Although this fun little Mario-themed RPG commands great respect amongst retro RPG players and laid the basis for the much lauded Paper Mario series, there have always been those who write the game off as Final Fantasy with Mario sprites slapped onto it. After playing through the short but extremely fun campaign, I can say without equivocation that that characterization is utterly false. From the feather-light story to the enjoyable platforming and puzzle sections to the Mushroom Kingdom's distinctly psychedelic charm, Super Mario RPG is a one of a kind role-playing game. In fact, the only real similarities it shares with Squaresoft's Final Fantasy (fun fact: Squaresoft developed this game as well) is the turn-based battle system and the presence of leveling and stats. Everything else is distinctly Mario.
I had a blast playing through this game, but the core story is admittedly pretty weak. Basically, this particular tale starts out as another save-the-Princess-from-Bowser's-evil-clutches-mission, but the game throws you a monkey wrench when a new baddie named Smithy basically takes over Bowser's castle and asserts himself as the new dominant bad guy in the Mushroom Kingdom. Later, you, as Mario, meet up with this cloud-shaped character named Mallow, who was raised as a "tadpole", but who, based on his appearance alone, is obviously not. At some point, Mallow learns this hard truth and he joins Mario so that he can find his true parents and by extension, his true destiny. However, this is something of a side mission as Mario has more important stuff on his plate: in this particular adventure, he has to collect seven stars to restore balance to the world, yada yada yada.
As the Paper Mario games prove, RPG stories don't have to be deep or epic to be good, but it feels like the developers didn't try very hard to provide a compelling narrative in this game. Honestly, the story here is not much more fleshed out or inventive than that of the Mario platformers (as you can see from the seven stars cliche). The main difference is that there is much more dialogue, which to the game's credit, manages to be funny quite often. If you're going to get anything out of the story, it's the numerous funny and whacky moments that the game throws at you and the zaniness of the script. Having played Super Paper Mario prior this game, I feel this game has a much more primitive version of that game's humor, but relative to its contemporaries, this is a genuinely funny game. Oh, and did I mention that you get to team up with Bowser and play as Peach? I imagine that that must have been a big deal back in the day.
In spite of the thin story, the actual quest you undertake is very delightful since the game is so full of variety. Yes, you'll make your way through dungeons, towns and a world map (which is a click-from-point-A-to-point-B sort of deal, which might be disappointing to some, but worked quite well in my opinion), but the game regularly throws mini-games, platforming sections, puzzles and delightfully strange events at you, ensuring that making your way through the Mushroom Kingdom is never boring. The towns are small, but full of personality; the environments you'll make your way through have a bunch of little twists and surprises in them; and the dungeons are interestingly designed but also very easy to get through. Honestly, it feels like the game was designed with children in mind, but that mostly works to the game's benefit. Rarely will the structure of the game challenge you and like me, you'll probably be cool with that. This is not meant to be a hardcore role-playing experience. Rather, is a relaxing and fun journey throughout and you'll almost always feel like you're playing a Mario game, especially considering that Super Mario RPG is pure fan service. Almost every enemy and trope from the Mario platformers is present in this game and for the most part, they are used to excellent effect.
I loved that Squaresoft decided to put an ample amount of platforming in the game and for the most part it works well, but there are certain portions that are finicky and frustrating, particularly a section in which you have to jump from one beanstalk to another to reach the cloudy town of Nimbus. Similarly, there are certain puzzles that are maddening, like one that requires you to randomly jump on switches to progress. These are few and far between, but they did threaten to ruin the fun on a few occasions.
You'd think that a game like this would put the battle system on the back burner, but that is certainly not the case here. Super Mario RPG has a very well thought out battle system that is always fun and never gets tiresome. Like Final Fantasy games, you and the enemy take turns and you select commands through menus. Where this system differs is that you can trigger combo attacks if you press the action button again, but you have to do it with the correct timing; this also applies to defending yourself and minimizing damage. The presence of this "combo system" adds an element of engagement that keeps you on your toes even if the game is quite easy with the exception of a few mildly challenging bosses.
Another excellent aspect of the battle system is the interface; each of the face buttons opens up a different kind of menu. For instance, Y opens up your special attack menu, X opens up the item menu, A triggers normal attacks, and B allows you to defend or run. I thought this layout was extremely intuitive and it made me feel like I was not doing as much menu managing as I do in other RPGs. Finally, the combat portion of the game also benefits from a great deal of individuality in your party of five; each character is useful in their own way, especially Princess Peach, whose healing I felt was a bit overpowered.
Customization is this game is kept extremely simple. You can equip a weapon (and there aren't very many of these in the Mushroom Kingdom), one piece of armor, one accessory and that's it. In addition, characters level up relatively quickly and you can complete the game with your characters in the early twenties. However, only those adamantly opposed to simple RPGs will mind. Personally, I felt that the simplicity felt very appropriate for the game. Not to mention that the developers were very mindful of player convenience. For example, although you can only have three members in your active party, the other two characters in reserve will gain experience as if they were on the battlefield as well, which was a brilliant decision and one I think should be standard in RPGs. Furthermore, you keep all your experience and money if you die. The only way the game penalizes you is by sending you back to your last savepoint. As you can probably guess, savepoints are in great abundance in the Mushroom Kingdom.
One aspect of the game that was not very convenient was the limited inventory. Considering that most RPGs let you carry as many items as you want or need, you might be a bit shocked at how little you can lug around with you in Super Mario RPG. And while this is initially pretty annoying, the game is not so challenging that you'll actually need a big inventory to prevail against the game's fairly easy but very fun and inventive bosses.
On a related note, I was pleasantly surprised by how cool and varied the boss fights were. Most of the bosses had a certain gimmick that you would have to overcome. For instance, one boss would fire arrows onto squares shaped like your command buttons, effectively stopping the player from using that command temporarily, and another would eat your characters and thereby clone them for extra support. Believe it or not, Super Mario RPG definitely has some of the funnest bosses you'll encounter in an RPG.
Visually, the game is among the best on the SNES. This is mostly because it uses the quasi-3D style graphics that are most closely associated with Donkey Kong Country. Since this is an overhead-style RPG, the quasi-3D graphical style makes everything sort of pop out at you in a visually satisfying way. Furthermore, the psychedelic charm of the Mushroom Kingdom is very well realized, thanks to inspired character designs and vibrant use of color. It also helps that there is a nice variety of locales in this game. Yes, you'll go to the usual fire-based worlds, Peach's castle, underground passages, deserts, pirate ships, and all the usual Mario locales, but they have just the right amount of fun details to keep the player's interest from a visual standpoint. The only real complaint I have with the visual presentation is that there is some "blank space" surrounding some of the locales, which is probably a byproduct of the quasi-3D style. Furthermore, I feel that the game might have been a bit more artistically satisfying had the graphics been hand drawn, but the visuals are vibrant enough as is and they swimmingly do their job of sucking you into Mario's world. Once you get a good look at the psychedelic whimsy of the game, you'll see how utterly misguided the "this is Final Fantasy with Mario sprites" detractors are.
The sound design in this game is just like that of a Mario platformer. So basically you'll hear some cute music, but none of it will blow your mind, and you'll hear all the usual Mario sound effects in all their video gamey glory. In short, this game has solid sound design, but it doesn't go above and beyond what Mario games have done prior to this release.
If you have some kind of personal rule that you are only allowed to play RPGs for their deep and compelling stories, Super Mario RPG is not going to cater to your needs since the story you're getting in this game, for all its eventfulness and entertaining dialogue, is really not much more than the thin premise offered in a Mario platformer. But if you want an RPG that aims to be fun and delightful above all other considerations, then there is no reason you shouldn't acquire a copy of Super Mario RPG as soon as possible. Based on the sheer quality of this game, it was proven even in 96 that Mario had what it took to conquer a vast frontier of genres.
GAMEPLAY-4.5/5
DESIGN-4.5/5
STORY-2.5/5
VISUALS-4.5/5
PLAYABILITY-5/5
VALUE-4/5