Early Luna

Original game : Secret of Mana

Platform : SNES

Author : Kethinov

Release date : 06 July 2019

Category : Improvement

Patch version : 1.3

Modifications : P

Downloads : 369

ROM Information

Secret of Mana (USA).sfc - NOINTRO
CRC32: D0176B24
MD5: 10A894199A9ADC50FF88815FD9853E19
SHA-1: 8133041A363E3CC68CEDEF40B49B6D20D03C505D
SHA-256: 4C15013131351E694E05F22E38BB1B3E4031DEDAC77EC75ABECEBE8520D82D5F

Hack description

This patch makes it possible to get the Luna elemental as soon as you can reach Karon's ferry, as early as your first visit to Kakkara.

Details:

- You will no longer be denied access to ride Karon's ferry under any circumstances. The original game denied you access to ride until after you got Lumina. This patch disables that check.
- The Crystal Orb in the Moon Palace will now be activated by Thunderbolt instead of Lucent Beam.
- These changes also have the side effect of making other Sylphid Crystal Orbs require Thunderbolt instead of Air Blast.
- The little girl in Kakkara will give you clues about how to get Luna before giving you clues about how to get Salamando.
- This patch does not require you to get Luna early. It merely allows you to. You can still get Luna in the original sequence if you like.

To visit the Moon Palace as early as your first visit to Kakkara, follow these steps:

1. From Kakkara town, go two screens south, then two screens right.

2. You'll be in a desert screen very close to the Sea of Wonders as you can tell by the stars all over the ground.

3. If you look at the top of the screen, you'll notice another pathway going north, but you can't reach it because your characters are blocked by the darkened pit of sand in front of it. That's because Square didn't want you to be able to get to Karon's ferry before you get Flammie.

4. You can blow past this obstacle by charging up a weapon and releasing it while facing north. Your other characters will be stuck, but you can just walk up to the next screen and they will catch up with you.

Doing that allows getting Luna before Salamando, Shade, or Lumina.

Important things to note:

- How to combine this with the Variable Width Font hack: 1. Apply VWF, 2. Remove header, 3. Apply Early Luna, 4. Apply Early Luna VWF support.
- How to combine this with Relocalized: 1. Apply Relocalized, 2. Apply Early Luna, 3. Apply Early Luna Relocalized support.

Contributions

Contributor	Type of contribution	Description
Kethinov	Hacking	Principal author
Queue	Hacking	Provided code for VWF and Relocalized support

Reviews

Totes stellar! I mean lunar, errr... yeah.	zoolgremlin	2019-11-05	Version 1.3
Tested as part of the ongoing Secret of Mana Turbo Project, by Queue (with various resources provided by zhaDe as part of Secret of Mana: New Game Improvement). Latest version used. Who would've thought you could do this in SoM, without bugging the game?! Not me! I'm just a noob, a clumsy tinkerer who might one day be a hacker. Maybe...? Hehe... In all seriousness, though, this is another great example of a mod that paves the way, for even further mods in the future, as well as being both interesting and useful in its own right. With this, a player will get a lot more use out of the Moon spells, than could ever be done otherwise without cheat codes. The additional text that gives the clue needed to get inside the Moon Palace, also spices the flavour of the game world and its various lore. As noted by the Creator, this will allow the use of powerful cheap spells, a lot sooner than was designed. That shifts the already-delicate gameplay balance even further, in favor of the player, which will perhaps not be to everyone's taste. But used in conjunction with Herbal Boost, as suggested, this is not so much the case as it would be. Recommended for its novelty, functionality and potential for additional hacks, that change the gameplay. In ways that can be both interesting and balanced, given enough time. kethinov is a Creator whose work is worth tracking in the long-term. Just to see what he'll pull out of the bag next, for whatever game it may be.

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