On the heels of theTrials of Manaremake launch comes a tributeto its predecessor,Secret of Mana. Considered one of the best JRPGs of all time, it naturally has plenty of devoted fans to this day. One such fan,Benoit Tranchet, directed a 2D animated short featuring the party taking on the Mana Beast:
According to his description: “Here is a 2D animated clip that I directed, on my free time, between August 2018 and December 2019. It is based on the fantastic 1993 Squaresoft game,Secret of Mana(originally titledSeiken Densetsu 2), and is completely un-official. My goal was to create a depiction of the confrontation with the Mana Beast. Since I first played that game in the mid-90’s, I’ve been a huge fan of everything about it, from the first step you take until that epic conclusion.
So one day I decided that I wanted to create an old-school 2D cinematic, like the ones we could get on games such as theTales ofseries, or the PSX release ofChrono Trigger. I hope you’ll enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it!”
As you can see, the animation quality is absolutely top notch and the style is well suited for the aesthetics of the game. And can I just reiterate how stunning the animation quality? You can even see the bending and bounce in Randi’s boots as he steps forward in the beginning. Not to mention the gorgeous setup to the Mana Beast confrontation. The music and sound direction are also fantastic and really do the classic soundtrack justice.
Check out both ourSecret of ManareviewandTrials of Manareview. And if you need to try outTrialsfor yourself, there’sa free demoavailable as well. There’s plenty ofdungeon exploration and boss fightfootage too for the game, as well as details on thepost gamestory and classes.
AfterTrials of Manalaunched, Square Enix and Nintendo announced the six protagonists will be added to SuperSmash Bros Ultimate’sSpirit Boardfor a time limited event.
