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There’s nothing that brings back feelings of nostalgia like firing up a good old fashioned Super Nintendo game. The combination of 16-bit visuals and old-school soundtracks can instantly teleport you to a time when life was all about pogs, slap bracelets, and memorizing time tables. After launching for iOS back in 2010, Square Enix was kind enough to finally bring the 1993 classic Secret of Mana to Android devices.
Featuring a Zelda-like top-down view and real-time battle system, Secret of Mana was a breath of fresh air from Square Enix’s typical turn-based RPGs. The release shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, Square Enix announced an Android port was due sometime in the fall back in August.
Available for a cool $9 on Google Play, Secret of Mana features a slightly tweaked interface (perfect for potato fingers) and 360-degree character movement (original game only had 8-directional movement). No fancy high-res visuals here, this is 16-bit gaming at its finest. Link down below.
What’s wrong with the price? Square Enix mobile ports generally get listed for $15 and if you compare it to the actual cartridge then $9 is a steal
I totally agree although most people complain if any game is more than $2 or $5.
Not to mention Square Enix had the game on sale for iOS in August for $4. Would have been nice to see an introductory offer at that price or something. *shrugs*
It’s great how much work — coding, graphics, story writing, etc. — goes into a game, especially with the incredibly high standard that’s expected these days, and people expect it to be given away for less than the price of a coffee at Starbucks.
Secret of Mana probably cost in the $30-$50 range when it came out, and that’s in 1993 dollars.
Anyway, actual question about the game. Does it have the simultaneous multiplayer ability that the original had, possibly by connecting to someone else’s phone over the Internet or something?
The iOS version didn’t have multiplayer, given this is just a port of that, I’m guessing this one doesn’t either :(
Aw, but that was the best feature of this game. Well, that makes this announcement a lot less interesting.
Just $9? I was expecting some $20+ LoL!! I guess this is a legit game. I never got to play it though. =.S
Yeah, that price is fine. I expected $14.99
I hope the tiger is actually beatable this time!
I already download this as a rom
The game they released is probably optimized to run on the arm instruction set and not decimate your battery, but I have to say i love my ROMs too.
yeah I have several emulators and have several classic videogames on it. they all run smooth and plays great. I would have no problem buying this, but they took too long. and honestly I bought this game like 10x already. I feel that shouldn’t have to “buy” it again. now give me ff7! I’ll buy the hell out of that!… and tobal #1
now if they’d just re-release FF Tactics for Android
I would actually pay for that.
I just check on ebay and used Secret of Mana SNES cartridges are going for $45! I was shocked. I mean, I know this whole nostalgia thing is in full force but like 10 years ago these things were probably worth a quarter. It was an awesome game, too. I spent countless hours playing. I still have it buried in storage, I might have to dig it out…
Dude you’d be surprised.. Popular titles like this have been going for $30+ for sometime on eBay and even at your mom & pop game shops. (the few that are left).
I saw a brand new unopened Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals go for 90 bucks on eBay once…
I actually have an original gold edition Zelda : Ocarina of Time still shrink wrapped from 18 years ago. One day…
Wow dude.. I have a Zelda: A Link to the Past, though its been opened, it still has the OG box and game manuals, etc. It even has the brochure/mailer to subscribe to Nintendo Power!!..Lol good times.
Chris,
Can you play co-op? This game was not meant to be played solo.
9 bucks isn’t bad. I thought it would be closer to $19.99
There is probably a nice little market for these SNES classic games if they were to just update the graphics and put them on PS4/X1/WiiU in physical forms. Sort of like those awesome midway collections games for PS1/PS2
nice going on my NVidia shield after work today.
Do you think some games like this one have special graphical effects or features that only unlock on the Shield or similarly powerful mobile devices, like how many PC games have?
No, but it has built in controls and huge battery life. I do imagine the tegra 4 lets it load quicker and probably maintain a better frame rate but the quality of the graphics wont really improve.
It’s on par with the pricing Nintendo is using for the Wii U Virtual Console (SNES games = $7.99). I thought it would be a lot more expensive based on the headline. :D
Classic game, that said not worth trying to play games without a controller or mouse+kb for me. Unless it’s a slow paced turn based game.
It says on the game’s Play Store description that it works with controllers…
That’s actually a fair price considering it’s $8 on Wii (and I hope it hits Wii U soon), but that’s not the type of game I would want to play on a virtual joystick. Maybe I need a Nexus Player…
Yeah, it would be nice seeing it on the Wii U. The Wii U is starting to turn into the ultimate go to machine for nostalgia/old school gaming (Nintendo needs to advertise this big time).
These touchscreen virtual joystick games are driving me through the wall. I finally had to cave and buy a corded Xbox 360 controller for my Surface RT. Now I can actually control some of my games.
Emulators FTW
Not as good without a real controller.
It apparently works with controllers on android. There are plenty to choose from and I love my MOGA Pro Power personally
I guess I need a good Bluetooth controller, or I could just play it on my 46″ TV connected to a Windows computer running the game in an emulator.
I got my PS3 controller paired to my phone once… was nifty at the time but you have to re-pair to switch back… which was kind of annoying
I think the controller can only be paired to one thing at a time.
Is it possible to cast the game to the big screen via chromecast and then play it with a bluetooth controller?
This might work with the new Nexus Player and controller.
Does anyone know if this game support local multiplayer like the original?
My issue with ALL digital items is we cannot SELL that digital item when we want to. I.E we are only buying the right to play this game on our device…. If I cannot sell it, then I will never spend more then 1 dollar on anything digital. 9 dollars is pretty insane. I loved this game as a kid though.