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 Super Nintendo.
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 afterwards, 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 still 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 localisation, 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. 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 involvment.
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 download!
Tropes include:
- Action Commands
- 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 (literally, with 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
- Bicep Polishing Gesture (Bowser's victory pose in the Japanese version, but replaced with a fist pump in North America.)
- Bonus Boss (Culex)
- 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)
- Breath Weapon (Breaker Beam)
- Broken Bridge (literally.)
- Bubbly Clouds (Nimbus Land)
- 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 (Pandorites)
- Climax Boss
- Cognizant Limbs
- Cool And Unusual Punishment (Yaridovich's tickling torture, and another But Thou Must moment)
- Cowboys And Indians (toys of Mario and Bowser)
- Crying Wolf (Gaz)
- Debug Room
- Defeat Means Friendship (Jonathan Jones, although he doesn't join the party.)
- Degraded Boss (Clones of Bowyer and Mac, 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)
- Evil Chef (Chef Torte and assistants)
- Exactly What It Says On The Tin
- Face Fault
- Fake King
- Fastball Special
- Fetch Quest
- Field Of Blades - Smithy's world of weapons.
- Five Man Band or Five Bad Band, though not as powerful (Axem Rangers)
- 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)
- He Knows About Timed Hits (Trope Namer)
- Heroic Mime (Mario, literally. Parodied, in that Mario never talks, but he pantomines everthing.)
- Lampshaded at the beginning by Toad asking Mario why he's not saying anything.
- 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.)
- What, no mention of Mallow and his cymbals?
- Infinity Plus One Sword (Lazy Shell)
- Inn Security
- Invisible Monsters (Mokura, who starts out as the invisible Formless)
- Jungle Japes (Yoshi's Island)
- Kleptomaniac Hero
- Lethal Lava Land (The Barrel Volcano)
- 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.)
- Maximum Fun Chamber: The building where the villagers of Seaside Town are being held. See Cool And Unusual Punishment.
- Minecart Madness
- Mini Game (Buttloads of them)
- Monster Town (Monstro Town)
- Musical Nod (Culex's battle theme sounds... familiar..)
- If that wasn't enough, look at his victory theme.
- Name That Tune (Mario whistling in the shower)
- 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, no one else in his hometown notices either.)
- One Of These Doors Is Not Like The Other
- One Size Fits All (Work Pants)
- One Thousand Needles (Geno Whirl)
- One Winged Angel (Smithy)
- Only Idiots May Pass
- Parasol Of Pain (One of Peach's weapons)
- Party In My Pocket (played with repeatedly)
- 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)
- Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits
- Rebellious Princess (Peach)
- Recurring Boss (Belome)
- Revive Kills Zombie
- Rocket Punch (Geno)
- Save The Princess
- Scrolling Text
- Sequential Boss
- Shout Out (Pipe Vault)
- Smooch Of Victory (used straight or subverted)
- Or, if you move quickly enough in one instance, both.
- Snot Bubble (the "sleep" status effect)
- Some Call Me Tim (Geno)
- 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. That is, if his name didn't give it away immediately.
- 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.
- The Maze (Forest Maze)
- The Medic (Princess Peach, Mallow early on)
- 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)
- 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)
- Worthy Opponent (Johnny Jones, again)
- Wave Motion Gun
- Woolseyism
- Work Off The Debt
- Your Money Is No Good Here (Tadpole Pond)
