Updated: Secret of Mana
Recently, Square Enix saw fit to release a surprise update for Secret of Mana, adding controller support, and tweaking some of the visuals.
While controller support is a welcome addition, of course, some of the visual changes are a little less welcome. New is the “widescreen mode”, which basically adds unnecessary green bars to the sides of the screen, rather than allowing the standard letterbox black bars. Also new is “retina” graphics, which basically amount to a blur filter dropped over the previously-beautiful pixel art.
These changes are perhaps unfortunate, but they certainly don’t ruin the experience. Secret of Mana is one of the most beloved and respected RPGs of it’s generation. Seeing the iOS version get ANY love is always welcome. And the control improvements really are a massive improvement. In addition to full controller support with both Standard and Extended layouts, movement now takes place over 360 degrees of motion. All previous versions of this game locked motion along preset axes.