Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) Review

Despite being a huge collaboration between Square and Nintendo, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (which will be referred to as Super Mario RPG for the rest of this review) was the final Square game on a Nintendo console that North American gamers would see until over an entire console generation later. The game combines classic Square RPG gameplay with isometric platforming. This review will judge Super Mario RPG on its own merits.

The gameplay in Super Mario RPG tries very hard to appeal to a lot of different types of fans and it does a surprisingly great job overall. The turn based battles are mostly standard with the only real gimmick being that correctly timed button presses can make moves more effective than without those button presses. Running around the isometric world is very fast and feels great. Platforming works surprisingly well, though the player has to make a very conscious effort to slow down as it is often very precise. There are also some minigames that are all well executed and add some variety but don’t overstay their welcome. The only real issue the reviewer has with this aspect of the game is that it is overly easy. Obviously this was a choice made based on the target audience but it makes the game a lot less engaging for the reviewer to play. There are many interesting enemy designs but they are often too weak or have too little HP to be engaging fights in practice. This lack of difficulty is somewhat made up for with the inclusion of a large variety of secrets to be found, though finding these secrets often actually makes the game even easier. Overall Super Mario RPG tries a lot of things and does a far above average job at all of them, making it highly appealing to many kinds of players despite its lack of difficulty.

The sound in Super Mario RPG is easily above average. There is a large variety of high quality songs that all fit the game very well. Sound effects are exactly what you would expect. Overall this is easily one of the best aspects of this game.

Technically Super Mario RPG is impressive but the effort does not pan out as visually appealing. Essentially the entire game is played from an isometric perspective with high quality textures and prerendered character sprites. This approach can be hit or miss as some areas like strangely the opening areas can look rather bad while other areas look great with this style. The way that environments can be explored in 3D space is impressive and obviously required a lot of testing to get right. The game does all of this while running smoothly which is also a great achievement. Overall this is easily one of the most technically impressive SNES games as its original cartridge price would suggest, but sometimes this ambition fails at making an appealing image.

The story in Super Mario RPG is rather entertaining. The story itself is not engaging but the writing often is. Overall the writing and story seems to be going for laughs and it generally succeeds in that goal.

In terms of value Super Mario RPG is obviously worth it. The game is long for a SNES game while still being varied and interesting to the very end. There are also many secrets that are easy to miss which helps add additional replay value besides what the game already has simply due to being fun. Overall this is a game every JRPG fan should play and even non JRPG fans are likely to have a lot of fun with.

Overall the reviewer would give this game a 9.0 out of 10.