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Retro Game of the Week - Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

posted by nikki at 3:55 pm.

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This week’s game: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Released in 1996 for the SNES

Before the ever-popular Paper Mario series brought a touch of RPGness to the Mario world, there was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Developed by Square (now Square-Enix), of Final Fantasy fame, and with guidance from Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, It was the first RPG in the Mario series.

I met with mixed reactions to this game back in the day. Most people seemed to like it, but every once in a while you’d come across someone who couldn’t stand it. Nowadays, it seems to have been elevated to near cult classic-status with copies selling for upwards of $30 once all is said and done.

The game centers largely around a character named Geno and his quest to collect seven Star Pieces… fragments of the Star Road, where he lives. Mario and company, meanwhile, have had to contend with the mysterious Smithy Gang, agree to join Geno on this quest, hoping that the outcome will be beneficial to them all.

Super Mario RPG’s gameplay is, much like the later Paper Mario games, something of a combination of platforming and RPG-style turn-based battles. Unlike previous Mario games, the action did not take place in a side-scrolling environment, but rather in an approximation of a 3D environment (which was pretty unique at the time). The five playable characters each have their own attacks and special techniques, adding some variety to battles.

The game has recently been released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan and Europe… here’s hoping it makes it to the U.S. Virtual Console as well.

Nikki Blight: is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.