While it's not the greatest RPG of all time (as some would have you believe), it is a great game and a 'must-own'.
For anyone who has played any of the 'Paper Mario' games on Nintendo's more recent consoles, then 'Super Mario RPG' will be right up your alley. It plays VERY similar to those titles. The only difference is this game took it's visual style more from 'Donkey Kong Country' that it did anything else. And it has the HORRID 'isometric' camera view that was quite popular at the time this was made. This makes the platforming segments a frustrating affair, but more on that in a bit.
The main difference between 'SM:RPG' and other RPG's of the time is the simplicity of the game itself, the fact it has Mario characters in it, and the battle system. For it's time, 'SM:RPG's battle system was a bit different than other RPG's. Instead of just choosing options from the menus and watching the action play out like in most RPG's, you can press the attack button at the right time and your attacks become more effective. Or your spell will work better/do more damage. Or you can even block an incoming attack if you time the button press correctly. Sure it's not a mind-blowing addition (and I actually prefer the regular way RPG's do it), but it was a big deal back in the mid-90's.
Obviously having Mario characters in the game is another huge deal. While I did love using Mario, Peach, and Bowser.......the game was missing some key characters that I wanted to use. There is no Luigi, Yoshii, and Toad is not a playable character. There are only five characters to choose from and only three actually come from the Mario universe. And the limited scope of the game doesn't stop with the just the five characters. The game is quite short for a mid-90's RPG. This won't take you more than thirty hours (if that) to complete and the storyline certainly isn't 'epic' in any way.
In fact, I was very disappointed with the storyline overall. One of the best parts of playing a RPG is the fact you will probably get a good story. 'SM:RPG' is missing that element. At least it's not the usual, "Bowser captures Princess and Mario has to save her" storyline, but it may as well be. The story will keep you playing until the end, but don't go expecting a 'Final Fantasy'-worthy tale here.
My biggest annoyance with the game comes from the ANNOYING isometric camera view. Throughout your quest, you will have platforming sections. This shouldn't be a shock, as this is a 'Super Mario' game. While the camera view isn't a problem most of the time (since you will be in RPG mode most of the game), it becomes maddening when trying to figure out where you are going to land after you jump.
This, of course, was part of gaming back in the mid-90's when developers were trying to transition into 3D. They didn't have powerful enough hardware yet, so they give us some fake 3D which is the isometric view. This was popular for about 15 min. But then after every gamer hated it and the next generation of consoles came out (and could handle actual 3D) the camera view went the way of the dodo and vanished. This was a good thing, since it's maybe the most annoying camera view in gaming history when you are trying to jump around with a character. Try going to play 'Sonic 3D Blast' and tell me how many hairs you pull out of your head.
Thankfully, 'SM:RPG' is more about role-playing than it is platforming. And other than a few gripes I have with it, this game is great. It's a great game to get people who may want to try a RPG, but would feel intimidated by playing a more complex 'Final Fantasy' type game. This game has an amazingly loyal following that give it perfect scores like it's one of the greatest RPG's of all time. Unfortunately, those people may be seeing the game through some rose-tinted lenses. That's not to say this isn't a must own for any SNES gamer. It's just that you should temper your expectations if you were raised on more complex & deep RPG's, like myself.