Further Reading
Further Reading
References
The following is an attempt at cataloguing the various guides, magazines, articles, websites, and interviews that are relevant to Secret of Mana. Many of these are sources where significant information was found for the benefit of this project. I also borrowed screenshots from a few of the sites back when this was a blog (and a few of them made their way here). The Japanese materials are not easy to come by outside of Japan, even on eBay.
My goal is to have a complete list of significant materials, so please let me know about any omissions.
Sites
Galen Puronen’s DeviantArt Page
[Use of Unseen64’s materials is subject to Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)]
Articles
Secret of Mana Review (1993) https://web.archive.org/web/20120630081407/http://www.edge-online.com/reviews/secret-mana-review
Secret of Mana (Super Nintendo) Review (2008) http://www.cubed3.com/review/197/1/secret-of-mana-snes.html
A Second Look: The Secret of Mana (2010) https://rome.ro/news/2015/12/13/a-second-look-the-secret-of-mana-square-1993?rq=secret+of+mana&fbclid=IwAR1BMhiIUxQd_DA8JzzPbpLC_KgkHSpsSTaLZ6E1waPyrVGQkh9yhMT53BA – infamous game designer John Romero’s take on Secret of Mana, centered around his longtime friend, Nasir Gebelli
Retro Rant: Secret of Mana (2015) http://www.rantingaboutgames.com/blog/2015/09/30/retro-rant-secret-of-mana/
Why it took me 24 years to beat Secret of Mana (2017) https://www.destructoid.com/stories/why-it-took-me-24-years-to-beat-secret-of-mana-459324.phtml
Oh No, the Secret of Mana Remake Looks Kind of Bad (2017) https://www.usgamer.net/articles/oh-no-the-secret-of-mana-remake-looks-kind-of-bad
Why is Secret Of Mana so revered? – Reader’s Feature (2017) https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/22/why-is-secret-of-mana-so-revered-readers-feature-7016212
How The PS4 Secret Of Mana Remake Compares To The Original (2017) https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-the-ps4-secret-of-mana-remake-compares-to-the-/1100-6455161/
Review of the remake (2018)
https://www.rpg-o-mania.com/spot_after_som_remake.php
Secret of Mana and the art of a good box (2018) https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-06-17-the-secret-of-mana-and-the-art-of-a-good-box
Review: The Secret of Mana Remake is Terrible–Go Play the Original Instead (2018) https://thirdcoastreview.com/2018/02/28/review-secret-mana-remake-terrible-go-play-original-instead/
Secret Of Mana Review: Where Secrets Go, Trouble Follows (2018) https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/secret-of-mana-review-where-secrets-go-trouble-fol/1900-6416859/
Secret of Mana: The Kotaku Review (2018) https://kotaku.com/secret-of-mana-the-kotaku-review-1823652301
Why we still haven’t seen anything quite like Secret of Mana (2018) https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/30/17172600/secret-of-mana-ps4-snes-remake
Secret of Mana Review – Classic At Its Core (2018) https://techraptor.net/gaming/reviews/secret-of-mana-review-classic-at-its-core
The Secret of Mana Remake is a Missed Opportunity to Fix the Original’s Flaws (2018) https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-secret-of-mana-remake-is-a-missed-opportunity-to-fix-the-originals-flaws
Why Secret of Mana’s map presented the biggest challenge when remaking the classic action RPG for PS4 (2018) https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2018/02/15/why-secret-of-manas-map-presented-the-biggest-challenge-when-remaking-the-classic-action-rpg-for-ps4/
Why we still haven’t seen anything quite like Secret of Mana (2018) https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/30/17172600/secret-of-mana-ps4-snes-remake
Secret of Mana Character Designer Shinichi Kameoka Reminiscences About The Game’s Release (2019) https://www.siliconera.com/secret-of-mana-character-designer-shinichi-kameoka-reminiscences-about-the-games-release/
Secret of Mana’: Understanding one of the “Best Games of All Time (2019) https://goombastomp.com/secret-of-mana-understanding-one-of-the-best-games/
Trials of Mana is the Remake that Secret of Mana Should have Gotten (2020) https://hardcoregamer.com/2020/03/22/trials-of-mana-is-the-remake-that-secret-of-mana-should-have-gotten/369787/
Author Pierre Maguein’s Twitter posts on Secret of Mana: Reborn (2021, français) https://twitter.com/Killy_Log1/status/1350466748085137409/photo/1
冒険ガイドブック (1993) “Adventure Guide Book”
Art of Mana (2020)
The Book of Mana (Dengeki) (8/27/93, 9/10/93)
完全攻略編 (1993) “Complete Strategy Compilation”
Dengeki Super Famicom (4/23/93, 7/23/93)
Family Computer Magazine (“Scoop Guide” 12/25/92, “Scoop Guide” 1/8/93, 2/5/93, 2/19/93 4/2/93, “Scoop Guide” 4/30/93, 5/28/93, 8/6/93)
Famitsu (9/93, 11/93)
Famitsu Weekly (2/12/93, 4/16/93, 5/21/93, 5/28/93, 7/30/93, 8/13/93)
基礎知識編 (1993) “Fundamental Knowledge Compilation”
Hippon Super Magazine (1/93 – Collectors, 2/93, 3/93, 7/93)
Map Guide Part 1
Map Guide Part 2
Marukatsu (2/26/93, 7/9/93)
Nintendo Power Volumes 57, 62-64
公式設定資料+完全攻略ガイド (2018) “Official Setting Material + Complete Strategy Guide”
Retro Gamer #85 (2011)
Secret of Mana (Instruction Booklet) (1993)
Secret of Mana: Reborn, Localization Commentary v1.11 (2021)
聖剣伝説２(Instruction Booklet) (1993)
Shonen Jump (8/2/93)
攻略ガイドブック上巻 (1993) “Strategy Guide Vol. 1”
攻略ガイドブック下巻 (1993) “Strategy Guide Vol. 2”
徹底攻略読本 “Thorough Strategy Reader”
The Super Famicom (2/5/93, 3/5/93, 6/25/93, 7/9/93, 7/23/93)
Super NES Buyer (3/1993)
Superplay #25 (1994)
V Jump (2/93, 7/93 – Appendix, 8/93)
Interviews
Chrono Trigger, Famicom Tsuushin (1995)
Chrono Trigger, LEVEL (2006)
Hiroki Kikuta, Square Haven (2007)
Hiroki Kikuta, Destructoid (2012)
Hiroki Kikuta, Reddit AMA (2014)
Secret of Mana, Hippon Super Magazine (1993)
Ted Woolsey, Brandon McGrath
Ted Woolsey, Super Play Magazine (1994)
Trials of Mana, Famitsu (1995)