Actually, now that I can think about it, Secret of Mana is probably one of the greatest game in terms of presentation. The music is clearly excellent, and even the usual filler music sounds lively and have a purpose. When I go through the soundtrack I can usually tell you what happened at every one of the track, despite the fact that the game really doesn't have a memorable plot. If you look at the ending sequence, starting from the time you just defeat Thantos, the 3 tracks played from there up to the confrontation with the Mana Beast could all be considered as 'major event' worthy, and yet it goes through 2 of them in literally the spam of 1 minute.
It is the only game besides Chrono Trigger I can think of where major game elements are synchronized to music. In CT, Magus's theme begins exactly when he says, "Give me your best shot, if you are prepared for the void!" Of course this is because his speech has a fixed speed that you cannot speed up or slow down. Well if you look at the 3 tracks that comprise the final battle, assuming you've a normal reading speed, the climax of each track coincides with something important in the plot. The Mana Beast appears in the center of the screen at exactly when the battle music hits in the climax, and it always comes with a Wall Level 8, which is clearly the game's best showoff spell. Why does a being that is absolutely imprevious to spells need to cast Wall? Because Wall is the game's prettiest spell, and it shows off the splendor of the Mana Beast in its full glory. The game doesn't even pretend that this is supposed to be a fight that's trying to beat you. It just wants you to see the best it has to show off.
Or just look at Mana Beast's attack pattern. The first time you only see a fireball. The second time you can tell it is clearly a White Dragon. The third time, you get to see the Mana Beast in its full grandeur in the center of your screen, and that says a lot louder than any of the game's attempt to portray this struggle. Sure, the game mentioned about how the Mana Beast is only trying to save the world, and that it sucks the good guys got to kill it to prevent it from accidentally destroying humanity. But really that's your standard 'bad guys have family too' sob story that is way overused. And indeed Secret of Mana doesn't really dwell on the sob story, but rather creates the conflict via its presentation. Honestly the Mana Beast looks more good than your party of 3 random guys. In death, the Mana Beast merely turns into snow instead of your usual mega super duper explosion of doom. Again, this highlights the fact that what you did was a regrettable decision that must be done to save the planet. Terranigma is the only other game I can think of where a game is able to achieve this and make you question what you did is right without explicitly going: "Psst, maybe this is wrong!"
