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 Secret of Mana.

Secret of Mana: Redux is a site re-launched in 2021, and covers analysis, translation issues, and other reminisces surrounding Secret of Mana. Throughout the site, you’ll find Localization Notes that explain nuances of the Japanese source, as well as screenshots from Japanese guides and promotional magazines that have seldom been seen until now. A complete retranslation of the Japanese script was carried out just for this project, and it appears throughout the site.

Check it out at Secret of Mana: Redux!

I have not updated the site with my collection of Mana related things in a long time. I’ve got a lot of interesting items I could share here. This one, however, is rare enough and relevant enough at the current time to make a post for.

As you can see, it’s a Casio G-Shock watch with “Secret of Mana” printed on the band.
Yup, that’s the extent of it.

But there were only 200 of these made.

The DW-8000s are fairly uncommon watches in and of themselves, and the avid vintage G-Shock collector community still demands a decent price for them, but they’re not impossible to get your hands on. But the fact there are only 200 with “Secret of Mana” printed on them made me think I would never get my hands on the thing. But here it is.
Just like any other DW-8000 it has “Fox Fire” EL backlighting, a red buffalo skull in the background, and the text “TIME TO GET TOUGH” scrolls by when you press the light button.

When Seiken Densetsu 3 was released in Japan, there were a number of items given away as raffle prizes. 200 of these G-Shock DW-8000-1 watches were given out, making this item quite rare. It’s very interesting, though, that the watch is related to Seiken Densetsu 3, but says “Secret of Mana” on it. It makes me wonder if the plans back then were to keep going forward with the “Secret of Mana” moniker if the game came out in English. In fact, if you look next to the watch on the raffle flyer, you can see a Mana stone with “Secret of Mana” printed on it just like the watch. Seems like that might have been the case. It also makes me wonder when the name “Trials of Mana” was decided upon, because it certainly wasn’t back in 1995. Just some interesting thoughts.

The other items I have from the raffle include the playing cards and the prologue book (5,000 each). Both of those items came out in non-raffle forms though. I’ve seen many of the phone cards (1,200) for sale on auction sites, but don’t own any. I’ve decided against collecting them because phone card collectors are insane and demand incredible prices for the things. Maybe someday I’ll go after them, but I’m not that interested honestly.

Anyway, that’s just a small update on my collection.

Looks like we’ll be able to play an official translation of SD3 after all these years!

It’s coming in the form of a new 3D remake!

Trials of Mana sounds kind of fitting, with all the characters going through their own trials throughout the story. What do you think of the name?

Collection of Mana, releasing today, includes Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, and Seiken Densetsu 3.

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of Secret of Mana, the game that really put the Seiken Densetsu series on the map. In honour of this, one of our long-standing members of the community, Manaman, has written an article on his blog remembering his introduction to the game.

It’s not a perfect game, but despite its imperfections, it retains some spark, some magic that results from happy accidents and limitations. It is a work of art that I enjoy to this day.

You can read the full article here.

During the event at Tokyo Game Show 2017 the voice cast of Secret of Mana was announced.
Randi voiced by Kenshou Ono
Primm voiced by Nozomi Yamamoto
Popoi voiced by Emiri Kat
Jema voiced by Eizou Tsuda
Lusa Luka voiced by Rie Kugiyama
Dyluck voiced by Takuya Satou
Vandole voiced by Kenichi Ono
Thanatos voiced by Jouji Nakata
Sheex voiced by Hiromichi Tezuka
Geshtar voiced by Yuuki Ishikari
Fanha voiced by Mie Sonozaki

You can listen samples of each character’s voice over at the official site

Square Enix have announced that Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) will be remade in top-down view 3D (similar to what we’ve seen for Adventures of Mana on mobile) and released on PS4, PS Vita and Steam February 15 of 2018. You will soon be able to pre-order the title on the PS Network and receive free DLC costumes for your favourite characters:

You know you want that Moogle Suit!

As well as the 3D graphics, the remake will feature voice-acting, a re-arranged soundtrack, and local multiplayer for Playstation. The game will also have flexible language options to be able to experience the game with Japanese voice acting and subtitles.

And, of course, what would an announcement like this be like without a video.

Secret of Mana will be playable at PAX West from September 1-4 at both the Square Enix booth and the PlayStation booth!

We now have confirmation! Announced is the launch of the Seiken Densetsu Collection for the Nintendo Switch. 

Due out June 1st in Japan, the collection will include Seiken Densetsu 1 (Final Fantasy Adventure), Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana) and Seiken Densetsu 3 in their original formats. 

No news yet on a western release though.

While not strictly related to the Seiken Densetsu series, it has a connection to one of our favourite composers.

Unraveled is an adventure RPG game currently seeking Kickstarter funding (at 7.4k our of 15k with 14 days to go at the time of writing). As with the trend of many KS games right now, it has a retro feel to it hearkening back to the days of Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger, but not only that, the soundtrack will feature collaborations from Secret of Mana composer Hiroki Kikuta. The current draft for the main theme can now be heard here in the embedded YT video.

I for one am backing this project, as it does look interesting, so check it out and see if it is your cup of tea or not. Otherwise, simply enjoy the music.