Its been 25 years now since Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars first released. The game has an impressive legacy behind it, and today I want to take a look at why the game was so important.
Background
Mario Spinoffs are a major part of Nintendo’s flagship franchise, and it is easy to take for granted series like Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi, the RPG spinoffs of the Mario franchise. However, the series origins were anything but conventional, as they saw Nintendo teaming with Squaresoft for one of the company’s first collaborative titles. The result was our first first time getting a true story expansion in a Mario game, while also getting a merger of Mario’s platforming and Final Fantasy’s RPG battles. It was new and different and led to a number of Mario spinoffs that continued the RPG legacy.
It can be hard nowadays to appreciate how different Super Mario RPG was at the time, because it was different not only in terms of gameplay, but also in terms of visuals. The game pushed the SNES to its limits and in many ways it resembled an early PS1 game more than a SNES title. It added in now fan favourite characters like Geno and Mallow and greatly expanded on the characterization of Peach, Bowser, Toad and more. The game had amazing music the likes of which had not been heard on the system before. To put it In short, it was a bold new experience.
Quality
What makes Super Mario RPG hold up so well is not just the visuals and music, but the overall gameplay experience. The game was an evolution of Square’s best RPGs that had been on the system up to that point, and even had a bonus boss meant to be in the mold of a Final Fantasy boss battle. This classic Square experience is lacking in the later Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, and that makes this game unique. This is not to say that the later games are bad, but rather that they are merely different from what we experienced in this title.
Super Mario RPG is both a time capsule of the 90’s and hallmark of the Nintendo and Square partnership, and also a high point for Mario in general. It desperately needs a direct sequel, while Square Enix owns many of the concepts and characters from the game itself. Square Enix and Nintendo teaming up again would be a chance to give fans what they want, including, more appearances from classic characters like Geno and Mallow, and the potential for a lot more to be expanded on. This is an opportunity that should not be missed by either company
In addition, for access to an extensive variety of active retro gaming groups on Facebook, visit Retro Gamers Hub.