Following in the footsteps of albums like Chip Tuned Rockman, Square Enix is taking some of its beloved music from the post-8bit era and rearranging it into new chiptune remixes for its latest album SQ Chips.

Love SQ (the first album in the series) has already shown us how great 8bit remixes of Chrono Trigger can be thanks to the talents of Sexy Synthesizer. And while we don’t know which artists are contributing to SQ Chips, we do know most of the games it will feature. Aside from more Chrono Trigger, expect to hear music from Secret of Mana and its Japan-only sequel Seiken Densetsu 3, Einhänder, Threads of Fate, Brave Fencer Musashi, Saga 2 and Unlimited Saga, Project Sylpheed and of course, the Final Fantasy series.

SQ Chips will available on September 7th for ¥1890 (approximately $23.50) from Amazon Japan, the Sony Music Shop and the Square Enix eStore. Until then, you can check out a sample by listening to the background music on the official site.

Source: Square Enix (via GamePro)

"Does anyone remember where we parked?"

“Secret of Mana” is an action RPG by Squaresoft for the Super NES that came out in 1993. It is from a 3/4 perspective and plays a lot like “The Legend of Zelda”. One of it’s most unique features was that it used the multitap adapter to allow for three players simultaneously.

These are the facts, and they are all well and good. But this isn’t really a review in the traditional sense. This is more of a recounting of my experience surrounding Secret of Mana and why it is one of the games that means so much to me as a gamer.

It all started with a friend of mine in Junior High, Chris. In shop class he would spin tales of this crazy new game he was playing. Tales of epic battles against hordes of unique and interesting sounding monsters, a flying dragon you traversed the world on, and of teamwork in doing so thanks to the game’s multiplayer components. Chris and his dad were playing through this grand adventure together. I had never heard of this “Mana” game he was talking about, but after his stories, I had to play it.

(more…)