What You Need to Know:
- The year was 1996, March 9th, and fans around the world were mesmerized as Nintendo released Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo (Super Famicom in Japan). This isometric-RPG was developed by then Square and published by Nintendo, and was the first RPG in the Mario franchise, cementing it as an historical time for Nintendo fans.
- It was the first ever Mario title to immerse players in a 3D environment, with a ton of inspiration being drawn from Square's much beloved RPG franchises, combined with the action style that Mario games have been iconic for.
- What makes Super Mario RPG one of the greatest games of all time is that it still stands the test of time, but more so, it was well beyond its time. Super Mario RPG (known fully as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars) demonstrated just how powerful the Super Nintendo was from a graphical and hardware standpoint, shortly before Nintendo released the highly anticipated Nintendo 64 just months later. It was the perfect closing for a system that defined an era, giving players a glimpse of what was to come in the following months and even years in the gaming world.
- If it weren't for Super Mario RPG paving the way we wouldn't have such great titles like Paper Mario and the quirky Mario & Luigi series as spiritual successors. If anything, it seemed all planned, at least looking back in retrospect, since Super Mario 64 debuted months later, and that game too cemented itself as one of the greatest games to ever grace this Earth.
- For now, all we can do is bask in the glory that is Super Mario RPG for its beautiful composition by Yoko Shimomura and humor, that still makes us laugh to this day. A huge HOORAH to you Super Mario RPG, continue to shine on! Oh, let's not forget Genos!
A timeless classic indeed.
Definitely one of the greatest of all time!