You may be thinking of Secret of Mana. Same series though, but different dates/consoles

I've tried Legend of Mana twice. And though I loved Secret of Mana and mildly enjoyed Seiken Densetsu 3. I kinda hated Legend of Mana. It's a slow burn, and it's co-operative play is misleading and retardedly broken. Which really sealed it for me as I purchased it on PSN to play with my girlfriend, and it was a really disheartening experience. So now I have this seething bias against it. But it should have been designed better. The first two games did co-op better. They had the formula down. No excuses. Would not recommend /rant