Super Mario RPG Review by Sportsman
SNES Reviews
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Super Mario RPG Review

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SMRPG) is a Role Playing Game (RPG) starring the famous Mario.

Square, the famous RPG developer of masterpieces such as the Final Fantasy series and Chrono Trigger decided to make an RPG using Nintendo’s mascot since their recent deal with Sony would make this their last game they would develop for a Nintendo console. At first I was reluctant to purchase SMRPG because I couldn’t seem to picture how Mario could fit in a role playing game. Anyways, I decided to purchase SMRPG and I sure am glad I did.

SMRPG begins with Bowser capturing Princess Toadstool (who else?). The next event that happens is a bigger surprise – Mario saves the princess. How can you have such an unusual concept with a repetitive story? Alright, now on to something new. After the Princess is rescued, a giant sword crashes in to Bowser’s keep, hence destroying the star road (AKA the bridge to Bowser’s keep). Without this star road, everyone’s wishes won’t be granted. So Mario embarks on yet another journey, this time to find the seven missing star pieces.

He will eventually have four other allies who all choose to follow Mario for their own reasons. Even though you are all searching for something different, you all work together as a team together to defeat Smithy (the guy behind all of this) and to restore peace to the world.

Besides the obvious difference (being an RPG), Mario’s adventure is very similar to his old ones. He still has his amazing jumping ability that he’s famous for. Many power-ups from previous Mario games; such as mushrooms, flowers and stars are present in SMRPG. Mario will also encounter many familiar faces from the past such as Goombas, Paratroopas and the unusual white fish that hops around in the water in previous Mario games (whatever its name is) as well as many new foes. Although there are many similarities, SMPRG is much different than any concept seen before in Mario games. As I previously mentioned, SMRPG is an RPG (hence the name Super Mario RPG), not a 2D platformer that you would expect a Mario game up to this point to be. SMRPG is the first Mario game to my knowledge to be in full 3D. The screen is viewed in an isometric perspective, meaning the camera is above but away from Mario’s head. So you begin playing and attempt to jump on the first Goomba you see. Instead of the famous SPLAT the screen turns black and you are taken to a different screen and are surrounded by four letters.

What the fuck just happened?


Similar to most Role Playing Games, the battles in SMRPG are turn-based, which means you and the enemy take turns fighting. You have the choice to attack, defend, use items, use magic spells or attempt to run away. To spice up the battle system, Square added a battle feature called “timed hits”. There are many ways of performing a timed hit; they include rapidly pressing a button, rotating the control pad and pressing a button at a certain moment. You can also use time defense to protect yourself from some enemy attacks by pressing the button at a certain moment. Timed attacks makes a boring battle system interesting, and is a great feature to have. I wish this were in more Role Playing Games.

A Group artwork featuring Exor, Princess Peach and Bowser


Unlike most RPG’s, battles don’t appear randomly. If you’ve ever played an RPG before you probably already know what a pain random encounters can be. And if you haven’t and don’t know what I am talking about, picture this. You are trying to get to a certain place, and all of a sudden you are forced to fight a battle. Because you’re low on inventory, you aren’t prepared for this fight so you get your ass kicked which results in a game over. In SMRPG you see every enemy on your screen before you fight them. So if you don’t want to fight an enemy, simply avoid them. Although battles are sometimes inevitable, most of the time you should have no problem avoiding them.

Unlike many RPG’s, you don’t need to purchase your character’s spells. Whenever they reach a certain experience level, they automatically learn a new spell. Of course a great deal of shopping will be done (to purchase weapons, armor and accessories) but most of the character skills will be handled by the game. The only choice you get when it comes to stats is whether you want more attack and defense, HP (hit points) or magic attack and magic defense. As in most RPG’s, different characters tend to excel in different areas regardless of how you raise their stats.

When you’re not battling you will spend a lot of time walking around and talking to others. SMRPG’s dialogue is sometimes funny, witty, always entertaining and even crude at times (don’t worry parents, it’s VERY mild). It’s funny to see Bowser often cry like a baby, Mario stun people with his jumping ability, and the Marrymore love scene is absolutely hilarious. Mario is a silent protagonist (THANK GOD!) and it’s often humorous watching him try to explain something to someone without taklking. The dialogue stays entertaining throughout; there aren’t any dull parts in SMRPG.

Compared to other RPG’s SMRPG is very straightforward. Instead of wandering freely on a world map, you move on a linear path from place to place. This can be good or bad. You won’t ever get lost and wonder where do I go now, but you will loose your freedom of exploration and trying to figure out where to go. If you know what you’re doing, the game will be incredibly easy. None of the enemy battles are difficult, and very few (if any) of the boss battles will cause you trouble. If you happen to struggle with anything, it will be in the beginning of the game because later on some of the weapons and armor you can get will make you omnipotent. The difficulty is perfect for those new to the RPG genre but will disappoint RPG vets.

Although the battles are brilliant and always fun to play, you will eventually become tired of them. Luckily Square added many enjoyable mini-games in SMRPG. They include casino games, swimming down a waterfall, climbing a cliff on Paratroopa shells, and a Yoshi (the green dinosaur from previous Mario games) race. Some of these mini-games are mandatory, some are not. They are all fun and I wound up playing them all several times each. The best part about them is you will always receive something for winning them. If you already got the weapon/item/whatever that was awarded in the mini-game you will always receive something, whether it is a mushroom, a rare frog coin or whatever. This gives you a good feeling, a feeling as if you accomplished something great while trying to have fun at the same time.
 

A group artwork featuring Mallow, Mario and Geno


Thanks to the mini-games and the great battle system, you’ll be spending a lot of time playing SMRPG. Unfortunately the actual game is very short, especially for an RPG. Most people should be able to finish SMRPG in 15-18 hours, the experienced gamers in less than that. This is mainly because of the simplicity of SMRPG. You won’t spend a lot of time leveling up and gaining experience since the highest possible level is 30 and you can easily complete the game at 10 levels lower than that. Luckily the mini-games fix this problem (sort of); I probablyspent as much time playing the mini-games as I spent playing the actual game. You’ll have a blast playing SMRPG; after completing it once you will probably consider playing through it again. I must’ve played through SMRPG at least four times since I got it.

Graphically SMRPG is by far the best-looking SNES game. In the matter of fact it looks better than most early Playstation games. SMRPG is in full 3D, which is rare for a 16-bit game. The animations are perfect. Everything, from the actions of the characters to the magic attacks are perfect. Speaking about magic attacks, the spells in SMRPG are excellent. Watch in awe after using Mallow’s “Thunderbolt” spell or Geno’s “Geno Blast”. Even the enemies have amazing special attacks that will blow your mind away. Besides the animations, each new area looks different, and the amount of detail is amazing. No 16-bit game comes even close to matching the graphics of SMRPG.

The music in SMRPG consists of a bunch of remixed music from previous Mario games plus many new tracks. Although none of the songs stand out as being spectacular, the overall soundtrack is excellent. There aren’t a very large variety of songs and many songs (besides the battle and boss battle music) are played over and over. These songs always seem to fit in perfectly with the situation and will be thankful that they are played as much as they are. The sound affects are also excellent. The classic jumping noise has returned, and the rest of the weapons, special attacks and character noises are great.

Overall SMRPG is a great attempt at a great idea; the idea of Mario being the star of an RPG turned out great. It may be short and easy, but it looks great, has a creative battle system, many entertaining mini-games, at times funny and most of all fun. What doesn’t it have? Whether you’re an RPG vet or you’ve never been fond of RPG’s I highly recommend SMRPG. A must buy.

REVIEW RECAP

Story 8/10 - Decent story and great use of the Mario license.
Gameplay 9/10 - Although easy and short, SMRPG is a blast to play.
Graphics 10/10 - The best ever seen on the SNES. Period.
Sound 9/10 - Great music and good sound effects.
Replay Value 8/10 - Short game, but you’ll be playing the mini-games forever. You will also probably want to play through SMRPG more than once.

+
Awesome mini-games
Timed hits = great idea
Best graphics ever seen on the SNES Geno
Simplicity allows those unfamiliar with RPG’s to play

-
Too easy – difficulty won’t please RPG vets
1/3 the length of your average RPG

OVERALL: 9.2/10

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