Secret of Mana - Reception

Reception

As of February 2004, Secret of Mana has shipped 1.83 million copies worldwide, with 1.5 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 330,000 abroad.

Secret of Mana was awarded "Game of the Month" in December 1993 and "Best Role-Playing Game" of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. In November 1993, Edge magazine gave the game a score of 9 out of 10, stating that it is "better than Ys I & II on the PC Engine. Better than Zelda on the SNES. And yes, better than Landstalker on the Mega Drive." The magazine stated that Secret of Mana "includes some of the best game design and features ever seen: simultaneous threeplayer action, the best combat system ever designed, the best player interface ever designed, a superb control system, and yes, some of the most engrossing and rewarding gameplay yet. It really is in a class of its own as far as action RPGs or adventures go." In 1994, game designer Sandy Petersen reviewed the game in Dragon, awarding Secret of Mana a perfect score of 5 out of 5 stars. He described the game as "exceedingly Zelda-like" but with "many features of conventional role-playing games," and stated that "Squaresoft has what may be a classic here." He concluded that the game is "one of the very best role-playing games available for the Super Nintendo," and that it is "a much larger game than Zelda, with many more types of monsters, character options, and fortresses to explore." In 2008, IGN awarded the Virtual Console port of Secret of Mana a score of 9 out of 10, stating that it is "still recognized today as one of the best games ever made."

Secret of Mana has been on numerous all-time "best games" lists. It was listed at number 42 on Nintendo Power magazine's Top 200 Nintendo Games Of All Time, as well as the 86th best game made on a Nintendo System. It was also rated number 48 on IGN's "Top 100 Games" list in 2005, number 49 in 2006, and number 79 in 2007. Also in 2006, Secret of Mana was voted the 97th best game of all time by the readers of the well-known Japanese magazine Famitsu. In February 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine listed the game at number 82 on its "100 Best Nintendo Games" feature. Super Play ranked the game eighth on its list of the best 100 SNES games of all time in 1996. GameSpy included the game in its "Hall of Fame" list. Edge ranked the game at #39 in its "Top 100 Games of All Time" list.