Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars

The acclaim of this game always puzzled me. I do understand that many people got introduced to the world of RPG's with this game, but by the time it was released I had already been playing RPG's for many years and this game offered no challenge or the usual depth that you would find in the genre. I just can't understand how someone that would be heavily involved in the genre could be amazed by this casual version of it. It's very short, you can complete it in one sitting, everything is very easy and there's not much of a story. The gameplay is alright and easy to get into (surprise!), but there's just nothing to really build around and you aren't going into a long epic journey where your hero will evolve into something really big. It doesn't offer any of that "RPG satisfaction", it's just this tiny game that you finish quickly and it leaves you empty. I remember when I completed it, I was like "That's It? I've barely started playing!"

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest gets a lot of shit for being too easy and a beginners version of Final Fantasy, but damn this one is like 10 times worst in that aspect but gets all the love for some reason. For me it's easily the worst RPG released on the SNES (the ones that were issued in the USA anyway), and it's pretty much the opposite of what's good about the greatest genre in gaming.

Mario's incursion into new genres continued with the Square/Nintendo collab of Super Mario RPG, that also paired action game precision with JRPG menu selection. Its combat is essentially Beyond the Beyond done right: Turn-based gameplay that grants bonuses upon synchronizing inputs to the impact of one's offense (e.g. heightened stats, extra turns) and defense (guarding), but with guaranteed damage rather than purely chance-driven side effects. Instead of magic types, Square's version of timing-oriented battling offers variety in a more tactile context. Weapons and abilities are characterized not only by their effects, but also by their skill check, and those variations are enough to distract from its below average pool of options (whether skills or allies) while helping them disguise what is - ultimately, the same battle approach of many console RPGs at the time (i.e. partitioning damage). What follows is straightforward and almost barebones, albeit with something to do in-between commands, an apparently simple feature which ends up distorting combat's flow (focused less on the menus and more on the animations) and tension (stemming from performance over prediction).

Outside battle mode are small, isometric 3D stages with traces of platforming and on-map mobs, alongside numerous ventures into minigames, unique scenarios, secrets (invisible blocks) and even Zelda-style challenges. The rest is - instead, little more than JRPG traditions dressed up with Super Mario's vibrant, colorful aesthetic, although with a few major exceptions: Stat-allocation (whose inherent replay value benefits from the game's length), the charming cast and above all a prevailing cartoony sense of humor. If its low difficulty leaves a bit to be desired, the experience is nonetheless well-produced and radiates wacky fun.

Faz jus à fama de ser o primeiro RPG ideal. Embora bastante simples na progressão e praticamente sem desafios, Super Mario RPG compensa no charme e bom humor da aventura.

É um daqueles raros e gostosos casos em que uma franquia mais que consagrada da Nintendo se permite entregar a olhares novos que expandem a lore do universo e oferecem uma perspectiva interessante mesmo depois de quase 30 anos. Nesse sentido, me lembra bastante Link’s Awakening.

Mecanicamente, as reações em tempo real dão ao combate em turno o tempero necessário pra tornar a experiência menos enfadonha. A duração curta também ajuda nisso.

Super Mario RPG não é a obra-prima que muita gente pinta, mas é bem legal, sim.

A delightful remake that capture's the original's charm.

It was a little short and slightly too easy, both problems that were present in the original game but that were amplified by the remake. Still, I adored how lovingly everything was recreated, from the visuals to the music, and the game was a lot of fun.

It's so funny to me how so many of the best Mario experiences are the ones that come from the various spin off games he's a part of, rather than any of the mainline titles, and Super Mario RPG is one such example of this. I feel that a big part of this is the fact that the universe of Mario games are often ones that feel extremely charming and inviting, often being able to balance between an overarching sense of whimsy with some stranger, more surreal ideas that also find their way into the fray, often making for a series that could fundamentally work well in a variety of gameplay styles given how much could be done with it. For the first of many turn based RPGs that take place in the world of Mario, this is definitely the one that feels the most traditional and conventional, yet it still has its own fun quirks that strongly separate it from your standard take on the genre.

The biggest way this is made clear is through the fact that rather than a larger, overarching world that the player explores, the map of the game is instead laid out as a series of smaller, self contained areas, almost like the stages in one of the mainline games, just altered to fit with this different gameplay type. This is made more prominent by the fact that the game during these sections takes on the mechanics and level design of a platformer to a degree as well, usually making the player perform basic manoeuvres through this top down isometric perspective, with a couple of them honestly being pretty tricky. Unfortunately the reason for this is rarely what obstacles are actually presented to the player and more that trying to nail down depth perception in this game is an absolute nightmare, with even the most simple of jumps being far more difficult just because it feels as if you never quite know if you're actually aiming for the right spot. It's fortunate that this platforming rarely ends up being a major focus of anything mandatory, more being an additional flavour to exploring the world as opposed to something that you need to actively get particularly skilled at, which I'm all for, both for placing more focus on the fact that this is a JRPG at its core, and also because I don't want any more focus placed upon a system that sucks this much.

It feels pretty clear that this game has been designed to either be an introduction into the genre, or at the very least a game on the more accessible, easy side, not just because of the fact that it is pretty short, but also because of how the combat has been designed to be easy in a different way than simply having enemies have stats too low to deal with you. One of the most interesting aspects of the game to me was the fact that as long as the player had the proper equipment and a tiny bit of planning, there tended to be a multitude of way for players to utilise what they had at their disposal to great effect. Not only did this still achieve the desired goal of making this a pretty simple game to make your way through, but it also promoted experimentation and a bit of strategy as well, as it did feel rewarding when just slightly changing up a loadout or party composition made a battle go from a pretty close fought fight to a completely one sided steamroll. Approaching the encounter design in such a way is also pretty nice in general as well, not just for facilitating an easier game, as it honestly feels pretty strikingly rare to have games like this where you actually feel as if a lot of your moves actually have a sense of utility.

With this said, despite the fact that it's comparatively short when put up against most JRPGs, this game also felt as if it wore out its welcome a bit, and I feel it's to do with the lack of rising stakes and tension being carried throughout. In general the vibe of the game is a bit like "go from place to place loosely knowing where the mcguffins are and get them all without a more direct and consistent sense of tension being thrown your way", and it leads to an experience that never really leads to any particularly amazing moments, just consistently neat stuff. This approach to pacing isn't even necessarily a bad one either, case in point: Earthbound, which did a similar thing yet ended up being amazing partially as a result. I think that the defining difference is that the narrative of this game is a far more focused affair despite the fact that there's very little direction beyond going from place to place and hoping to find another star. It's all very simple, yet something that's intensely focused on, rather than left a bit more in the background and allowing for the subplots to truly shine as something disconnected from the very standard quest to stop the ultimate evil that plagues the world. It's not a huge deal by any means but it was certainly tough to ignore by the end of the game when the charming and quirky characters would just not have quite enough time to truly shine before being cast aside in favour of making the real goal the underlings of the main antagonist. Most of the more climactic moments actually felt as if they happened as part of the sideplots rather than the main narrative, which was unfortunate since these were often unceremoniously cut short in favour of making the player fight against some random big enemy that had considerably less personality in the majority of cases.

Despite these complaints however, the writing is still the best part of this game, with the world as a whole feeling very dense and exciting to explore even with the self-contained stage structure that was utilised. Seeing a new town not only meant that more progress had been made in a broader sense, but it also meant another round of really funny character interactions as each place had its own distinct personality. You've also just got some really great running jokes that add a ton as well, my favourite being that Mario's main personality trait is being able to jump, to the point where you can do so to prove that you really are THE Mario. On the whole this really is just a wonderful time that works well despite the shortcomings it has, not to mention that it's aesthetically one of the most unique games out there for the funny Italian plumber. Definitely would recommend giving this a shot as an entry point into this game genre, it's accessible in multiple ways, especially in terms of being a pretty short game compared to the vast majority of them out there, and is a lovely time on the whole that should not be missed.

Not my favorite Mario RPG but one that I've been playing on and off since I was a very young kid. Lots of sentimental value, solid game mechanic, and I still love the visuals and soundtrack. It's definitely a game I'll never get rid of.