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SECRET OF MANA 2 English Cartridge

This whole situation basically began several years ago when I began getting emails asking me if it was actually possible to put the translated Seiken Densetsu 3 rom onto an actual Super NES cartridge and play it on the console itself. At the time, I didn't know of any way to actually do this, but it seemed like a feasible idea nonetheless. A few months ago, I began getting an unusually high number of people emailing me various links to two different versions of the Seiken Densetsu 3 English cartridge that were for sale. Both cartridges had the game titled as "Secret of Mana II" and both also were selling for in excess of $300 each. A steap price tag indeed, but definitely one that many gamers were perfectly willing to pay in order to own this prized RPG that was never released outside of Japan. Most of the emails I received were basically people asking where they could buy this cartridge and whether or not it actually worked and played in English. I've played through the translated rom of Seiken Densetsu 3 several times over the years, but I had not had any experience with any of these supposed "English" version Secret of Mana II cartridges. I decided to pick one up and see for myself if in fact they did work on the actual Super Nintendo console and how well-made they were. I've been asked by the person I bought this cartridge from not to mention his/her name, so in respect to that request, I'll keep it to myself. If you're interested in one of these cartridges, just do a search on Yahoo or Google and you shouldn't have much trouble locating one. And before anyone emails me asking where to buy one of these carts or if this one I have is for sale, let me just say that my lips are sealed and this cart isn't for sale. Okay, now that we have that out of the way, let's take a look at this Secret of Mana II cartridge. As you can see from the pics at the right, the cartridge does in fact play on the actual Super NES console and in full English as well. For those wondering, this is in fact the Neil Corlett translation version 1.01. This cartridge also has the patch installed that allows three (3) players to play the game at the same time. When you turn on the game, it boots up exactly as the Japanese version does, the only difference is that the game text is in full English. If you've played the translated rom, you'll immediately feel right at home with this game. I've put in about 8 hours so far into the game and it looks, sounds, and plays absolutely perfectly. It even plays better than it does on the emulator as the graphical effects and scrolling are silky smooth. It's quite nice to be able to finally play this translated game on the actual Super NES console. So now we know that the game does in fact work and does play in full English. So how well is the game cartridge made and is it reliable? The label that comes on the cartridge is very high quality and looks fantastic. The cartridge itself is black, possibly being a Killer Instinct cartridge casing if I didn't know any better. Even the spine label on top of the cartridge looks great. The label doesn't look like a homemade job and is cut and placed on the cartridge just like the official Super NES cartridge labels. Even the logo that displays the game title as "Secret of Mana 2" is very well drawn and looks quite authentic. It's obvious that some serious time was spent in creating this label. It even has the Nintendo quality assurance label, although we all know that Nintendo certainly didn't approve this game for an official release. : ) Inside you'll find a Super Flash board. As you can see, it's shaped very similarly to the regular Super Nintendo cartridge boards and even has the CR2302 coin battery in place for storing game save information. The board is very high-quality and all of the soldering on the board is professional quality all the way. And yes, I checked it over quite thoroughly. Once again, nothing that looks the slightest bit homemade inside the cartridge either. It's quite impressive. I'm going to continue playing through the entire game and if I have any problems, I'll be sure and report them in here, but it's looking like this is an outstanding product and one that anyone who's always wanted to play this game on the actual Super Nintendo console will love. It's a shame that these cartridges are so costly, but no more of a shame than Square still not seeing fit to release this wonderful RPG outside of Japan. I guess it comes down to the question of how badly do you want to own this English language cartridge, because at around $300, you'd better want to play this game awfully bad to shell out that kind of money. At least you can rest assured that you're at least getting a quality product that should last for years to come.

Secret of Mana 2 playing on my US Super NES system Secret of Mana 2 (English) cartridge Secret of Mana 2 board (Front) Secret of Mana 2 board (Back)