Secret of Mana/Controls


 * Use the direction pad to guide your player characters through the world, in eight different directions. When navigating through the ring commands, press left and right to cycle through the options of the visible ring, or press up or down to display different rings.
 * Press and hold the A button to dash. Can only be performed once a character is 100% ready to act.
 * Press the B button to perform an attack. Once you are at at least level 1 proficiency with a weapon, press and hold the B button to begin storing power, and release it once the meter fills for a stronger attack.  When in town, press the B button to speak with people, or make selections.  Press the B button to choose items in the ring command.
 * Press the Y button to summon the ring menu for your currently controller character. Pressing Y will also cancel selections in menus.
 * Press the X button to summon the ring menu for a computer controller character. If only one player is playing, keep pressing the X button to toggle between either of the other characters.
 * Pressing the Start button on a second or third controller will bring other players into the game. Pressing Start a second time, will exit that player out of the game.
 * Press the Select button to toggle control over one of the other computer controlled characters.


 * Resetting the game:Press and hold       in the middle of the game to return to the title screen.

Understanding character control
Not long after the game begins, you will be in control of a total of three characters. At least one person must control one of the characters, but the remaining to may be player controller or computer controlled.

If only one player is playing the game, the computer will make basic decisions for every character that you are not in control of, such as where to walk (generally in the player character's vicinity), and where and when to attack. You can change the battle AI for a computer controlled character through a menu. However, if you would like a computer controller character to switch weapons, equipment, cast spells, or anything else driven through a command ring, you must press until the command ring appears around the character in question. To close this ring, press twice; once to bring the ring up around your character, and a second time to close it. Additionally, at any time, you may press to take control of a different character. Naturally, this implies that the computer will take control of the character you previously directed.

Other players can come in and out of the game at will by pressing on their control pad. In a three player game, the characters that each player controls is fixed, but in a two player game, there is one floating character that the computer will control. Just as in a one player game, either player can take control of that character by pressing, or bring up the command ring for that character by pressing. However, they won't be able to influence any character that the other player is controlling.