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Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is Exactly What It Says On The Tin; It was the first Mario game to be a Role Playing Game. It was developed by Nintendo and Square and released in 1996 for the SNES.
During a routine princess-saving by Mario, a giant sword with a face on the hilt crashes into Bowser's Keep, sending Mario, the Princess, and Bowser flying. Soon afterwords, a messenger from the stars named Geno (or rather, " Heart-musical note-exclamation point-question mark") informs Mario that the sword also destroyed the Star Road, which grants the wishes of Mario's world. Unless the seven Star Pieces can be obtained and reassembled, no wishes will ever come true again. With the help of his companions (including, for the first time, Bowser), Mario sets off to smash the Smithy Gang and save the world.
The game was hugely popular - it is a Mario game and a Square RPG, after all, when Square was at the height of its 2-D RPG prowess, just before the transition to 3-D with Final Fantasy VII, plus it had brand recognition from being a Mario game. Deserves credit for innovating Action Commands and the hybrid platformer / RPG gameplay, as well as its superb plot and localization, which was notable for being one of the last where Square didn't take itself seriously, as well as one of the first games to engage in a full-on frenzy of Lampshade Hanging regarding the tropes of the Mario series and RPGs. Nintendo would take the "Mario role-playing games must bring the funny" theme and run with it, producing a series of excellent pseudo-sequels without Square's involvement (they would finally work again, starting with a Mario themed basketball game on the DS).
Due to licensing problems, very few of the characters that made their debut in this game have recurred in later Mario games, including fan-favorite Geno. But worry not! The game has appeared on the Wii's Virtual Console for all regions!
Tropes include:
- Action Commands (Every attack, spell, and item use has a benefit if you time an extra move right.)
- All Your Colors Combined(Parodied with the Axem Rangers' Breaker Beam)
- Amazing Technicolor Battlefield
- Anyone You Know (You're required to have a profile name. It ends up being the password to the balcony in Booster's Tower. However, Mario doesn't know this, which causes problems for a player doing a second playthroug.)
- Arm Cannon (Geno's weapons)
- Armor Piercing Slap (Some of Peach's glove weapons)
- Badass Mustache (Mario's mustache earns admiration from his fans and scorn from his enemies at various points in the game.)
- Baleful Polymorph (Mushrooms and scarecrows)
- Behind The Black
- BFB
- Bicep Polishing Gesture (Bowser's victory pose in the Japanese version, but replaced with a fist pump in North America.)
- Big Lipped Alligator Moment (Mario transforms into his 8-bit version in Booster Tower.)
- Boisterous Bruiser (Bowser at some points.)
- Bonus Boss (Culex)
- Mokuka may count, though as a secret mini-boss. He floats around in the desert of Land's End and in one area of Belome's Temple with a random encounter rate, so it's very likely to miss him unless you keep going back and forth on the screens. He has a lot of health and is unaffected by physical attacks, making him difficult to beat unless you're at max level. When beaten, he provides 30 EXP, which is very high for a random enemy.
- Boss In Mook Clothing (Mokura/Mokuka, who appears on the overworld like a normal enemy, but has powerful attacks. The game treats him more like a boss, though, so he could also be considered a Bonus Boss.)
- Boss Rush (Optional. Near the end of the game, you come across some of the bosses you fought earlier in the game, being put in mass production.)
- Bound And Gagged (Peach tied up and hanging from the ceiling in the prologue)
- Breather Level (Star Hill. There are some enemies, but they aren't that strong, and no worry about a boss.)
- Breath Weapon (Breaker Beam)
- Broken Bridge (To Bowser's Castle)
- Bubbly Clouds (Nimbus Land)
- But Now I Must Go ( Geno after the last battle)
- But Thou Must (or else Mallow will cry)
- Cap (Surprisingly, the game's level cap is one of the lowest eastern examples at 30)
- The Cameo (Samus and Link are resting in hotels at certain points in the game)
- Chest Monster (Four of them: Pandorite, Hidon, Chester, and Box Boy)
- Climax Boss (Any battle against a member of the Smithy Gang, especially since they normally occur at the end of each world)
- Cognizant Limbs (Several examples, including the evil clock Countdown and the Final Boss)
- Combat Medic / Staff Chick (Peach starts out with okay weapons, but her healing is valuable. Once her stronger weapons and spells sppear, she's one of the best characters.)
- Cool And Unusual Punishment (Yaridovich's tickling torture, and another But Thou Must moment)
- Cowboys And Indians (toys of Mario and Bowser)
- Crowning Music Of Awesome (Many players have at least one favorite piece.)
- Crying Wolf (Gaz)
- Debug Room
- Defeat Means Friendship (Jonathan Jones, although he doesn't join the party.)
- Degraded Boss (Clones of Bowyer and Mack, among others, are churned out by Smithy's factory)
- Distressed Damsel (Peach in the first half of the game)
- Do Well But Not Perfect (Goomba Stomping)
- Dual Boss (Loads)
- Duel Boss (Jonathan Jones and Dodo)
- Enemy Mine (Bowser)
- Enemy Scan (Mallow's Psychopath ability)
- Ensemble Darkhorse (Geno)
- Epic Flail (Bowser can equip one of these as one of his weapons. Also, he can equip Chain Chomps, which work on the same basis)
- Evil Chef (Chef Torte and assistants)
- Exactly What It Says On The Tin
- Face Fault
- Fake King
- Fastball Special (Bowser's Hurley Gloves weapon involves chucking Mario at an enemy.)
- Fetch Quest
- Field Of Blades (Smithy's world of weapons.)
- Final Boss Preview
- Five Man Band / Five Bad Band (The Axem Rangers spoofs these tropes.)
- Flunky Boss (several)
- Foe Yay (the one Mario game in which you can get Bowser to kiss Mario!)
- Frying Pan Of Doom (Peach's Infinity Plus One Weapon)
- Gainaxing (Valentina)
- Giant Space Flea From Nowhere (It's probably safe to say at least half of the bosses in the game qualify)
- Glass Cannon (Geno)
- Golden Saucer (Grate Guy's Casino)
- Goldfish Poop Gang (Croco)
- Guide Dang It (Finding Grate Guy's Casino)
- First, beat Knife Guy 10 times to win the Bright Card. Then, go to Bean Valley and enter one of the pipes. If you stand in a certain spot and jump not once or even twice, but three times, a platform will appear that when jumped on takes you to a secret area that holds Grate Guy's Casino. You can only enter with the Bright Card.
- By the same token, if you talk to Grate Guy several times he'll finally ask if you want to play a game of "Look Away". If you guess right a total of 100 times, he'll reward you with the Star Egg, an item that deals 100HP of damage to all enemies on the field and can be used again and again.
- Also the Mystery Egg's use. Only one character can "activate" it. And ONLY when equipped with a seemingly useless accessory.
- You equip Toadstool (Princess Peach) with the B'tub Ring, a random item bought from a Mole kid, and use the Mystery Egg on her turn ten times... On the tenth time, it will turn into the Lamb's Lure. Use it another 48 times, and it will turn into the Sheep Attack, an item that turns most non-boss enemies into sheep and ends the battle.
- In fact, most of the weapons and accessories have very vague in-game descriptions, often not mentioning what their most important effects are!
- Indeed. The game is notorious for the sheer crazy steps needed to complete secrets, or even activate the ability to even'' start the steps for those secrets. Many of the secrets, like the above Star Egg, are piled onto other secrets where you wouldn't expect to look for them. Super Mario RPG definitely gives the old Pokemon Poke God rumors a run for their money.
- For those of us who have played a Low Level Run of SMRPG, there is a way to convert Mario's standard 3FP Jump attack into an almost necessary Disc One Nuke. The Jump attack's power rises 2 points every time is used up to 125 times, making it into the most powerful move in the game (100 Super Jumps might be more powerful, but you'll never learn the attack if you do the Level 3 challenge), and will carry you right until you get Bowser, which is coincidentally when Mario starts turning into Glass Joe. Powering up Jump and collecting experience turns it into a Game Breaker of epic proportions.
- He Knows About Timed Hits (Trope Namer)
- Heroic Mime (Mario, literally, but he pantomimes, even to the point of shape shifting.)
- Lampshaded at the beginning by Toad asking Mario "what's with the silent treatment".
- Improbable Weapon User (Princess Peach, user of the Parasol Of Pain and Frying Pan Of Doom. Also Bowser, who throws Mario or swings a Chain Chomp. And Mallow and his cymbals.)
- Infinity Plus One Sword (Lazy Shell, Frying Pan. The Super Jacket armor and Attack Scarf accessory are also Game Breakers.)
- Inn Security
- Invisible Monsters (Mokura, who starts out as the invisible Formless) The game also seems to treat it like an obscure Bonus Boss
- Isometric Projection
- Jungle Japes (Yo'ster Isle)
- Kleptomaniac Hero
- Lethal Lava Land (The Barrel Volcano)
- Lightning Bruiser (Geno is as strong as Bowser (slightly more or slightly less depending on level, weapons, and selected growth on leveling up), and is the fastest character.)
- Lost Forever (One block in the mushroom kingdom containing a single frog coin and can only be accessed the very first time you vist. Subverted when it comes to flower tabs/jars, as while you can lose quite a few permanently, you have more than enough of them to get max flower points anyways.)
- Also, Samus's cameo is only for a certain period in the game.
- Maximum Fun Chamber (The building where the villagers of Seaside Town are being held. See Cool And Unusual Punishment.)
- Minecart Madness (After working your way through the Coal Mines and beating the chapter boss, you must escape via a mine cart over three courses. This later becomes a mini game if you talk to the mole outside)
- Memetic Badass: the Axem Rangers. Period.
- Mini Boss (Being an RPG, this game has tons. Start with the Hammer Bros., whom when beaten reward you with your first weapon, a hammer)
- Then Croco, the purple alligator that steals Mallow's grandfather's Frog Coin and a Toad's wallet.
- Mini Game (Buttloads of them)
- Monster Town (Monstro Town)
- Musical Nod (Culex's battle theme sounds... familiar..)
- If that wasn't enough, listen to his victory theme.
- Name That Tune (Mario whistling in the shower)
- Narm ("THE Big Boo", as this LP
 demonstrates)
- Nightmare Fuel (The scene of the final battle is rather hellish looking, and this game is marketed at kids.....)
- No Indoor Voice Queen Valentina
- Mallow mentioned that her voice can be heard in a 10 mile radius.
- Oblivious Adoption (Mallow, and no one else in his hometown notices either.)
- One Hit Kill (The "Magnum" attack.)
- One Of These Doors Is Not Like The Other
- One Size Fits All (Work Pants)
- One Thousand Needles (Geno Whirl, if you time it right, can do exactly 9999 damage, instantly killing anything. It doesn't work on bosses, though...excluding Exor.)
- One Winged Angel (Smithy)
- Only Idiots May Pass
- Out Of Character (An upset Mario was going to punch a kid! Good thing Mallow stopped him in time)
- Parasol Of Pain (One of Peach's weapons)
- Party In My Pocket (played with repeatedly)
- After a conversation is supposedly concluded, all the characters prepare to step back inside Mario. The speaker then remembers something and when he says, "Oh and one more thing..." all the characters bump heads.
- Perverse Puppet (Remo Con and Puppox)
- Pirate (Pirate sharks, in fact. Surprisingly logical combination, actually...)
- Plot Coupon (Star Pieces)
- Pop Quiz (Dr. Topper's Quiz)
- Psychopathic Manchild (Booster is a comedic version.)
- Quirky Miniboss Squad (Axem Rangers, although the are an actual boss you fight.)
- Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits
- Rebellious Princess (Peach)
- Recurring Boss (Belome)
- Revive Kills Zombie (One boss isn't immune to Geno Whirl's timed hit damage.)
- Rocket Punch (Geno)
- Save The Princess (Subverted in the prologue, and then played straight... sort of.)
- Scrolling Text
- Sequential Boss
- Shout Out (Pipe Vault, Culex's music is the boss music from Final Fantasy IV (although he's an original character for this game), 8-bit Mario appearing in one room.)
- Not to mention that while the credits roll, there's an Electrical Parade! (Well, the lights come in partway through, but the music is a definite Shout Out from the start.) Link; parade starts at 5:23.
- Smooch Of Victory (Zig zagged with, depending on how quickly you find Peach's accessories after she drops them.)
- Snot Bubble (the "sleep" status effect)
- Some Call Me Tim (Geno, since his real name looks like a bunch of symbols.)
- Spiritual Successor (Paper Mario and Mario And Luigi Superstar Saga)
- Squishy Wizard - "Mallow", who is made of living cloudstuff as well as having poor defenses but strong attack magic, pretty much exemplifies this (and his name kind of indicates he's delicate anyway).
- Stupidity Is The Only Option
- That One Boss (Bundt; a living cake that can a) debuff and possibly wipe out your whole party with one magic attack, and b) regenerate itself. The only way to kill it is with an all-out offensive [though you can cancel the debuff effect if you're wearing the right accessory.])
- Yaridovich can also prove to be quite the challenge.
- Same with Belome (the second time you fight him). He can create clones of your party members (that have higher HP and defenses), but your entire party to sleep, and slowly kill you. And you won't be able to do a thing.
- At lower levels, Birdo can be quite frustrating as well, since an unguarded egg will basically KO any party member under level 13, and almost every direct attack will do single digit damage to her...
- Barrel Volcano has Those Three Bosses - Czar Dragon, Zombone, and the Axem Rangers - back to back.
- That One Sidequest (Speak to a particular Chow in Monstro Town, and it will tell you how many Super Jumps you've managed to make in a single use of the technique. What some players never realize is that you can go back and receive an extremely handsome reward if your record hits 30 Super Jumps, and a much, much better one at 100. This requires perfect timing, rock-solid concentration, and lots and lots of practice.)
- The Maze (Forest Maze)
- The Psycho Rangers (Axem Rangers)
- The Unpronounceable (Geno's real name)
- This Cannot Be (Axem Rangers and Smithy)
- Too Awesome To Use
- Trick Boss (Czar Dragon)
- Turns Red (Johnny Jones)
- Underground Level (Mole Mines)
- Unexpected Genre Change (The minigames, and even those have you alternating genres as well.)
- Unwilling Suspension (Peach when Bowser captures her)
- Useless Useful Spell (once you're past the Hammer Bros., every special not named HP Rain, Therapy, Group Hug, Come Back, Geno Boost, or possibly Super Jump—6 out of 26 specials)
- Vendor Trash (Goodie Bag)
- Verbal Tic (Bowyer)
- Villain Decay (Bowser shows his softer side when dealing with some of his former minions)
- Warmup Boss (Hammer Brothers)
- Wake Up Call Boss Croco is the second mini-boss in the game, and following the first you naturally wouldn't expect much. This line of thinking proves fatal during the fight, which can last over ten minutes if you don't know exactly which attacks to use and when... And if you forget to save in the Kingdom before leaving and die during this fight, you will go back to your house at the beginning, and lose over 30 minutes of gameplay as both my brother and I have done on several playthroughs. If you can make it past him, though, the rest of the game and bosses are relatively easy even with minimum leveling.
- Wave Motion Gun (Geno Whirl can do maximum damage against regular enemies. All maximum attacks other than Mario's do massive damage to all enemies on screen. The enemies have some in the form of Corona, Breaker Beam, and pretty much anything Smithy's wizard head throws at you.)
- Worthy Opponent (Johnny Jones, again)
- Woolseyism
- Work Off The Debt
- Your Money Is No Good Here (Tadpole Pond)
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