessor of the Secret of Mana, as both of them are part of the Seiken Densetsu,
otherwise known as the Legend of the Holy Sword series.
Final Fantasy adventure is the American version of original Seiken Densetsu. On the other
hand, Secret of Mana would be the second game in America to feature the Moogles. The appearance
of Moogles was made even more prominent through the use of Mog, a Moogle character.
So, who had the character of Moogles first? Was it Final Fantasy or Seiken Densetsu? Well,
the first appearance of these characters comes in Final Fantasy 3 for the Famicom, which
was Japan-only.
However, in recent times, Seiken Densetsu games are considered to be their own unique
separate series, that don't connect to the Final Fantasy universe. The Seiken Densetsu
series went into production before the Final Fantasy universe. That is why the origin of
Moogles seems to stem from the Secret of Mana rather than the Final Fantasy series.
Glitches
There were a number of different glitches present within this game. Most of them were
only seen in the s n e s version, as the re makes were coded almost completely from the
ground up, making new entirely different games. Some of these early glitches include unintended
paths around and through certain areas, and monsters hidden behind assets. You can also
change direction before using the whip to launch yourself, causing you to get stuck
in certain areas, which was somewhat common in general.
Infinite XP and money
On the subject of s n e s glitches, there was a tactic used to gain infinite xp. Certain
Enemies could cast wall, this allowed spells used against them to be reflected. If you
used a strong magic attack against that enemy, it can reflect to an unarmored ally, gaining
you a lot of free experience in the process.
There was also a common tactic using specific inputs while at a shop to gain infinite GP.
Players would most commonly use the magic rope to cause this glitch. The way this worked
was to trick the game into thinking you're purchasing something for cheaper than intended.
However, when done correctly, you can purchase an item for cheap and immediately sell it
for more, causing you to rack up infinite GP in the process . All of these glitches
were removed in the re makes of the game.
The Moon Ending Mystery
If you have been to the end of the game, you already know that the ending of Secret of
Mana is bittersweet. While the end of the world is prevented, the Mana is still banned
to some other dimension. Because of this, the Sprite party member will have to leave
the world because of the magic connection.
Sprite is in another world alone, looking at the moon because he is banished without
saying goodbye to any of his friends. The ending of the game has a final shot of the
moon, and it raises everyone's curiosity. That is because the appearance of the moon
will be unique depending on what you do during the game.
There has been a lot of speculation, but no one knows what the real trigger of each phase
of the moon at the ending is. Many fans theorize that it must have been an element from the
SNES-CD version of the Secret of Mana. They say that it was not properly added into the
final version, which causes this change.
Secret Face On Mars
During 1976, a few pictures were taken by two orbiters of the Mars surface. One of these
images became popular in no time, because it looked like a face on the Mars surface.
When the image gained popularity, many people started drumming up various controversies
and theories about life on Mars.
Of course, with time, we got to know that this popular image was an optical illusion,
and there was no face-like structure on the surface of Mars. The developers at Squaresoft
were also curious because the face appears in some of their games, as you can find in
Final Fantasy II.
However, in the Secret of Mana, you will also find these two faces hidden in the depths
of water. If you have not noticed it before, you can view them if you select the bird-eye
camera view and fly on Flammie.
Ten minute playthrough
Yes, if you use the glitches right, you can finish Secret of Mana in less than ten minutes.
However, to achieve this, you will have to talk to specific characters who have multiple
dialogue options. If you hit the dialogue boxes fast enough, you can trick the game
into sending you to various points in the script.
When you do this with the man who is in charge of operating the cannon, he will skip you
to the ending of the game. You can easily finish this game in eight minutes if you understand
how to use the glitches, and click the dialogue boxes quick enough. Many players have done
this successfully to complete the game in record time.
Nude Angela
On Super Nintendo, Secret of Mana had a sequel, which was known as Seiken Densetsu 3. Of course,
if it had been localized, it would have been called Secret of Mana 2. Seiken Densetsu 3
was one of the best games on the Nintendo at the time, and many people believe it beat
Secret of Mana in every way.
However, the reason it did not localize was that the game had a few bugs. Of course, Seiken
Densetsu 3 was the earliest fan translation project, which is why you can play the game
on an emulator in English. When fans were playing this game on the emulator, they discovered
a naked secret.
Super Nintendo used layers for its graphics in the game, but you can remove those layers
through an emulator. So, if you select Angela as one of the party members and take her to
the inn, you can remove the graphical layer of the blanket and reveal her to be naked,
which the players were not meant to witness.
Return to The Potos Village
During the first act of the game, Randi is banished from the Potos village because townsfolk
believe that Randi has cursed everyone. Of course, once the townsfolk kick someone out,
there is no way to gain entry again. However, there is a way you can, and many fans are
not familiar with this.
As usual, you can exploit a glitch in the game to get back into the Potos village. When
you locate Popoi and Primm, you can head back to the village and walk to the guard at the
entrance while you switch party members. If you do this fast enough, you can glitch and
enter the village in no time.
Randi And Chrono Are The Same
If you have played Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger, you might have seen the similarity
between Randi and Chrono. That is because both of them were once the same character
for the original version of Secret of Mana. However, when Randi’s content was cut down
for the game in the cartridge, the developers had extra material left. So, the developers
used this material for Chrono Trigger. Because of this, they created two players out of a
one-character design.
The Mana Depleted
Some players have theorized that there is a limited amount of mana able to be siphoned
from the world of mana. Some believe that the two worlds are interlocked together. Creatures
from the mana world travelled to the prime world when so much of the mana had been stolen
from their own world. The mana fortress is thought to drain the prime world of mana,
while also taking the mana directly from the mana world itself. This is why the mana beast
is formed by the creatures of mana to stop it. It was a final effort, with the mana sword
serving as the penultimate attempt. Even though both the mana beast and the fortress were
stoppped, there was not enough mana left for any creatures of mana to be able to interact
with the prime world. This is the theory for what happened to the sprite. The tree is gone
completely, and the mana almost depleted. As the sprites are from an alternative realm,
when they run out of mana, they are forced to return to that realm.
While the seiken densetsu series may have been initially conceived before the FF franchise,
many argue that it was the FF name that brought it to prominence. And without it, we may have
never seen the light of secret of mana. No matter the case, seiken densetsu 2 stands
as an all-time great for many players, often ranking in many players top 5 j RPGs of all
time. Like and subscribe if you'd like to see more videos like this. And let me know
what subjects you'd like to see covered next.