Collection of Mana

 Switch
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 50 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 50
  3. Negative: 7 out of 50
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  1. SquareLukester
    Aug 18, 2019
    9
    For fans of the nostalgic SNES classic favorites by Squaresoft (before they were Square Enix), you should give it a purchase. That includes the long-awaited Trials of Mana (originally Seiken Densetsu 3, a Japan-only game) that we waited almost 25 years for a English release!
  2. Pakon
    Feb 18, 2020
    8
    Since this is a collection, I would like to review the games separately.

    Regarding Final Fantasy Adventure, the first game in the Mana franchise, it is my favorite Game Boy game from all Game Boy systems' libraries. The game draws inspiration from The Legend of Zelda 2D games with neat 8bit graphics, fast action combat and nice story; it is really easy to get into. In spite of the fact    Since this is a collection, I would like to review the games separately.

    Regarding Final Fantasy Adventure, the first game in the Mana franchise, it is my favorite Game Boy game from all Game Boy systems' libraries. The game draws inspiration from The Legend of Zelda 2D games with neat 8bit graphics, fast action combat and nice story; it is really easy to get into. In spite of the fact that this is an old Game Boy game, its simplicity is what makes the game addictive, charming and able to stand through time. 10/10

    As for Secret of Mana, this was the first time that I have ever played the game. However, its real-time/stamina combat feels really slow and everything from using items to casting spells feels very clunky. It is far from a bad game and I totally understand that this is an old game and one of the first couch co-op action rpgs which was the pioneer for the creation of many action rpgs nowadays. I wanted to love the game, I really did. People who played this game in their childhood will definitely feel the SNES nostalgia, but for someone who experiences it for the first time, Secret of Mana is going to feel undoubtedly aged. 7/10

    On the other hand, Trials of Mana is the definition of "making a sequel right". It significantly improved over its predecessor, with faster combat and better gameplay overall. However, I have to highlight that although its combat is faster than Secret of Mana, it's still slower than Final Fantasy Adventure's combat. I had a good time playing the game and it was nice that Square Enix gave us the option to play the original Trials of Mana before the release of its remake in 2020. 8/10

    Overall, it is a solid package for its price and playing this games on the Switch feels "right at home".    … Expand
  3. Ernest_Figueroa
    Jul 13, 2019
    10
    Siempre quise hincar el diente al secret of mana una vez mas, y a las demás entregas poderlas jugarlas, y las versión original sale muy cara, se merece mi 10.
  4. Sijun
    Sep 16, 2019
    8
    Mystic Quest and Secret of Mana in handheld alone is worth every penny but with Trials of Mana on top of that (first time for me) I can't praise this gem enough. I bought the physical copy just to have it forever in my bookshelf.
    The memories i have with Mystic Quest and Secret of Mana are one of the finest I can recall and even now, more than 20 years later I still enjoy every aspect of    Mystic Quest and Secret of Mana in handheld alone is worth every penny but with Trials of Mana on top of that (first time for me) I can't praise this gem enough. I bought the physical copy just to have it forever in my bookshelf.
    The memories i have with Mystic Quest and Secret of Mana are one of the finest I can recall and even now, more than 20 years later I still enjoy every aspect of those games.
    If you have any doubts buying this game-collection don't hesitate after visiting metacritic. It is worth your time if you are a nostalgic player or if you want to see where it all began.    … Expand
  5. Odh
    Sep 6, 2019
    8
    A bit pricey for 3 very old games, but I never played Trials of Mana as an American gamer and it is really good. The other two games, Final Fantasy Legend and Secret of Mana are good action/adventure Zelda style games, that are nostalgia trips for me. For old school gamers like me, worth it today, younger gamers, maybe wait for a price drop. Good 3 games though.
  6. Boneh
    Jun 14, 2019
    7
    Really cool collection, worth it for me just for the official release of trials of mana, wouldve rated higher if not for the price, if you r not a hard core fan of the mana saga, wait till a sale to buy it!
  7. acoolguy
    Jun 12, 2019
    8
    A solid collection, but whether it's worth the money might vary by person. $40 is pretty pricey for a collection of three 20+ year old games with no new additions, however these are fantastic games and I haven't encountered any issues with the emulation in my time with the game. Local co-op functionality in the two SNES titles is a nice bonus as well.
    It should be noted that this is also    A solid collection, but whether it's worth the money might vary by person. $40 is pretty pricey for a collection of three 20+ year old games with no new additions, however these are fantastic games and I haven't encountered any issues with the emulation in my time with the game. Local co-op functionality in the two SNES titles is a nice bonus as well.
    It should be noted that this is also the first time Trials of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 3) has been made officially available outside of Japan, which I feel somewhat justifies the heftier price tag.    … Expand
  8. Nintendopost24
    Jun 14, 2019
    9
    Collection of Mana est une compilation regroupant les 3 premiers jeux de la saga Seiken Densetsu de Squaresoft. Elle a été annoncé en Occident lors du Nintendo Direct spécial E3 2019 et rendu disponible le même jour sur l’Eshop de la Switch.

    Compilation de rêve regroupant un jeu GameBoy et deux jeux Super Nintendo devenus cultes et légendaires dans l’histoire des action RPG et des jeux    Collection of Mana est une compilation regroupant les 3 premiers jeux de la saga Seiken Densetsu de Squaresoft. Elle a été annoncé en Occident lors du Nintendo Direct spécial E3 2019 et rendu disponible le même jour sur l’Eshop de la Switch.

    Compilation de rêve regroupant un jeu GameBoy et deux jeux Super Nintendo devenus cultes et légendaires dans l’histoire des action RPG et des jeux vidéo en général, il est intéressant de se replonger dedans pour se rendre compte à quel point la proposition est intemporel.    … Expand
  9. Beallbobaggins
    Apr 7, 2020
    3
    Loved the secret of mana game when I was a kid. But this is such a sloppy game. Glitches abound leaving the game undesirable and unenjoyable.
  10. pmasterfunk
    Nov 12, 2019
    7
    I'm being a bit unfair by rating a product I did not try, but I have spent hundreds of hours playing Mana games, I still own my copy of Secret of Mana, as well as the SFC cartridge of Trials of Mana, aka Seiken Densetsu 3. My japanese is pretty poor, but I used the SFC cartridge as an "excuse" to play the fan translated ROM. Many times.

    I love Secret of Mana, but there may be a big    I'm being a bit unfair by rating a product I did not try, but I have spent hundreds of hours playing Mana games, I still own my copy of Secret of Mana, as well as the SFC cartridge of Trials of Mana, aka Seiken Densetsu 3. My japanese is pretty poor, but I used the SFC cartridge as an "excuse" to play the fan translated ROM. Many times.

    I love Secret of Mana, but there may be a big nostalgia factor going on here. I love the look and music, but I probably enjoy the gameplay more than I should. It's kind of a wonky system, when you think about it. Level-charging attacks is slow and boring, going into the menu to activate spells grinds the action to a halt, waiting for the attack gauge to get up to 100% just to do a normal attack is also a strange design choice. It's possible to cheeze bosses by linking attack spells... I could probably go on and on. But I still like it all, which is probably indication I'm seeing things with rose-tinted nostalgia goggles.

    The dialog is pretty terrible however. In case you're one of the 5 people who don't know why, memory constraints was an issue during translation and tons of stuff was cut out.

    Anywho, what everyone else is getting all teary-eyed about is Trials of Mana being "finally available" in the west. Well, as someone who has played it to completion once - and tried and stopped more times than I care to remember - it's not nearly as good as people make it out to be. The game has some glaring flaws that people seem to gloss over. Obviously it has some extremely strong points as well.

    The game looks amazing. I can't stress this enough, It's probably the best looking SNES/SFC game ever made. Boss designs in particular are incredible. The music is top notch, just like Secret of Mana. The story is quite a bit better this time around, and offers 6 main characters and 3 main story paths. The world is even larger this time, and the amount of content is quite impressive.

    Sadly, I find the action terrible. Characters often move by themselves between attacks. It's never really clear how long you may need to wait after an attack to attack again, sometimes it's instant, sometimes it takes forever. Hit detection is average at best (to be fair, this was also an issue in Secret of Mana). Enemies and characters don't stagger very often when hit, so there's always of mess of sprites going at it with numbers flying everywhere in a small pile on screen. However, for the majority of the game, all this is pretty tolerable.

    Once you get near end-game, that's when the feces really hits the propeller. Remember when in Secret of Mana you would occasionally get a special visual effect for maximum level spells? And everything would stop for effect? And your mind just exploded? Trials of Mana does this.

    For every. Single. Skill.

    In boss battles in particular, lots of spells get cast, all at the same time. If you make the mistake of using a charge attack with a special animation, your character will stand there until all the previous skill animations have been played through to actually go through with the attack.

    Just standing there. Unable to move. Getting pummeled. Waiting.

    Other frustrations include getting items for class change - because the drop rates for the good ones are super rare, enemies having access to level 3 techs as soon as you enter a screen and blowing you to smithereens before you even see them, the menu being terribly slow to navigate (it sounds absurd, I know), often obscure goals, difficulty spikes, slow walking and running speed... I suppose that's probably enough for now.

    I'm honestly looking forward to the 3D remake, because the game and story have so much potential, so much amazing content, and a full remake has the opportunity to rid the game of the mostly mechanical issues I have with it.

    Oh, and Final Fantasy Adventure? Meh.    … Expand
  11. Hackattaque
    Oct 21, 2020
    7
    (Please note: I haven't completed the first game in the trilogy, so won't be commenting on it)

    SECRET OF MANA: The best-known, and probably the best, of the series, still looks and sounds great today. The bright pastel tones and the gorgeous music give a huge boost to the simple yet effective gameplay, which has you beat up a series of fantastical creatures and bosses with weapons and    (Please note: I haven't completed the first game in the trilogy, so won't be commenting on it)

    SECRET OF MANA: The best-known, and probably the best, of the series, still looks and sounds great today. The bright pastel tones and the gorgeous music give a huge boost to the simple yet effective gameplay, which has you beat up a series of fantastical creatures and bosses with weapons and magic. The only drawbacks are a pretty basic story and a lack of puzzles, though this is offset by pure atmosphere and creepy set-pieces (like the hypnotized temple villagers). Some of the boss battles near the end also get a little tiresome, especially when they're re-skins of earlier ones. But a solid 8/10 game.

    TRIALS OF MANA: Everyone seems to say this is a better game than its predecessor, but I disagree. The game definitely delivers 'more': Six characters instead of three, branching story paths, class changes for each character at two different points in the game, tons of collectibles, and beautiful visuals. But sometimes, more is less. The story is convoluted and confusing and the huge array of sub-plots means they're often rushed and resolved in unsatisfactory ways. The character selection can give you a totally different (and in some cases worse) gaming experience. The basic gameplay is somehow less fluid than Secret of Mana and even has a button you can hold to make everyone auto-fight (perhaps an admission of defeat from the developers). And the GRINDING... I almost gave up out of frustration when I found out that to upgrade your class a second time you had to collect loot-box-type seeds, which are rare drops, and which give you a random class you may not even want. 'Trials of Mana' is right...Maybe even 'Chores of Mana' would be more accurate. Maybe just me but not a fan. 6/10    … Expand
  12. pomf
    Jan 20, 2023
    0
    A collection of badly designed games, they just don't hold up. Clean off your rose tinted glasses. These are just awful.
  13. Mithrandirkun
    Apr 8, 2020
    8
    Recopilatorio de los origenes de la Saga.
    Incluye el primer juego de Gameboy en Inglés, Secret of Mana de Snes también en Inglés y por fin de forma oficial Trials of Mana, que gracias a este recopilatorio ve la luz fuera de japón por primera vez, además traducido al Castellano.
    Solo por el Trials of Mana ya merece la pena este recopilatorio, sin embargo, Square-Enix deberia de haber    Recopilatorio de los origenes de la Saga.
    Incluye el primer juego de Gameboy en Inglés, Secret of Mana de Snes también en Inglés y por fin de forma oficial Trials of Mana, que gracias a este recopilatorio ve la luz fuera de japón por primera vez, además traducido al Castellano.

    Solo por el Trials of Mana ya merece la pena este recopilatorio, sin embargo, Square-Enix deberia de haber invertido un poquito más de dinero en traducir tanto el juego de gameboy como el de Super Nintendo.    … Expand
  14. JAG7
    May 17, 2023
    0
    I wish I could give -5 . This is the worst games ever. Especially Secret of Mana. Everything is horrible. The balance is horrendous. No modernization , no consideration for the gamer. Enemies have huge HP and you have little , to none. No mercy, everything is a punishment. Everything is bad, everything. Don’t buy this switch dump of poo. I hate this game with all my heart.
  15. Dragoduval
    Jan 23, 2023
    8
    Not the best version of Secret of Mana (Try the mobile version instead), but i freaking loved replaying Final Fantasy Adventure. Also the third game was worth exploring.

Awards & Rankings

43
#43 Best Switch Game of 2019
41
#41 Most Shared Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 28, 2020
    80
    Collection of Mana is the best way to play these games, in their original forms, as they were meant to be played. [Issue #41 – September 2019, p. 18]
  2. Gamer.nl
    Oct 7, 2019
    90
    Trials of Mana is one of the best games from the 90s, which can now finally be played legally in English. The localization of that game alone justifies the high price tag of what is basically a collection of old ROMs. It’s a really nice nostalgia trip that comes with another classic as a gift.
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  3. Nintenderos
    Aug 23, 2019
    96
    Collection of Mana is a compilation with three masterpieces that should be remembered for all time. It is a must for all nostalgic fans.
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