REVIEW: Smitten by the Stars - Super Mario RPG (1996)

Super Mario has been around for decades. But only once has he ventured into the world of turn-based RPG (Role-Playing Game for all you noobs out there).  Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is honestly my favorite Mario game to date. What happens when Mario gets smitten by the stars? Let's find out.


Ok, ok, so Mario doesn't get smitten by the stars per-say, but Smithy does fall from the skies and shakes Mario's world up and Mario has to collect stars. Release by Nintendo in 1996, Super Mario RPG became a very popular game and fast. Then it was recently re-released in 2008 in North America on the Wii's Virtual Channel.

 The game starts out like any other Mario game, Princess Toadstool has gone and got herself kidnapped again by Bowser. Really, princess? Doesn't that ever get old? But this time when Mario rescues the Princess something terrible happens. A giant sword falls from the sky and lands right into Bowser's Castle launching the Princess, Mario and Bowser away. You awake as Mario and you must go to the Mushroom Kingdom and talk to the Chancellor. You then begin your journey to save the Princess and find out what is going on with this giant sword, who you come to find out is Smithy. Along your way you meet new characters that join your team, Mallow and Geno. (Mallow has come to be my favorite) Eventually Princess Toadstool and Bowser join your crew too! Yes, you heard me right, Mario and Bowser fight side by side, but Bowser isn't too happy about it. Once you have your crew together it's time to make your way to get Smithy out of town!

The game is fun, light-hearted and can be quite challenging at times. This is the first turn-based Mario game and they implemented it quite well. The controls are easy to pick up on. The music is fresh. The graphics are amazing (well when the game was released they were amazing, and still fun to look at today). They brought the Mushroom Kingdom and surrounding lands into the 3D world perfectly. Boss battles aren't too hard if you are prepared with items and have leveled up adequately. You even get to fight the Mighty Power Rangers and put those bastards to their grave once and for all! Hooray! Ok, well they aren't exactly the Mighty Power Rangers, but the similarities could kill. Overall this game is fantastic. The only gripe I have with it is the save system. I like being able to save and drop the controller when I need to go. Super Mario RPG has specific save points few and far between, well at least that's what it feels like when you NEED to find one.

Any Mario fan should atleast give this game a shot. Any RPG fan, turn-based or otherwise should give this game a shot too.  Pick it up at your local used game store or download it on your Wii from the Virtual Channel or if you aren't sure download in in the ROM version. But let me tell you, nothing is quite the same as having the controller in your hand.

Overall I give this game 5 out of 5 bits.