Super Mario RPG

What happens when Squaresoft, oh god of RPGs, gets hired by Nintendo, oh god of general Gaming, for an RPG? You'd think you'd get the worst most overblown RPG in existence, but you'd be suprised what even Squaresoft can do with a limited genre.

For those of you that are confused, the Mario series, while being an excellent platformer and sometimes fitting perfectly into the "Misc" genre (Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, etc), it would be one of the last games you'd ever want to see made into an RPG, just because of the style and gameplay that has been prevalent in most of its history.



Super Mario RPG is basic. If I won't drill that through your head in this review, then I don't know what I can drill into you. When you play this game, you know good and well that any kind of kudos from this game that you usually get from RPGs, like beating the final bosses, is kinda a fluke. For example, beating the hardest boss in Final Fantasy 4 (The most recent RPG to this) was a chore, and lauded by gamers as a tough thing. In this game, you get more of the impression that a big brother-ish figure is holding your hand through this game.

For example, when you are in battle, you find yourself repeatedly wishing you had a way to speed it up. When your characters are level 20 and you have the ultimate weapons, the generic enemies in the final area are less of a chore, and much more of a generic annoyance. The same thing goes for any of the other areas in this game- enemies are more of an annoyance than an actual gameplay mechanic.

This may be a plus for this, however. Other than resorting to old mechanics such as the "Find the Key" and the "Hunt the worldmap for hidden treasures" cliche, you'll find yourself in an isometric action-based world. Instead of resorting to the Final Fantasy system, Super Mario RPG looks isometrically-based 3D (2D3D), with a sense of depth. For example, in the game, Mario can actually jump on things, explore behind things, etc. You get the generic idea. Its not a bad idea, actually- being as the enemies are also visible on the worldmap (No random battles), there are parts where you have to jump around enemies to avoid fighting 100 pointless battles. Another example is when Mario finds an invincible star, allowing you to run at the enemies on the map, kill them instantly (No battle), and gain EXP, just like in the old Mario game for the NES. Good deal.

As for the graphics, I don't have much to bitch about. The game has a unique style I've never seen before, even if you were to ignore the isometric feel. Of course, like any other Mario game, it couldn't be considered hardcore (A lot of the enemies are, by comparison, pretty tame and/or lame), but the graphics still are very well done. THIS style is what Myamoto should have done with his kiddie version of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker instead of resorting to such childishness. This game isnt childish, but its not hard on you, either- its a perfect balance.



As for the sound and music, I hate to say I like it quite a bit. Some of the music obviously takes tunes from the old Mario games, but 99.9% of the game is completely new, unique music to the series. Being as its not the same old Mario remixes, or it isnt the wierd "Happy Beats" you get from some of the Gamecube Mario games, this works out fine for me. The sound, however, takes almost too much from the old games, but this tends to make it feel like a real Mario game. After all, what sound would be better for "You made cash" than the coin sound from the old Mario games? Not too hard of a jump.

The story is very well done, strangely enough. This is my biggest worry whenever two companies get together: They will end up making fools of each other by making either
A. A whacky, new-to-the-series story, or
B. A re-hash story.

It seems like Squaresoft has been playing their Mario games, as it isnt too hard to swallow this story. Of course, the new characters that arent featured in other Mario games (Mallow, Geno, etc..) seem out of place, Squaresoft pulled a good move: While they have their own sidequests, they arent ever featured as a big integral part of the Mario-Peach-Bowser deal, and thus don't feel like they're raping the story too badly. This is suprising, as the temptation would be (To make the characters more cohesive) to make the characters big friends (Cutscenes with like one of the old with one of the new, etc), but Squaresoft knew good and well that would mess too much with the story.

Now for my real only bitch with this game. Its easy. While a lot of RPG fans would immediately go "Eww" to that, I think its a good move. For one thing, it introduced a bunch of already-existing Mario fans to RPGs, and it made sure they weren't confused. I would have hated it if they would have tacked Mario to a complex too-hard-to-be-fun system like Final Fantasy 5. Its a good thing to remember, though: This game will take experienced, hardcore RPG fans all of a few hours (10-15) to beat the living s*** out of. Now, this doesnt include collecting all the miscellanous secrets, but that usually tends to be a little useless anyway, being as once you beat the game, its only to be able to say "OHH I GOT THE MAGIC THING THAT BARELY BOOSTS MY ATTACK".



For example, all the characters get EXP, fighting or not. This keeps your characters from getting weak and unused, which I like, but it also shows my point quite well. Another example is the shared MP system, which prevents confusion. Enemy death bonuses, timed hit combos, and the ability to swap out a dying comerade for a fresh one after a battle all make for a very simplistic game. Hell, an easy tactic would be to run in the final boss area, dispatch all the enemies with your most-hated team, then whip out your best guys right before the final battle, full of EXP, to kick tail.

Overall, I give this game 5 stars. Its interactive, I'm not bored, its very ingenuitive, and I enjoy playing this game. I don't care THAT MUCH if its that easy- after all, I'd rather have an easy game with every minute worth it than a hard game that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

For a buying recommendation, by the way, I'd recommend you buy it. This game has great replayability. However, I'd love to see this game come out on the Game Boy Advance or the DS, being as that either system could handle this game easily. Supposing that won't happen any time soon, just go rent or buy it- this is a game you can't afford to miss.

5 star(s) out of 5

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