Storage space on SNES cartridges was limited, and Trials of Mana was a huge game even by Square’s standards. A sprawling, beautiful game that pushed the system to its limits, Trials of Mana was the perfect way to bid farewell to the aging SNES. Secret of Mana proved hugely popular for its publisher/developer, Square, so it seemed like a no-brainer they’d bring its sequel to North American shores after its 1995 Japanese release.
I’ve never been a competitive gamer, so being able to team up with my friends rather than against them was a wonderful experience. So cute!), fighting over weapons (spear, please!), and thwacking mushbooms was a great way to while away the hours. Picking our favourite characters (I was a fan of the sprite, Popoi. It wasn’t strictly a solo experience, but instead allowed us to play together on the same screen. Secret of Mana (released on the SNES in 1993) was different than our usual fare.
Side-by-side, we’d guzzle Pepsi, inhale chips, and play through our own copies of the JRPG du jour, racing through dungeons, comparing notes, or, if only one of us had had a chance to play throughout the week, facing our screens away from each other and play independently-but still together. In high school, I’d regularly haul my console and Commodore 64 monitor to my friend’s house for a weekend of gaming. Was it worth the wait? In a nutshell: yes, absolutely. So, here I am, with the white whale at the table, and my inner 15-year-old is thrumming with excitement. It’s like Moby Dick invited himself onto my boat for dinner and brought dessert. To top it off, Square Enix also announced a from-the-ground-up 3D remake of Trials of Mana, slated for release early next year (also on Switch). Now, thanks to a surprise official translation (and a new name), Trials of Mana is available on the Nintendo Switch. I pored over magazines for Japanese language screenshots, speculated with friends, and counted down the days until I could get my hands on them.įor almost 25 years, Seiken Densetsu 3, the sequel to SNES hit Secret of Mana, remained trapped in Japan, within sight but sorely out of reach of western gamers. Back then, games took months or years to make their way from Japan to North America, a veritable lifetime for a teen. Like a lot of gamers in the 90s, I could often be found in my dimly lit bedroom huddled in front of an SNES playing the latest Japanese Roleplaying Game (JRPG).
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