Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a role playing video game designed by Squaresoft (currently Square Enix) and released for the Super Nintendo in 1996. It was the first Mario role-playing game, and worked out fairly well with an action-command battle system. In this game, Mario, with the help of four other characters, needs to stop a new enemy, Smithy, while collecting seven Star Pieces so that peace may return and wishes may be granted once more.

It is sometimes considered one of the best games for the Super Nintendo and possibly one of the best Mario games of all time. However, Super Mario RPG's success was limited due to the release of the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 during the same year. Many fans have wanted a port of Super Mario RPG on the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS, but Nintendo has no plans for a re-release at the time. However, Super Mario RPG has recently been confirmed as a game for the Wii's Virtual Console.

Storyline
The game begins with a short cutscene. Princess Toadstool was peacefully sitting on a hill outside Mario's pad. However, she was suddenly kidnapped by King Bowser using the Koopa Clown Car. Mario exited his house then and saw Princess Toadstool in peril. He chases Toadstool and Bowser and ends up at Bowser's Keep. After going through the castle, Mario finally catches up with Bowser, and proceeds to battle him on the chandeliers. Upon defeating Bowser and rescuing the princess, the castle begins to shake. A giant sword falls from the sky and crashes into the castle, destroying Star Road on the way. The crash sends Mario, Toadstool, and Bowser flying in separate directions.

Mario ends up landing back at his house with no clue as to where Bowser or Toadstool are. Toad, who was at Mario's house searching for Toadstool. When Toad discovers that the princess is not there, he asks Mario to go back to Bowser's keep to bring her back. Mario is unable to enter the castle, however. Exor, the giant sword, tells Mario that the castle is now the property of the Smithy Gang, taken over to help with its quest to take over the world. Exor destroys the bridge and Mario narrowly escapes.

Mario heads back home. He and Toad travel to Mushroom Kingdom to inform the chancellor of the Princess's kidnapping. After talking with the chancellor, he meets Mallow, apparently a frog from Tadpole Pond. Mario assists him by chasing after Croco, a thief, to recover a frog coin that was stolen from Mallow. When they return, the Mushroom Kingdom is dark and overrun by monsters.

Mario and Mallow enter the castle and meet with Mack, a member of the Smithy Gang, in the throne room. Mario battles him and wins. After Mack is defeated, a star remains. Mario takes it, not knowing quite what it is.

Mario travels through different worlds to collect 7 magical stars, where he will work with such characters as Mallow, Geno, Princess Toadstool, and even Bowser and defeat the evil Smithy and his minions.

Battle System
Mario fights with two of his four partners at a time, though he is able to switch parters outside of battle. The characters have many stats that grow as they level up: HP, speed, attack, defense, magic attack, and magic defense. Special skills can be performed by using flower points, or FP. Characters can grow to level 30.

Mallow
Mallow is, at first, believed to be a simple frog from Tadpole Pond even though he looks nothing like one. He is the first partner Mario meets, joining Mario during his first visit to the Mushroom Kingdom. He was raised by Frogfucius who found him floating in a basket as a baby. Later, when Mallow and Mario visit Frogfucius, it is revealed that Mallow is not a frog and that his real parents are out there, somewhere. Late in the game, Mario and his party visit Nimbus Land, whose citizens are all of the same species as Mallow. There, Mallow discovers that he is a prince and his parents are King Nimbus and Queen Nimbus.

He has a variety of attacks useful for attacking all of the enemies at one time. He has powerful control over the weather: outside of battle, when he cries, a heavy rainstorm starts. In battle, he can summon things from lightning to snow to a healing rain. In addition, he has a harmless but useful attack, Psychopath, that shows how much HP an enemy has remaining.

Geno
Geno is the second to join. He is from Star Road, and, while his real form appears to be a small star, he takes the form and name of Gaz's doll while with Mario. He reveals to the party what the star pieces discovered by Mario are and their importance.

He is incredibly powerful and has a variety of offensive attacks, one of which can deal 9999 HP of damage on regular enemies.

Bowser
Bowser, for the first time in this game, joins Mario's side. His goal was to take his keep back from Smithy's gang. He and Mario reluctantly join at Booster Tower.

He doesn't have as great a variety of special attacks as the other members of the team, though he is physically incredibly strong.

Princess Toadstool
Princess Toadstool is the last to join. She was kidnapped in the beginning of the game, and, right when Mario rescued her, she was sent flying off. After falling from the sky, she was discovered by Booster and held in his tower. Booster attempted to marry her, but she was eventually rescued by Mario and returned to the Mushroom Kingdom, apparently to stay. However, with the help of her grandmother, who disguised herself as the princess, Toadstool sneaked away to join Mario's party.

Her special skills are mostly defensive and healing, not offensive. Her healing skills can be incredibly useful, and she can resurrect a fallen partner.