E3 2019: Trials Of Mana Brings A Lost Classic Home
Ask any mega-fan of Square’s Mana series (like myself), and they’ll tell you one of the best games in the series is Seiken Densetsu 3…which at one point was scheduled to be released on the Super NES in 1995 as Secret of Mana 2. Instead, Square canned the localization and it stayed in Japan for decades. Fans had to settle for a bootleg ROM with a translation patch. Secret of Mana 2 would have improved upon Secret of Mana in every way (and that game was already amazing). The controls are better, the AI is smarter (though not so smart as to avoid feeling dated) and every playthrough is different because you select three characters from a lineup of six, then follow their involvement in the larger story. To get the full experience, multiple plays are a must…and you’ll want to! In 2017 Square released Seiken Densetsu Collection on the Switch, containing the first three Mana games on one card. Fans begged and pleaded for it, but months and then