Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a game for the SNES that features Mario games with RPG gameplay. This is the first of 6 Mario games to be an RPG game, and is the only one developed by Square. The game came out in 1996, and is rated K-A (the Virtual Console version has been rated E for Everyone by the ESRB).

Plot
At the beginning of the game, Princess Peach is walking outside of Mario's Pad, and is suddenly kidnapped by Bowser (who will soon after head toward his castle with Peach). Mario will then have to go after Bowser, and defeat him. Soon after, Exor, a huge sword, comes crashing down from the sky and hits Bowser's Castle, sending Mario, Bowser, and Peach soaring in different directions.

Gameplay
Super Mario RPG takes place on an overworld that spans across the entire Mushroom Kingdom, as well as various other areas. To participate in a battle, the player will have to move Mario towards an enemy and touch it. Following this, the screen will switch to the battle screen and a variety of enemies along with Mario and his team will appear. Battles are turn based and will require timed button presses if you desire to deliver more damage to the opponents. Each playable character has their own attacks and special moves that will take up magic points.

If the player succeeds in defeating the enemy, then they'll acquire experience points, coins, and occasionally items. As the player gradually gets more experience points, their characters will start to improve and level up, which will cause them to learn new abilities and have their stats increased to an extent. Either your attack power/defense, HP, and magic power will be augmented more so by the players request each time the specific character levels up.

Magic
All of the five playable characters have different magic powers. Mario's is based around, as you could guess, jumping abilities and fire based powers. Mallow has multiple different powers ranging from lightning, healing, snow, psychic, and star powers. Geno has energy, heat, and light based magic. Out of all the characters, Bowser has the smallest list of magic powers, with only four. His magic abilities range from rock and steel, to ghost and poison. Peach is basically a healer, and her magic powers center around healing your partners, as well as an explosion ability and a power that will put your enemies to sleep.

Characters
The game features many characters from past Mario games (Mario, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, and many others.), and brand new characters (Geno, Mallow, Exor, and others).

Cameo Appearances:
 * Luigi - Luigi will appear in the parade at the end of the game. Plus, one of the wishes found on star hill mentions how someone wants to be a great plumber like his brother, suggesting that this was a wish made by Luigi.
 * Samus Aran - Samus will appear in one of the inns in the game. If you try to talk to her, she will explain how she needs rest for the upcoming battle against Mother Brain.
 * Link - Link will also sleep in one of the inns. If you try to talk to him, he will say nothing. (A possible reference to how Shigeru Miyamoto doesn't want Link to talk in the games.)

Worlds
Mushroom Kingdom is one of the first areas that you'll visit in the game. Areas include Mario's Pad (his house.). Mushroom Way, a passageway from Mario's Pad to the kingdom. The Kingdom, the main area in the game where all of the Toads live. And Bandit's Way, a big open area with enemies.

Rose Town is a decent sized area with eight side areas. The first of these areas is Kero Sewers, the only way to get to Rose Town from Mushroom Kingdom. Once you get to the end of Kero sewers, you will be dumped into the Midas River, a big waterfall with mini games. The waterfall will then send you to Tadpole Pond, where, as the name implies, all the tadpoles live. Rose Way is the passageway between Tadpole Pond and Rose Town. Rose Town is where you'll first find Geno. The Forest Maze is where Geno will join your party, and where you'll defeat Bowyer. The Pipe Vault is a passageway to Yo'ster Isle with a few enemies. Finally, Yo'ster Isle is where you will find all the Yoshies, this is also the place where the Mushroom Derby takes place.

Moleville is an area with mines other towers and areas. The first area you will see is Moleville it self, at Moleville, there are many cole mines. The residents here, as you could guess, are moles. This is also the area where the 3rd star piece will be. Next is Booster Pass, a path from Moleville to Booster Tower, here there are plenty of advanced enemies to fight. Up next is Booster Tower is a strange place that is designed like a playroom. Here there are plenty of Snifits, and Booster himself. Booster will try to marry Peach, but will obviously fail. Booster Hill, the next area, is a place connection Booster Tower to Marrymore. Not much is there. The last place in this area is Marrymore, a wedding chapel and an inn.

Seaside Town is an area with a huge shopping area, a place where wishes take form, a big sea and a sunken ship. Star Hill is the first place in this area, it is the place where wishes take turn into stars, you are also able to read other peoples wishes as well. Star Hill is the area where the 4th star piece is. Next is Seaside Town, the area with the biggest shopping place in the whole (Mario RPG) world. Here there are tons of shops that sell items from every other land in the game, and also specialty shops as well. Next is the large Sea, this connects Sunken Ship to Seaside Town. Finally there is the Sunken Ship, a level where there are more bosses and puzzles than any other level in the game.

Monstro Town is an area with Belome's Tower, a rather small town, and a Casino. The first level in this area is Land's End, a long level with underground and above ground areas, and Belome's Castle, where you must fight Belome again. Next is Monstro Town, the smallest town in the game, here you are able to fight to hard bosses if you want. Next is Bean Valley, a very red area with hard enemies, and a level that connects Monstro Town to Great Guy's Casino. Great Guy's Casino is a casino where you can play three different games.

Nimbus Land is the smallest area in the game, it consists of Nimbus Land itself, and the Barrel Volcano. Nimus Land is the first level you will go to in this area, here is where Mallow's parents live. It is located in the skies on a big cloud. Next is the Barrel Volcano is where the star piece is found, there is also an armor shop, item shop, and an inn.

Bowser's Keep is the final area in the game, it contains three levels, including Bowser's Keep. Bowser's Keep has hard puzzles, enemies, bosses, and obstacles, you first went here at the beginning of the game, though the second time through will be much harder. The Gate is the second to last level in the game, and connects Bowser's Keep to the Factory, here you will have fight a few hard bosses. The final level in the game is the Factory, where you'll find the seventh and final star piece in the game. Here you will have to fight the final boss, Smithy.

Sequels
While there were no official sequels to the game released, the game did pave the way to many other Mario RPG video games, including Paper Mario (which happend to be called Super Mario RPG 2 in development), Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, and in a way, Super Paper Mario. It has been rereleased on the Virtual Console worldwide. In America it was the 250th video game released on the Virtual Console.

Trivia

 * The hammer derives from Donkey Kong
 * At the Rose Town inn, Link can be seen in the other bed. If you walk up to him and press A, a sound effect from The Legend of Zelda will play.
 * Many characters mention the running gag of Peach being constantly kidnapped by Bowser.

Also see

 * Image and art gallery for Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars