Virtual Console Reviews: Secret of Mana, Street Fighter II' SCE

Oct. 14 7:09 PM by Sardius

Secret of Mana

As a teenager, I had my heart set on Secret of Mana. It looked amazing. I'd read the reviews, seen the screenshots, and even bought the mammoth, phone book-sized strategy guide in anticipation of what could only be the best game of all time. After saving money for months, I went to Electronics Boutique on the day I had finally amassed the $60 asking price and proceeded to totally blow it by thinking to myself:

"Hey...I could spend $60 on the game I've been lusting after for most of the year...or I could buy these two Genesis RPGs for the same price!"

So while most sensible people spent a good chunk of their young adult years playing Secret of Mana, I spent that summer playing Shining in the Darkness and Sword of Vermilion. I ended up finishing both, so I definitely got my money's worth. But did I make the right decision?

Well...no. Not at all. Sure, I got mild enjoyment out of crawling through dungeons in Shining in the Darkness, and I tried to fool myself into liking Sword of Vermilion, but Secret of Mana was a crucial part of the Super NES' library. It took the action-RPG subgenre in a new and unexpected direction, and features a surprisingly rich amount of content and depth. The gameplay mechanics are well executed, the soundtrack is one of the Super NES' best, and though I've never tried it myself, I've heard from many sources that its cooperative multiplayer component is just short of blissful.

I eventually ended up renting Secret of Mana and finishing it over the course of a week, thanks mostly to the strategy guide's help. I'm sure that if I had bought it, though, it would've become a favorite that I'd have finished many times over. I'm long overdue for another playthrough, in any case. Don't pass this one up.

Try these too: Beyond Oasis (GEN), Ys Book I & II (DUO)
Don't bother with: Sword of Vermilion (GEN), Dungeon Explorer (TG16)

I've always been a little shaken by the fact that the lady in the background is so brazenly grabbing that dude's junk.

Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition

I was fortunate enough to have both a Genesis and an SNES back in the '90s, but a lot of kids weren't as lucky. The poor bastards. Super NES owners had to miss out on some of the best action games of all time (Rocket Knight Adventures, Gunstar Heroes), while Genesis kids would never get to play the generation's greatest RPGs.

And then there was Street Fighter II. Oh, how those cruel SNES kids lorded their many ports of SF2 over the Genesis faithful. "We'll have our own port one day!" the Sega fans cried. "Just you wait! And it'll be even better thanks to Blast Processing! Ow! Stop hitting me!"

After many delays, the Genesis port of Street Fighter II was finally released. And yet the beatings continued, appreciably more savage than before. The Genesis kids knew that their 3-button control pads wouldn't be enough to handle Street Fighter's complex control setup, but they never could've expected Capcom's port to be so disappointing. The colors were dark and muted. The music was tinny. The grunts and screams from the arcade original were now feeble gasps and wheezes.

All considered, Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition is a competent port. Despite the drop in graphic and sound quality, it plays surprisingly well, and remains a unique bridge between SF2's Champion Edition and Turbo upgrades. Still, there's no reason to spend eight dollars on it when you can get the mostly definitive Super NES version of Street Fighter II Turbo for the same price.

It's okay, man. You don't have to choose sides anymore. Nobody's going to make fun of you. You can play Sonic the Hedgehog and a good port of Street Fighter II on the same console now. Let's be friends.

Try these instead: Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES), Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
Don't bother with: Deadly Moves (GEN), Street Combat (SNES)

Comments

I remember that ad with "Blast processing" I think it came on around Christmas time. Then in one issue of Nintendo power, Nintendo came out and explained that it was a stupid comparison. They said something like to the effect of it being a made up term and that why would a plumber run super fast anyway

I miss the "now" and "then" reviews

I actually did those for the last review roundup, but I cut them when I realized they all basically said the same thing.

What spinner said. It's like a hazy portal into the past, and then a clear look at how it stands up today. Sometimes those views might be really close, but that's cool too because it shows which games really have held their ground or lost a step or two with age.