Somewhat hard to see, but this is the best scan I’ve managed to find (and trust me, I’ve spent some time looking), but here is a magazine scan that’s been doing the rounds on all the Japanese blog sites out there, as well as the German Seiken Densetsu Community forum (I followed a link there from Flow’s comment in the last post about Secret of Mana).

In response to your comment, Flow, I’m afraid that the only larger version of the artwork that I have is from reconstructing the image on the official site from the source images that are in their subdirectories. But in case you’re interested, here it is.

In the scan below, we can see the artwork again (with a slightly different arrangement), and a couple of screen shots of the game in action and the ring menu system. From what little is visible, it looks as though graphics have changed slightly to allow for display on the mobile phone (lack of detail in the water, but I could be wrong), and the ring system zooms in on the icon highlighted. Whether this means that there has had to be a big overhaul or not, I don’t know (though considering that the phone’s resolution is 480×690 and the SNES original resolution is 256×224, it should be man enough from a resolution perspective, at least, if not from a processing perspective).

Another interesting point of note is the names under the characters, since for a long time it has always been established that, while Randi, Purim and Popoi/Popoie are considered the canon names, this would appear to confirm from the horses’ mouth that these are indeed the correct names (unless, of course, the magazine is following the world suit and filling in a blank instead of extracting these from official press release material).

Maybe Sheexy can shed some light on what any of the article says.

The search for the holy sword continues…

– Alright, let’s hurry this update up, I’m tired.

– Tired? You’re on summer break, you aren’t doing anything!

– Well… I’m playing lots of videogames with friends…

– And you didn’t invite us?

– Neko, you’re a cat, you can’t play games. And all Mr. Moti ever wants to play is Dance Dance Revolution.

– It’s true!

– See? Now let’s get this update on the road! I’m going to start off with cheap stuff. This Seiken Densetsu 3 Guidebook is kind of neat, it comes with two holofoil cards for the Seiken Densetsu 3 Card Game. There is also this really cheap Legend of Mana Soundtrack.

– I like this Children of Mana Rabite Strap, it’s kind of small but super cute. I also love the Children and Dawn of Mana Artbook. Both of these items are kind of expensive though.

– This Seiken Densetsu 3 Soundtrack is a really good deal! And if the price on this Secret of Mana Basic Guidebook is too expensive you can make a different offer on it!

– If the Complete Secret of Manas from last week were too expensive for you maybe you can get this one for cheap!

– Well I guess that’s all we can find this week, you’re probably going to go play more games, aren’t you Sheexy?

– Yeah, they aren’t going to play themselves after all. I’ll see you two next week!

Up until now at Seikens we haven’t really had an official Seikens walkthrough for Secret of Mana. Well we’ve decided to put a remedy to this situation right away! Starting with Chapter 1, just uploaded, and partly in connection with the recent announcement of Secret of Mana making it into the Mobile world, we’ll be posting new chapters for a new take on playing through Secret of Mana for the SNES.

You can find the first chapter of the walkthrough here. Please let us know your feedback, and we hope to bring you new chapters on a semi-regular basis (there are only so many hours in the day after all…).

Thanks to Kimiko on the forum for linking us in. Secret of Mana (aka Seiken Densetsu 2) is due to be released in Japan for Mobile phone in June 2009. It will be made available for the FOMA 903i phone under the Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DOCOMO, for the cost of 840 yen (that’s about $8.86 USD, or 6.32 €). There are presently few details about the game, other than a lovely piece of artwork posted on the official website for the port.

We’ll keep posting the latest as we find out about it.

The Seikens now have a page on Facebook! Yes indeed, we have joined the band-wagon of social networking, and who knows, maybe this will actually convince Sheexy to get an account at last!

This means that you can show your friends on Facebook that you’re a fan of the series and of our site, and you can receive our front-page updates direct to your Facebook as news items.

Click here to visit it, and spread the love!

– You see the title of the news post Neko? This is your day to shine.

– I’ve never been so excited in my whole nine lives!

– That’s right, today is your day to put as many expensive items in this news post as you can. We’re talking nothing but super rare collectibles.

– Wait, I need to get this out of the way first. This is a really good deal on this Seiken Densetsu 3 Soundtrack!

– Ok Mr. Moti, that’s fair, but it’s the only one. Now let the games begin!

– The best place to start is at the beginning. This is Seiken Densetsu 1 complete. You get the cute little box and the manual as well as the game.

– The next place to start is the remake of the first! This Sword of Mana Special Edition is just what you need if you have a desk you want to liven up with some Seiken Densetsu goodness! It not only comes with a Japanese copy of Sword of Mana, but you also get a Rabite finger puppet and a Lil’ Cactus figurine that bobs back and forth when it’s in light. The stump Lil’ Cactus is on has a slot in it that you can fit a little calendar or even business cards in.

– The next place to start is in Germany? I guess? Because I found this rare German Secret of Mana guide. Who knows that goodies could be inside?

– Did you enjoy Legend of Mana? I enjoyed the Jumi Arc the most, and that is why I would like to show you this Legend of Mana Millennium Edition! It comes with a replica of the Jewelry box that Florina lives in in Legend of Mana that plays the Theme of Mana when you open it. Listen here. If that wasn’t enough it also comes with little Pearl and Elazul figurines! Oh, and the game.

– How about a lot of complete copies of Secret of Mana? One, Two, Three.

– And for you art lovers I’d like to link this Children and Dawn of Mana Artbook. It’s really great. Just really great.
Well that was good Neko, I think we listed all the great expensive collectibles we could-

– Seiken Densetsu 3 Test Rom.

– Ok, now we have. We’ll see you next week when we return to listing collectible items that are more affordable.

– I don’t think so. Look at the title of the news post, I’m in charge now!

– No, next week should be my week!

– We’ll see…

So among my things to do this year before it is over is to revamp the Children of Mana section a bit, and so far it’s going. I say that intentionally without any added adjective, because it’s taking a long time, and it is very bits n’ bobs work, so right now there isn’t anything tremendously exciting to announce. From my perspective, that’s kinda bad, because it would appear externally that I’m doing Adamus cum Flabello Dulci. Announcements will follow when they are ready for the world.

Meanwhile, you can have a track from Children of Mana, which ironically, I cannot remember for the life of me what part of the game it is played during. I’ll probably have to play through it again at some point (because doing it with 3 characters clearly wasn’t enough!).

[MEDIA=176]

– Well guys, there won’t be an update today, there aren’t any good items for sale.

– Are you sure you’re not skipping the update just because it takes forever to do this update on dial-up?

– That… might have been a factor in my decision… maybe…

– Time is money, so that means doing the update on a slow connection that takes a lot of time increases its worth. You should do the update anyways.

– Well… that doesn’t really make sense, but fine… here is Secret of Mana’s Box and Poster. They’re pretty rare to find in good condition, these ones are somewhat decent. There is also a cheap Secret of Mana Cartridge.

– If you are a big spender you can pick up the Secret of Mana Nintendo Power Poster, Secret of Mana Map/Poster or either of these Secret of Mana Complete in Box One, Two.

– If you like dancing to music like I do, consider any of these soundtracks! Dawn of Mana 4CD Soundtrack One, Two, Legend of Mana Soundtrack, Seiken Densetsu 3 Soundtrack, Sword of Mana Soundtrack and the Heroes of Mana Soundtrack.

– If you’re in a Heroes of Mana mood pick up the Game and the Poster for really cheap!

Ok, well that took forever… shouldn’t we be rich now Neko?

– Not you, but I’m rich now.

– Wait, why did you get rich but not me?

– I have stocks in your time! And their worth just skyrocketed! I’m glad you’ll still be stuck on dial-up for another couple of weeks, this is going to be great!

Ok, so I’m back at my parent’s house and we only have dial-up because we live in the middle of nowhere. I forgot to upload a bunch of music files while I was on a decent internet connection, so it just took me nearly an hour to upload the music for today’s update, so you all better enjoy it.

Earth Painting – Yoko Shimomura
[MEDIA=175]

– Alright Neko, Sheexy is driving back to his other house because today was his last day of college this semester. It’s up to you and me to make today’s update, we’ve got to make sure it goes off without a hitch!

– I found this Legend of Mana Soundtrack, and this Secret of Mana Basic Guidebook.

– Nice, keep them rolling in!

– How about this nice Seiken Densetsu 3 Soundtrack? Or you could buy this English Secret of Mana Guide. If you have a disposable income you could get this mint copy of Secret of Mana Complete with Inserts.

– Ok, getting a bit expensive there Neko. Now it’s my turn! Why don’t you buy this copy of Secret of Mana that comes with the English Guidebook? Or a cheap copy of Legend of Mana? What about a Heroes of Mana Poster?

– Children of Mana and Dawn of Mana Artbook.

– Too expensive, Neko!

– Hey, are y’all ready to do the update?

– Well, we already kind of did it.

– We thought you left.

– You did it without me?! Aww man, now I might as well leave. I’ll see you guys next week.