Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Having a birthday in the summer pretty much means you’ll get presents about every 6 months, which is really nice when you’re a kid. May of 1996 saw the last Mario game for the Super Nintendo, and I was lucky enough to get it for my birthday. Super Mario RPG was an amazing experience, developed by Square (of Final Fantasy fame), and published by Nintendo. The game featured isometric perspective with 3D-esk graphics that still hold up today.
The game started like any other Mario game, with the Princess being kidnapped by Bowser. Mario promptly goes to the castle to rescue here. During the battle with Bowser, a giant sword falls from the sky, shattering star road, crashing into the castle and ejecting the various characters. Mario, still tasked with finding the Princess, heads to Mushroom Castle for guidance.
Mario RPG’s battle system took the old idea of a turn based system, and added a new twist of timed attacks. The players controlled three characters in battle. Each had their own style of attack, where when pressing the attack button again made the attack deal more damage. The same was true for spells, defense (allowing you to defend more), and items (heal more, etc.). I love RPG’s where they incorporate an element that keeps the battles from devolving into simple button mashing. Yes, the attacks still worked without the timed press, but were much more effective with them. Enemies were always seen on screen, allowing players to avoid unnecessary battles, and even giving you the chance for a preemptive strike by jumping on them before hand.
The game introduced two new characters into the Mario lore; Mallow a boy raised by frogs who thinks he’s a tadpole (spoilers, he’s not); and Geno, a doll like character that was possessed by spirit from Star Road to assist. Eventual Bowser and even the Princess herself join the group, bringing your team up to 5. This was the first time as far as I know that Bowser was playable, and first since Mario 2 on the NES for Princess.
Players made their way through the land, fighting the Smithy gang to retrieve all seven titular stars before finally heading to Bowsers castle for the final star piece. The villains of the game were either of the typical Mario type, as Bowser’s army joined forces with Smithy, or the mechanically themed newly created Smithy gang. One of my favorite were the Axem Rangers, a clear knock off of the Power Rangers. Even for a joke they gave a tough fight. Known for hidden quests, deep within Monstro Town, after completing a few random tasks, players can fight Culex. Culex looked very much like a Final Fantasy character, though he was created specifically for this game. He was by far the hardest battle in the game, even stronger than the final boss. I whopped ’em.
A few Nintendo easter eggs were thrown in as well. One had Mario accidentally return to his original 8-bit self after stepping out from behind a curtain. One of my favorites was after awakening in an specific inn, Link was in the bed next to you, sleeping. Talking to him would only play the item discovery music from his game. Finally, going to a bed in the Mushroom Castle at a very specific moment would show Samus from Metroid “resting up for Mother Brain.”
This game is a classic, and sadly marked the last time for 6 years that Square worked with Nintendo, opting to develop for the Playstation instead. I’ve played through this game countless times back when I had more. It can easily be found on the Wii/Wii U Virtual Console, and is a must play. As Seven Stars was developed by Square, contracts prevent Nintendo from making a sequel, or using any characters created for the game (Mallow, Geno, Smithy, etc.). The series continue on in spirit though, with the Paper Mario series for consoles and the Mario & Luigi series for handhelds. Both series are amazing, and continued some of the gameplay mechanics and traditions of the original, but the original always stood out as something different to me. Something special.
Have you play Super Mario RPG? What about the sequel series? Comment below!
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“…….” – Mario
The other Mario RPGs pale in comparison to this one. Sadly I never got to play it in its SNES form as the game was not released in Europe.
At least you got to play it! You’re right, the other games aren’t as good. I’ve enjoyed the Mario & Luigi handheld stuff, but the Paper Mario games never did it for me.
Loved this game. If I recall correctly, Paper Mario was going to be a second Mario RPG game but they renamed it and it more or less became an unrelated RPG, but it was still good. Personally, I stopped after Thousand Year Door. Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario, and Thousand Year Door were all amazing in their own ways, but Super Paper Mario didn’t look as good when I saw demos and gameplay of it. Still looked fun.
Personally, I loved SM RPG. I actually had it when I was younger and as a result it was pretty much the first game I chose to add to my emulator collection when I was still young. I just really loved every aspect about it, from the characters and the combat to the open free roam world exploration. Great stuff for its time and even today.
Like I said above, i played the crap out of this when i was a kid (oh free time, how I miss thee). I’ve played a few Paper Mario games, while they were good, I never got into them like I did this (the Wii version was terrible). The handheld Mario & Luigi games were good, but still, paled. Alas! At least we have this.
I personally really liked the Wii version, as well as the N64 and Gamecube ones. It may have strayed from some traditional gameplay mechanics of the earlier Paper Mario games, but the story was beautiful and some of the characters I’ll never forget!! Did you play it through to the end?
I’ve played Paper Mario (N64), Thousand Year Door, and Paper Mario (Wii), only finishing the first. While I enjoyed the first two, the latter I found annoying.
Look at it like this. Every Zelda game is a clone of the first, save for Zelda II. Imagine if Zelda II released first, people would lament the change, and what could have been. While the Paper Mario series are good in their own respect, their not like the original.
I definitely see your point. Games like Harvest Moon, Pokémon, and Animal Crossing are successful for cloning too! People like what they like, and I’m no different.
I guess I can’t provide much else for a response, as I haven’t played Legend of the Seven Stars, but I stand firm in my love for Paper Mario 64/GC/Wii!
Maybe the Wii version is just one generation too far removed from your first experience, just like Sticker Star is one generation too far removed from my first experience :p
I don’t see any problem with cloning games, some of my favorite franchise are just that, clones of the original. I was just lamenting that the right game wasn’t cloned.
I think you hit the nail on the head, the Wii game was too far removed.
SMRPG is on Virtual Console. I highly recommend it.
I remember playing this game. I don’t remember why I stopped. I think, being younger, I was expecting to see more of the usual Mario Bros. characters to join up – I remember being disappointed when Mallow joined the party and not someone like Toad or Luigi. I did love the battle system – it was definitely an RPG system but at the same time it was also a Mario system.
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga on the GBA and Paper Mario were the spiritual successors of Super Mario RPG, right? I loved the Superstar Saga and am about to delve into the DS Mario and Luigi games soon. Enjoyed Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door but didn’t like it as much as I did Superstar Saga.
Yes, both Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario continued the series in different ways. I think the former is much better than the latter. I humor and battle system was better.
I could see the original game not working for you if you’re too young.