![]() ![]() Geno’s theme and the miniboss theme have been living rent-free in my head since 1996 The music, composed by Yoko Shimomura featured arrangements from Final Fantasy 4 and Super Mario Brothers along with original music. Of course, I have to mention everyone’s favorite character Geno, an alien visitor who takes the form of a child’s doll to help Mario and Co. Most of the memorable scenes in the game revolved around original characters like Mallow, fighting a multi-part wedding cake that was also a terrifying spellcaster, and more. ![]() Mario’s mission became exploring the kingdom to collect the titular seven stars in order to grow strong enough to beat Smithy and save the world. Despite becoming a running theme in later Mario RPGs, Bowser was not the main villain of the game, and was quickly pushed aside by the game’s true bad guy: Smithy. ![]() While the usual suspects of the plumber’s games were here, except for Luigi who was at home sleeping the entire time, the majority of the story focused on original characters. Anyone who plays Mario games knows that story and characterization aren’t often the strong points, which also makes it hard to create an RPG world on par with the likes of Final Fantasy.Īnd yet Squaresoft managed to create its own version of the Mushroom Kingdom and filled it with one of the most diverse groups of characters ever seen in a Mario game. Having Shigeru Miyamoto on as producer certainly brought Nintendo’s charm and design to Squaresoft, but one of the most memorable aspects of Legend of the Seven Stars was the elements unique to Squaresoft. And while many people checked the game out solely for Mario and Co., it was the additions by Squaresoft that truly made it stand out. Minigames like a rhythm-focused Yoshi race, a Mode 7 minecart section, and more, helped to keep the player guessing about what was to come. Speedrunners have gotten well acquainted with Mario’s jump as there is an infinite jump move that requires precise timing.īesides combat, there were many areas where platformer and action fans would feel right at home. Instead of just having the same generic command for everyone, each party member would have different action commands based on their abilities, along with their own timing. Even using items can be rewarded with a freebie with a correctly timed press. ![]() From my experience, Legend of the Seven Stars was the first RPG to feature what has been defined as “action commands.” Every action that the player can take during combat has a corresponding button that can enhance said action. Turn-based gameplay has always done what it can to take action out of the equation and focus on stats. While combat was turn-based, as with every JRPG at the time, a simple change would become the foundation for future Mario RPGs. Every enemy existed on the main map and would chase after Mario with combat initiating if the two met. Unlike other recognizable JRPGs, there were no random encounters in the game. Movement and exploration were done in real-time, with players able to explore and jump around each map as Mario. The game’s art was advanced for the time: making use of a 2.5 D style to give the appearance of 3D, and was one of the most striking games graphically for the SNES. The goal was to take the platformer and movement-focused design of Mario and meld that with a turn-based system and RPG progression that would be accessible for fans and non-fans of JRPG games. The two companies met in 1994 and development began. The Accessible JRPGĪccording to interviews, Squaresoft was looking for a way to make a more accessible and marketable JRPG outside of Japan at the same time Shigeru Miyamoto was interested in making an RPG starring Mario. It would kick off a new genre for everyone’s favorite plumber, and in a way, was ahead of its time in terms of where RPGs and video games began to experiment. It is funny to look back over the years at the many games that have featured Mario and think about how Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was ever conceived. ![]()
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