If you’ve never played video games before, you’ve surely heard of Mario. The colourful family-friendly games that feature him, which are mainly platformers, consist of moving and jumping – controls and gameplay mechanics that are easy to understand. But what if you combined that with an RPG [or role-playing game], such as the influential “Final Fantasy” series? You get Nintendo and the company Square collaborating on making the game “Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars”, which is essentia
lly the result of Mario and “Final Fantasy” having a baby. [Okay, let's not go there] The plot is basically the same as any Mario game: Mario must rescue Princess Toadstool/Peach from Bowser. That's what it appears to be at first, but a giant living sword falls from the sky and crashes into Bowser’s castle. It turns out this is the work of the evil Smithy, a robotic blacksmith who wants to take over the world, starting with the stealing of the Star Pieces of the Star Road. If Smithy is successfu
l, wishes won’t come true and the world will run amok with his anthropomorphic [metal] weapons. Mario is not alone, though. He is joined by a few allies consisting of Mallow, Geno, and surprisingly Princess Toadstool and even the nefarious Bowser himself. Considering all of this information, the story, which many could assume to be childish, is not that of a typical Mario game. It is actually very humorous, right down to the mocking and parodying of the ‘save the princess’ plot featured in most
Mario games, as well as references to pop culture such as Power Rangers. The characters are generally endearing, likable and relatable – Bowser, for example, has some good as well as bad in him which he himself learns through helping Mario. Even an enemy character you confront named Booster is more than just an enemy, he’s a misunderstood individual who doesn’t understand how weddings work. The story is a simple one to comprehend, yet more complex and emotional than the typical Mario game, while
retaining the series’ colourful whimsy and atmosphere. Speaking of colourful, the graphics in this game are some of the best on the Super Nintendo system – which is unsurprising given its release towards the end of the console’s lifespan. Advanced computer modelling techniques and the use of special lighting effects, not to mention a three-quarter camera perspective meant this was the closest thing to a 3D Mario game until “Super Mario 64” launched on the Nintendo 64. However, the perspective i
s one of the game’s bigger problems. While it’s certainly nice to have Mario move and jump around in eight directions in an almost-3D environment, it can be hard to judge distance and direction which can lead to plenty of mistimed jumps and falling off. This doesn’t break the game by any means, but there may be players out there who will feel at least a little frustrated. Of course, you’re not just running and jumping as you would in a Mario game – you’re also engaging in turn-based combat, and
this is where the game is good for newcomers to the RPG genre, as well as veterans. Should you bump into an enemy on the field [most of which you can thankfully avoid if you want to] or be taunted by a boss, you will go to the battle screen where you see Mario and his allies [if he has any at that moment in the story] facing the opposition almost as if it were a chess match. You have the option to either attack, defend, run, use an item or perform magic/advanced attacks. You also have to choose
which allies of Mario’s you use, as you can only have two of them out of four in any one battle [Mario is the only character you can’t switch]. Do you use Princess Toadstool’s talents in healing abilities, or do you utilize Geno’s attacks that deal considerably high amounts of damage? So, customizing a party of three characters and have them take turns fighting the bad guys is pretty typical of RPGs, but “Super Mario RPG” takes it a step further by introducing the feature of timed-button presses
that, when done properly, increase or decrease damage that you give to enemies or that they give to you. This feature was also carried over to future Mario RPG games. Mario and his friends will use weapons, items and special moves that are part of the Mario universe, with one of the most notable inclusions being Mario’s super jump. You will find weapons and armour and accessories in shops or by exploring the world for secrets – these will increase attributes or provide bonuses such as protectio
n from poison attacks. The further you get into the game, the more you will replace these items to make your party more powerful. It wouldn’t be an RPG of course if your characters didn’t level up and learn new special moves through gaining experience points from battle. You get to choose one out of three bonuses when you level up: increasing basic attack and defense, increasing magic attack and defense or increasing health points/HP. Almost regardless of what you choose for optimization, howeve
r, the game actually is pretty easy. At later points in the game, you will really have to strategize to find an enemy’s weak point, but outside that, a little more challenge would’ve been nice. However, this is why “Super Mario RPG” is a good introduction to RPGs for newcomers, and it’s not just because of the relative lack of challenge. Most RPGs have many items, stats, special attacks, ways of customizing a a potentially large cast of characters and perhaps more besides that can get quite comp
lex despite the potential freedom at your fingertips. “Super Mario RPG” is not that complex, with a limited number of items, commands and stats to understand, use and customize to your liking. The numbers are easy to keep track of, regardless of what defences or special attacks an enemy may have. It’s a system that anyone can understand and have fun with. Also, it's hard to get lost in this game. You travel to each locale via an interactive map, and outside of mazes, they aren’t that big. Charac
ters will give you a good indication of where to go, though you are free to explore the world for yourself, and talk to characters, find secrets or play mini-games – some of which are mandatory. These can be frustrating due to the aforementioned perspective. Not necessarily counting additional content, this game should take roughly 15 hours to complete, which is considerably shorter than other RPGs where big worlds and lots of customization and content potentially mean getting to the end of the
story takes a long time. Speaking of other RPG staples, I have come this far and have not mentioned the music. Quite a few melodies from previous Mario games are remixed into this game, but it is really the diverse amount of original melodies and instrumentation that complements a locale or an emotional part of the story where the soundtrack shines…like a ‘Star’. The only problem is, much of the battle music, while certainly well composed, can get extremely repetitive. What you get with “Super M
ario RPG” overall is a gem on the Super Nintendo that was somewhat overlooked, mostly due to the release of “Super Mario 64” not that long after. While the almost-3D perspective, level of challenge and certain aspects of customization could’ve been improved, not to mention the potential increase of the hours it takes to complete, “Super Mario RPG” is a fun game. It’s hard to believe a platforming game like Mario could’ve been an RPG, but somehow it works. The fact that the game was followed by t
wo spiritual sequel series [“Paper Mario” and “Mario & Luigi”] goes to show that the intention of the developers to make an understandable RPG for all ages by featuring a character to which many people already felt attached in a surprisingly emotional and humourous story complete with lovely graphics and sound paid off. If you haven’t really played RPGs or are at least looking for another one to play, then the purchase of a SNES Mini [or an actual cartridge if you can find one], or perhaps even
a Wii or Wii U Virtual Console download of the game itself should be a no-brainer decision.
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