More than worth picking up.
User Rating: 9.3 | Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars SNES
"Mario in an RPG?" people said. A lot of them couldn't believe it. How could the star of such famous and influential action games such as Super Mario Bros. and it's sequels make the transition to the realm of role-playing games? Well, this game managed to show that Mario's world could not only be integrated with that of an RPG, but that it could turn it all into a new experience that was something to behold. And what's more, this game actually manages to hold up in today's world, and it's all still worth a look. The game begins when Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool while she's busy visiting Mario at his house. However, she's abducted by Bowser and brought to his castle. But soon enough, Mario manages to defeat Bowser and nearly rescue the Princess. I say "nearly" because before he can bring her home, a gigantic sword falls from the sky and lands directly in the middle of the castle, sending Mario flying out of the castle and back to his house. Thus the game begins. The game plays sort of like a combination of a standard Mario platformer, and an RPG. You progress through the world in a sort of quasi-three-dimensional stetting. You can move in any direction that you please, and you can go to almost any location that you can see. You view the action from a sort of diagonal perspective. That is to say, if the world was a square, you would be observing the action from one of the corners. Sometimes this can be a bit of a problem as it might prevent you from seeing something that's hidden behind an object, but more often than not this sort of thing has actually been done intentionally by the developers to hide an enemy or even a secret item. The battle system is fairly unique. Instead of going through random encounters, you instead see your enemies on the main action screen, much as you would in any Mario game. But when you come into contact with them, the battle begins. This means that you have the opportunity to avoid fights if you wish, or get into more so as to win more experience or money. Once you're actually into a battle, you're presented with a set of actions that you can perform. Each one has been assigned to one of the four main buttons on the SNES's controller. The A button allows you to attack with a weapon, the B button allows you to defend or flee from battle, the Y button lets you use special attacks, and the X button lets you use items. Also, you are allowed to only have three of your party members in battle at once, and you can't switch them in battle. Also, to use special moves, you must use "FP" or "Flower Points." However, your entire party must share all of the FP, instead of each character having their own supply. This means that you may need to be careful about which characters you use to attack in battle and which moves they use. And there are also "timed hits." Basically, if you time a button press correctly, you can either do extra damage with an attack, or take less damage from an enemy's attack. It does make the battle system a bit more interesting, as it adds a bit of action to every fight instead of just making it a matter of making a few menu selections. The game looks pretty good, even by modern standards. At first the graphics do seem to be a little blurry. However, as the game progresses you'll probably get used to the way that they look, and start to see more of the detail that has been put into them. Every area that you walk into has a very detailed and lively look to it that gives it all a very natural-looking feel. However, if you reach the edge of an area, you'll usually notice that there's nothing to see beyond it's borders except for a placeholder color. This can take away from things just a bit, but it's not that much of a problem. Characters all look great and animate very well, meaning that overall the game's graphics are solid but just a bit dated. The game also sounds very good. You'll hear a lot of familiar Mario tunes, and some very well-written new songs. The sound effects are also very well done, and manage to add some comical effect to many of the scenes. There's really nothing to complain about here, just the fact that you might not like it if you have a problem with games on older systems. So in the end, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a very rewarding and special game. It might seem like it's a bit easier and shorter than standard role-playing games, but that just helps to cut out some of the things that manage to slow others down. And there are still plenty of secrets and hidden areas that can be found to extend your time in the game. Overall it's a great game, and you should definitely worth picking it up if you have a SNES or you're thinking of looking for one.
