Secret of Mana Redux

Secret of Mana’s Deleted Path

Locations

Secret of Mana’s Deleted Path

February 28, 2021

World Map Legend

One of the biggest discoveries is a vast area excised from the Gaia Lowlands. In the final game, traveling north of Neko’s takes you directly to the Water Palace, but it seems that originally there was a much longer journey. Furthermore, it seems that the path continued to the west and then south to Gaia’s Navel. The final game does not have a direct path between the Water Palace and Gaia’s Navel, though this makes for more compelling game design. Also, leaving such a long area would have given the early game even more weight than it already has. We’ll explore this deleted path below:

First, there’s the square river circled above. We saw an overhead view of this on the First Areas page. Screenshots exits of what appears to be two phases of development:

From this point it’s less certain, but the best candidate for the next area is here. It appeared in both print and video promotions.

A reconstructed deleted area from Secret of Mana
This was made by pantalytron and BahamutArk by combining screenshots.

The island at the top is this one:

V Jump Appendix (July 1993)

The island to its right; note the different whip mechanic, similar to Final Fantasy Adventure:

Scoop Guide (Family Computer Magazine: April 30, 1993)

This is the only shot I’ve seen area of this area. It could be on the way back to the square river:

Family Computer Magazine
(March 5, 1993)

Same thing here:

Degenki Super Famicom
(April 23, 1993)

Next is an area west of here (we think) that also showed up in a many promotional shots:

Famitsu (January 29, 1993)

The game was like supposed to have a means of water travel, as evidenced by beaches throughout the world.  If so, I imagine this was a place to launch:

Famitsu (May 28, 1993)
Another shot from same area
Hippon Super! (March 3, 1993)
Randi fighting a monster cut from Secret of Mana
Famitsu (March 5, 1993)

Queue mentions this bird’s resemblance to the Garuda from Final Fantasy Adventure:

from the Seikens

Sheexy from the Seikens followed up with this art from the Final Fantasy Adventure manual:

The Garuda from Final Fantasy Adventure

We’re least confident in this one, but we have to try…

A prerelease shot of the Gaia Lowlands
Family Computer Magazine (April 2, 1993)
A deleted area from Secret of Mana
Dengeki Super Famicom (April 23, 1993)
A prerelease shot from Secret of Mana
Family Computer Magazine (February 5, 1993)
A prerelease shot from Secret of Mana
Family Computer Magazine (February 5, 1993)

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