“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” -William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Peanut butter and jelly. Milk and chocolate. Cream and sugar. Eggs and bacon. Square and Nintendo?

The one-time collaboration between the two game-developing giants in the mid nineties was the best example of a match made in heaven. Before Square abandoned Nintendo and their N64 for Sony and their PlayStation, there was Super Mario RPG.

The result of their alliance, their matrimony, was no ordinary RPG and no ordinary Mario platformer, but a game of a new quality. This game took the best of both worlds and mated them to produce one of the definitive titles on the Super Nintendo. As delightful and magical as the Mario franchise but as riveting and full of character as the Final Fantasy games, Super Mario RPG was a huge leap forward for the world’s most iconic plumber as he made the transition from a 2D platformer to a full-fledged, pseudo-3D, turn-based battling, role-playing protagonist. Fans of Square and/or Nintendo had a lot to smile at here.

But why even create such a game? What could possibly be in it for Nintendo? Surely, Mario was already doing quite well for himself. The landmark Super Mario Bros. for the NES remains one of the best-selling games of all time, having sold over 40 million copies. Yes, his platforming games were beginning to become formulaic but that didn’t appear to slow him down, either in Japan or in America. Nintendo wasn’t suffering for a lack of sales.

Contrariwise, Square (now Square Enix) wasn’t suffering for a lack of storytelling. By ’96 they had already created six numerical Final Fantasy games in addition to the Legends, SaGa, and Mana series (and don’t forget The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner, Square’s gimmicky gem!). They had also helped Capcom with the first Breath of Fire, created King’s Knight, and blessed the world with Chrono Trigger. Several of these titles were at the forefront of the RPG genre and would prove to define the direction of that genre for decades to come. Many of them are hailed as classics, and they should be. Their innovations such as the Active Time Battle system or the infusion of action gameplay elements are still in employ in various forms today.

Consider then what each developer had to gain. Nintendo could benefit from Square’s genius and their experience with gameplay and storytelling to enrich and deepen their most popular IP, whereas Square could benefit from using Nintendo’s star character to increase their own company’s presence worldwide instead of just Japan where their RPGs sold best.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.wordpress.com/2017/02/09/super-mario-rpg-legend-of-the-seven-stars/

Gameplay, Story and Value:

What starts as yet another "Mario saves Peach from Bowser" story, quickly turns into a grand adventure across the Mushroom Kingdom to save Mario's world from the impending threat of an army of sentient weapons! The lovechild between Nintendo and Squaresoft, Super Mario RPG offers a great experience that's mostly well written, fun to play and easy to enjoy. It's not the longest RPG, taking me just over 10 hours to beat, though admittedly I skipped out on a good bit of the side content.

Both the story and the difficulty curve are pretty light making this a great starter RPG, especially for fans of Mario. The writing is generally pretty good and really funny, but some odd plot holes (Mallow's reunion with his family stands out) tend to throw the whole thing off a bit. While in the beginning of the game I was laughing at my TV, by the end I was wearing a light smirk. Still, it all makes a nice, coherent experience that's easy to follow and enjoy.

Actually, I could almost sum up the entire game by saying concepts that were great to start overstayed their welcome by the game's end. This isn't to say Super Mario RPG is bad mechanically, quite the opposite, just that the things that make it unique tend to feel a bit off.

Take combat. The combat system itself is actually really good! The layout makes sense and is incredibly intuitive and accessing different menu commands is fast and easy. What Mario RPG does differently is allow you to land a bonus attack by timing a button press during your regular attack. This is all well and good, except that not only is this attack very easy to land, but the game seems to be balanced in such a way that it expects you to get the bonus attack every time. By that logic it's not so much a bonus for landing it, but rather a penalty for missing it.

Likewise, the game features an MP pool (FP or Flower Points in this game) that is shared across the entire party. Items can increase the amount of FP your party has access to and of course various items can replenish it in combat. While managing the distribution of FP to your party members seemed like an interesting idea early on, it quickly became clear that trying to have more than one primary caster in your party at a time was just more difficult than it was usually worth.

Really though, I'm nitpicking. Super Mario RPG is an excellent game that's at its best when its drawing on its source material. There's plenty of running and jumping and other platforming mechanics that integrate seamlessly into and RPG space. Add in all the familiar Mario faces as enemies and NPCs and it's sure to make any gamer happy.

Finally, and I can't tell if I'm breathing sighs of relief or disappointment here, the game is very easy. In addition to being short, Super Mario RPG is extremely forgiving. All fallen characters are revived after batter and still received XP, which is distributed across all character regardless of whether they're in your active party or not. End game weapons and armor are incredibly overpowered and the game even goes so far as to straight up give you infinite gold at the end of it! The final boss, despite having a ton of health, is also very non-threatening.

Still, I never really minded. The easier difficulty really just added to the relaxed atmosphere of the game as a whole, I think.

Presentation, Music and Sound:

Super Mario RPG, much like Donkey Kong Country, uses 3D models captured as 2D sprites. This style not only suits the game, allowing for some great animations and character design, but also holds up incredibly well. Characters, areas and enemies are all distinct and full of personality and everything just looks really good. This still isn't my favorite art style on the SNES, but there's no denying how well implemented it is here.

Menus are all laid out nicely, with everything fully explained and easily accessed. I mentioned the combat system earlier and how intuitive it is, and that's all still certainly true.

The music is all absolutely wonderful and very memorable. Every track suits its environment perfectly while still maintaining that Mario playfulness. Sound effect are also great. All the classic Mario noises you'd expect to hear are there, but everything has a bit more "weight" to it in order to better suit the tone of the game.

Afterthoughts:

I have a lot of good memories attached to this game and I enjoyed finally playing it again almost 20 years later. That said, it didn't quite live up to my memories either, which is honestly to be expected of nearly all of these games. There's a ton of charm here and the music and visuals helped it all come together in a fantastic little package that may very well be my daughter's first RPG once she starts reading.

Can't wait for Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi!

Review:

Playthrough:

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Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars hit me like a ton of bricks. I never fully understood why this game has such a cult following... But now I understand. Is it the best Mario RPG game? No... But It's definitely a must-play.

Super Mario RPG was the last mainline Mario game to come out on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and it is a great sendoff for the console.

Firstly, the plot. This really surprised me. What starts as a typical Mario rescues Peach adventure, turns into a grand trip around the world. An evil Sword named Exor takes over Bowser's Keep. After some investigating from Mario and his friend Mallow, they meet a man by the name of Geno who informs them that Exor is a gateway for the evil Smithy to rule the world. Mario, Mallow, Geno, Peach, and Bowser must collect the 7 Wish Stars before Smithy does to fix Star Road, Give People's Wishes, and save the world.

The plot struck me by surprise because I didn't expect it to be so grand. I also didn't expect Peach and Bowser's role in the game. I know, I was able to avoid knowing this for a 25-year-old game. Surprising, I know.

That said, the gameplay is great. Being developed by Intelligent Systems and SquareSoft, you can immediately see the resemblance to the Final Fantasy games as it is inspired by them. Turn-Based fighting with small interactive moments to keep the game interesting with a top-down perspective. You can find secrets, weapons, armor, you can level up, there are Mana (Or Flower Points in this game). It's quite literally an RPG. Maybe not as long and difficult as Final Fantasy, but fun nonetheless. The gameplay is just very intuitive. It's great.

The music and locations are very well thought of. I love the bosses and the writing. It's not Paper Mario levels of writing, but I enjoyed it, and it isn't bad for 1996 standards. The aesthetic isn't the best, but it's charming in a way.

I can also see why Geno is so popular. I now kinda wish he was in Smash too.

Only complaint is the game isn't the best at explaining things and there's a few really bad pacing issues. That said,

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a fantastic game for its time and I'm so happy to finally understand why this game is so loved.

4/5

Would Recommend

One of the last super Nintendo games to be released right on the precipice of the n64 launch with Mario 64. A unique collaboration between Square and Nintendo that resulted in the near best of both worlds. One wonders what would have happened if Square decided to stick with nintendo through the n64 life time. They did eventually mend their divorce with the Gamecube. The n64 was certainly lacking in the RPG department unlike it's super nintendo predecessor and the Playstation contemporary.

Not only did this game push the super nintendo to it's very limits while maintaining peak performance (unlike Star Fox) but it had easily the most impressive graphics of any super nintendo game. The battles, while not challenging yet engaging, also feature some of the most impressive graphics in the genre. The final fantasy games that came before didn't animate the enemies, here everyone on screen has lively animations which enhances the immersion.

Gameplay is an interesting mix of platforming, puzzles and turned based active combat. The platforming, while it's inclusion makes sense given the character, is pretty awful. There were multiple scenarios throughout the play experience where I found myself getting increasingly frustrated trying to platform. It lacks both precision (which is needed, particularly in Nimbus Land) and depth of field which makes judging jumps extremely janky and sometimes boiling down to dumb luck after multiple failures. Combat, in contrast, feels good. It's simple. You attack, if you time the attack button to right before your attack lands, you deal bonus damage. Different weapons (which you get frequently) have different animations which keeps you engaged. The spell system is unique since all characters have a shared pool of resources they must pull from. Overall spells felt pretty lackluster for their cost. Mario's jump in particular I found to be pretty lackluster. Sure you can theoretically infinitely jump, but I never got over 21 jumps in a row and it only did slightly more damage than a regular bonus attack... but overall the game is pretty easy so not a big deal. The puzzles are janky as well and I wouldn't really consider them a highlight. I found playing the song at the tadpole pond was annoying. I knew the solution but had to repeat it because I was trying to memorize the pattern rather than write it down.

There are various mini-games too, such as going down a waterfall, jumping off barrels, running up a hill, Yoshi race (honestly I gave up on this one), and a sequence on a mine cart. Most of these are pretty forgettable and not highlights for the game. I didn't mind any of them (san Yoshi Race) but I don't think they add much substance either. I doubt anyone will state the mine cart race was the best moment...

This might be a hot take but I thought the writing was pretty bad. It's very juvenile in terms of scope and humor. The big plot thread is dreams can no longer come true... fortunately the game doesn't take itself too seriously, except for Smithy. Smithy really is disappointing. Sure it's the 2nd hardest boss fight, but he lacks personality and intrigued. Hell he has a squad of b-list power rangers that are way more interesting than him. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed playing through it but the plot is pretty inconsequential, especially for a Square game. Easily one of their worst plots (Squares).

The characters have their charm, san Peach. Not trying to hate on her too much, I just found her to be pretty boring since she doesn't really break away from the Princess needing to be saved mold. It's fun to be able to play with Bowser and of course Geno is GOAT. The real shame with the Square and Nintendo fallout is the lack of Geno in future Mario games. I believe he makes a cameo in one of the GBA Mario RPGs, but still disappointing. Mallow is... a big idiot and kinda meh. Still each character does feel distinct both in terms of personality and not so much game play wise. Peach feels like a better Mallow and Geno feels like a better Bowser.

Still this is a fun game that is worth checking out. It's flawed. I wouldn't consider it a masterpiece but still a fresh and enjoyable experience.

Honestly even for a SNES rpg seemingly made for kids this is kind of bad considering Crystalis is an NES game with a stronger charm to it.

I don't know, it was really hard to like this game. Combat 99% of the time is timed attack on every character, with every other way of doing damage being completely sub-optimal until maybe the superboss (the other 1% being using a heal if necessary). The aesthetic also hasn't aged well at all, but at least it's unique.

But what was ultimately the most disappointing was the writing, which feels very phoned in as far as Squaresoft is concerned, and moreso compared to the rest of the series that comes after with Intelligent Systems. I can only think of like... 2 jokes I laughed at? There was the one where Mario pulls up an umbrella when Mallow is about to cry again, and there's also the whole wedding scene which is worth a chuckle.

But otherwise it's a very boneless, unsatisfying experience. I don't even understand the idealization of Geno. His character literally goes as far as 5 lines of dialogue about himself and that's it. I'm sure there's a lot of nostalgia and childlike wonder that was felt maybe for people who played this when they were like 5 or 6, but otherwise I think this is one of the worse rpgs I've had the 'benefit' of finishing. (3/10)

Preliminary: Welp this is a game I've always heard so much about, even tried it a bit but couldn't get into the superfluous storyline nor the gameplay. Hopefully I will this time!

Neat 3D-esque, almost Super Mario 64 Look the cutscenes. Yay to a dash feature. UGH to isometric, no wonder if never clicked with me, I don't like isometric controls. Also ugh to the repetitive dungeon-y music to start off the first area, but I'm sure this is just the intro and we will get the village cozy music soon.

Don't get me wrong, I love love love the Mario universe and SMW and Super Mario 3 have been foundational to my life and gaming taste. But there's just something about the universe in an RPG format that doesn't quite click, because it's just too goofy. Hopefully the Play and Sound caryr this, because so far, as neat as the Look is, we are only a couple months from Super Mario 64, and the Feel just comes across as a bit vapid and void.

Ok now this is more so the Look I was hoping for, tho it's a bit below Donkey Kong Country's/Diddy Kong's but with the nice cozy RPG interior sprites

Odd that there is essentially no customizability int eh Look of the menus nor the controls. That seemed very standard by this point and this was a huge budget/huge name game.

Early Game

Ok yea the Play is appealing to me. It's like an introductory RPG, very forgiving with full heals sometimes and a bit of an action/combo aspect to it that (so far) is optional (tho I am doing it anyway). Nice fun music now, nothing spectacular but still, and it's missing the Feel of an RPG but yea I think the Hook will definitely be there! With an easy RPG type vibe like Suikoden felt. My kind of RPG :-p Related to that it's nice that it gives you basic info like when your next Special will be learned etc.

On Day 2, yes it's cute and Earthboundy and very unique. It's like simplified but not necessarily easier. The equipment system is alarmingly simple. I wish it weren't isometric POV but it hasn't gotten in the way much/at all.

I'm not in love with the petty quests and the meaningless plot so far, but I do love the music of the world map and most things about this and teh Play is the usual RPG hook with a nice unique twist. I will say I am not nearly as impressed with the Look as people had me expect, this world map is so pixelated! But it's still neat and good and great colors. And good for the SNES.

Ugh okay yea the isometric factor is starting to play a role in this platforming. Why tho. And yea I dunno this is already getting a bit old, due to the meaningless plot, good but nothing spectacular like DKC Look/Sound, the long grinds

Yeah I'm taking a break from this for tonight because I really want to like this, but it's not clicking. Tedious battles ahead for clearing out the Mushroom Kingdom village and I'm just not sure where the "buy-in" is. I did like the Star mechanic, lots about it is good just not great. I'm sure it'll get at least a 3 star and RPG Replay tag but...

Ok I returned later that night but still. These same enemies this many times to clear out the town? Great music for this "Mack" boss tho

Well I thoguht I was just gonna test it a bit mroe tonight cuz I didn't want to redo this chest enemy but, well, I did. And withotu sound (oddly) I was more engaged with the play. Hard to explain. I will probly burn out again but I guess I don't dislike it, just not as impressed as I had hoped.

I really really don't like the isometric aspect and the way you enter pipes, especially when I have a Star being used up!

The scene with Mallow's grandfather is perking things up a bit tho I really still think this will be a 3 or 4 and move on. Everything about it keeps missing the mark, but never bad either (well except the isometric platforming, that's outright bad) And Mallow finally has a weapon!

I was really excited for the combo/double attack/etc feature of the combat since I love LoD, but unfortunately it wasn't enogh to carry this. I find the Look borderline ugly (look at the screen below), but mostly just the lesser cousin of DKC.

(Ugh whenever I'm about to quit since I have so many more games to play ahead, I get into something like this boss battle).

Ok yep nevermind, the isometric platforming in Pipe Vault was the final straw. Time to move on. It's not a bad game, and I bet I would've loved it as a kids especially if I had been an N64 kid, but it's not what I was hoping for.

Look: 7.5/10 Good, but not as great as I had hoped

Sound: 7.5/10 Ditto

Play: 7.5/10 Oh, ditto again lol. The isometric platforming was my biggest beef, but it all felt like it was just below what I wanted.

Feel: 7.5/10

Attachment: 7.5/10 If I return to this as part of my RPG Replay shelf, who knows how things will change.

Overall: 7.5/10 That must've been the most consistent rating I've ever had.

Completion: To Pipe Vault, 2 stars

Playtime: ~4 hours

A couple of years ago I put together a short list of JRPGs I wanted to play all in one year. I failed miserably, having started that project before the remake was even announced, but just now finishing the original 6 months after the remake's release.

The reason? SMRPG is very obviously good, but at this point I can't ignore that it's more than a touch boring. I had tried picking it up, as mentioned, multiple times in the last three years, only to drop it without consciously realizing it. It lacks that 'Gotta Get Home To Play More' element that JRPG's normally engender, especially from me.

Despite the temptation, I'm not going to say that it's positives are somehow secretly it's undoing. SMRPG is about the best paced RPG I've ever played. Outside of a rough, lethal first 30 minutes, the weaker last two dungeons, and the 7 final bosses in a row, there's hours of fluffy dungeons, cute towns and plots, and meaningfully creative bosses without any hint of slog.

This doesn't cause the boredom, and it doesn't make it a 'kiddy' game, but it doesn't make up for the fact that the main cast has very little chemistry, both in and out of combat. Each character has its quirks, you see the first explorations of Bowser's personality here and Mario's cutesom way of explaining events to people through mimicry, but the individual arcs for characters just aren't sticky enough, nor do they play into one another. Your choices are too linear, secrets and exploration a bit too contrived to be worth bothering with without a guide, and a lack of synergy in character's abilities making for some challenging, but not particularly creative combat choices.

The game just makes itself too easy to put down. I do, however, consider it a complete shame that this was Nintendo and Square/Enix's last attempt to make the great-japanese-rpg.

As an aside, I'd also like to really praise how the game is contextually light hearted, outside of the very tail end of the last dungeon like you'd expect, but is just short of the slapstick we'd see out of Nintendo's RPGs in the future. It mixes well with the darker presentation, not in the storytelling at all, but in pallet, the choice of the dark void behind the world map, and the mix-in of slightly edgy enemy designs. I think the game is well remembered for this unique curb appeal.

I remember seeing screenshots and short strategy articles for Super Mario RPG in Nintendo Power as a young lad, and I didn't really understand what I was seeing. Why was Bowser on your team? Why did it look kinda weird compared to other Mario games? What the heck is an RPG anyway?

I was young, I didn't even know what an RPG really was.

Well, I know the answers to all of those questions, now! Super Mario RPG is really a wonderful little turn based Role Playing Game, and it seems to be, if not the progenitor, an early example of "action-timing" in a turn-based RPG, a la South Park: Stick of Truth or Costume Quest. I really enjoy this kind of battle system -- without some kind of "activity" in the turn-based battling, I have a tendency to lose mental focus and interest in some of the more repetitive, easy battles. That being said, this is definitely an early version of this idea, and even when you look in the menu for the hint about when to hit some of the timings, the lack of any real UI to help guide you in your action-timings can make them more challenging than strictly necessary. This is especially egregious when you realize that it seems like the battles are tuned to expect you to hit these timings more often than not.

But you can't judge something old based on the standards of today, and Super Mario RPG's historical influence cannot be questioned. And even with these complaints, the idea is clearly sound. Beyond the enjoyable gameplay loop, the story and writing adds, pardon the pun, a lot of the volume of enjoyable material in this game. This is a funny game, with funny references, and a funny sensibility about the Mario universe. According to this game, Chris Pratt definitely should not be voicing Mario in the movie -- in fact, Mario should have no voice at all! It's really cute, kind of Gordon Freeman-esque, but with more Vaudevillean charm, with Mario miming things out at certain cutscenes. This game also really helps establish why it is Mario and Toadstool are always at odds with Bowser, and yet at the same time they go down to the Malibu Grand Prix every weekend to play golf and race go-karts together.

It's just a friendly, charming game, that made me feel really nice and let me see some really cool places in Mario's world.

And that’s that! The final areas flew by.

This is a fun one. A nice, fleshed out turned based RPG not weighted down by self-seriousness or over complication. Music is great, Yoko Shimomura’s score combines nice arrangements of Koji Kondo’s iconic Mario tunes with fun, original bangers. The graphics are good, including animated enemies with decent variety (a welcome touch), nice sprite work capturing a wide range from these normally one-dimensional characters, and some cool backgrounds and 3D stuff (like the creepy machine graveyard thing in the second Smithy fight).

There were a couple downsides. The isometric view point made platforming bits unbearable at times. Climbing up to Nimbus was particularly painful. A lot (most?) of the minigames are some combination of platforming and timing/time rushes which just wasn’t enjoyable for me.

Most of the time my team was Geno and Bowser with Toadstool replacing Bowser when I needed reliable healing. When she got the frying pan, she outmuscled Bowser, so permanently took his place. I rarely used Mallow, just for some areas where I knew there’d be a lot of group enemy encounters.

The following is mainly for memories sake (May do another play through some day), but if you’re wondering. Things I didn’t do: ace and get prizes from the Midas River course; and the Booster Hill beetle thing; and Yoshi racing; while, after four days of practice, I did manage 30 super jumps (34, thank you), getting to 100 is just unimaginable torture, so I didn’t try for the Super Suit (Lazy Shell Toadstool makes the game a bit too easy as is); and I couldn’t get the turtle shell hill climbing thing any faster than 15 seconds and didn’t try; get all the hidden chests. Things I did do: beat Jinx; beat Culex; got the Soprano Card; 30 super jumps for Attack Scarf; get everyone to level 30; get the Lazy Shells; get the Frying Pan; get the best weapons for everyone else in Bowser’s Keep mystery doors thing; get Sheep Attack; get into the Casino and win the Star Egg.