Legend of the Seven Stars is Mario's first venture into the RPG realm, and it couldn't have began with a bigger boom.
Legend of the Seven Stars opens up with Princess Peach tending her garden, when out of nowhere, Bowser kidnaps her. Mario hears the news from Toad, and runs to Bowser's castle to save Peach. You would think the plot would be the typical Mario finesse at hand here, you would be wrong. After a quick tutorial going through Bowser's castle, you confront the Lord of the Koopas, only to have the battle interrupted by a huge force. A giant sword crashed through the castle, sending Mario, Peach and Bowser flying in different directions. Mario escapes back to his house to find the giant sword has also shattered Star Road. Mario realizes he must set out on a journey to recover the stars of Star Road to rebuild it, and confront the force behind this madness. Not so typical for a Mario game, eh? Okay, well, collecting the seven stars isn't much new, but you need SOMETHING that resembles a Mario-themed game!
As with most Square RPGs in the day, Legend of the Seven Stars is a turned-based strategy game. You can have three members in a party at once, and each member has the ability to attack, defend, use items that you collect variously throughout the game in you inventory, or run away from the battle (you are incapable of running from a boss battle). Enemies are visible onscreen, and once you or an enemy meet each other, the screen changes to a different locale, but using the same arena that fits the location of where you are. There is a use of timed commands in which if you press the B button at "the right time," the damage will increase. This also works the same way when an enemy is attacking; you can decrease the damage they inflict by pressing the button just before they hit.
Yoko Shimomura composed the music for Mario RPG. She is a well-known video game composer that has composed music for the Kingdom Hearts series and Parasite Eve. Kōji Kondō and Nobuo Uematsu (composer of the Final Fantasy series' music) also helped arrange the game's soundtrack. Although you may not necessarily want to purchase the music in Mario RPG, it provides very catchy tunes with a mix of Mario and Final Fantasy, which is a great mix. Silly sound affects, and sometimes serious music fit perfectly together.
What's striking about Mario RPG is the stunning pseudo-3D graphics that are incorporated using an SA-1 chip for enhanced visual effects. It looks stunningly beautiful and is easily one of the best-looking Super Nintendo games of its generation. The character models look very cute (even the more threatening ones), and appear as if they are modeled clay.
Legend of the Seven Stars will last around 15 hours, providing a great journey along the way with funny, unique characters, and great-looking locations. It has a more comedic tone, while also getting the job done by being serious when it's needed to be. If you haven't checked out this last great SNES Mario title for the 16-bit console, then be prepared to take on Mario's first RPG with incredible style.