It’s quite rare that a new site dedicated to one of the Mana games crops up nowadays, so this is worth a shout-out, especially given the depth of detail that is available on the site for those interested in a deep-dive into Friends of Mana.
If you’ve paid attention to our site, you’d notice I just copied that line almost wholesale from Kassidy’s post about Secret of Mana: Redux.
But this time we’re talking mostly about the Japan-only Friends of Mana!
Members of The Mana Series DiscordMataxia and jquestionmark compiled a bunch of images and links related to Friends of Mana, and babasbackside did the monumental task of translating all the details.
Visit Archive of Mana to check out all the great information that has never been available to the West before now!
The Friends of Mana section is the most in-depth, but in addition to that you can find bits and pieces from other games here and there, including some Legend of Mana concept art I had been meaning to post here.
Awesome Games Done Quick is a speedrunning marathon organised every year to raise funds for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. This year, StingerPA and Yagamoth will be running Secret of Mana as part of the marathon, and if you donate during the run you’ll also have the chance to win some Secret of Mana cast perlers, Spectrum of Mana artbook and CD collection, and Secret of the Spirits Giclee print.
The run starts at 15:20 GMT on January 8th (10:20 EST), and clocks in at under 3 hours (the current world record is 2:04:23 by StingerPA, one player using two controllers any% category).. Tricks used include switching weapons to overmax the charged attack, getting early GP by selling the magic rope, and, if I recall correctly, skipping the Mana Holyland.
You can check this run out and more on Twitch.tv, and you can find the full schedule of runs, which starts today at noon, here.
Since donations get read out live on air, why not give us a shout-out. 😉
If you miss teh urn, don’t worry, they will all be available for download and streaming after the marathon has finished.
Let’s help make cancer a thing of the past!
Comments Off on AGDQ 2014 – Secret of Mana Speedrun
The big SD3 remix album I’ve posted about in the past is coming to completion it seems. Rozovian, the guy behind the project, recently told me:
“… we’re now just a few little tracks from being done with the music, and then it’s just up to ocremix to decide when to actually post the album.”
Pretty awesome, right? Seems like only yesterday we first heard about this project… oh that was over 4 years ago?
That’s a long time!
But check this out, there is an almost 10 minute preview over on youtube for your listening and viewing pleasure! Watch it out below and you’ll see the wait has been well worth it!
There are two things that really define my child hood, and those two things are Secret of Mana and LEGO bricks. LEGO enthusiast Deviet recently uploaded what I can only describe as a childhood dream come true to Flickr, just check out that thumbnail to the right!
You know that’s one of the coolest things you’ve ever seen, so click this link to see it in all of its glory and from a few different angles as well:
Tool Assisted Speed-runs are those done with the assistance of programs that allow the player to re-record segments, edit them, time actions on a frame by frame basis to manipulate luck, and all sorts of other funky things that wouldn’t strictly be possible when playing normally. The aim of these is to get to the end of the game, from a clean state, as quickly as possible, though sometimes speed is sacrificed for entertainment value.
While very often this is seen done for platformers, it isn’t limited to that genre alone. In this case, SD3 has finally been TASed, and completed in just under 3 and a half hours by praetarius3. You can watch it on YouTube here, or download from the tasvideos.org page here. Also, if you want to understand some of the things going on a bit better, check out the author’s comments here.
When watching the video, turn on closed captions in YouTube to get some background as to what is going on, as this plays on a non-patched version of the game.
Comments Off on Seiken Densetsu 3 TAS – 3:24:49.0 by praetarius3
The Remixes page is back in action, and in perfect timing (gee golly what a coincidence, huh?), as a new Seiken Densetsu remix has just been posted on OCRemix: Starlight Festival – Kiamet, a wonderful solo piano rendition of Powell from Seiken Densetsu 3 that brings across a sense of urgency through its Latin influence in style. The playing is very precise and includes some very nice harmonies and added textures on top of the original melody. The sound quality is exceptional.
December 7th, 2010 | Kassidy Kearey | Filed under Fan Stuff
Return to Mana – Legacy of the Eight Elementals – is a work in progress mod using the Source engine, set 43 years after the events of Secret of Mana. Originally anounced back in 2006, it went on ice back in 2007, but they have since revealed, on December 5th, that they have spent a year working further on the Mod and are making progress. The development is done by Team Monkey, who have worked on titles such as Crysis, Ankh and the Settlers series.
The game’s first episode is slated for release sometime in 2011, free for the PC (You need Steam and an Orange Box Engine based game, such as Half Life 2, Episode 1), and will feature 3-player co-op over LAN or Steam, 12 out of a total 50 intended maps, and multiple other goodies and features.
Return to Mana is back! After more than 1 year of continuous work are glad to announce: Return to Mana is more active than ever, coming back with a brand new art style, new website and episode1 will be released in 2011. We hope you liked our small Christmas present.
Inspired by SNES classics, Team Monkey announces a brand new fantasy adventure/RPG for PC. In Return to Mana – Legacy of the eight elements, brings an innovative fresh setting to the PC platform and a full 3 player cooperative playing experience. Fight together with 2 friends to prevent the Empire from rising again and restore peace to the world of Mana.
Part of the “I love free Games” movement, Return to Mana is the first game designed from the very start to be a totally free game based on valves SOURCE engine. Team Monkey consists of professional game designers who have worked on AAA titles like “Crysis”. Because of nothing but pure love to gaming we are bringing this amazing gaming experience to you.
Mana Music Monday indeed, I’ve got another music update for you today.
What is Songs of Light and Darkness exactly? Well it’s that SD3 fan remix project I’ve posted about before!
Seems rozovian, the guy behind the project, has a preview track ready. Try to pick out the tracks before reading them in the cut, it’s pretty fun and I failed miserably at recognizing stuff, haha. I always knew I was bad with picking out tunes, but one out of five? For shame Sheexy, for shame! Anyway, it’s a short preview but it all sounds really good!
Songs of Light and Darkness Preview
[MEDIA=256]
Neat right?
It’s quite rare that a new site dedicated to one of the Mana games crops up nowadays, so this is worth a shout-out, especially given the depth of detail that is available on the site for those interested in a deep-dive into Friends of Mana.
There are two things that really define my child hood, and those two things are Secret of Mana and LEGO bricks. LEGO enthusiast 
Return to Mana – Legacy of the Eight Elementals – is a work in progress mod using the Source engine, set 43 years after the events of Secret of Mana. Originally anounced back in 2006, it went on ice back in 2007, but they have since revealed, on December 5th, that they have spent a year working further on the Mod and are making progress. The development is done by Team Monkey, who have worked on titles such as Crysis, Ankh and the Settlers series.
