After hearing so much about this game, and so many negative comments about me because I didn’t have this
game, I got desperate. I went to eBay and bought a SNES, a controller, wire stuff, and this game, just so I could see what it’s worth. It turns out I got Super Mario All-Stars first, but this game is still the real reason I wanted a SNES.

Through this Review, I intend to answer five questions, all of them being based on statements that I’ve heard.

1. Is this just flat-out a good game?
2. Is this the best SNES game ever?
3. Is this the best RPG ever?
4. Is this the best Mario game ever?
5. Is this the best video game ever?

Every category will be rated from 0-4 stars, as always. 0 is very poor, and 4 is excellent. I intend to be as unbiased as possible through this Review, as this is undoubtedly the most popular game at Lemmy’s Land.

Graphics: ****

The graphics are just plain unbelievable for a SNES game. They’re better than Paper Mario’s graphics! 3D
graphics, on the SNES. Simply amazing. It puts both the GBA and quite a few N64 games to shame. Look at
how well they’ve made the characters, and the way they look so real. True, these graphics aren’t perfect, but
that’s because this is a 16-bit system, not a 32- or 64-bit system. You’ll see that the system can’t handle perfect graphics, but the characters look a lot better than the paper characters of Paper Mario. I don’t know why the graphics are so good in this one and below average in practically every other Mario game besides Mario Tennis and Luigi’s Mansion. Maybe Square has a big thing to do with it...

Sound: *1/2

Practically all the points for sound come from the one song heard in Mushroom Kingdom when the Shysters take over with Mack, and again in Rose Town when arrows are falling from the sky. That song is great, but the rest of this game lacks catchy music. How about the background music at Melody Bay? It doesn’t get any
worse than that, the constant screeching and squeaking and whistle sounds and cricket chirps. Maybe the worst ever. So this game isn’t that high in this category, which is surprising for a Mario game.

Difficulty: **1/2

Lately I’ve been giving games high scores in difficulty, but this one isn’t that hard. Sure, it’s hard, as it took me nearly forever to be able to be build up enough to face Mack. But really, this game isn’t as hard as it is confusing. It took me a long time to figure out Kero Sewers, and then that Forest Maze? Don’t get me started about it. There’s no real category for “Confusion”, but this game is full of it. Unlike most Mario games, this one can make me dizzy just trying to figure out where I want to go next, and that fact makes it impossible for me to give this game a perfect score, no matter how good this game is.

Characters: 1/2

What, did Nintendo lose its copyrights? Koopa Troopas are called “Terrapins” and Cheep Cheeps are called
something else I forget already. Geno? Mallow? They’re stupid characters, to say the least. Sorry SMRPG
fans, but Mario’s party in this game is not very good, and I really hate the fact that this game doesn’t have
real Mario bosses. Mack? Smithy? No, I don’t consider them classic Mario characters, no matter how much
everyone here loves Smithy to death.

Controls: *

I really hate to be giving this game so many low scores, but here’s a big problem. In battles, it’s not the easy menu list and hit A to choose and B to cancel. It’s one button to choose and the rest of the buttons to cancel. Strange, to say the least. Why isn’t A jump? A should always be jump, no matter what game it is. B should never be jump.

Turn Order: *

Arrrrrgh! I don’t hate this game, but I’ve got to tell the truth. The turn order thing stinks. I hate turn-based combat in the first place, but when I don’t know who goes first and whether my party member will have a turn or not, I get confused to death. For example: In the beginning of the game, Mario will take a turn, then Mallow. Then my opponent attacks twice, then Mario does. Then it skips Mallow, and one opponent attacks, and then Mallow, and by then, I’ve killed whoever it is, but I’m so confused by it that I’ll usually lose quite a bit of HP. It also hurts if I need to use an item to keep Mario alive. Sometimes, enemies will take two or three turns! What, can they just attack all they want? That makes me mad...

Levels (i.e., towns, roads, etc.): ***1/2

Now this is what is supposed to be in a RPG: lots of memorable places on your way through the game. You
can’t forget the Midas River and that whole challenge, and the places are big, with lots of interactive characters. I’ll get to those in a moment, but as for now, these levels were designed very well, and now you can see where they got the ideas for Paper Mario’s levels.

Interactivity: ***1/2

I really like the way you interact with other characters, actually choose what you want to say to them (to a certain extent), and even jump on their heads if you wish! There’s the memorable Mushroom who makes that joke back in Mushroom Kingdom (you know, the one about “Look what you’re standing in, Mario.” and when you jump, she says “Ha! gotcha!”). There’s that jumping Toad who wants to be like Mario. Of course, there’s the fact that Mario is mute, or dumb, or speechless. He can’t talk. I don’t like that. That’s pathetic, really. There was once a poll on this a long time ago, and I remember voting that Nintendo doesn’t want to put words in our mouths. Still, that’s a sad way to do it. Just let him talk.

Boss Battles: **1/2

These, of course, are your battles against guys who must be beaten or you’re dead. Others you can run away
from, but not these. Anyway, these are pretty fun, and pretty hard, but they provide the necessary challenge.
Problems? Some are too hard, which means you haven’t leveled up enough. Of course, you’ve fought every
battle along the way, but that doesn’t mean anything. For a long time, you won’t be able to see your opponent’s HP either, which means, in these epic battles with your opponents having high HP, you don’t
know whether they’ll be dead in one more hit or if you should heal as soon as possible. That’s annoying as well. However, they are challenging battles, and they do make you think, which is what I like.

Items: **

I’m not impressed by the items. There isn’t much selection of them, but they are pretty powerful. They aren’t good, they aren’t bad, they aren’t ugly, which brings the average score.

Equipment: ****

Now here’s a good idea, something that should be in more RPGs: the Equip method. You get a special weapon, special armor, and an accessory. They can prevent bad status, help you get stronger or more powerful, and more. Great idea. In fact, this should be a staple to all RPGs... *cough cough* Pokémon...

Concept: ***1/2

At the time this game was released, many people scoffed at the idea of Mario having a RPG. They thought it was dumb. These same morons ended up getting hooked on the game and praising it as one of the best games ever. I think it’s a great idea too, though at the time of its release, I couldn’t understand what the heck a RPG was. Although I like Mario action games better, this still was something nice, being only the second Mario game that wasn’t action, after Dr. Mario.

Story: *
The story behind this game isn’t that great. I mean, it’s got the classic Bowser-Peach capture, but the whole Smithy-takes-over thing is stupid. Bowser should be the main enemy in a Mario game. It’s a time-honored
tradition that even Luigi’s Mansion tried to squeeze in. But some stupid sword thing? It’s dumb. Sorry
Smithy fans. The game does have a few interesting plot twists, however, which make the story somewhat worthwhile.

Replayability: **

Well, this is almost an impossible category to judge for this game. It’s so long, you’ll have to replay it for a few weeks, if you have a life, of course. But after you finish it, what’s left? So I’ll just be fair and give it a split score.

Fun Factor!: *1/2

Yikes. This is one thing SMRPG falls short in, that prevents it from being one of the greatest. The game
is so long, and so complex, and so confusing (especially this!), that playing the game has turned from fun to a chore for me. True, there are some funny moments in this game that make me laugh and want to keep on going, but other than them, I’ve really not had a great time with this game. No, it’s not because I’ve lost three times, it’s because the routine battles get too boring too quick. It’s very unfortunate.

OVERALL: ***

This game is good, but it comes up short in the end. Two things stopped it from getting a perfect score:
Confusion and boredom, a little much too routine, I mean. But still, the game’s good. I’m trying to say this game is good except for those two things. As for the questions, here are my answers:

1. Is this just flat-out a good game? Yes, by far. It was definitely worth a buy for me, so if you can get a
SNES and all the equipment, it’s really worth it!

2. Is this the best SNES game ever? No, that honor belongs to Super Mario All-Stars. But since Super Mario All-Stars was really a quadruple remake, you could possibly say this is the best original SNES game, although I haven’t played enough SNES games to call it the best.

3. Is this the best RPG ever? That’s tough to tell. It’s either this or a Final Fantasy game I haven’t played. I’d say it’s equal to Paper Mario, which would be my favorite RPG, but I’ve only played the two Mario RPGs and the two Pokémon RPGs, and that’s it.

4. Is this the best Mario game ever? No, there are at least five better than this, like Super Mario All-Stars, SMB3, MK64, Mario Tennis, and the original SMB. There are a lot on the same level as this too, like SMW, Paper Mario, Mario Golf, and the Mario Parties.

5. Is this the best video game ever? No. In fact, I put it on a top ten list of my favorite games, but it’s definitely not even that high now. Not like it’s a bad game, of course. But it’s not one of the best, in my opinion.

I hope this answers quite a bit about the legacy of SMRPG, a good game, but not quite as excellent as I thought.

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