The only thing that relates this rotten game to "The Secret of Mana" is the name.  Everything else is just a rotten imitation of that fine game.  The graphics are well drawn, but poorly animated.  The music is lame.  The story is weak, and worst of all, the play controls are horrendous.
The ring menu system from "The Secret of Mana" was a thing of beauty that let you quickly use items and equip your characters.  "Sword of Mana" has ring menus as well, but they're sluggish, and they flash for no apparent reason.  Also, it seems like it takes forever for the guy to swing his sword after you have pressed the button.  If you play it with the GameCube GameBoy Player, you'll even notice a bit of flicker.
Another minor irritation is that no matter what kind of creature you kill, it leaves behind something that looks like a bull skeleton.  I could understand that in 1992, but it's 2003!  Surely ROM is cheap enough by now for the cartridge to hold an assortment of remains.
I doubt that the original Mana team even worked on this thing.  In the opening, it mentions Brown & Browne, which makes me suspect that Square is just a publisher for this game, not a developer.  They pulled the same dirty trick with "Breath of Fire" which was an okay game developed by Capcom, but it was not as good as a Square game.
If they couldn't be bothered to do it right, they shouldn't have done it at all.
The only thing that relates this rotten game to "The Secret of Mana" is the name. Everything else is just a rotten imitation of that fine game. The graphics are well drawn, but poorly animated. The music is lame. The story is weak, and worst of all, the play controls are horrendous. The ring menu system from "The Secret of Mana" was a thing of beauty that let you quickly use items and equip your characters. "Sword of Mana" has ring menus as well, but they're sluggish, and they flash for no apparent reason. Also, it seems like it takes forever for the guy to swing his sword after you have pressed the button. If you play it with the GameCube GameBoy Player, you'll even notice a bit of flicker. Another minor irritation is that no matter what kind of creature you kill, it leaves behind something that looks like a bull skeleton. I could understand that in 1992, but it's 2003! Surely ROM is cheap enough by now for the cartridge to hold an assortment of remains. I doubt that the original Mana team even worked on this thing. In the opening, it mentions Brown & Browne, which makes me suspect that Square is just a publisher for this game, not a developer. They pulled the same dirty trick with "Breath of Fire" which was an okay game developed by Capcom, but it was not as good as a Square game. If they couldn't be bothered to do it right, they shouldn't have done it at all.