Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

"For my 100th review is shall be for THE reason why Nintendo & Square SHOULD work together again."

Ah the mid 1990's what a TRULY great time to be a Role Playing Gamer ESPECIALLY if you have a Super Nintendo. Oh sure the first Playstation did have a very good supply of the genre as how its more current succesor is not doing too shabby as well. But its been very well said that the Super Nintendo was a excellent source for even today on what are the best RPGs EVER made. Squaresoft did a MASTERFUL job with classics such as Final Fantasy II, Chrono Trigger and of COURSE Final Fantasy III. (Even the highly underrated Final Fantasy Mystic Quest as well.) While Nintendo certainly didn't do shabby at all as well with the highly quirky and hilarious cult classic that is Earthbound itself. (Well there is also the Fire Emblem series despite the fact that the it never got to the US until just recently.) However of course this game was made by one of the most brilliant partner pact ideas EVER made. What do you get when you mix the brilliance of Square with the quirky greatness that is Nintendo when it comes to the genre? Why ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' of course! This late 1996 masterpiece was one of the greatest finales to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System's history despite the fact that the system ended in 1998. (Alongside with the great Kirby Super Star of course but thats a different story.) The idea of having the MOST recognized plumber in history be the star of a Role Playing game does sound a bit...strange at first but once you play this game more & more & more & oh did I mention more? Well anyways the more you play it the more appealing the concept truly is. There are plenty of different characters being introduced here in this game (most likely made by Square) and while I admit it did feel somewhat strange at first but don't worry if you have a open enough mind it should be JUST fine with you very soon. The plot of this game is that you of course are Mario (apparently suffering from the ''Chrono Syndrome'' of being awfully silent but hey it works especially in certain scenes) and your off to rescue the Princess from Bowser. (Of course thats highly unoriginal heck even the game particularly notices that cliche and even makes good-natured mockings of it.) Your about to go on a rather seemingly routine trip to go through the castle and rescue the Princess from the evil Bowser's clutches. (You know all that usual stuff, leave it to Nintendo to make a Princess Rescue mission seem like a everyday chore to a plumber..) But then suddenly all the usual everyday stuff ceased as a absolutely HUGE Sword comes out of nowhere and stabs itself RIGHT into the Castle and sends off our stalwart hero, heroine and rather reptilian villian off in different directions. Over through the course of the game you learn that the rather gianormous blade was made by a new gang of evil metallic villians from some mysterious whereabouts unknown as they are called the Smithy Gang. There are many various plot points such as our new ''special friends'', the ''Star Road'' they have broken that will prevent dreams from coming true, and aiding new friends Mallow the rather sensitive cloud-boy and Geno the mystically animated puppet, aiding old ones such as Princess Peach and MUCH more. This game is one of the most praised Video Games ever made in history and needless to say its not hard to see why.

You see this game that is well known as ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is perfectly well known for having just about everything a great RPG should have. Simple yet wonderfully effective gameplay that is easy to get into yet never boring? Check. Beautiful graphics which are quite visually innovative and just simply give a great feel of visual and technological polish? Check! Good balance of serious and comical moments throughout the whole storyline? Double Check. A greatly balanced Challenge Factor with perfectly fine smooth control? Triple Check. I think you get my point by now, however they are not the only great things about this excellent game oh no not at all. There is plenty more things to be praised of. Are the main concepts of your objectives in the gameplay of this masterpiece the least bit cliched? Admittingly yes, a good amount of the time you'll be trying to find the Seven Stars that feel from the Star Road. (Which is pretty much the Mushroom Kingdom version of Heaven, well of sorts.) And you must fight off various sorts of monsters and evil henchmen that are for the most part working for Smithy. (Well as some have agendas of their own.) While you also face all sorts of various mini sub-plots and games while some of them are necessary to advance the storyline as while others are purely optional. (But are still quite fun nevertheless.) But don't worry the utilization of the old ''RPG Formula'' has been used in this classic is done in such a delightfully unique way chances are you most likely won't care in the least. Its also another one of those games that may go by a certain age-old formula but don't feel the least bit formulaic at all.

One of the other TRULY most excellent aspects of this game is the Graphics. This classic gem of a 3D game was such a brilliant visuaul innovation it has managed to do masterfully on what most 3D games from the Playstation One/Nintendo 64 era could ever even remotely DREAM of doing. (Heck the same thing could be said for a pretty good amount of more current games as well.) Making a 3D game with PERFECTLY smooth & well-textured graphics and overall visual structure. There have been games that perfectly utilized the graphical power of their respective consoles but this treat is quite the rarity. This went above and beyond by going even BETTER than what the system could do. (Heck I wasn't even quite sure the N64 and PS one were this capable.) I mean its quite possibly impossible to great graphics to be even better in a Super Nintendo Game. ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' raised the bar SO high on 3D visual greatness its not even funny. However speaking of which what IS a funny irony is on how systems such as the Playstation and the Nintendo 64 are suppose to be so technologically superior to this awfully ''absolete'' Super Nintendo Entertainment System right? Then how come this game pretty much either went quite substantially better or absolutely OUTCLASSED just about most of all of the games in the later systems huh? Remember the story on how Nintendo COULD'VE made the Nintendo 64 a Disc-based console instead of a Catridge-based one which made Nintendo suffer with all sorts of losses? Well lets just say to put it quite mildly this is another one of the many reasons why I wish the Nintendo 64 WAS made that way in the first place. I mean seriously think about it, putting all the consideration on how the graphics went for this miraculous wonder have been utilized. How would a game like this have faired in a 64-bit disc based console going above normal technological standards? Think about that for a while... So in another words to make a long story short by graphics alone its one of the reasons why the SNES is still such a exceptional system. (But of course the Graphics are not the only truly great thing in this game.)

Each Character you play as has their own selection of regular and special attacks with are for the most part unique to each other. (Punches, Mallets, Lazers, Claws, Fireballs, Bombs all sorts of stuff.) However most of the attacks are VERY much based on the timing of pushing the button your using again. (Though sometimes its also based on other concepts like rapidly pushing the button, moving the control pad in a clockwise fashion or holding in the button for a ''Charged'' attack and such. Heck even item usuage requires timing along with defending yourself from enemy attacks. Its a wonderfully innovative gameplay mechanism which adds even more fun factor in this already great game.) The music for this game is wonderfully memorable with a nice selection of old favorite tunes from SMB Past (mostly from the very original Super Mario Bros.) and fresh new tunes for this game as well. The Control is perfectly fine as it is most definitely smooth on how you will rarely if EVER have ANY sort of responsiveness problem whatsoever at all. Is there any chance of potential Frustration in this game? Well OK I admit I will agree that it would happen every now & then but don't worry it'll most likely not last at all. (And even if the feelings of Frustration are not so short-lived chances are there are most likely other things you can be doing as you can go back to what you were doing later.) But this simply one of the best examples of a perfectly balanced sense of challenge as this game in general won't seem way too easy nor way too hard. But it can be a VERY good test of your strategic skills in various sorts of ways so its certainly not just for some rather ''Impulsive Pleasure''. (A.K.A ''Mindless fun'') It has been said that one way how to get a Video Game to give a extra sense of greatness is to give a good supply of various extras, mini-goodies, easter eggs and so forth. And baby this sucker has it in absolute SPADES! From various amusing cameos of other Nintendo characters like Link from Legend of Zelda, Samus from Metroid and more. Heck it has a hidden little highly pleasant suprise of a HILARIOUS homage to that certain aforemention 1985 classic that can be done during the middle of the game. And the way it has been done can be quite might be quite the nice little surprise as well.

One to ask is that is there anything worth complaining about in this game? I mean ANYTHING?! Well actually yes, but only mildly of course. Mario's highly infamously underused brother known as Luigi is nearly absent from this game. (He has a VERY brief cameo as you hear his wish at that Star Road I mentioned earlier.) And one other thing that is rather unfortunate that ANY one of all the 7 of Bowser's kids namely the Koopalings were COMPLETELY absent from this game. I mean OK I can understand not having any of them as major contributors to this game's progress but it would've been nice if they were at LEAST having a small cameo in this game. (Then again Super Mario World was pretty much the last we ever really saw of the Koopalings which is rather kinda sad really.) However those are only small gripes in which the game has far then more than made up for. BUT one other unfortunate thing is that this while this is the first Nintendo/Square co-production this is also quite possibly the last. And its also kinda sad that Mario is also possibly the only Nintendo character that'll get a great new game like this. (Then again Nintendo has been getting a lot more respect from various known 3rd Parties nowadays and the recent games ''Final Fantasy Tactics'', ''Sword of Mana'' and ''Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles'' have been doing well. Who knows maybe another Nintendo/Square co-working is not so seemingly impossible after all? Don't get me wrong Nintendo has done great work by themselves and so has Sqaure but still another co-production would be nice.)

Overall this is just simply another classic game that deserves ALL its praise in just about every way. This wonder is of course GREAT for fans (but is also very good to the casual gamer) is however not TRULY easy to find nor really cheap. Granted its not one of those extremely rare & expensive games like ''Mega Man X 3'' BUT it is nots a truly easy game to get. (But don't worry its worth every penny.) So please oh PLEASE do experience what is possibly one of the best acheivements ever made in the history of Video Games, all gamers should experience this wonder at least once.

+ Another one of THE finest games to ever grace a console EVER in Video Game History (let alone the Super Nintendo which is of course a excellent system itself as its one of the last great Super Nintendo games).
+ Innovative graphics that ever surpassed most Nintendo 64/Playstation games (and even a few games from the more modern systems as well)
+ Terrifically creative simple but VERY effective gameplay & storyline with some pretty darn good music. (Not too mention a very well balanced sense of challenge.)
+ Perfectly solid control with a wonderful sense of humor and polish and all sorts of hidden little extras that are truly quite the treat.
+ This game has had one of the most creative concepts for a RPG in well...ever. (And while it'll appeal to Mario and/or RPG fans the most, you don't have to necessarily be fan in order to enjoy this game. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if you would actually want to convert yourself into Mario and/or RPG fandom after this game.)
- The different things in the storyline might feel a bit strange at first
- Luigi barely made a cameo here in this game. (Even the Koopalings were absent from this game.)
- Its not incredibly easy to find nor is it highly inexpensive
- Probably the LAST time we'll ever see Nintendo & Square ever work together again. (Well hopefully it MIGHT be different.)
- When you think about it, its a truly dire shame that Mario was pretty much the only Nintendo character to really get attention from Squaresoft.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/04