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| ♫VALESTEIN CASTLE (Ys III), New SNES Arrangement - NintendoComplete @NintendoComplete | Uploaded 3 hours ago | Updated 3 hours ago
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♫VALESTEIN CASTLE (Ys III), New SNES Arrangement - NintendoComplete @NintendoComplete
![Skies of Arcadia Legends (GameCube) Playthrough [3 of 4]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dDeKtt1U91M/hqdefault.jpg "Skies of Arcadia Legends (GameCube) Playthrough [3 of 4]
Skies of Arcadia Legends (GameCube) Playthrough [3 of 4]")
![Secret of Mana (SNES) Playthrough [1 of 2]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dSwf9DJz_dA/hqdefault.jpg "Secret of Mana (SNES) Playthrough [1 of 2]
A playthrough of Squares 1993 action-RPG for the Super Nintendo, Secret of Mana.
This is the first part of a two-part video, showing from the beginning of the game through to the partys leaving for the sunken continent. You can find part two at https://youtu.be/0EBBd6kNTqI
Secret of Mana, or Seiken Densetsu 2 as it was called in Japan, is the direct sequel to the 1991 Game Boy game Final Fantasy Adventure (https://youtu.be/dTUYbI1pkf4). Its a top-down action-RPG that was hailed for its graphics, music, and its three-player co-op game play, and its still regarded as one of the SNESs best in its genre.
While at first glance it does look a lot like a stylized Zelda-style game, Secret of Mana does several things to differentiate itself. Using the multi-tap peripheral that was originally packed in with Super Bomberman, three players can play at the same time once the entire party has been assembled. It was a massive amount of fun to play this way, and coordinating attack strategies with a couple of buddies really gave the game a unique flavor compared to the usual single-player fare that RPGs typically offer. Of course, you can play alone or with one friend, and the remaining character(s) will be taken care of by the AI. Its not always intelligent - the computer-controlled guys tend to get stuck behind walls and trees - but it works well enough most of the time. Better than youd expect for a game from 1993, at least.
Even though the story takes some pretty dark turns later on, Secret of Mana manages to maintain a cheerful, upbeat presentation through the majority of the adventure. The graphics are impressively detailed, and there are a lot of little background animations that make the world come alive, like the way the wind blows around the flowers and grass in the opening area. It might not seem like much now, but such attention to detail was something that you didnt see often in the early years of the 16-bit generation. The enemies are extremely memorable, imaginative, and often quite goofy - I always liked the waddling mushbooms that spray spores at you, and the little teddy bears that dress up like Robin Hood to shoot arrows at you. The bosses are usually impressive and huge, and the spell effects become progressively flashier throughout the game.
The music is one of my favorite parts of Secret of Mana. The soundtrack has been praised time-and-time again over the years, and it has held up well. Its generally orchestral in nature, but it sounds very different than whatd you get with Uematsus Final Fantasy scores, especially in how many genres the soundtrack spans. The composer, Hiroki Kikuta, deserves major props for how well he managed to nail so many styles. Apparently, he sampled the instruments himself as he was composing to ensure that the in-game tracks would sound the way he intended, and the effort shows. The quality of the samples is a substantial jump over what youll find in most cart-based titles, and it does an awful lot within the confines of eight sound channels. (Sometimes a bit too much given how often instruments drop out in battle.)
The gameplay holds up well, too. Granted, the game was always fairly glitchy, but after you figure out the games quirks, it usually works just fine. The battle system is an interesting hybrid of old and new - though its all played out in real-time, the accuracy and power of your hits relies more on your stats than it does on making sure that your characters weapon visibly connects with the enemy. It can lead to a few annoying whiffs, but it does make sense once youve acclimated to it.
I absolutely love Secret of Mana. I always have, and its hard to imagine that Id ever feel otherwise about it. From the story to the gameplay to the aesthetics, this sequel improves in just about every way humanly possible over Final Fantasy Adventure.
It might not be perfect, nor is it even among Squares best on the SNES, but Secret of Mana is an amazing adventure, and its one that youll never forget once youve played it. Theres a good reason that Nintendo included it with the SNES Classic. It is a classic.
With Visions of Mana due out at the end of the month, I thought this would be a great time to roll out this brand new Secret of Mana playthrough in razor sharp 4k60. Hope you enjoy the ride as much as I did!
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
![Golden Axe (PC Engine CD) Playthrough [English]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eDDGMZ7xNNM/hqdefault.jpg "Golden Axe (PC Engine CD) Playthrough [English]
A playthrough of Telenet Japans 1990 beat em up for the PC Engine CD-ROM², Golden Axe.
This video shows the game completed with all three characters. The game was a Japanese-exclusive release, so Ive translated and subtitled the cutscenes in English.
Ax Battler 3:08
Tyris Flare 25:50
Gilius Thunderhead 47:37
The PC Engine CD format regularly played host to cutscene-laden adaptations of famous arcade games. R-Type; Strider; and NEC Avenues 1989 CD take on another of Segas hits, Altered Beast (https://youtu.be/s4PwJwcm5d8), are particularly notable examples of the trend.
Though the quality of Telenets output tended to be somewhat uneven, they were responsible for a good number of classics in the late 80s/early 90s, including Gaiares, El Viento, and the Valis and Cosmic Fantasy series. They had the occasional gaffe, but you could usually trust the quality of their stuff.
Golden Axe, an enhanced remake of Segas 1988 arcade brawler classic designed for PC Engine machines equipped with a CD drive and the base system card, turned out to be one such gaffe.
It makes a great first impression. The PC Engine CD conversion features nearly thirty minutes of high-quality, fully voiced cutscenes that do a much better job of establishing the story and characters than the original games text boxes did. In addition to the opening movie, each of the three heroes has a set of character-specific story sequences that include an intro, a trash-talk scene before the final battle, and an ending. The game also offers up a remixed Redbook soundtrack filled with synthed-out bangers thats a clear upgrade over the arcade games FM-based music in every respect.
The weight of that first impression is quickly forgotten once the adventure begins, unfortunately. As soon as the first stage loads, its immediately clear that the gameplay received but a small fraction of resources that had been poured into the cutscenes and music.
Theres no sense of impact when landing a hit, the controls are awkwardly lagged, and the moveset has been simplified. You can still dash, swing your weapon, jump attack, cast a spell, and hop on dragons, but you no longer have the ability to hammer away at or throw stunned enemies. You can also cheese every enemy in the game, Death Adder included, by repeatedly dash attacking as they attempt to get back on their feet.
The sound is poor - all of the effects sound like theyre coming from an Atari 2600 - and the graphics are rough. Theres more color and detail than what was seen in the Master System version, but the heavily letterboxed playfield only fills a bit more than half of the screen, the spell animations are lousy, and some of the spritework is hilariously terrible. Take Tyris, for instance. What did they do to her face?! She could pass for a truck driver with that five oclock shadow, and she looks a fat middle-aged man with Fabio hair whenever she dashes while riding a dragon. Theres no good reason why a PC Engine game, even when held back by the memory limitations of the CD-ROM² standard, should look this much worse than its Genesis/Sega CD counterparts.
This wouldve easily been the definitive home port had the game lived up to the quality of its window dressing. It clearly did not, but as poor as the game is, the PCE CD-exclusive cutscenes and the awesome music do justice to the source material and are worth checking out for anyone who enjoyed the other, better versions of Golden Axe.
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.")
