Running bSnes in Bizhawk. SO glad that signpost didn't mess up the data.

Used Yagamoth's setup found at pastebin.com/TWPSdjn3 having read https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/secret_of_mana_1021.html#secret_of_mana_1021

Note that you can only trigger the pointer shenanigans on the first barrel - if you miss and talk to cannon travel guy it messes up the data, and then the only backup is to go to Dwarf Village and reset the data to 0 with the save file screen like in Neko's.