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Secret of Mana MSU-1

Original game : Secret of Mana

Platform : SNES

Author : DarkShock

Release date : 21 June 2015

Category : Improvement

Patch version : 1.0

Modifications : S

Downloads : 5440

ROM Information

Secret of MANA
U.S.A.
2097152 Bytes (16.0000 Mb)
Interleaved/Swapped: No
Backup unit/emulator header: No
Internal size: 16 Mb
Version: 1.0
Checksum: Ok, 0x51fc (calculated) == 0x51fc (internal)
Inverse checksum: Ok, 0xae03 (calculated) == 0xae03 (internal)
Checksum (CRC32): 0xd0176b24

Hack description

This patch adds support for CD quality audio to Secret of Mana using MSU-1 chip invented by byuu. So far, it is only supported and tested on BSNES/BSNES-plus, higan and the SD2SNES flashcart.

If the MSU-1 is not detected, the patch plays the original music, thus the patch works on all emulators (but it is less fun to listen to).

The link to the audio pack is included in the README file.

Screenshots

Contributions

ContributorType of contributionDescription
DarkShockHackingASM hacking & coding
GinBunBunMusicMusic compilation
NTI ProductionsMusicMusic editing

Reviews

Mixed bag, inconsistent, not recommandedBregalad2015-07-21Version 1.0

While this hack comes from a great idea and works flawlessly, the audio whom the CD-quality music comes from is a huge mixed bag and is inconsistent through the game.

A couple of songs sounds very close to the SNES version, yet they are a tiny little different, I really wonder how they could reproduce them so closely. Some other songs are great remixes but don't go at all with the timing within the game (both intro themes), which is a major problem. Other songs are just fine and perfect remixes of great quality, others songs are good but changed too much and do not fit in game anymore, as the instrumentation or chording changed too much.

A couple of songs are heavy metal remixes which are totally out of place, such as the boss theme.

And worse of all, the music is way too loud so that sound effects can't be heard anymore, but some songs are much louder than others, forcing you to turn the volume knob constantly.

In all, this is a great idea but very poorly executed, especially considering I've offered my help on the matter. If only there was some consistency in the pick for musical re-arrangement, this hack would make sense, but the inconsistent choices for music is a real problem. My opinion is that the majority of music songs are too much altered from the game's original.