Super Mario RPG [Wii Virtual Console]

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Super Mario RPG; a classic RPG-Platform hybrid created by Nintendo working together with RPG gods, Square, (before they became Square Enix,) that was originally released on the SNES as the console’s last hurrah before the transition to the Nintendo 64 was made.
Did this game make the SNES go out with a bang, well, yes. But how does it live up to today’s standards on the Wii Virtual Console?

The game kicks off with an intro before the game officially starts, however there is a difference here, as you actually have to play through these events yourself.
It all starts in the traditional manner, with Princess Peach being kidnapped by the evil Bowser and held captive in his castle. Mario pursues Bowser to his castle, and you must control Mario as you make it through a bunch of Goombas in order to start a fight with Bowser himself.
However, as Mario finishes Bowser off, a series of events that seem way out of Bowser’s doing unfold, resulting in Mario, Bowser and Princess Peach plummeting to their doom as a gigantic sword falls from the sky and into Bowser’s castle.
Mario wakes up to find that Princess Peach is still missing, and the bridge to Bowser’s castle is destroyed, making it impossible to get access. So Mario’s goal (initially) is to find and save Princess Peach once again. But what’s with the giant sword and other strange events unfolding in Mushroom Kingdom? Of course, it doesn’t turn out as simple as this.

Gameplay

The game has your typical RPG elements in that you journey to and from different worlds, exploring, entering buildings and shops and talking to any of the many inhabitants you meet on your way.
The amount and size of places to explore is very impressive and the dialogue is often hilarious. The story is surprisingly gripping for a Mario title too.
However, being a Mario game, it integrates many platforming elements into this too. You can, of course, jump to get across platforms and jump on top of things. It’s not exactly Super Mario Bros, but it’s a nice change from your typical method of roaming around in RPGs.

You will encounter platforming sections where the platforms move around in different ways as you jump from one to the next. There are also parts where you can get around by rolling on barrels and even launching from cannons later in the game, plus water sections where you can either swim around on the surface or walk around on the bottom with the help of whirlpools.
It is nice and varied and often really clever, the kind of clever that puts a smile on your face as you figure it out, and it all blends together really well with the RPG elements.

Battles are turn based like in most RPGs, however they’re not completely random, and are instead activated when you make contact with an on-screen enemy, although sometimes enemies will spring out of bushes and take you by surprise, in which case there’s not a lot you can do unless you’re really quick on your toes. I fought pretty much every enemy I could along the way and never had any major difficulties, and since the amount of Exp. You gain seems to reflect how tough the enemy is compared to you, you could probably get away with avoiding a few fights if you wish.

You have 4 options to use in battle: Attack, defend, magic and items.
The attack option will trigger an attack on an enemy of your choice. The attack depends on the equipped weapon the character has, for example Mario can have a Koopa Shell to kick at the enemy, or a hammer to clobber them with, amongst other things.
The Defend option gives you the choice to either defend, which will result in you taking less damage from enemy attacks for that turn, or to run away from the battle. Simple enough.
Magic lets you use one of that characters magic abilities, which can vary from different kinds of attack, to ones that can help your team by restoring health or boosting other stats. This option is where one of my main criticisms of the battle system, since there’s no way, at least that I can see, to know what these magic attacks actually do without actually doing them, and even then it’s not always clear what the result was. This is a little confusing to say the least.
Items, as the name suggests, allows you to use an item. Different items have different effects, such as restoring HP (health points) or Flower Points (these allow you to use magic attacks), curing status ailments and even boosting stats or lowering those of the enemy. All items, including weapons and armour (which boosts defense when equipped) are bought from the many shops in the game, or occasionally found lying around.

A nice touch in this game, which paved the way for many RPGs that followed is that instead of simply selecting your attacks and watching them unfold, you can boost their power with timed button presses. The same technique can be used to defend against enemy attacks. Boosting the power of magic attacks can be done in a variety of ways, depending in the attack, such as tapping a button as fast as you can or rotating the control stick.
This adds a whole other dimension and some much needed interaction to the otherwise typical RPG battle system. It’s a great innovation.

During battle you can have up to 3 characters in your team, these characters will join you as you meet them on your travels. You will have a total of 5 characters to choose from by the end of the game. As well as Mario, who you play as from the start, the first two you meet are new characters, only ever seen in this game; Mallow, a strange cloud-like creature that thinks he’s a frog, who excels in magic attacks, and Geno, a hero doll brought to life by some strange magic, who excels in brute power and speed. The other 2 are more familiar faces.
All the characters have very different attributes, so you may think about selecting different people for your team to adapt to the situation. Mario, however, can’t be switched out.

There are many, many different types of enemy you’ll encounter in the game. These range from typical Mario baddies such as Goombas, Koopa Troopas and Bloopers, but also a lot of enemies that are not familiar to the Mario franchise. The diversity of different enemies is huge and you’ll hardly ever encounter the same enemies for long, and obviously each enemy has different powers and abilities.
However this links to another annoyance I found in the game, which is that there’s no way (or again, not that I could see,) to know an enemy’s stats and powers. This again results in a lot of trial and error, launching different attacks at random to see which are effective and which are not, which is not so good.

Outside of battle, you can manage your party in the menu screen. You can see all your characters stats (attack, defense, magic attack and magic defense, and speed,) however; this too is a bit confusing with a bunch of different numbers with no real indication as to what they actually represent.

Each character’s held items can also be changed as you please, with multiple weapons, which boost attack, armor, which boosts defenses and even accessories, which have a variety of weird and wonderful effects that can be equipped.
Items can be managed and used outside of battle too, since you aren’t refreshed between battles. There is a pretty harsh limit, however, on the amount of items you can carry at once, and often you’ll find new items lying around and then annoyingly have to toss something out to fit it in your, err, bag. (Where does Mario store his stuff again?)
The level and depth of customization of your team is very clever once you get your head round it though.

On top of all this, there are a few really fun side-games to give you a nice break from the usual stuff. These see you playing all kinds of crazy games, such as riding a barrel down waterfalls and down a stream at high speed, collecting coins and racing around in a mine cart. These will be encountered as part of the main story, however after that you can replay them at any time and aim for a certain score/time in order to earn coins and other rewards. It’s really nice to meet something a little different like this and these are all the simple and fun kind of games you’d expect from Mario. They really are great fun and a good way to earn coins too.

There’s also a ton of other Easter eggs to be found in the game, which I won’t spoil but if/when you notice these they are guaranteed to put a grin on your face, just to add even more character and humour to the game.
There are multiple side quests of the type you’d expect in the game too as if it needed even further longevity.
You can also find Yoshi in the game, although sadly his participation is limited only to his homeland of Yo’ster Isle where you can ride around and race on him, although he can be summoned to help you out during battles, whic is a nice, albeit small addition.


The gameplay is a really deep and really fun experience overall, with the odd little annoyance, and a ton of variety too. It’s admittedly slow at first, but once you get into the swing of things, (bearing in mind the length, patience is required here,) you really will become hooked on the character of this game.

Controls

Moving around the game world is done as you’d expect. The D-pad or control stick on the Classic (or GameCube) controller is used for walking around. D-pad feels much more natural considering the camera angle and the fact that it was made for SNES, so Classic controller is recommended.
The A button is for interacting and selecting, B button is jump and X opens up the menu. It’s all as you’d expect it and easy to access, and platforming feels as tight as you’d expect from Mario, so no complaints here.

During battles is an entirely different affair however. Each of the 4 actions described earlier is assigned to a different button. A is attack, B is defend, Y is magic, and X opens up the items menu. You must press the corresponding button a second time to initiate your move after selecting your target. The options on screen are shown in the shape of your 4 buttons for a bit of clarity, however, having to use different buttons instead of one universal button (A) for all feels somewhat unnatural and occasionally led to me accidentally launching a normal attack with the A button instead of what I meant to do. This could have been made a lot simpler.

Graphics

Everything is rendered in full 3D. The view is a panned top-view kind of angle, but works well, it rarely obstructs anything unlike other RPGs that come to mind. Only minor annoyance is that platforming from certain angles can be a little awkward.
Unlike most attempts at full 3D from this time, the visuals haven’t aged too badly. Not exactly Super Mario Galaxy, but the cartoon style of everything just about saves it from looking completely fugly.

All environments have surprising attention to detail and are quite varied. Levels vary from forest and mountain terrain, to inside pirate ships and even in the clouds, they really are breathtaking at times and take full advantage of the SNES’ power, being one of its last games.
This goes for everything within your current map, however, no attempt is made at filling the backgrounds with anything, with most just cutting off at the edge of the map to a vast, blue pile of nothingness. A little artwork here could have made it just that little bit better.

One of my favourite things is the design of the characters themselves. Instead of just remaining motionless during conversations, you’re often treated to quite humorous animations as Mario and friends jump, shake their heads and run around like crazy people. This adds even further to the character of the game. A real thumbs-up there.

When you make contact with an enemy, battle is not done there and then, but it instead flashes into a kind of “battlefield” that resembles the place you’re in, where more enemies join the battle. It’s just as well really, because I can’t imagine all the flashy animations working without this. Some of these are quite impressive.

Sound

The soundtrack is a true classic here. Classic soundtracks from both Mario and Final Fantasy (courtesy of Square) make appearances, as well as soundtracks unique to this game. These together make for one excellent soundtrack overall which is an absolute joy to listen to.

All the typical Mario sounds you’d expect are here too as you jump, collect coins and items and hit item blocks. Obviously there are no voices or anything, beyond Bowser's "Blaaargaagg".

Overall

Nintendo’s unrivaled genius and game design from the golden era of video games combined with the RPG know-how of Square combine to create a truly fantastic game and real classic which still feels great today, as it hits the Wii Virtual Console. It’s huge depth, longevity and real personality and character puts today’s big releases to shame.

Good points: Will likely take weeks to complete, not taking into account the side-quests and bonuses. A huge amount of depth and variation in gameplay, Great story, lovable characters and all round huge personality. Timing-based battle system is truly revolutionary and paved the way for many games that followed. And for just 800 Wii Points???

Bad points: Some clarity needed in the confusing battle system and in the stats system. A few control issues and takes a bit to get going.

9/10
(Not an average)