When comparing Anomaly Defenders vs Secret of Mana, the Slant community recommends Secret of Mana for most people. In the question“What are the best Android tablet games?” Secret of Mana is ranked 12th while Anomaly Defenders is ranked 84th. The most important reason people chose Secret of Mana is:
Twenty some odd years later and Secret of Mana is still considered one of the best action role playing game experiences there is.
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Pros
Pro Can be played offline
Anomaly Defenders allows for offline play, making for a good game to play when there is no available internet connection.
Pro Fantastic graphics
Hands down the best looking tower defense game on Android as of 2014.
Pro Deep progression and upgrade systems
Anomaly Defenders has a lot of upgrade options that give the game a lot of replayability and also just a huge amount of player choice that allows the game to cater to any kind of playstyle.
Pro Complex, varied level design
The level design in Anomaly Defenders is more varied and complex than most tower defense games on the Android platform.
Pro Has stood the test of time
Twenty some odd years later and Secret of Mana is still considered one of the best action role playing game experiences there is.
Pro Unique ring command system allows for easy menu selection
The ring command system used for selecting equipment and other options is still as innovative today as it was back in 1993.
A first at it's time, the ring command system allowed for users to select their weapons and equipment easily without having to leave the main game screen, making for selecting quite easy.
Pro Shift in gameplay for Squaresoft/SquareEnix made RPGs
Secret of Mana features a top down real time battle system akin to other action role playing games such as Legend of Zelda that at the time was a large shift from the turn based fare that Square created. Even today Square Enix does not foray too often into the action role playing genre, making for a unique experience when it comes to Square created titles.
Pro Considered one of the best stories in RPG's young and old
While the outline of the story is the normal RPG fare, where a young boy is tasked with saving the world, the characters and their journey still holds up as one of the best ever written.
Pro Colorful 16bit era graphics
Secret of Mana was created at the height of the 16bit SNES era and utilized some of the most colorful and stylized fantasy role playing game graphics. While it would have been nice to see Square polish them up a bit for HD devices, they still hold up, especially in a market that has many games designed with bit graphics as a current trend.
Cons
Con Extremely slowly paced
The gameplay takes a very long time to get moving and even then it still feels slow.
Con Graphically, almost a direct port
Square Enix has done nothing to polish the graphics in this port which for the price point is a little disheartening. The black borders on both sides of the screen are also disappointing. To see Square do so little to accommodate HD devices and their swath of screen sizes, it makes one wonder how they get away charging the prices they do.