Pound for pound perhaps the greatest RPG ever made.
Gameplay
The Secret of Mana is relatively simple to get to grips with, the D-pad's used to move your character, and one button is used to swing your weapon and another to access you inventory. Once the inventory button is pressed you can cycle through a list of options, from magic to character stats, and an excellent feature is that the game pauses while you do this, so if you're low on health during a boss battle finding a heal item isn't a rush. I only find one problem with the gameplay - once all three characters are in your party a common annoyance is when one of them gets stuck. They mimic your every movement, and it can happen quite often. Once a character does get stuck you have to go back and wait for them to 'unstick' themselves before carrying on as there's an invisible 'rope' between you and the NPCs that stops you from running too far ahead of your party.
Graphics
Obviously awful by todays standard of games, but 12 years ago, way back in 1994 to be exact, this was about as good as it got. The character graphics are pretty good, apart from the fact that when they 're frightened for example they look like they're having a fit. The backgrounds are by no means bad either, but pretty standard none the less.
Sound
Personally, I love the music in The Secret of Mana. There are dozens of songs that are extremely catchy, and I still like to sing along to the tunes when I blow the dust off of the old SNES. Sound effects however are a slight letdown, but It's hardly noticeable.
Story
This is where The Secret of Mana truly shines. As all Role Playing Games should, the story makes this game something special. You, as the hero, have been outcast for your home village for attracting monsters to the land by pulling an ancient sword from a stone. I won't spoil it too much in case you've never played it, but the rest as they say is history.
Value
I still play this game 13 years after it's release. Once you complete it on your own, the fun doesn't end as you can have one or even two of your mates join you to beat the game, so if you haven't played this game, you should. It is am absolute must have for all RPG fans. I wouldn't consider this game to be particularly rare, so you should be able to find it on places like E-Bay or maybe at your local games store if they sell old games.