Best VGM 10 - Secret of Mana - What the Forest Taught Me

[Shadow8942]

Spring to Winter, Spring again and you can enter.

[SuperLlanowar]

i think this is the best game of all time!!!

[studentenverzekering]

@SuperLlanowar You should try to get your hands on an English repro cart of the sequel, that one's even better. 

[SuperLlanowar]

@studentenverzekering what you want to mean for English repro cart sequel?? sorry i dont understand

[NovaFlare36]

reminds me of tactics A2

[LightFykki]

Heh, this is way too relaxing... So nice.

[perun1nj]

I played this for my dog and when the music got high pitched he rythmically cocked his head back and forth. He was fasinated!

[guiltyhalo]

Oh god i loved this game so much

[BologneyT]

Ah. Memories of Silktails... :3

[jakiner]

It's funny after all those years and it never really did get better than this, and I had a feeling it never would! HAHA Good thing I still have this cartridge <3 Epic!

[perun1nj]

Happy times!

[SabreMatt311]

I can clearly remember Christmas of 1993. Two of the gifts that I recieved from my Mother that year were SNES carts. The only 2 gifts that I gave a crap about, at the time. SECRET of MANA & NHL 94' were the titles that I so feverishly unwrapped. I think it goes with out saying that it was an amazing Christmas. Good memories.

[RKNELIAS]

nana nana nananarana nanana nana nana naaaaa

[redwaller66]

SNES, the golden age for rpgs. <3

[enetickk]

(:

[tipotte91]

merci pour ce moment nostaglique

[Misterunnamed]

I loved this game so damn much

[SuperLlanowar]

just one of the best video game of all time

[romacus]

I'm one of those people that never complete games because the next one just came out. This is the exception to the rule. I've played this game many, many times over the years and it never gets old.

[Rocketlauncher00]

figgin owls with their friggin confuse spell...

[GuitarMarc89]

ahh omg <3

secret of mana, played it for month,and always with a friend.. never got boring

fantastic game

you don't find games like this today anymore

[Demonicor]

My favorite in the mana series music-wise was actually Legend of Mana, the music in that game was epic, it made running through all the areas fun. =3

[zenjiros]

There is just something so utterly, intrinsically special about the graphical style of Secret of Mana. I have yet to play a game that just seemed to hit the right optical notes, if there is such a thing, as flawlessly as this game. There is just something unforgettably unique about the color palette, the shading gradations of the color tones and hues, and the digital expression of the characters'/natural environment's artistic design. On top of that, the music harmonizes with the visuals.

[ProFinalFantasy]

11 persons got stuck in an eternal seasons loop

[zenjiros]

@ProFinalFantasy Hahaha, that good old loop.....

[galti111]

Wonderful music to massacre rabites to!

[66Deidara]

que juegazo es ese la neta uno de mis primeros rpg y el primero en acabarme

[PieLover425]

how the hell does the guy have the mana sword in those pics? i thought u only got it when fighting the mana beast?

[2224446661]

Walk the seasons from spring to winter. Spring again and you can enter.

[galti111]

Now this is music to kill things to!

[andretatontos]

It makes me sleepy :3

[TimPhilly317]

One of the best and most overlooked games of all time.

[Death2celebrity]

Love SoM...

[KarlBonner1982]

This tune shall forever remind me of a day in January 1996 when it felt like spring after school and I walked home, too hot for my sweatshirt.

[Diamhea]

I own both this and Chrono Trigger. I consider myself blessed.

[gunpei]

i got stuck forever at this part when i first played. i was only 9...

[TylerNessss]

@gunpei

because it was very annoying and frustrating. what was the point again? walking with the seasons in the right direction or something?

i hated it anyway :P

[xM3F]

@gunpei word I got lost as fuck in this forest lol

[THEBIRDMAN9412]

@LimeLou sounds like a horrible idea

[gaminggoddess85]

@LimeLou Let's hope they don't butcher it like they did with Vay -.-

[MrBonsoy]

hate som. seiken densetsu 3 is better. I can't remember what it's called.

[ImmortalAcorn]

@MrBonsoy I actually think Seiken Densetsu 3 was not fit to be SoM's successor. Both were very good games, but I found Seiken's form of combat less smooth and more irritating. Combat was slow and enemies were hard to avoid.

[notyoursavior78]

@ImmortalAcorn

Yeah I know! Why does almost everyone like Seiken Densetsu 3 so much? Other than the class changes (that I never played into far enough into to get to on multiple occasions) that game felt so clunky and sloppy. Combat was especially ruined.

[gunpei]

@notyoursavior78 agreed. the battling in sd3 was too tedious and the story was too thin.

[KarlBonner1982]

@notyoursavior78 I like the game but I agree with you that it was sloppy. In particular, the final classes are only available very late in the game unless you really luck out in hunting for the needed items earlier.

[Scott89878]

@notyoursavior78 I agree with the combat system. I disliked the button mashing and the way spell casting stops everything. I did like the game, but I only finished it once because grinding out the second class change was a pain!

[gaminggoddess85]

"Walk the seasons from spring to winter, spring again and we can enter..."

[tiatrips]

@gaminggoddess85 I can't tell you the confusion I had when I played this and heard that when I was like 10. I'm like, "Do WHAT?!"

[SuperLumipallo]

@gaminggoddess85 one of the parts in the game i just hated.. first 5 times i did it wrong.. then get frustrated and when i was about to give up then finally got it right =D

[JahRasta311]

This music is all like, "Hey, congratulations, you made it to a cool new area. See? Over there is a pink rabite. Up until now, you've only seen yellow ones."

and then I'm like, "YEAAAH!"

[MarveIed]

Never played Secret of Mana either. Damn. I missed out on a lot of shit in the 90s. Of course, I owned a Genesis back then, so that might explain my lack of Super Nintendo gamage.

[fyourcouchnigga]

Its a mooooooglwe oh my sd:jdf:asljfklasdfjk

[darkultra]

Secret Of Mana - The Dark Star song is really good too

[ViralZen]

Are they planning to remake this for DS? Please say yes :)

[Smarty4789]

@ViralZen Perhaps a port. Or some kind of small remake to add some features with the touch screen. But other than that I wouldn't expect anything more.

[DropletOfSour]

I need to put this game back on my PSP- I got as far as this place, then my Grandma's DOG ate the memstick with this game.

HER FREAKING _DOG_

[nanhuazhenren]

Hahaha Funny but sad

[nimbunimbu]

I have to say, I just discovered the monumental epicness of computer emulators. although I'm supposed to be doing "important" and responsible stuff during my break, I caved in and downloaded secret of mana and chrono trigger, of course, both legendary in their own right. after about 15 years, my youth has officially been restored.

and it feels great. :]

[amimizunofan22]

@nimbunimbu I think I could scare you with the sheer amount of time I have put into playing games on emulators...talk about a blessing and a curse.

[JonnyJinx04]

@nimbunimbu Ha, I know that feeling.

Actually, my friend's coming over soon to play some N64. We haven't done that in years... its gonna be great.

[BohemianAsh]

@nimbunimbu - Well done mate! I downloaded a bunch of these classic RPG's on emulators and damn, it's so good :D Brings back memories of growing up as a kid in the 1990s during the golden age of videogames.

[marshall9doom]

@nimbunimbu

Try playing Legend of Mana ;)

[dvincentiu]

@marshall9doom ON NIGHTMARE MODE!! And then try to take on those damn BUNNIES!!!! 

[eternalflames03824]

@nimbunimbu lol i do the same on my break i just take time to download games from ps1 and play away

[Chokoboh]

@nimbunimbu You should also try Seiken Densetsu 3 (aka Secret of Mana 2) out, if you didnt have yet. ;) There are many Jewels for the Snes, Lufia, Terranigma, Final Fantasy, Zelda and so on..

[KoutaSeto]

i like and play'd both game's and have to say that secret of mana is way superior it got the better story from the begining in, u can play with 3 players(if u got an multi tab or just use hamachi and 3 pc's), u couldnt just lvl because at a point its imposible to get ep (mana fortress is the only place where u can farm enough ep to lvl to 99 if someone get there faster (i need 4 day's) then pls tell me and last but not least the graphic was way better than crono they'r nearly equal but not realy

[hibrook]

i like them both but i played SOM when i was 12 yo

i did not get to play CT until i was 16 so i will always love SOM better

[DarthYoda27]

I agree with this one. This music in particular I love because this is where you get shot from the cannon out to a place otherwise completely inaccessible before for the first time. It's really the first time you feel like you're truly adventuring in this game.

[Purrversion]

...You guys arguing about which was better are forgetting one badass thing, though. Secret of Mana was better... not because I in any way fault Chrono Trigger, but you could play SoM with THREE PLAYERS.

[amimizunofan22]

@Purrversion Hm...while that make it better in terms of features or potential gameplay experience, I would have to contend with that making it a better GAME. You must consider story, characters/character development, music, and core gameplay, at which point it is no longer an easy distinction.

[amimizunofan22]

@Purrversion Now, I am personally biased because I think Yasunori Mitsuda's the shit (and so is Nobuo Uematsu, who also contributed...hell, so is Hiroki Kikuta for the Mana/Seiken Densetsu series, just not QUITE as much) and because this game was a diamond in the rough for me (I found it in our collection of SNES games, had no idea what it was, and unwittingly stepped into a world of awesome), but I would have to vote for Chrono Trigger.

[PaperMario15]

Secret of Mana vs Chrono Trigger? What kind of competition is that?

Secret of Mana trounces Chrono Trigger in nearly all categories.

[Phebie923]

that level was annoying!!!!

[pathos6296]

i saw kirby up in there

[ghostalks]

&shy;

[tharob]

fantastic game and fantastic music. 5 stars all around.

[Cadmius]

doesn't really matter which ones better since they both came from Squaresoft. Chrono Trigger was by far more popular though. that can not be argued

[Agogaraxis]

chrono trigger was better right?

[WTF1SJuiCE]

That is a battle that'll never be won.

They are both phenomenal in their own right, both game and music.

Truly two of the best games ever made.

[overkill1340]

I don't think people can really compare the two. Chrono Trigger was a fantastic RPG with a turn based combat system and Secret of Mana was one of the first Action RPGs where combat was real time. I loved both but if you don't like one genre or the other obviously you are going to prefer the genre you like. Other than Chrono Trigger having better character developement they both have great stories that will live on in my memories forever.

[Teufelsschlumpf]

i just love it, it's awesome ;D

so freackin' cooly ^_^

[juicyfun12]

I love this song.

[Triceratops916]

I remember just re-visiting this level dozens of times when I played this game just to hear the music. Great pick!

[ComradeSephiroth]

First played it in the winter and I remember it taking forever before it felt like spring outside which is what the music here was telling me.

[bushwhacker2k]

I've heard this is really good, any truth?

[Luruvie]

I used to play this with my bro like...looooooooong ago. We had so much fun^^

[MyOverflow]

Would have liked to see Thanatos' boss theme on this list, but I love the SoM music. ;)

[felaria]

Best RPG to date.

[clucluland1234]

such a awesome song

[kreisKleiner]

one of the most beautiful games ever made!!

[RetroGuy03]

BEST RPG!!! xD

[azuritereaction]

i'd love hearing this song while like, insanely powerful monsters attack you in the mana forest, haha

it's like this peaceful relaxing song while they're like LEVEL 8 FIRE lol

[PsychoticLuke]

A CLASSIC!!! :D

[deucelittle]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE YOU

[deadlywizard234]

omg I freaking remember this, great blast from the past

[hotcici9]

haha i agreed. I was like seven or something when i got a chance to played it for the first time.

[mehdan2]

SO HAPPY song

[ZeZwede]

Just downloaded it for wii, its up in the wiistore. me and a friend playing through it.. oh nostalgia... nice to see that the seasons has gotten to so many people and just not me. ;)

[infantryhawk]

saw it at a local pawn shop for 7 dollars... should i pick it up?

[retePtnecniV]

yeah

do it!

[KaitoMiki]

ZPICK IT! yesturday i buy Goemon for n64 just for 8!

[AkumaUchitoru]

You might as well give it a try if it's so cheap. ^^

[Paogrin]

i would say that wen i was little, and i had jus finished chrono trigger, i thought this was another ct cuz of the red hair but still this game is good

[Bleagle]

Lol...

[retePtnecniV]

lol man thats THE coolest comment ive seen in a long time

and if the story is true its good too

[CockneyNutjob4]

Me: "I am walking the Seasons you Prick!!!"

Good Times...

[roachsrealm]

No Kidding!

[4lbatross]

ZOMG I love this game! One of the best games ever! number 3 was pretty good too

[PCJedi6]

This reminds me of the times when I used to get confused about which order I was supposed to walk through the seasons in the forest in to get into the Moogle's village. Those were good times.

[HackTh3Planet]

Legendary.

[TheGreatWurstbrot]

that sound is soo kawaiiii xD

[TheGreatWurstbrot]

down rate for no reason ? grow up :/

[HackTh3Planet]

n00b comment.

[silverlunastar39]

the whole game makes me feel that way. :)

[QueenOfTheBlogs]

I never played this game, but the graphics resemble that of Chrono Trigger, which was a great game.

But Square made both games, so I'm guessing that's why The Graphics look so much alike.

[gamesharks8912]

i played that game its actually kind of cool cause its a 2 player game but its not as good as chrono trigger

[Nameherexxx]

It all depends on who you are really. I personally like the series for its music as well as its storyline and gameplay.

[P4W3R]

This game is great RPG, you have to level correctly your characters and you have to go to all different town shops in order to get the best pieces of equipment.

Also when you arrive to a new town there is only one shop with EVERYTHING (weapon, armor..). I love that.

Also, the mastering of all mana weapons makes you change your strategy and the gameplay does not get repetitive

[NotTooWellKnown]

I would agree this is a good game; if you played it when it first came out. However as an adult who tried to enjoy it, I could not.

[P4W3R]

I am playing this on snes emulator right now.

[NotTooWellKnown]

Yeah and I was with it until about 2/3 into the game... once you get Flammie you start to realize how simple the gameplay is, and just how bland the story is.

[rekrul]

i loved this game back in the day too and i get what you mean. played it again recently and it just wasnt the same, especially after playing more recent real-time RPGs like kingdom hearts

[NotTooWellKnown]

Ok.... Secret of Mana has a better plot than KH =P

I would of understood if you said any other RPG in the last 10 years, but KH? Saying Darkness 127 times /= plot.

[rekrul]

lol well i definitely didnt play it for the story, but in terms of gameplay for an RPG KH killed just about every other RPG out at the time let alone Secret of Mana (at least for me)

[NotTooWellKnown]

KH did have a fairly fun system for an RPG title, which is indeed the only selling point for it.

That's the reason I gave KH2 a try, and what I got was the complete asshole version of it = P

As far as Secret of Mana goes, the battle system is entertaining at first considering the year, but later on.... its so damn dull. Leveling Magic up to level 9 is something no one should have to go through.

[SufurTheNose]

Let´s say RPGs are splitting like all great topics are splitting, huh?

For me, there may be a technical difference, there may be a difference in the plot density, but I just loved Secret of Mana on SNES, I love playing it now on the Emulator, but I also love to play KH and KH 2, and guess what, for the story as well. It seems silly with all the darkness-fairy-key-disney-stuf­f, but I just love it. BUT: Which RPG beats the FF-Series for real? ;) have a nice day!

[nocturn321]

when i read this,i was really sad,i played through kingdom hearts and counted how many times the word darkness was mentioned

and it was 1473

including when riku says it in battle

[whatthefuck66666]

so? is that a bad thing?

[nocturn321]

dude,your username fucking owns XD

meh,i forgot what the fuck i evern commented and someone spammed mah comment so,meh

[whatthefuck66666]

loll thanks, you said that you counted how much time they're saying darkness in KH :P

[azulichigo]

@nocturn321 wow. I need to remember that number. 0_o

[kurojin97]

this game's soundtrack is sooooo good i bought the cd....back in 1999...in my opinion one of the best soundtracks for the snes (super famicom)ever...i really liked the water palace music the best....very soothing and relaxing, but so is this one....isn't hiromichi tanaka the composer of this game??? excellent musician

[Shadax101]

Off all the hundreds of games and RPGs I've played, this is one of those games that always feels fresh when playing it again. This was easilly the best game in the mana series, before it became convoluted.

[notyoursavior78]

I know, this and maybe DKC2 as well for the SNES. Songs I remember forever. Death be damned, I'll still remember them.

[Reyllyoc]

let me mention Lufia here. Epicness FTW.

[notyoursavior78]

Props for the Lufia mention. I am a total honk/big fan for the first Lufia in particular.

[Reyllyoc]

First lufia? you live in europe? if so, then that is the second one.

[Sumisusanichiban]

It was two player on SNES. My cousin and I stayed up for two days with out sleep to beat it together. I was 15 at the time. Good times.

[chopardkiller]

Same story here played this as soon as it came out:) only diffrence we played it with 3 players and to sum it up this is one of squaresoft platinum games on my list

[HibanaSp3]

I'm so glad this game was released on the Virtual Console!

[KrodosNL]

wow? here in europe the game is not released 0_o'

[DrRZ1024]

Argh, the colors!! The sequel was more easy on the eyes. Still, the music is great. It's unfortunate that Hiroki Kikuta hasn't worked on that many games.

[xdarkwing104x]

man, the pink puff balls of "WHY THE HELL DO THEY HIT SO HARD"

**toss controller**

God I miss this game....

5/5

[WrinryRockBellFMA]

Wha?! XD If you have a Wii, then you can download it nao. 'w'

[Eracleir]

Brings me back good old memories from childhood

I can'e even count the number of times i've replay again and again !

[notyoursavior78]

Yeah I've been replaying it again on my PSP. Greatness. Best times were spent playing it on my actual SNES. But I love playing it on my PSP.

I've been hitting it this year every couple weeks and just going through it slowly mostly the way I used to so I'm at the Emperor's palace now.

Great game.

[cravis123]

This is one of the best game ever made....this game wort to be remaked...on the new consoles speciali psp;)

[notyoursavior78]

This game had more story focus or even equal to FFVII so quit complaining. And it had a much better soundtrack.

Just some people...I could complain that the AI of the computer party in this game is quite fidgety/dumb or that sometimes the ring menus can feel a little cluttered switching and swapping through them.

Instead some guy tries to say the story isn't good. Wow you really tried to think and prove a point there...

[ApplewarPictures]

"Prophecy" is the best track of that damn good soundtrack! Gotta love Secret of Mana, best RPG of the early 90's!

[Caustic0ne]

Zelda and Final fantasy ruled all RPG gaming, so this was SquareSofts attempt at a Zelda game, and it was amazing

[Re1Mu2R3]

Nope. I like "Tell a strange Tale" better. I still think Corridors of Time should be 1st.

[bengalisch]

what can I say...BEST GAME EVER i guess...

[umathefurry]

oohhh god this really brings me back...

Secret of Mana is definetly the best Mana game!

[burnfireburn]

Ugh,I HATED this game <_<

[CielBlanche]

Get the fuck out of here, you miserable filth.

[burnfireburn]

Because I hated a game that you liked?

lolwat

[chopardkiller]

sry mate it was the best everyone that had taste in rpgs loved it so dont start sayin ppl have diff tastes cuase u have none period.

[burnfireburn]

I said I didnt like it.

I didnt say "I DIDNT LIKE IT SO EVERYONE HAS TO NOT LIKE IT"

The story is horrible,music is the best part.

The main character is annoying,because through the entire game,he is just some dumb kid who got a sword.

I dont have any taste?

Because I dont like a game that you like?

LOL

[newnature]

I tend to agree with you, liked the music, and the art style was AMAZING. The backgrounds and the illustrations on the cover and in the instruction book rocked. I remeber buying the game on those images alone....I was a bit let down with the actual game tho for some of the same reasons.

[burnfireburn]

We have common sense in this comment box

[umathefurry]

You don't like good things, I guess.

[burnfireburn]

I dont like ONE game.

I HATED the story and main character.

[umathefurry]

All were saying is is that this is a great ass game. It's quite shocking that someone doesn't like it because it's that good.

LOL

[lechaflan]

if you really think about it, sure this game didn't have a compelling story but think about it: this game was released in the early 90s. very extremely few games at that time had a good story focus but this game was more noted for its music and gameplay. i feel like because of the dialogue and story flow, the story didn't hit me as well. plus w/ only 3 playable characters, you'd expect character development but there's next-to-none. so yea i agree with you. i'd love to see a remake though

[burnfireburn]

Gameplay felt like a Zelda game for some reason.... .-.

[xdarkwing104x]

well, the storyline was compelling to a 12-15 year old, which I was (damn.. I'm old.. :P _

It all meshed together VERY well, and is still in my top 5 Fav. RPGs ever

[silverlunastar39]

why did you even bother clicking the link if you hated it? quit spreading you hourseshit opinions and keep to yourself.

[burnfireburn]

Because the game has a good soundtrack,didnt I say that already?

[LunchAnderson]

SoM sure had some great songs, but unlike most people who played it (it seems to me, at least), it never really affected me.

[theri0n]

I know this song way too well from spending so much talk trying to figure out the damn maze lol

[falenangel]

it's easy! "Spring to summer then to winter spring again and you can enter" :P

[notyoursavior78]

:) This music brings me back to a younger and happier time. What a great song.

damn, now i want to play this game again