Masterpiece
Squaresoft and Nintendo come together for this game and it turns out to be one of the most enjoyable and just flat out fun Mario games let alone RPG's ever created. Back in the day, when I was younger, my brother and I worshipped this game. We use to mark the cover of the game with markers so when we'd return in to blockbusters wed find the same one. Well here we go.
Gameplay: Basically a pretty standard RPG. It uses attacks, spells, defenses everything in a good RPG. You control a slew of characters but all lead by the silent protagonist Mario. You will platform, fight random enemies, play minigames, even control a minecart. It is one of the most random RPG's ever but that’s why I like it, it is so different and has all the Nintendo charm.
Story: Mario, on his way to find and rescue Princess Peach, he meets up with the cloud-like being, Mallow, who believes he's a tadpole. He travels with Mario to find his stolen Frog Coin. Later, he learns the truth that he was found floating in a river by his adoptive father, Frogfucius, and sets off with Mario in the hope of finding his true parents. On their search, they end up meeting Geno, a being from , who possesses Gaz's doll, Geno, and takes on the name and persona. He explains that they must find the seven stars and stop Smithy who is the main villain of the game. The eventually run in to Bowser, and save Princess Peach. Bowser decides to help Mario, so he can reclaim his castle from the Smithy Gang, and Peach, desperate to help, sneaks out of the to help on their travels. The only Mario game with Bowser not being the villain, you’d think that would be a bad thing, but it just adds to the games innovation.
Sound: The game has great audio. It has the usual Mario sound effects and the usual Mario jingles and even remixed. It also has some great battle sequence songs and all around it is really good. It’s not at a FF level but it’s still really good.
Graphics: The game looks really good. The characters and environment kind of have this claymation like texture to them and it looks very cartoony and colorful. There have been better looking SNES games but for the most part the graphics are done very well and it adds to the experience.
Value: It’s an RPG so the game will take you probably longer than 20 hours. It is also quite challenging in some spots and the boss battles can be really hard at certain points which is a good thing. So you get a lot out of this game. Also in game you can teach your crew many different skills and spells and attacks so you never play the same game twice. So it has replay value.
Tilt: Basically I just love this game. It is so fun and it brings back a lot of great memories. It has tremendous charm and is unrivaled in goofy Nintendo antics. It’s not just a Nintendo game it is actually a very in depth RPG so don’t be turned off by anything. It’s kind of like KH in a way.
Overall: This game is fantastic. Buy this game. It is a lot of fun. 9.8 overall I say and it is almost rarely topped off to this day. Seriously give this game a chance and pick it up. It’s still better than a lot of RPG’s right now and just as fun as any other Mario platformer. I can’t wait until it comes to the VC.
Edit: This is an old Gamespot Review so sorry for the 9.8 business. Today I would give it a 5. It’s just one of those games you do not want to miss. Growing up with it as a kid, the level of nostalgia is just extreme. Sorry for some part in the review if they were incoherent. I still feel the same way about the game, I just could have written the review better.
