Let's just ignore the woeful approach of the end of Mario's 35th anniversary, or the completely-ignored 35th anniversary of the Zelda series for a moment. 2021 is also a big year for Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the game that fused Final Fantasy and Mario to create a timeless, timing-based, turn-based strategy action game that's beloved by pretty much anyone that's ever played it.
We have Super Mario RPG to thank for both the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series...es of games, both of which were spawned out of the collaboration between Square and Nintendo. By adding a story, humour, and plenty of personality to the already-established Mario formula, Square created a game that played with the tools in Nintendo's toybox like never before.
Sadly, the game-changing collaboration would be a one-off, with Square changing tack towards the PlayStation and Final Fantasy, and Super Mario RPG - despite being the father of two different game series(es) - would never receive a sequel. Perhaps that's for the best, considering how the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi games have been floundering for the past few years.
The Super Mario RPG is one of those games that's aged pretty darn well, so even though we've gone 25 years without seeing its likes again, we can still boot up our SNESes (or our Virtual Consoles) and give it a go, just like old times. It was a game that came about at an exciting time for both Square and Nintendo, when new ideas were being thrown at the wall, and this one just happened to stick.
As a result, Super Mario RPG sits alongside all-time RPG greats like Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Final Fantasy as an excellent representation of the genre - which just happens to star Mario.
Merry birthday, Super Mario RPG, and thank you for all you've done. Now please, add Geno to Smash.
Comments 81
Need a remaster or another one Nintendo PLZZZZ
Oh look it’s that game the suits pretend doesn’t exist.
I love the writing in this game, and the overall atmosphere. I also love that it minimizes any tedium that most RPGs of the time displayed. Ah, what a great game. I can play most of it's music on my saxophone, too! Thank you for reading this random factoid. Yes, all ninjas can play saxophone.
MUSICAL NINJA APPROVED
I got to the part with the knock-off power ranger characters and just got distracted by something else and never went back to it. To this day, beating this game remains on my to do list. (or I suppose its officially off my to-do list, and has now been relegated to a bucket list)
Only folk who find relevance to silly anniversaries of a single game are folk hopelessly trying to hold on to the resale value of their retirement collection! (/s)
Great game. Really wish they would make another.
Will announce tonight MAR 9 in the West, MAR10 Day in the East, shadow drop on SNESFLIX!!!!
I'd love to see this come to SNES Online. One of my favorite games of all time.
Why is this not on Switch in some fashion? Nintendo, Square Enix, what the hell is wrong with you guys?
This and Earthbound are the only game missing to make SNES online worth it for me. Wake up Nintendo
Now might be a good time to add it to the SNES application.
They'll probably find a way to remove it from my SNES Mini 😅
It's never not going to be funny to me that this was the last worldwide release from Square on a Nintendo system before they fully switched over to making games on the PS1
Of all things, a MARIO RPG was the swan song of Square on Nintendo systems for like 7 years. That's GOTTA sting
Recently finished replaying this one on my Wii U, such a gem of a game. Thankful I have the ability to at least play it on there.
The new Paper Mario game wasn't that bad 🤷
Nintendo has a million IP's and spinoffs, if they were to celebrate every one of their anniversaries, their dev team would need to be 15x it's normal size. Mario RPG was cool, but don't expect a remake or sequel for everything ever
Super Mario RPG & EarthBound being stuck on the Super NES Classic Edition is stupid. The decision to make the Super NES Classic Edition when the "New" 3DS & Nintendo Switch still stresses me out. I worked two jobs waiting to buy the much anticipated classic ports.
Also, bring the Golden Sun Series to the Switch; why re-release it as an exclusive on the Wii-U, when both the 3DS and Switch were out?
I'm not paying my hard earned money on either the Super NES Classic Edition or the Wii-U. Port the classics Nintendo.
@tatchy I thought Paper Mario: The Origami King was awesome!
One of my favorite games of all time. Of all time. OF ALL TIME!
@tadams587 Skipped the Switch for a while, so I could buy the SNES Mini and replay this one. Never regretted it.
The game at least saw some rereleases over the years. With the Virtual Console and SNES Mini. I should go back to it.
This game will never not move me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TffGZpMLJpE
@tadams587 The reason you don't have those games is because Nintendo is anti-consumer.
@shonenjump86 Exactly. What about Mario Paint, that's never been re-released ever!
I don't really hold the game to quite the same esteem as many of Square's other works at the time, but it's a solid enough "beginner" RPG.
The game excels in world exploration moreso than the RPG aspects of it in my opinion. I'd also be remiss not to mention the soudtrack because there's some really solid stuff in there.
@tatchy
Origami King is awesome. On my second playthrough now. It's gonna be one of those games I play every couple years or so. It's not an RPG, though.
One of my all time favorite games, I play it every 2 years or so.
I miss Geno.
@BloodNinja
Must check out even a let’s play vid- never tried this oldie!
~Love the sax too; I played some strange giant bass sax in orchestra as a kid bc I was the only sax player athletic enough to have enough wind or maybe they figured I’d carry the coffin of a case without crying... It was bigger than me!
Glad to know it helps me on my path to true ninja-dom.
So why bring up mario RPG? It's like the mother series. Just Another beloved RPG that will never again get a true sequel. Might as well tell us about the latest Ness action figure or sticker collection that has nothing to do with a new game announcement.
Mario was released in JP and NA in 1985. Zelda was released in 1986 in JP and 87 in NA making the anniversary next year.
I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH
Just finished this game last month on my Super NES Classic Edition before I gave it away. Great game, definitely worth revisiting if you hadn't play it yet. Hopefully Nintendo re-released it on NSO for everyone else to enjoy.
Ojalá saquen un remaster
Never waste an opportunity to complain about the big N.
A remaster would be impossible, but amazing.
A followup KH style adventure with Geno travelling the stars? Oh ya
Think about Super Mario RPG:
Forest Maze music immediately starts playing in head and stays there all day
I feel Yoko Shimomura’s musical score should be mentioned, it was a large part of what made this game (and the Mario & Luigi series) so great.
@Doombario It’s this year. They celebrated Zelda’s 25th in 2011, not 2012. It’s about when the original game released, not when it was localised for the USA
Why do the subtitles and also tge stories themselfs get more passive aggresive by the day.
And we don't even know if they are gonna celebrate Zelda, most of the time a annuversary starts late in a year by Nintendo and then they release things having o do with that anniversary ober a course of like 6 months. I'm not saying they are gonna celebrate it, but weird to assume one way or the other out of nothing.
@PBandSmelly Totally agree. A bunch of NES and SNES games are 35 and 25 years old. That is how time works.
@Desrever I remember having a really difficult time defeating the knock-off Power Rangers. It took me several attempts.
I hope we get a remake or atleast have it added to SNES online
I actually had a dream recently that I was playing a direct sequel to this game. It had the exact same art style and sound design. Bit of a bummer to wake up from that dream.
@Giygas_95 Was luigi playable?
This game tops every other Mario RPG game I've played by a significant margin; the only ones I've missed are Partners in Time and Dream Team. Don't get me wrong, they are (mostly) all fantastic games, but Super Mario RPG really was something special. Could be the nostalgia, as it was my first RPG ever, but it'll always have that special place in my heart.
@MorganWhoop Not that I remember. I do remember it having Mario and Geno at least. The place they were in was kind of dark and foggy and had brown vegetation like it was in the middle of Autumn. In fact the whole overworld map had that sort of darkness to it.
@TheBigK Partners in Time and Dream Team are really good if you get around to them. Dream Team annoys me with how many tutorials it has and how long a lot of things take in battle, but overall it's worth it. It's really good if you can stomach all the padding.
@GrailUK Also, it's the Japanese anniversary. American release was May 15.
(And PAL was some 12 years later. )
Mario's 35th Anniversary. I can't believe all that happened last year was all Nintendo intended. The biggest let down for me was the 3d all Star games. I think there must have been a new Mario game that got pulled because the new Switch got pushed back to this year.
@Dr_G_Lemaitre What an amazing coincidence! Probably a bari sax, those are heavy, you must be strongth!
NINJA APPROVED
@ManaOwls I help anytime!
@nessisonett Because of Nintendo I was able to play it for the first time on my SNES Classic Edition only 3 years ago. That's not that far back since they last gave it time in the sun
@KingMike Yeah, it's nonsense really lol.
Just imagine this game receiving the Link's awakening's treatment
One can dream.
@jak1one
I agree with you, however you could track down a Super Nintendo (SNES) mini, they are still quite expensive though.
Never played so I'm hoping it goes to Switch online as I want to start! It looks so cool and I'm a fan of the Mario and Luigi games 😊
@Clyde_Radcliffe ah, Mario Paint. Yeah I can’t recall that being released again. Haven’t played that in years.
Would be nice if they'd add this to Switch Online but I kinda doubt they will. A remake and/or sequel would definitely be nice too.
@Tobo91 Mario RPG is one of my favorite games of all time. I loved it as a kid and I am longing to play it again.
I just started playing Superstar Saga (I never played the Mario & Luigi games before) and it is scratching that itch in the meantime. It definitely feels like the descendant of Mario RPG. I love it. Only thing missing for me is multiple party members
Happy 25th Anniversary to my favorite game ever!
It's in my backlog to be replayed when I can spare the time. I've only completed it once as a 10 year oldish kid, now I wanna see what I think about it 25 years later in my old man days.
@Expa0 To a degree i think you (partly) summed up one of my issues with Mario & Luigi games. I wanted to like them because they were getting so much of the mechanics of Mario RPG right but the worlds just felt... "off". And to a degree I think it's because of how Mario RPG had this massive worlds in the plural sense, with multiple towns you even got to explore and that much more NPCs whereas what Mario&Luigi games I've tried generally only had the one hub town at best.
In comparison, Paper Mario's mechanics differed somewhat more in being less of a carbon copy of Mario RPG than Mario&Luigi was... but straight from the first game they got the sense of exploring that massive world of multiple regions/towns for secrets and such and that much more NPCs compared to how much.... smaller the Mario&Luigi games had.
Like, while I still have some issues with the battle system(though it was okay for what it was) and the dependency on Toads(though it had much more variety thanks to all the other types of characters featured like Koopas, etc as NPCs)... Origami King has been heading back in a very good direction when it came to world design at least, reminding me a lot of the original Paper Mario in that sense.
Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Final Fantasy... I can play on the go on DS/3DS. SMRPG I can't play on the go!
the fight theme song is playing in my head 24/7. i play this game once a year and i love it every time
For its anniversary they built a time machine. They are going back to erase all existence that it ever was created.
@Shworange And they're also gonna do it on March 31st.
Imagine if they released a remake of Super Mario RPG on switch, followed by Geno finally revealed as a Smash character.
One can dream.
@Giygas_95
Go back to sleep and hope to have the same dream.
@MortalKombat2007 It never works unfortunately. ☹️
We need Super Mario RPG....35!
One of my all favorite time games ever, and my first RPG. I didn't even know what an RPG was, I just know it had Mario on the cover and I bugged my parents to buy it for me. I remember asking family members and friends to help me solve the Sunken Ship password as I didn't have the strategy guide, didn't get past that area until later on when I became an adult. I still want Geno in Smash to this day but alas... A true sequel would be amazing, but at least we have this gem of a game to cherish. Kinda a bittersweet feelings that it's turned 25, that.
@Onion Square Enix, that's why
@Clyde_Radcliffe I was around for Mario Paint, but I'd still argue it was probably a product of its time.
A time before Internet access was considered a basic necessity. And with that came the the ability for people to find and access more professional (or at least more capable) artistic tools.
@tatchy it was
Great, this means that all ebay listings will be removed in three months time.
Those who played Odyssey all the way through will know that Nintendo is perfectly capable to throwing a modern Mario into some crazy fantasy worlds. Please, just give us a all-new Super mario RPG 2. You can do it.
My favorite Mario RPG of all time. I have a lot of great memories with this game and I love it a lot. Happy Birthday 🎂 too Super Mario Role Playing Game Legend Of The Seven Stars 🌟
I loved, loved this game. It was just so much fun. I really wish we'd get a rerelease or something.
"We have Super Mario RPG to thank for both the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series...es of games"
"Sadly, the game-changing collaboration would be a one-off, with Square changing tack towards the PlayStation and Final Fantasy, and Super Mario RPG - despite being the father of two different game series(es) -"
(believes texts of, "series" could be used as plurals)
"The Super Mario RPG is one of those games that's aged pretty darn well"
(senses unnecessary text of, "darn")
@YANDMAN
"Great, this means that all ebay listings will be removed in three months time."
?
@Mario500 Thet will disappear when the stock does, Scalpers are going to be buying these up left right and center. They will probably be £150 in a couple of months or more.
@YANDMAN
"Scalpers are going to be buying these up left right and center."
What "these"?
@Mario500 Copies of Super Mario 3D Stars.
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