Trials of Mana

Trials of Mana is a complete three-dimensional remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, which came out in Japan on the Super Famicom in 1995 and only officially reached the West decades later. The foundation remains: at the start the player picks three heroes out of six possible ones — among them a princess, a wolf-girl, a thief or an armored warrior — and this choice determines not only the party's makeup but also which of the three main villains becomes your true antagonist and how the entire story unfolds. Replaying the game therefore opens up completely different chapters, which was an extraordinarily bold design in the 1990s.

Combat has changed from the original's semi-turn-based template into full-blooded action: the player moves freely around the arena, combines weak and strong attacks, dodges bosses' telegraphed attack zones, and charges a gauge for special techniques. But the legendary class-change system remains, where each character switches to a more advanced class twice over the course of the game and the player chooses between a light and a dark path, changing both their skills and their appearance. A new skill grid with passive bonuses was added, along with the ability to switch between party members at any time during battle.

Visually the game goes for a colorful, almost fairy-tale look with big eyes and glowing meadows, which looks charming on Switch, even though the resolution is lower than on other platforms and some players minded the simpler textures. The music is a newly recorded arrangement of the original songs, and you can switch to the original Super Famicom version at any time. Reception was welcoming, with reservations about the simplicity of combat in the first half. Today it's a pleasant, clear and not too long action RPG that also suits younger players. The real value, though, only shows on a second playthrough with a different trio of heroes, when new chapters and a different villain open up — and in that regard the game remains unusual even after thirty years.