Trials of Mana, also called Seiken Densetsu 3 in Japan, is a 1995 action role-playing game made and sold by Square for the Super Famicom. It follows the 1993 game Secret of Mana and is the third game in the Mana series. The story takes place in a magical world where three heroes try to obtain the legendary Mana Sword and stop the Benevodons from destroying the world. The game has three main storylines and six possible main characters, each with their own unique stories. It allows two players to play together at the same time. Trials of Mana improves on the gameplay of its predecessor with new features, such as a time system that changes from day to night and from weekdays to weekdays in the game, and many character classes that give each character special skills and ways to grow stronger.
The game was created by Koichi Ishii, the series’ designer, and directed by Hiromichi Tanaka, a longtime Square designer. Tetsuhisa Tsuruzono oversaw the game’s production. Nobuteru Yūki, a famous manga and anime artist, designed the artwork, and Hiroki Kikuta, the composer of Secret of Mana, wrote the music. At first, the game was only released in Japan, but English-speaking players could play it after an unofficial English translation was made available in 1999.
Reviewers praised Trials of Mana for its excellent graphics, which were considered some of the best on the Super Famicom, and its improved gameplay compared to the previous game. Some critics found the overlapping stories interesting and helpful for replaying the game, but others thought the characters and plotlines were unoriginal and flat. Overall, many consider the game a classic on the Super Famicom.
In June 2017, the game was included in the Seiken Densetsu Collection for the Nintendo Switch in Japan. The collection was released in North America and the PAL region in June 2019 as Collection of Mana, with Trials of Mana included as Seiken Densetsu 3. A 3D remake of the game was announced at the same time and released worldwide in April 2020 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4. The remake was later released for Xbox Series X/S in 2024.
Gameplay
Trials of Mana has gameplay similar to its earlier game, Secret of Mana. Like many role-playing games from the 16-bit era, the game shows a top-down view, where three player characters move across the world and fight enemies. Players can switch control between characters at any time; the other characters are controlled by the game’s AI. The game can be played by two players at once, unlike Secret of Mana, which allows three players. There are six possible characters. At the start, players choose three characters to use and select one to begin with. The other two playable characters join the group when they are met. The remaining three characters are non-playable (NPCs) when encountered.
Each character can use one type of weapon and cast magical spells. The power of spells depends on the character’s magic ability and how the spell’s element matches the enemy. During battles, attacking enemies fills a gauge that lets players use special attacks unique to each character. When characters earn enough experience points, they level up to improve stats like strength and evasion. Options such as changing equipment, casting spells, or checking status are accessed through the Ring Commands—a circular menu that appears over the controlled character. The game pauses whenever the Ring Commands menu is open. The Ring has nine slots for storing items; extra items are stored in a separate area that cannot be used during battles.
Players decide how to improve character stats when leveling up, choosing which stat to increase each time. A class system is also included. When a character reaches level 18, players can visit one of several Mana Stones in the game and choose to change the character’s class to either "Light" or "Dark," which gives new skills and stat improvements. A second class change is optional at level 38, again choosing between Light or Dark, if the player has a specific rare item for the desired class. Class changes do not affect the story, only gameplay.
Trials of Mana also includes a calendar system. A week in the game passes quickly, with each day taking only a few minutes. Each day of the week is linked to a different elemental spirit. On that spirit’s day, magic of that element is slightly stronger. Each in-game day is split into day and night. Some events, like a nighttime-only black market selling rare items, only happen during specific times. Enemies also change depending on the time of day, and some may be asleep if approached at night. Kevin, one of the characters, becomes a werewolf when fighting at night, increasing his attack power. Using an inn’s services allows players to skip to evening or the next morning in the game’s calendar.
Story
The story is set in a fictional world where Mana is a mysterious but limited energy source. Long ago, the Mana Goddess created the world by forging the powerful Sword of Mana and defeating eight dangerous monsters called the Benevodons—"God Beasts" in earlier translations. She sealed them inside eight special stones and then turned into the Mana Tree, falling into a deep sleep. The game takes place during a time when Mana is disappearing, and peace has been broken. Some people plan to free the Benevodons from the stones to gain great power.
The game is not a direct follow-up to Secret of Mana. According to the game's creator, Koichi Ishii, the Mana games do not all take place in the same world. Characters and elements from different games are best seen as alternate versions of each other. However, the 2007 game Heroes of Mana is a direct prequel to Trials of Mana, happening 19 years earlier.
The story follows three main groups of characters. Duran and Angela fight the Crimson Wizard and the Dragon Lord. Hawkeye and Riesz oppose Belladonna and the Dark Majesty. Kevin and Charlotte battle Goremand and the Masked Mage. The main story depends on which character the player chooses first, but more interactions and dialogue occur if both characters in a pair are in the party.
Each playable character begins their journey in a different location. Except for Charlotte, the main character is soon told to seek help from the Priest of Light in the Holy City of Wendel. They arrive in the city of Jadd after Beastmen invade. The Beastmen, who have the power of werewolves, escape by night. On the way to Wendel, the main character—now including Charlotte—stays overnight in Astoria. They are awakened by a bright light, which reveals a tired Faerie from the Sanctuary of Mana. Desperate, the Faerie chooses the main character as her host and tells them to go to Wendel.
At Wendel, the Faerie interrupts the main character’s conversation with the Priest of Light. She explains that the Mana Tree is dying and the Sanctuary is in danger. The Priest warns that if the Tree dies, the Benevodons will return and destroy the world. He tells the main character that because the Faerie chose them as a host, they must travel to the Sanctuary to draw the Sword of Mana from the foot of the Mana Tree. This could restore peace and grant the character’s wishes if done before the Tree dies.
Opening the gate to the Sanctuary requires great power. The Faerie lacks the strength, and an ancient spell that unlocks the Mana Stones’ power takes the life of the person who uses it. However, the spirits guarding the stones can open the gate if their powers are combined.
The main character travels across the world to gather the spirits, meets the other party members, stops invasions by Nevarl and Altena, discovers the powers of the Fire and Water Mana Stones, and learns about the disappearance of the Darkness Mana Stone. With the spirits’ help, they attempt to open the Sanctuary’s gate. The first try fails, but the second succeeds. The Faerie realizes that someone else released the power from all the Mana Stones.
Inside the Sanctuary, the main character claims the Mana Sword. They later discover that their enemies—such as the Crimson Wizard and the Darkshine Knight for Angela and Duran, or Goremand and a mind-controlled Heath for Kevin and Charlotte—have defeated the other groups of enemies. The remaining villains capture the Faerie and demand the Mana Sword in exchange for her freedom. After the trade, the enemies receive the Sword, causing the Mana Stones to shatter and the Benevodons to be released.
The characters must fight the Benevodons to stop them from destroying the world. However, they learn that killing the Benevodons has given more power to their main enemy—the Dragon Lord for Duran and Angela, the Dark Majesty for Hawkeye and Riesz, or the Masked Mage for Kevin and Charlotte. The villain absorbs the Sword of Mana’s power and the Benevodons’ strength to become a god but is stopped by the Mana Goddess, who blocks some of his power.
After defeating the villain’s followers, the characters confront their main enemy but cannot stop him from destroying the Mana Tree and eliminating all Mana from the world. The Faerie merges with what remains of the Mana Tree and will be reborn as the Mana Goddess in 1,000 years. Until then, Mana will not exist. The game ends with the characters returning to their homes.
Development
Seiken Densetsu 3 was created by Koichi Ishii, the series' original designer. Hiromichi Tanaka directed the game, and Tetsuhisa Tsuruzono oversaw its production. Tanaka had previously worked on several games for Square, including the first three Final Fantasy titles. Nobuteru Yūki, a manga and anime artist, designed the characters based on Ishii's original ideas. Development began in 1993, with the team trying many different ideas before settling on one. As new console hardware was about to be released, the team could not delay production or keep the game's existence secret, as they had done with Secret of Mana. The team also faced challenges keeping staff, as many were needed for other projects like Chrono Trigger and Romancing SaGa 3. Programmers were especially in demand, and Tanaka recalled competing with Hironobu Sakaguchi for workers. A downloadable demo was released on July 1, 1995, for the Super Famicom's Satellaview system.
The game was originally meant to be a continuation of Secret of Mana, but the team discarded all previous work and started over to make it more action-focused. The team aimed to create effects similar to 3D graphics by using layered artwork. Some designs from Secret of Mana, like monster art, were reused in Trials of Mana. The final game was very large, using the full storage capacity of the Super Famicom cartridge. One part of the game, the end boss in the volcano dungeon, was removed before release due to time constraints.
The game's theme is "independence," meaning the characters support each other by sharing their problems. The story remained light-hearted, as Tanaka and Yūki wanted. Each character was designed to fit both gameplay and story roles, offering variety. Duran was serious and heroic, while Hawkeye was his opposite. Kevin was added as a character who could transform. Charlotte was cheerful like Popoi from Secret of Mana, despite a difficult past. Angela acted selfishly because she felt neglected by her mother, and Riesz's story focused on her feelings of loss after losing her mother. The artwork used soft colors to look like a picture book. Tanaka created much of the story, but limited variations were possible due to hardware and time constraints.
After its release in Japan on September 30, 1995, Seiken Densetsu 3 was known abroad as Secret of Mana 2. A preview in Next Generation magazine in August 1995 called it by its original name but still called it a sequel to Secret of Mana. The preview mentioned six characters, a calendar system, and a game world three to four times larger than the previous game. It also reported the game could be played by three players, not two. Square planned to release the game in North America during the second half of 1995. A later preview in February 1996, calling it Secret of Mana 2, stated the North American release was canceled due to programming issues.
Before 2019, Seiken Densetsu 3 was not released outside Japan. Retro Gamer said in 2011 that translating the game would be very expensive, and the rise of other consoles like the PlayStation and Sega Saturn made it less profitable to invest in a Super Nintendo game. Poor sales of Secret of Mana overseas also played a role. Nintendo Power said the game's release in North America was unlikely due to technical problems and high costs. Brian Fehdrau, a programmer for Secret of Evermore, noted that Seiken Densetsu 3 had software bugs that made it hard to get approved for release. In 2020, producer Masaru Oyamada said the game's size left no space on the cartridge for translation data.
Some fans mistakenly believed that Secret of Evermore, a 1995 SNES game, replaced an English version of Seiken Densetsu 3. Secret of Evermore was made by a new team at Square's Redmond, Washington office. Fehdrau said no one from the Evermore project was involved in translating Seiken Densetsu 3. In 1999, a fan translation led by Neill Corlett was completed and shared online as a patch for the game.
After the Japanese release of the Seiken Densetsu Collection on June 1, 2017, Square Enix learned of interest in the game abroad. Western teams suggested including the original title in a remake. To translate the game, Square Enix revisited the Super Nintendo's development environment with help from Nintendo. The Switch's larger storage made localization easier. Work on translating the game into English and other languages took about a year. Koichi Ishii wanted the remake's title to include the number "3," so Square Enix chose "Trials of Mana," referencing the characters' trials and the number "3" in the word "tri." The localized version, now called Trials of Mana, was released in North America and Europe as part of the Collection of Mana on June 11, 2019.
The music for Seiken Densetsu 3 was composed by Hiroki Kikuta, who also created the music for Secret of Mana. Kikuta handled all sound selection, editing, and data encoding himself. He worked nearly 24 hours a day to create an "immersive" and "three-dimensional" soundtrack. Instead of using standard MIDI samples, Kikuta made custom samples to match the Super Famicom's hardware. The soundtrack has been praised for its quality.
Reception
Because the game was only available in Japan at first, most English reviews were published years after it came out. One English review from 1995 in GameFan magazine, which covered imported games, gave the game high praise. The Japanese Famitsu review also gave the game high marks, but with a slightly lower score than Secret of Mana. The Brazilian SuperGamePower magazine also gave it a positive review at the time, saying it had some of the best graphics of any SNES game. Critics later praised the game in reviews done after a fan translation patch was released in 2000. Reviewers highlighted the graphics, with a 1UP.com review calling the game "absolutely gorgeous" because it was near the end of the 2D SNES era before 3D graphics became common. A review by Chris Parsons of RPGamer also called the graphics "awesome" and compared them favorably to PlayStation RPGs. A preview by Next Generation, written after the game's Japanese release, said the detailed graphics "put just about every other recent 32-bit RPG to shame." A review by Corbie Dillard of Nintendo Life noted the game's strong graphics and praised the unique visual styles of each area. The game's music was also praised. Nintendo Life's Dillard called it "spectacular from start to finish," while Cubed3's Adam Riley said it was "one of the most sonically pleasing" of all SNES games. RPGamer's Parsons said the music composition was "wonderful." The Next Generation preview also praised the soundtrack's quality and how it continued themes from Secret of Mana's music.
Most reviewers praised the gameplay, though some had concerns about the combat system. Dillard of Nintendo Life said the gameplay was as strong as Secret of Mana and had "a more strategic feel." Reviews from 1UP.com and Cubed3 mentioned the day and time system as an interesting addition, but the 1UP.com reviewer said the combat was "not quite as tight" as in Secret of Mana. A Next Generation preview noted that flaws in Secret of Mana's combat had been fixed and praised the boss battles, but said computer-controlled characters lacked tactics, leading to chaotic battles. A JeuxVideo.com review also noted improvements in the combat system but said battles could become confusing with too many attacks. RPGamer's Parsons criticized the Ring system, saying it was frustrating to use the menu during actions, making boss battles difficult. JeuxVideo.com's reviewer also had issues with this limitation.
The plot received mixed reviews. Some reviewers praised the option to choose different main characters, which improved replayability, but Cubed3's Riley said the story could be confusing. Parsons noted that interactions with unchosen characters left plot holes because their motivations were unclear. Famitsu praised the replayability of the branching story. A Next Generation preview called the multiple storylines an innovation but said the plot followed a "magic-and-monsters fantasy-formula." A 1UP.com reviewer agreed, saying the plot was not very engaging and had clichéd characters.
Nintendo Life's Dillard said the game was "easily one of the best RPGs to come out of the 16-bit era," while the 1UP.com reviewer said it "very likely would have become a fondly remembered classic" if it had been officially translated into English.
Remake
A new version of the game, using the official name for each region, was announced at E3 2019. It was planned to be released worldwide in early 2020 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC. The game was released globally on April 24, 2020. A version for Xbox Series X/S was released in 2024. Production of the remake began in 2017. The goal was to keep the original game’s spirit while redesigning it with 3D graphics and newer, more advanced gameplay features. The remake removed the multiplayer mode from the game.