A look back at: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

 

Just one week and I'm already done with an RPG? Wow, I definitely invested my time in RPGs this year. I guess this being a very easy Mario RPG helped matters too. I didn't bother with sidequests, which means I missed out on battling Culex and such, but eh, I really wanted to beat the game before Christmas time comes. There's quite a lot of charm to Super Mario RPG, one of the most revered games on the SNES and in the RPG genre as a whole. Surely it must be great!

Except that I wasn't really as impressed with this game. As a seasoned RPG player, much of it feels quite average when it comes to the gameplay. Personally, I find this to be quite overrated as it is. While games such as Chrono Trigger are overrated and excellent Super Mario RPG is overrated and...average, leaning on above average. Just take out the Mario assets and take out the humor and you have a fairly linear and average RPG that the die hard RPG fans will play and then move on to something else.

It's honestly thanks to the Mario assets, their familiarity, and the always ever-present humor which makes the game slightly above average. The turn-based battle system would have been super boring if it weren't for the "Timed Hits", or as we probably know by now, Action Commands or other such terms. Mario RPGs are good with this kinda thing, not penalizing you too severely for messing them up. The storyline bobs and weaves between finding seven stars, which of course becomes a major gimmick in the two first Paper Mario games, not to mention the enemy variety in the game straddles between unique and interesting and familiar Mario fauna.

Make no question, even a novice RPG player can breeze through Super Mario RPG even if some of the bosses can beat the crap outta them. The locations and storyline are well-made, the idea of having Mario, Bowser, and Toadstool (Peach of course) all allied against a common enemy is a true selling point, and the gimmicks and puzzles can be quite interesting, along with the harder sidequests. Geno has become a fan-favorite character for loads of reasons, and although Mallow is the least popular party member, he at least makes up for it with what he can do in battle. Timed hits can turn hard bosses into easy ones. It's just that on the surface, without any of the positives the game wouldn't have much glory to it.