April Edition Live Magazine - April 2014 Issue. | Page 38

“THERE WAS NO WAY
WE COULD HAVE
AFFORDED A MASTER
SYSTEM II.”

“IT WAS ACCESSIBLE, ENTHRALLING, EXCITING AND HECK,
IT WAS BEAUTIFUL”
When you’ve been gaming for over 20 years, its
hard when someone asks you to pick your favourite game of all time, and narrowing it down
to retro games doesn’t help much. One game,
however stands out for me more than any other:
The Secret of Mana on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
One of the earliest action-rpgs I had ever played
(along with Landstalker, The Legend of Zelda: A
Link to the Past and Illusion of Gaia), there was
so much about The Secret of Mana that separated - nay, elevated it above all other RPGs at the
time. It was accessible, enthralling, exciting and
heck, it was beautiful. That’s right, I said beautiful.
The Secret of Mana (known in Japan as Seiken
Densetsu 2) was originally planned as a sequel
to Final Fantasy Adventure AKA Mystic Quest,
but eventually became a barely-related but successful spinoff series in its own right. The game
casts players as three heroes who must save the
mystical Mana Tree with the Mana Sword. Initial-

ly a single-player game, the game does expand
to optional two and three-player co-operative
gameplay rather quickly as the other heroes are
discovered in the story.
Mana’s story is a rich and moving one, and as
a child, it was the first story in a game that actually moved me. There were highs and lows - the
orphan hero (later named Randi) being banished
from his village, the girl (Prinn) discovering the
fate of her friends, and the magic Sprite’s quest
for identity were all so deeply-written, it was unparalleled at the time.
Even years after its release, The Secret of Mana
is still beloved by many gamers. Its beautiful
story, ama zing soundtrack and brilliant combat
make it a must-play game for any RPG or retro
gamer. Just talking about it has gotten me all
warm and fuzzy.

NICK GETLEY:

WWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM

My favourite retro game of all time won’t surprise
some: I’m a puzzle gamer at heart & so Hugo III:
Jungle of Doom ticks all my boxes. A text based
game with graphics, you help Hugo save his girlfriend by getting an antidote to the spider bite
she receives when your plane crashes into an
evil jungle. But it might be a surprising to hear
that in my youth I played it cooperatively. Me,
my mum and my brother would all sit around the
computer, taking turns, solving puzzles, picking
up items. I think Mum humoured us, waiting for
us to get some of the easier puzzles. But I finishing that game meant so much more when you
could share the victory. Living in a small country town, before the internet, meant I was pretty
lucky to grow up in a gaming family where we
could share achievements like that.
My favourite retro console was a hand-me-down
from older cousins. There was no way we could
have afforded a Master System II. My brother
and I loved it. If games ever pit us against each
other I was sure to lose, my brother has always
been better at video games than me. But Bubble Bobble, and Rampage, and Renegade did a
lot to bond us sharing the victory made games
so much more worthwhile. That said, the Master System II will always be intrinsically linked to
my terrible shame: I could get to the Evil Wizard
boss battle at the end of Mickey’s Castle of Illusion, but I would hand the controller over to my
mum to finish the game because I could never
beat the end.

DANICA ZUKS:

WWW.XXPGAMES.COM.AU

“What’s your
favourite retro
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