"most popular title in the Mana series" eh?

[W.A. the Anum]

Im honest here, as i read this little line:

"Originally released in 1993, "Secret of Mana" is by far the most popular title in the “Mana” series. Now it's finally getting a long-awaited, full 3D remake!"


I laught.
- SOM 2 (here in EU) never came out in Germany or like, reasons unknown so far
- other SOM games (from the main series) actually never made it outside japan or USA. Some side games like childs of Mana made it but not all Mana-games
- Some older Mana games, like the original Mana game which is called in the EU "Mystic Quest" and in USA "Final Fantasy Adventures", got another name so that people dont see it as "part from the mana series"

I just hate it if dev teams say "its the most known game in the series" if the SERIES never made it really around the whole globe. SOM from the SNES sure IS a great game but im sure some games from the Mana series were/are way better, if i remember myself i played a rom from SOM 2 on the SNES and this is far better then SOM1 we´re talking here about...

[Seraphita]

I only consider SoM2 better if we consider the multiple story choices and character classes but I didn't really like how they killed the magic system by making it a deadly trap unless you put enemy to sleep. In the first game, magic was one of my fighting tools to get through the game.

Simplicity wise, I really enjoyed SoM for just letting us go through the 3 main character's story.

[W.A. the Anum]

Originally posted by Zero:

I only consider SoM2 better if we consider the multiple story choices and character classes but I didn't really like how they killed the magic system by making it a deadly trap unless you put enemy to sleep. In the first game, magic was one of my fighting tools to get through the game.

Simplicity wise, I really enjoyed SoM for just letting us go through the 3 main character's story.

again, i dont say SOM is a bad game but calling it "the best of the series" ONLY coz it came out around the GLOBE wile other mana games NEVER made it even outside japan makes it look like FF7 which sure is also one good game but also sure not the best FF game...

[Seraphita]

Well if it's the only one known, it wins the popularity contest. It's cheap but that's how it works. I kinda have to agree with the "most popular" simply because it's the only one I knew at the time.

Of course if ALL games were released globally then maybe results would have been different.

[W.A. the Anum]

Originally posted by Zero:

Well if it's the only one known, it wins the popularity contest. It's cheap but that's how it works. I kinda have to agree with the "most popular" simply because it's the only one I knew at the time.

Of course if ALL games were released globally then maybe results would have been different.

thats what i mean.

[deadwishd]

well they are saying "Best known" not "Best game"
Plus Best game is a personal prefference i like seiken densetsu 3 AKA Secret of mana 2(Unofficial),
but Secret of mana is still my favorite.

Secret of mana has even 50k games sold on andoid for 10$,
and its also available on app store(ios).

[Stoibs]

Yeah it's certainly a murky area and a carefully chosen marketing phrase.

I hear you OP; I was literally unaware that there was even any other games in this series until I started seeing people here talk about them either, since Australia is in the same PAL boat as Europe.
(Infact we probably had it even worse, with many publishers outright unwilling to waste money and effort distributing down here on a questionable profit return back in those days of physical-only media)

It doesn't really annoy me or make me want to call them out like this though, and the claim of popularity still stands regardless of the reasons.
Hell if this one sells and does well enough maybe it'll be enough of a nudge for all the other JA/NA only games that we never even knew about to get similar re-releases..

[W.A. the Anum]

Originally posted by Stoibs:

Yeah it's certainly a murky area and a carefully chosen marketing phrase.

I hear you OP; I was literally unaware that there was even any other games in this series until I started seeing people here talk about them either, since Australia is in the same PAL boat as Europe.
(Infact we probably had it even worse, with many publishers outright unwilling to waste money and effort distributing down here on a questionable profit return back in those days of physical-only media)

It doesn't really annoy me or make me want to call them out like this though, and the claim of popularity still stands regardless of the reasons.
Hell if this one sells and does well enough maybe it'll be enough of a nudge for all the other JA/NA only games that we never even knew about to get similar re-releases..

https://www.amazon.de/Seiken-Densetsu-Collection-Japanische-Importspiele/dp/B06XR73KWR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503869814&sr=8-1&keywords=secret+of+mana+switch

beginning with this which is only for the switch in japan...

[AliceEngine]

SD 3 was clunky, full of bugs, ridiculously unbalanced and the story stopped once you reach Wendel. It looked pretty, but that's it.

[W.A. the Anum]

Originally posted by AliceEngine:

SD 3 was clunky, full of bugs, ridiculously unbalanced and the story stopped once you reach Wendel. It looked pretty, but that's it.

you know it gave a lot more than SD3, right? it is a WHOLE series, thats what the thread is about.