Originally titled Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the new Switch re-release is a souped up remake of the 1996 SNES game, repackaged and polished up for a modern audience. As someone who never grew up with the SNES and thus never had a chance to check out Nintendo and Square’s role-playing love child, Super Mario RPG has proven to be quite the odd delight so far.
For a company that’s notoriously protective over their IPs, it seems unimaginable that Nintendo would ever give another developer free reign over iconic characters and locations like Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom (hi, Rabbids). Here are the keys to the Mushroom Kingdom! Do with it as you please! And Square certainly didn’t waste their chance. Super Mario RPG is a solid turn-based RPG through and through, and while it may feel fairly simple for the most part, it’s not without its charm and little quirks that you’d be hard pressed to find in your typical Mario game.
