Secret of Evermore: Casual Run
A big overhaul of Secret of Evermore that cuts the grinding, gives the rings direct button shortcuts, fixes long-standing bugs and adds co-op, an optional third player and New Game Plus.
What it changes
Casual Run keeps the story, areas and puzzles of Secret of Evermore but removes much of the friction. Once the Jaguar Ring is found the boy runs by default, and the Main, Item and Alchemy rings each get their own button. With the Oracle Bone, L switches the dog between his forms and R makes him sniff.
Levelling is far gentler: the experience curve is roughly halved, weapon skill is shared within each weapon family, related alchemy formulas train each other, and sniffing now helps the dog grow. Enemies drop more money and region-specific goods, healing items restore more, and a few costly or awkward purchases are cheaper.
Fixes and extras
The patch repairs a list of progression bugs and softlocks, rebalances weapons, spells and charms, and trims the health of several drawn-out bosses. The script has been proofread throughout, with distinct dialogue window styles for different speakers. A second player can join on controller 2, the Magic Gourd lets a third player control a blue copy of the boy through a Multitap (still marked as being tested), and an optional New Game Plus starts a fresh cycle while keeping much of your growth.
Playing it
Apply the patch to your own unheadered US copy of the game, following the instructions in the creator's repository. The project is by andrewclunn and builds on FuSoYa's two-player work, Ninakoru's balance research, assassin17's fixes and other community contributions credited on the page.