Super Mario RPG; Legend of the Seven Stars is the first Mario game that is a RPG. Specifically, it is a JRPG developed by the esteemed Square, famous for their classics such as Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. The game is a interesting mix of platforming elements of a typical Super Mario game, mixed with the JRPG goodness of Final Fantasy. Mario can jump at any time when traversing the areas and treasure chests are instead placed above the ground such that Mario has to jump to hit it and obtain its contents. Enemies are shown on the field so there aren’t any random encounters. Coming into contact with one will transition to the battle screen and the menu system is slightly different to a typical JRPG as well. Instead of a menu list, each action is mapped to a button: items, attack, special attack, and other actions. When a character does a normal attack, pressing the button with the right timing will increase its power, similar to how Final Fantasy VIII’s gunblade worked (which came afterwards). The same happens when an enemy attacks, pressing a button at the right time will lower damage. Instead of MP, there are flower points and these allow the character to use special attacks. These include Mario’s jump attack or his fireball attack. The timing of button presses adds a lot to the simple battle system.
Your party consists of three members, although there are five playable characters in total. You’ll be surprised at who you get to control. Each character has their strengths and weaknesses and upon leveling up, you’re allowed to select an area to give extra stats to. Those not in the party actually gains experience points at the same rate so you never have to worry about one falling behind. This gives you the freedom to swap characters in and out of your party without any fear of a penalty. The game is flexible enough that you can go for an all-out physical assault party or even it up with a dedicated healer. The story is simple. Bowser has kidnapped Princess Toadstool and when Mario goes to save her, he manages to defeat Bowser. However, Bowser takes Mario down with him and manages to knock him back to his house. From there, Mario tries to go to the castle again but finds out that the bridge has collapsed and he ends u ptraversing the long way. He has tasked with gathering the seven titular stars along the way although it remained a mystery on why they even existed during the beginning of the game. It is only seemingly tied to the new villain that we only saw a glimpse of.
Being a RPG, there are heavier story elements and more dialogue to go through. It is an excellent RPG adaptation of the Mario franchise though, with tons of familiar allies and enemies. The humor is on point and is one of the best aspects of the game. The graphics are 2D given that it was on the SNES but rendered in an isometric view, giving faux 3D. The isometric view makes for really poor platfomring when the camera angles are awkward. Mario will often have to make a jump that needs to be angled properly, yet the d-pad doesn’t have the precision required. Coupled with the need to do running jumps (where you press two buttons at the same time) and you can have a terrible time in some sections. This is extremely true in one of the climbing sections where if you fail a jump, you fall all the way at the bottom. It’s a painful and bad design. Then there is the “3D maze” in one of the dungeons. It’s really annoying since you are blind and can’t see where Mario is going; it makes for a terrible gimmick. The dungeons themselves are fairly linear and not too easy to get lost in. There will be the occasional puzzle here and there, or a bigger slightly more confusing map, but nothing that will make you rage.
The game’s currency is in the form of coins which you can use to purchase items and equipment. Sadly, items are limited to a maximum of twenty, and multiples of the same items will use up multiple slots so you can’t really hoard stuff.nThe game is on the easier side. Normal enemy encounters shouldn’t be much of a problem but the later bosses are tougher. The final boss is a suitable challenge and several have interesting gimmicks. You can easily die when you first fight them because you are unfamiliar with the strengths and weakness of each of their phases.nThe game isn’t too long, especially considering it is a RPG. The level cap is only 30 and you don’t need to be near it to beat the game. It takes around 10-20 hours to complete depending if you know what to do.
Overall, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a great game and an excellent attempt of putting Mario within the RPG genre. It manages to keep the core RPG elements, while injecting its own spin inspired by the original series. While the platforming isn’t perfect since the game is presented in an isometric 3D view so that it can be annoying at times, all the positives offset this. The humor is fantastic, the battle system works well, and it’s a lot of fun traversing and exploring the world, especially given that it isn’t afraid to flip some of your expectations around.
-----------------------------------------------------
For other game reviews, have a look at this page.
