LogFAQs > #951206871

#11. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1996)



The first RPG I ever played was Dragon Warrior on the NES. It was kind of fun at the time, but then I went back years later, and it definitely felt dated, even though I had no other RPG experience to compare it to. The second RPG I played was Final Fantasy Legend 2, which I borrowed from someone for a bit. That didn't exactly feel groundbreaking either. When Mario RPG came out, I put it on my birthday list, but very apprehensively. It was a Mario game, so I surely needed to give it a try, because every Mario game had been great. It also had those cool 3D-ish graphics that Donkey Kong Country used. But it seemed darker in tone, especially on the boxart. And I think I liked RPGs, but I wasn't sure how much I really did?

Super Mario RPG ends up merging that colorful, exciting, fun adventure feel of Super Mario games with an interesting story, world, and battle system that you would hope to find in an RPG. Area maps are more than just wandering until you find battles, as some try to straight up mimic Mario levels. They have enemies to avoid, hidden treasures in the air, moving blocks to jump on, and pipes to go down. Battles opted for a selection of A/B/X/Y options that are clearly visible, instead of bogging down fights in menus. They also have timed hits, which make every battle interesting to some degree. I also like that weapons all have different animations and timings, and spells have different inputs even (rotating d pad, holding a button, etc.).

Mario RPG also has loads of mini-games and side events to keep things fresh. Music composing, barrel jumping, paratroopa climbing, mine cart riding, Yoshi racing, ghost flag hunting, statue polishing, wedding accessory gathering, a casino; There are loads of things to do, and many of the dungeons have interesting ways to go about them and make each one special from the rest.

Many classic Mario characters and enemies appear, some fleshed out way more than ever before. Bowser is an especially big one, as he grapples with wanting to hate Mario, but needing to work towards a common cause. Toad and Princess Peach fit right in to what you'd expect, but also add more to those characters.

But Mario RPG also has a whole cast of new characters, and they felt very memorable to me. Geno was obviously a huge new one that stuck with a lot of people, as his high demand to appear in Smash Bros would indicate. I thought he had super cool style as a kid, and liked how they explained him coming in as an outsider to the Mario world. Mallow's a little goofy but fun. Croco and Johnny and Valentina and the Axem Rangers and others all make for really interesting villains along the way. Mario also uses its wide variety of designs to help make NPCs unique and memorable, and less about just filling in info for the character. Like the trio of Snifits could be anything, but being Snifits helps make them so memorable. Oh, and then there's Booster

Humor and charm is another area Mario RPG shines. There's lots of sarcasm and off-hand comments. Some fun things include Frogfucious using a lakitu to appear as if he flies, Mario's weird acting segments, the strange folks in Seaside Town, Garro's statue description, the dreams from the Dream Cushion, the Star Hill wishes, and going into debt at the Marrymore suite. Booster's Tower and the Snifits is a huge source of fun moments, with the curtain game playing so well. The wedding/cake segment might be tops though. It's just like a rapidfire series of wacky moments. The thought of boiling a cake or eating it whole is still funny to me.

Mario RPG is also not a long RPG, but it does a lot of things. It fit well in that measurement of pacing that I've described in other writeups, if it can be measured. When I was younger, I could beat the game from start to finish over a weekend. I love how quick I can get from fun moment to fun moment.

Also, much like with Zelda: Link to the Past, I spent a bunch of my free time making a whole personal strategy guide for this game. I drew maps (which was a bit of work, being isometric view) for the whole game, tried to include every secret (though I know I was unaware of the casino entrance at the time), wrote up step-by-step instructions, and enemy names with best guesses at HP. I was pretty into this game too. I've tried some other Mario RPG games since this, and none of them close to capturing all the high feelings I got here. Maybe in some ways, but it's hard to check all the boxes and do it as successfully as Super Mario RPG did.

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