Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Review)

Super Mario RPG was the last Mario game produced for the Super Nintendo. It was a joint project between Nintendo and Square-Enix and was the first RPG for the Mario franchise. This game was not very well known because it was released only months before the N64, so nobody gave it any attention. Luckily, I got the game for a birthday present and though it took me a while to figure out how to play it (I was 8 and it was the first RPG I ever played), it became one of my favorite games. Those that played it considered it to be one of the best games of all time and really wanted Nintendo to put it on the Wii's Virtual Console. The game was finally released on the Virtual Console last September and everyone who missed out on it got to see what all the fuss was about. Meanwhile, I played through it and found the game to be just as amazing as it was way back then.

The game's RPG roots allowed for the Mario storyline to be properly expanded for the first time. The story starts like a typical Mario game with Mario going to save Princess Peach from Bowser. Once Mario is about to rescue her, a giant sword falls from the sky crashing into Bowser's castle. The crash sends Mario, Bowser, and Peach flying in all different directions and Mario ventures off to find Peach. Eventually, Mario meets a spirit in the form of a doll named Geno who explains that when the sword fell from the sky, it fell through The Star Road spreading the pieces of it everywhere. The Star Road is what grants everyone's wishes and the sword is a henchmen for a alien named Smithy, who plans to get rid of all wishes and replace them with weapons. In 1996, it was definitely refreshing to see a major Mario game that didn't center on saving Peach. The story is well written with plenty of humor, though I don't think the writting is as good as the later RPGs in the series. The game's full of interesting and unique new characters and the classic cast of Mario characters have their personalities defined and expanded. Bowser in particular, steals the show with some truly hilarious dialogue.

The game is pretty much the same as any other RPG. The big difference is that in battle you can use actions called Timed Hits. For example, if you have Mario punch and you press A at the right time while attacking, he will punch twice instead and do extra damage. This also works defensively and with special magic attacks. It's intuitive and it has been implemented in every Mario RPG game since this game. Like other RPGs, you can use magic in battle which take up FP(Flower Points) and when FP is gone, then you'll have to use an item to replenish it. You also can buy or find new Weapons and Armor to equip on your characters. The weapons that you can equip are fun and fit the Mario universe well, like a giant koopa shell, hammers, a star gun (for Geno), and razor claws (for Bowser). The only problem comes with the item storage, you can only carry 30 items and duplicate items don't stack. You'll receive items from battle constantly so it won't be long before you have to start selling/trashing items to make room for better ones.

The overall game is not that difficult, although most of the latter bosses can cause a decent bit of trouble due to some really cheap overpowered special attacks. The game is a fairly decent length running about 7-8 hours, which becomes longer when you explore the game's big overworld to find all the hidden secrets. The game has really great replay value as I've already played through the game several times over since its re-release last year. I've talked about this game a lot longer than I meant to, but that's only because I love this game so much. I say anyone who loves fun games should do themselves a favor and check this one out. It's easily one of the best games in the Mario franchise.