Seiken Densetsu 3: The Lost Mana Sequel

Square Enix had finally go all out with the Final Fantasy series, each and every Final Fantasies that were ever part of the main series had been released here in the U.S. on different game platforms including the long overdue 8-Bit Final Fantasy III, originally released for the Japanese Famicom was released here in the U.S. for the Nintendo DS with some new makeover and the 16-Bit Final Fantasy V which was released only for the Japanese Super Famicom was finally ported to the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance with updated features. Square Enix may had already done too much for the Final Fantasy series, but how about this time they focus more on the Mana series. Each and every Mana games existed was released here in the U.S.(Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, Legend of Mana, Sword of Mana, Children of Mana, and Dawn of Mana), except one and that one is the most important one of them all, not to mention the greatest one of them all. In Japan, that game was known as Seiken Densetsu 3(because Secret of Mana was known as "Seiken Densetsu 2" in Japan), the only Mana game to never see the light of days here in the U.S. So what is Seiken Densetsu 3 you might ask, read on to find out.

Seiken Densetsu 3(SD3) was the third Mana sequel to be released in Japan (it would have been called "___of Mana" if it were ever to be released here in the U.S.), it starred six main protagonists (Duran, Angela, Kevin, Hawk, Riesz a.k.a. Lise, and Carley) on a quest to save Mana from dying. In SD3, you'll start your quest by choosing three of the available six main characters and venture out into the world of Mana where you'll encounter the rest of your chosen allies. Now SD3 varies from the other Mana game because it doesn't follow the same dungeon crawling formula or the quest to defeat the evil boss formula. Here in SD3, you'll actually had a different beginning and a different ending depending on who you first choose as your main character, for example if you start your quest as Duran, you'll always had to complete that tournament fight in Forcena or if you start out as Hawk you'll start in Navarre and fight your way out of the city. Each character will had a different finale battle at the end, but I won't spoil it for you. Also in SD3, there are class change later on in the game, if any of your characters status are high enough by the time you reach a Mana crystal, you can use it to change the class of your character which will upgrade their status to a more advance class, for example Hawk can start out as a thief, but then later change to either ranger or ninja. He can even reach the level of assassin or rogue as well, it really depends on how you change them, but be warn because once you change class, you won't be able to change back.

Like the Final Fantasy series, SD3 also had a lot of different transportations within the game. At the beginning of the game, sailing automatically is the first source of transportation you had, but later you'll come to get used to having cannon blast transportations as well as being able to ride on a giant turtle traveling along the high sea with just a blow to a flute or on top of a Neverending Story style dragon with the use of a tool device. I say SD3's transportations are way better than Final Fantasy, well, except the cannon blasting part because you'll never know where you'll land. Beside the transportations, you can also visit the many villages and buy weapons, items, armors, sleep at inns, talk to NPCs, collect tips, save your game, or advance to your destination. Some other places are also available or open depending if it's night or day. Night and day features plays a very big role in this game as well since one of your character, Kevin can be played in his alternate form at night and to escape Jad, you'll also had to wait at night in able to escape.

Now the battle system, this is actually the best part about SD3, the battle system plays very much like it was in Secret of Mana except this time you can connect combos and inflict more damages using full power attack which required the full attack bar. Each character can attack at the same time, there are no turn based here, in fact, it plays similar to what a Four Swords game may be like except you actually had three characters instead of four, the other best part is that each characters can be control by each players meaning that multi-play is possible (if you had a Multi-Tap Adapter that is). Another plus in the battle system is that each battle can also either be conquer or skip, in some occasion such as caves and rooms, you might actually had to fight a match but in some area, you can just avoid it or choose to fight if you want to. Finally the boss fight, boss battles in SD3 are hard fought, some boss require clever strategy in able to defeat them other are very easily killed and the bosses themselves are huge almost filling the whole screen.

Well enough about the battles, what really inspired this game is its introduction of wonderful tunes, superior graphic presentation, and cut-scenes as well as many other surprises looming in within the heart of the game. Although there aren't any mini-games or side-quest to add to the mix, the game as whole itself is just rewarding and the story kept on rolling even as you played, you'll never feel as though you are stuck at all since each and every characters are so cleverly tie to the story itself, even when you didn't choose them as any of your three main characters they are still part of the story or had ties to the story.

In conclusion, SD3 had what other Mana titles didn't have, a good story, a well organized cast of characters from beginning to end, a very interesting character class changing system, a Four Sword style battle system, a wide variety of transportations and world to explore, some very inspiring musical tunes, a great night and day features, a solid presentation, great character introduction, and fun multiplying feature that will keep the action going. Square Enix may give us any Final Fantasy we want, but they'll never give us this, why, because due to the many RPG fanatics out there, this game had already being forgotten; otherwise, it would have being ported or remaked by now. If you are looking for a better Mana to experience go ahead and find this game. It's too bad you can't find this game here in the U.S. since it never made it out of the land of the rising sun, but you can try and import it, that's the legal way; otherwise, you can download the rom via the internet, but at your own risk or you can be like the many Mana patients out there and wait to see if this masterpiece ever pop up on the Wii's Virtual Console or Sony PlayStation Network.