ok, I've sum it up. I give no guarantee whatsoever, please note that I never played the game either, so translations are approximatic. you can find the matching images on the original site.
Armet :
THE rumor. launched by Squaresoft itself. can be seen in the french guide, a helmet with an unknown price/defensive power. the place where it can be found is of course "secret"...
squarepalace (the site) opinion : we proved the existence of the Armet. our friend DooKie, as an exclusivity back then, found the Action Replay code "7ECC250C".
Secret item :
again found while toying with Action Replay by DooKie. it looks like a healing item, since its graphic effect is close to a candy or a nut. you may download
here a zSnes savestate providing that object, in slot 9. careful, your rom's name must match savestate's name (extension excluded) for the file to work.
SP's opinion : incredible ! 12 years after its release, SoM can still surprise us ! where does it come from, and what is its use ? if you know what this is about, feel free to contact us.
Secret character ?
while testing the heroes characteristics, DooKie and Poppu found by chance an unused sprite in SoM ! in some aspects, it reminds the emperor's sprite. to see it, enter zSnes code "7EE180B3". who is this person ? what gender is he/she ? why wasn't him/her included in the final version of the game ? those numerous questions will probably never find any answers. one of the "ultimate" secret of the game !
the character's palette. it's complete, so the sprite was fully finished !
SP's opinion : again an enigma left to solve : why not included ? enemy ? ally ? again a SP's exclusivity. don't forget to change room once the code entered to make your character's sprite change. if you know who it is, please contact us.
The Mysterious Island :
you must surely have already seen this island, lost somewhere in the ocean. a lot of people pretend it's a secret world, with much stronger enemies than in Mana's Fortress. some even said having been there, and found the Armet there ! what is about it ?
SP's opinion : SoM was originally designed for Satella View, the famicom's extension. but this extension was a failure, and only available in Japan. it allowed to play over the satellite at the cost of a monthly fee, like today's Internet connection. the most famous game on it were BS-Zelda and F-Zero premium edition.
the main interest was the ability to add new content to games, like dungeons in Zelda or tracks in F-Zero, without erasing the player's data. back then, it was a very interesting feature and really extended the games' lifetime.
but the developers rather chose to adapt SoM on the Famicom, which had a much broader public. that's why some parts of the game have no meaning, like this head in the ocean. the greatest loss about that change was probably about weapons/armors : players could borrow those of the sets to equip them (especially in the empty rooms of the ruins). but those elements disappeared because the console couldn't handle them, due to its lack of memory.
that's why there is this head-shaped island. maybe was it a whole lost world, or even more, the Armet, surely the remains of the beta version of the Satellite View.
moreover, a second head was found in the mountains. those oddities seem to be some sort of dedication from Squaresoft, since other faces can be found in the Final Fantasy series.
more to come :
- Solar
- Mana Sword
- True Sorcia ?
- a debug room ?
- kill Jojo
- infinite life points
- invincible
- go back to Potos
- sleep as Mimi
- perverted Mana developers ?
- level 9 magics
- infinite weapons spheres
- weapons spheres retailer
- no more shadows !
if you want on of those sections first, say so, or I'll do them in that order. might take some time. sorry for the (often) poor translation.
