You also get to see more of your other 2 character's story when they're in your party. The overarching story is always the same, but each character has a unique intro sequence you only get to play when you pick them first. The characters you choose will become the focus of the story, and the rest will have much smaller roles. There's 6 characters to choose from, but you can only have a party of 3. What Trials of Mana does differently is that it gives you different sides of the story depending on which characters you choose and the order you pick them in. You play as the chosen hero, collect 8 stones, and get a magic sword to save the world from an evil being from another dimension. Trials of Mana has a very cliche premise, but the way it tells its story is very different from most RPGs of the time. I went into Trials of Mana hoping for a better game than Secret of Mana, and I think I got that, but it’s definitely not the masterpiece I was hoping for. That is, until Collection of Mana was released on Switch back in June, shortly after Nintendo's E3 2019 Direct. It was released on the Super Famicom as Seiken Densetsu 3 in 1995, but it was never released outside Japan. Being a big fan of Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy Adventure, I was hyped for a sequel, but it never came.

I remember first seeing it in an old game magazine as Secret of Mana 2. Trials of Mana is one of those legendary white whale import games like Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Monster World IV once were, and Mother 3 still is.

Seiken densetsu 3 ring menu gif