Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

"Square before Enix except not after Nintendo and some other grammar joke that I'm too lazy to think of."

I've been playing video games for almost as long as I can remember, and my first ever video game was a Mario game. What was this game, you ask? Why, none other than the one that still has me coming back to play again and again. That's right, Super Mario World.

HAR.

But seriously, Super Mario RPG is right up there, as well. I sometimes whip out my SNES just to play this, and it surely is a wonderful and strange experience. Just... Look at these numbers!

GRAPHICS - 97/100
This was the last game released for the SNES in America (Rockman and Forte being very last and only released in Japan.), and it shows. These graphics really bring out the best in the system. The characters are colorful and diverse, and some graphics are just darn great to look at. Mario is well-detailed for such a small sprite, and well-shaded. All of the graphics are well shaded, actually, and seriously do have a 3-dimensional look to them, making me wonder if they're rasters of 3-D graphics. The only thing that could have been improved in this field was the number of frames on the sprites to make the animations a bit smoother. I'm sure there was still some room left in the game.

SOUND - 93/100
The sounds themselves aren't very plentiful, but many of them can serve multiple purposes, which they do serve very well. The placement of these sounds really help augment the graphics and work well where they're placed - I have no complaints. No further comments here without getting redundant.

MUSIC - 100/100
This game practically shines in this area to the point where I think I may need sunglasses. The music is diverse and well orchestrated, and the game has some memorable tunes. There are remixes of classic Mario tunes as well as some new beats, and while not only being great to just listen to for kicks, they really help the game experience and set the mood well. There's light, happy flute music with high strings for a cloud area, soft, low music with low brass for a dark, evil area. The final boss music sounds epic and suspicious areas come with a strange, ominous theme. Some slow, sad music is provided for unfortunate scenes and the normal game music for battling or exploring is energetic. Boss battle music reeks of danger and confrontation, and ghastly pirate music is provided for exploring a sunken ship. All the music here is really great and there's some catchy stuff in there. I honestly do think this category is perfect.

STORY - 96/100
Princess Peach Toadstool is minding her business, picking flowers in Mario's yard when... She gets kidnapped... Again! Yes, I believe this is about the seventh or eight time in the series she has been captured, and who did it? You guessed it - King Bowser! "Wow, such repetitiveness," you say. "Why a 96, then?" Well, you rescue the Princess early in the game - the first area is Bowser's castle, in fact, and you get to the first boss battle in about five minutes, and it's Bowser. However, shortly after rescuing the Princess who is chained to the ceiling (I think Bowser just kidnaps her just for the sake of doing so - I mean, he never actually does anything with her except just hold her there against her will. I think she should start carrying a Game Boy around just in case so she can do something while she waits for Mario to come - unless she already does and Bowser keeps kidnapping her just to steal it and play it.), KABOOM! The castle quakes from the impact of an unknown object and our hero, damsel, and villain all get sent in different directions. Mario goes to investigate and he sees that, embedded in the top of Bowser's castle, is a HUGE FREAKING SWORD. The sword yells at Mario to go away and destroys the bridge leading to the castle, so that a band of warmongers from another world lead by the enigmatic Smithy can set up shop. The sword has flown through the wish-granting Star Road on its way down, showering the seven Star Pieces across the land, which Smithy and his gang of minions are trying to collect so they can create a world based on weaponry. Overdone and clichéd? Well, now, but not at the time. Not to mention the story has some pretty funny points ("You found the Princess's ???! 'MARIO! Put that back!'" Hmm...) and twists, not to mention some unforgettable characters - the timid and easily-upset Mallow and the mystical Geno both join your party, even Peach. Heck, you're even joined by Bowser himself (He only joins you because he wants to get his dang castle back.), and no one ever leaves(That must be fun for Bowser and Peach...) except for a small period of time when Peach goes to catch up with her grandmother . Only one thing bugs me about the storyline: Where's Luigi this whole time?! (Well, he's in here, but only in the parade during the end credits. I hope I didn't spoil anything, unless you're one of those crazy guys who buys games just for the credits - in that case, I'd recommend spending your money not on this game, but instead on a trip to your friendly neighborhood psychiatrist.)

GAMEPLAY - 95/100
A great aspect of the game as well - the battles. Being one of the first RPGs to actually use some interactivity in their battles instead of the ol' "point, click, and watch Conan summon a fire spirit or something" - while the effects of your button-mashing or control-pad-rotating aren't exactly tangible yet until the later Mario RPGs, you can still influence the effect of your attack by how fast you mash the A button or whatever. Outside of the battle realm, the worlds are rich and diverse, and there's plenty to do - whether it be chasing a crocodile thief who has all of your items or finding a cricket pie (Yum!) for an old frog with a beard. There's also plenty of times you have to actually sit down and think and use your brain instead of "there's the exit, go there" or "find this chick and give her this" or "he stole my bike, kill him". There's a 3-D maze you have to traverse while not being able to see anything (Trust me, it's possible, just be sure to stop and get some sleep after a few hours.), and a huge you have to chase and catch any other coins it leaves behind, or finding a way to get past a doppleganger who mirrors your every move. And all those three examples are from one area ("Pearls" for you if you know which.). There are also a few hidden areas you have to find by hitting an invisible block or finding a trail off the beaten path. The only thing that bugs me in this area are how the areas are connected - that is, an overworld map with points that you can't actually walk around in.

REPLAYABILITY - 94/100
I've beaten this at least five times. Need I say more? Well, okay, fine... There's plenty of stuff to unlock, not to mention things you just plain missed that you want to go back over and do. There's also the challenge of leveling up your characters TO THE EXTREME! You might want to go with a different "game plan" each time you replay it, because you can level up your characters the way you want them - there are three different things to which you can give a couple of bonus points whenever you level up: You make make a character a pain-glutton by giving them more HP, you can give a character the attributes of a small tank by adding points to your physical attack and defense, or you can go the animé way and make them a mage by adding the points to your magical attack and defense. Each character has their own levels, so you can give each character different attributes, not to mention you can make a well-rounded character by mixing and matching inside of one character and give them HP one time, physical another time, magical another, etc... That way you can challenge yourself by going again and again and thinking of different strategies for different circumstances.

In closing:

GRAPHICS - 9.7/10 (97/100)
SOUND - 9.3/10 (93/100)
MUSIC - 10/10 (100/100)
STORY - 9.6/10 (96/100)
GAMEPLAY - 9.5/10 (95/100)
REPLAYABILITY - 9.4/10 (94/100)

TOTAL - 57.5/60 (575/600)
AVERAGE - 9.5833/10 (95.833/100)

Rounded, that's 10.

BUY, RENT, OR SKIP? - Obviously, if you've been reading this, and you didn't just jump to this part, I'd say buy it. There's probably an old $10-$20 cartridge at your local GameStop and you won't regret it. If you don't have an SNES, you can probably get one of those as well by throwing in another $40. It's probably worth picking one up just for this game. If all else fails, try eBay.

In closing, Super Mario RPG is a great game. Not perfect, but pretty dang close. If you can pick it up cheap, it's well worth the money.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07