Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

"Old-sk00l Mario meets the world of RPGs. A true classic!"

Okay, old game. Why am I writing a review for it? Read below to find out.

Let me start off with a true story; Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is what turned my vision of the RPG genre into complete addiction. It pioneered my views of the top RPGs, such as Star Ocean and Final Fantasy. This game made the incredible impact of why I now play RPGs more than anything.

Onto the review!

Gameplay: 10/10 (prepare for a long description!)

I'll start off with the basic area controls. Basically, you walk with the directional pad and you hold Y to run. Obviously, you'd want to run all of the time because the game is so addicting that you want to play as much as possible! The B button is used for jumping - Mario's greatest trait. The A button lets you talk to people and examine objects while the X button brings up the main menu. In the main menu, you can use/trash your items, look at what special abilities you have, rearrange your equipment, and much more.

Now I'll go into the battle aspects, which probably take awhile because they are so well programmed. What we have in Super Mario RPG is a traditional turn-based battle system, where each character takes a swing, alternating between the enemies and your allies. A party consists of three characters. Turns are determined by the speed of your characters, which can be increased with accessories such as a Feather. Being a traditional turn based system, there is much more than just a plain attack...

You get 4 select options in battle, each set by one of the four main buttons (Y, X, A, and B). By pressing A, you get the normal physical attack. Physical dmg is determined by your attack and the enemy's defense, of course. Now, the amazing thing is that you have the option to make your attack do more dmg if you hit the A button at the right time. These are called "Timed Hits." The normal timing is right when your weapon is about to hit the enemy. When it's at that exact location, you press A, and a following attack will occur, resulting in higher dmg. You'll want to do this throught all of the game. It requires proper timing, so practice is all you need to master it.

Enemies also have timed hits, but they're not really timed. You have the "timed defense" as I like to call it. When an enemy does a physical attack against you, if you press B at the right time, you'll instantly defend and take less dmg. If you press it at the right time, you'll take 0 dmg from that attack. Now knowing how many enemies there are in the game, it'd take a long time to memorize each monsters attack setup, but you don't need to worry about that by much.

Of course, the only way to die is to have all of your party member's HP reduced to 0. When you die, you keep everything you gained (such as levels and items), but time goes back to your last save point.

Some enemies have a high evasion ratio, meaning timed hits will often miss them. These guys are usually the blue flameball monsters in Boosters Tower. When you come across them, purposely fail a timed hit (by not pressing anything) and the attack will guarentee dmg, but it won't be as high. In other words, an attack that isn't timed has about a 100% hit ratio. As you change your select weapons, the attack changes as well. An example would be Mario and his hammer. With a hammer equipped, his physical attack animation will be Mario swinging a hammer to pound his enemy. If you change his weapon to a shell, the animation will change to him kicking a shell at his opponent. This is used with each of the five different playable characters.

Concluding regular attacking, we go into special attacks. You perform a special attack by pressing Y during your character's attack turn. Special attacks include consuming FP (flower points), much like MP (magic points) in other RPGs. More powerful attacks consume more flower points. You can restore FP with syrups, or by resting at an inn. As your characters level increases, they'll learn more special attacks. Some characters have 6 special attacks, while others have four or five. FP starts out at 10 points. To increase this, you use flower tabs, jars, and boxes. You'll find various flowers in treasure chests along your adventure, which increase your FP by 1 point. A tab increases your FP by 1, the jar 3, and the box 5. The maximum FP is 99.

Now we'll talk about battle items. These are accessed by pressing X on your turn in battle. Usable items in battle are recovery items such as mushrooms and syrups, attack items that damage your enemy, and temporary stat boosts such as Energizers and Bracers. There are many other items as well, but that's the basic rundown.

Next is the defensive option. By pressing B, you have two options: Defend or Run Away. By defending, you take less dmg from an opposing attack until your next turn. This can also be used as a stall tactic. The Run Away option lets you retreat from battle. It cannot be used against boss enemies. This is used the least of the four battle commands.

After each battle, you'll receive an experience number and a coin number. EXP is needed to gain levels while coins are used to buy items and equipment. Sometimes, you'll be given an item. These are dropped by certain enemies, so keep an eye out for 'em!

Concluding the controls and battle mechanics, we'll go into the actual gameplay of wandering the world of this game. I'll start with hidden chests. In the game, there are hidden chests where if you jump at the right spot, a treasure chest will suddenly become visible, allowing you to gain an item that was hidden. Normal treasure chests appear completely visible, but hidden ones are the special ones. There is a little gadget called the Signal Ring which will give off a noise when you enter a room with a hidden chest.

Some easter eggs within the game are certain Nintendo licsenced characters, such as Link and Samus. They both appear in the game, but you have to do certain things, which I won't spill for you. There are also certain items you can get by doing sidequests. Another thing to be taken into consideration is that whatever name you choose for Mario at the start of a file, Mario will still be called Mario. The only purpose the initial name holds is the password that Booster uses to open the tower door. This can be a good thing, or a bad thing. I think it's a good thing.

There's too much held within Super Mario RPG's gameplay.

Story: 10/10

Basically, Bowser kidnaps the princess again and you have to go save her. After the fight with Bowser, a sword comes crashing through Bowser's Castle. This is the work of Smithy, who plans on taking over Mario's world. Later on, he meets Mallow, who is a trustworthy companion. He then stumbles across Geno, which adds another main segment of the story; Star Pieces. When the sword (Exor) came crashing through Bowser's Keep, it also crashed through Star Road, which is essential for wishes to come true. In order to repair the Star Road, all seven lost pieces must be found. To add onto this, Smithy must be defeated as well. Mario then tags up with Bowser and the princess, which also tag onto your team. I won't ruin the rest for you!

Graphics: 9/10

For it's time, Super Mario RPG was one of the main RPGs that had a semi-3D environment. It was placed in a 2D setting, but Mario could move the eight cardinal directions rather than the traditional four. Other than the area maps, the rest is completely beautiful, especially the battle graphics. Special attacks hold the best graphics in the game. From your own characters, to special attacks, to the enemies, everything is drawn out well. It was rendered completly fantastic for it's time.

Replay Value: 10/10

This game is so addicting that you will want to play it again later on after you beat it. When you beat it, you remember all the great times you had learning the game from the start and how the story all began. By containing four slots for files, you can save up to four adventures.

Rent or Buy: If you can find this game anywhere for a price of under $20, I would suggest to get it since it's a really good RPG. For the SNES, it proves to be a precious gem for the system. It's one of the greatest RPGs of all time in my opinion. If you cannot buy it and a friend has it, just borrow it for an "extended" period of time. Yea, it's that good.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars gets a 10/10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/30/06