Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars scores 9/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the RPG You Really Don’t Expect!
by Simon Larocca·August 19, 2025
When a character’s popularity lifts him so high that he can touch the sky with one finger, the ground beneath his feet becomes much more fragile and unstable as the years go by. Mario, of skies and brick blocks, has touched (and smashed) many of them with his fists, always ready to save kingdoms and princesses who were in another castle, but even Nintendo’s archetypal hero has had to come to terms with the specter of jumping the shark.
The unforgettable Nineties were rolling on, an astounding era for home console owners, and the house of Kyoto was preparing to release the final chapter planned for the Super Nintendo, heir to the eight-bit master, the NES, where Mario and Luigi won over the hearts of fans. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars hit the shelves in 1996 and, as an initial hypothetical self-inflicted setback, it was not released in PAL countries, but only in the States and, of course, in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Oggi could seem absurd as a choice of this kind, considering the franchise and the horde of fans of the tight-knit bros, but what became a godsend for collectors cast an aura of legend around the first game in the series that brought together role-playing mechanics. It therefore risked representing the shark jump, an expression coined in the days of Happy Days and which symbolizes the least successful point of a series before the inevitable decline.
So it was not, fortunately, for us and for Nintendo.
Shigeru Miyamoto presents us with a very different version of the world of Mario, with an isometric view and battles no longer in real time between Goomba-stomping jumps and fireball throws after a feast of flashing flowers, but turn-based combat in full JRPG style (the “Japanese-style” role-playing game) with the full range of attack moves, special abilities, and use of items during your turn.
The beginning of the game’s plot is deliberately similar to almost all the previous entries in the Mario & Luigi series: that scoundrel Bowser has once again kidnapped the beautiful Princess Peach and taken her to his castle (we’ve flattened dozens of them, but evidently the Koopa king can make use of a lifetime Reconstruction Bonus) to force her to marry him, so Mario steps in to save her and set things right.
But it is here that things change, derailing from the paths we know: a giant sword bursts from the sky and devastates the castle, with an impact so powerful that Bowser, Peach, and Mario are thrown far away! From that moment, the odyssey begins: by allying the three of them together, and here is the first incredible new development, they must find the new villain and defeat him once and for all.
“Uncle” Shigeru is perhaps one of the most brilliant game designers in history, and like all minds touched by genius, he never settled for comfort zones, those happy and apparently stable islands that nevertheless have the huge flaw of failing to provide a long-term vision beyond their own horizons. It would have been tremendously easy to create yet another 16-bit graphic variant of masterpieces like Super Mario Bros. 3; it would have sold a ton of copies, and the Big N would have given him a hearty pat on the back.
But would it have been true glory?
Strong in the wake of a beautiful remake for Switch released in 2023, Super Mario Rpg in its original version, distributed only in America and Japan, is also a formidable piece for the collections of those who have had the good fortune, and foresight, to own it.
Con Legend of the Seven Stars, Miyamoto was inspired by the other exceptional franchise that was traveling on parallel tracks to those of Mario Bros: we are talking about Final Fantasy, the quintessential RPG saga that redefined the quality standard of any existing epigone.
And when two giants join forces, guided by a figure of the caliber of Shigeru Miyamoto, the only possible result is greatness destined to endure, over time and in the hearts of players.
9
Pro
The Swan Song on SNES is one of the most profound and innovative Mario titles in the series
Graphically, Super Mario RPG has almost no equals, thanks to a cutting-edge graphics engine even for those years: colors, details, 3D effects, everything is superb
For the first time in the series, players can delve deeper into the characterization of the supporting characters in the Mario universe, something that was practically impossible in the platform versions
Contro
Revolutionary in terms of gameplay, ideas, and innovations in every existing area, Super Mario RPG is the lighter version of the massive classic role-playing games, but it is still a fully fledged RPG: it may not appeal to those who don’t like turn-based combat, dungeons to explore, and experience points
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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