Super Mario RPG: Legend of the seven stars

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the seven stars is not a very well known game, why is this? because it was released in the year 1996 at the very end of the SNES life cycle. So many people were grabbing Nintendo 64's and this amazing game was completely overlooked. However I found this game about 8 years late for $30 at gamestop and I was happy to spend every penny of it.

Graphics - At the time of it's release, the SNES had just about enough and it was Nintendo 64's job to take over. Although the 64 was revolutionary, Mario RPG had one of the best looking games for the SNES. The very well done 3D and art style blended together so well. The graphics were topnotch at the time and I still think they did an amazing job with it. In my opinion, this was the best looking game for the SNES, with sharp textures and awsome modeling, this game has no problem fitting in with the games of the present.

Gameplay - SMRPG is a turn base role playing game like older final fantasy games. You will feel a lot of similarity comparing this to FF series.
Your buttons on the SNES controller serve as the attack menu interface. "A" = attack, "Y" = magic, "B" = defend/run away, "X" = items. It is a very simple combat system that you'll grab the hang of it from the start. Not to mention that Toad gives a little help on controls if needed. They also have a "time attack" for basic attacks. What I mean is you select your attack (A button) and press "A" right as your hitting the enemy for a continued combo/Extra damage.
Out of combat, the game has some fun platform elements to it, including Mario elements as in secret boxes and jumping for coins. There are a bunch of mini-games along the way including puzzles here and there. So not only is the combat excellent but out of combat is amazing to add. There are plenty of hidden goodies to find along the way including final weapons for everyone.

Music -  The music was done by Yoko Shimomura a female music composer for video games who has quite the amazing history of video games soundtracks including, Street Fighter 2, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Mana and more.
The work she did for SMRPG was outstanding, I still have the Geno Woods song stuck in my head. Each melody was perfectly maastered, and each piece of music was so well done, you will humming these tunes for a long time. The music fits very well into the story line, it really pulls you into the game. I am very amazed with the music from this game.


Story - A easy way of summing this game including story mode up easily is, it's a final fantasy world and Mario came over to visit. Everything will remind you of FF games right down to the story line.
What happens is these group of enemies called "The Smithy Gang" destroyed a place called "Star Road" where everyones wishing go to become true, but now that it is destroyed, no ones wishes will ever come true again, all hope is lost for Mushroom Kingdom. Until Mario meets a kid named "Mallow" a small puffy cloud who thinks he is a tadpole, who lives with his grandfather (who really is a tadpole). Mallow shortly finds out by his grandfather that he is not his grandfather and that he is not a tadpole!. Mallow who is very shocked about the news, joins mario in search for his real parents. Later they meet a star spirit who took over a body of a doll named "Geno". Geno went to Mario for help, in order to repair Star Road and make everyones wishes come true again. So he joins Mario's Party (no pun intended) to take back the missing stars from other smithy gang members. On top of that Peach has been taken by a mad man named "Booster" who kinda reminds me of wario. Him and his snifits (look like shy guys) are taking the princess to marrymore so he can marry his bride to be (Peach). Not if Mario has anything to say about it!. Mario and his gang have many hurdles along the way but will they repair Star Road? I highly recommend this game to all RPG fans out there. It is on the Wii for purchase and this is most worth it.

Final Rundown -Overall this game was perfect at the time, it was also nice to see a story based mario game. I highly recommend this game for those of you that own a Wii, you can buy this game now on the Wii shop channel.

+Pro's:
-Amazing set of characters.
-Great Gameplay.
-Super Mario with a well written story was a awesome change of pace.
-Many extra hidden goodies.


Review Score - 10