Glen Atwell
Shaun InguanzoSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Review)
December 25th 2006 00:00
Players: 1
Genre: RPG
Developer: Squaresoft
Platform: SNES
Year: 1996 (USA), No PAL Release
Now this was a big surprise (well probably not as big a surprise as Square partnering with Disney for Kingdom Hearts when it was first announced) when I first picked it up. Up until this game, I'd only ever played Nintendo's platformers such as Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong. Needless to say, I was getting a bit tired of the platformer genre since its style just isn't what attracts me to gaming. I had reservations about Super Mario RPG since I view character and story paramount to a good RPG, and Nintendo's stories had been rather lacking to say the least.
However, like the reservations I had about Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon: Another Story, these were debunked after getting into the game and noticing how well the game was put together. Or well, all the new stuff the game brought to the table.
Story: Princess Peach is kidnapped by Bowser, and Mario needs to go and save her. That's the basic story (yet again). However you'll find an interesting choice of characters to accompany Mario in his quest, and the playable selection consists of some old favourites (that may or may not have been playable *hint hint*) and some new characters brought in solely for Super Mario RPG.
Battle System: The most surprising and enjoyable aspect. Think of the traditional turn-based RPG battle system. Then think about making it more interactive to break the monotony of selecting something with the D-pad and then pressing the Confirm button. Super Mario RPG does this.
After choosing your action in battle, a timed button press (or presses) can increase the damage on an attack (for example, choosing Mario's Jump speciality will cause him to do a double jump for extra damage and for Peach's standard attack, she slaps twice instead of once)
Battle motion is smooth and crisp, as well as the pace of battle. Rarely do you feel like battle's dragging on longer than it has to.
Innovation: The battle system takes the cake here, though the other more minor (small things add up though) innovations include the integration of the simplistic platformer Mario world turned into a somewhat more complex RPG world. It's interesting seeing how small things you find on stages in Super Mario Bros are included in the layout and plot of the RPG version.
Graphics: Bright and crisp as you'd expect from Mario, though in this version, the simplistic style is also more detailed and fleshed out in an isometric-3D view.
Sound: Most of your familiar Mario tunes with a few new ones. There are a few annoying sound effects, but nothing major.
Replayability: About what you'd expect from an RPG. It's a longer game to play, so replayability is a bit lower. However, if you miss stuff the first time around there's opportunity to explore the world further again in a second replay without it feeling too old.
Overall: Considering I 'grew out of' Mario near the end of the SNES days, this game was good enough for me to enjoy it despite the usual weaker story/character depth element of Mario games. It was just fun (and smooth) to play and occupied many of my nights until I finished the game. Oh and the cameos. Many Nintendo cameos can be found in the game.
Score: 9/10
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