In 1993, I was purely a PC gamer, so while many were enjoying Square’s legendary Secret of Mana, I was leading Dr. Jones to discover the Fate of Atlantis. I only just got my first copy of Secret of Mana with the SNES Classic Edition a few months ago, but have yet to dive into it. The HD Remake from Square for PS4, Vita, and PC just landed last month, and we received a review code on PS4.
Playing the HD Remake of a twenty-five year old game I never played is a bit difficult, a bit backwards you might say. I admit I was kind of turned off by the cutesy and borderline overly colorful graphics, but intrigued by the story of a young hero and his two friends battling an evil corporation in a dystopian world. Within moments of the opening cutscene, the protagonist (Randi by default, but you can change the name) comes across a shiny object beneath a forbidden waterfall. It’s the Mana Sword, and this peculiar weapon in the right hands can turn about the dire fate of the world. By gathering seeds of Mana throughout the kingdom, this sword can be empowered to the point of turning the tide of the war. With you are Primm and Popoi, whose names you can also change. They are your allies that fight alongside you, but with often face-palm inducing results due to sketchy AI that was apparently a problem in the original 1993 release, too.
The more I played Secret of Mana and read about the original game, the more it became evident that the issues with the original game were, for the most part, preserved for this HD Remake. Some people might call these old artifacts charm, but I would venture to guess that most would call them annoying. They’re indicative of a game that maybe hasn’t aged particularly well, or at least a remake that, for one reason or another, didn’t include modern refinements. The latter scenario is somewhat odd though, given that typically a big selling point of a remake is exactly that: modernizing a game and ironing out archaic gameplay design or bugs. There’s a balance to be had in maintaining what made the original game special in the first place, no doubt, but buggy behavior, dodgy AI, tiresome backtracking, UI woes, and graphical curiosities should have been largely or completely squashed with this remaster.
On the upside, a newly arranged soundtrack is included, however the original soundtrack is also included too should the new score not suit your tastes. There are also new scenes between the protagonists that are unlockable by visiting inns for a rest. During these short interlude episodes, you get to learn more about the characters than what you do during the relatively (for a JRPG) brisk pace of the game. Additionally, the game autosaves at every loading junction, which is better than the original game did, but not as nice as just being able to save whenever you want to.
All in all, this Secret of Mana HD remake is a mixed offering. Opportunities to take an aged classic and keep the best parts and refine the not-so-great parts were largely left undone. The result is a game that still carries a lot of merit, but has enough flaws and setbacks that hold it back from realizing it’s full potential, and it makes it a frustrating choice for consumers. Perhaps if the budget and desire are there — and I’m not sure they are — some patching could go a long way to making this remake more robust.
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