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Why Don't You Come With Me, Little Girl, On a Magic Cannon Ride: Platypus Nostalgia

Why do we love to explore?

I've played Squaresoft's "Secret of Mana" through more times than I care to count.  As I've stated earlier, it has sentimental value to me.  In the final analysis, however, sentimental value only goes so far.  So why do I keep playing.

It's a fair question.  Look at the map.  You'll see that the world of "Secret of Mana" is no where near as complex as that of "Final Fantasy III."  In addition, the English dialog is simple to the point of being facile; though, from what I hear, that's not the translator's fault.  The whole look of the game is brightly colored and rather on the "cutesy" side.  The only place where it really measures up to the Final Fantasy series is in the soundtrack which is beautiful and moving, especially considering the primitive tools they had to work with.  All that said, I still love this game.

So what's so great about "Secret of Mana?"  In two words: cannon travel.  Yup, that's right, "cannon travel."  Your characters get stuffed into an over-sized cannon by cavemen and fired across the world.  Sure, you can hoof it to most places, and later in the game there's Flammie the dragon, but when push comes to shove, it's time to slide on down the barrel and spark it.  The novelty of being shot across an imaginary world highlights the real charm of the game: it's a whole WORLD to explore.  Unlike Link's Hyrule, the world of Mana is too large to be crossed on foot.  It's a whole lot more than seven or eight screens one way and five screens another way.  In "Secret of Mana," there are whole continents (one of them is even sunken).  Unlike the various islands of the Final Fantasy series, each continent in the world of Mana is radically distinct with it's own unique look and inhabitants.  Combine that with the fact that it's not possible to just go stomping wherever you want that makes the primary pleasure and challenge of the game exploration.  It's a reward to be able to get to a new place, not an entitlement, and it pays off in a beautiful sense of wonder.

This brings us back to the first question: why do we like to explore?  The first answer that comes to mind is the Genesis Mandate: "go, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it."  As human beings, we're built for exploration.  It's part of our telos, our dirrective.  When we're kids, we role-play at the things we'll do when we're adults.  "Secret of Mana" reminds us that exploration is one of those things.

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