Super Mario RPG is one of the best games on SNES and one of the best RPGs of all time. This, as far as I'm concerned, is common knowledge. In the slight chance that there's still someone out there that's not familiar with the usual praise this game gets, lets summarize it quickly before getting to the actual review.

1. It has great graphics and music for its time.
2. It's incredibly innovative and imaginative on its settings and characters.
3. Experiments with a strange combination of genres and triumphs.
4. Its both a great Mario game and a great rpg.
5. It set the standard for later crossover rpgs such as Kingdom Hearts and it inspired its own series (Paper Mario).

?My personal experience with the game.

As with all retro reviews, I believe it is mandatory to explain a little of the background between the player and the game. I first played this game when I was a 12 year old kid. It was the illustrations on the box that captivated my attention. I knew Mario, but who was this strange gnome-looking guy by his side? Or that marshmallow... thing? But, most intriguing of all: is that Super Mario and his arch nemesis Bowser on THE SAME TEAM!? This blew me away.?
I first rented the game curious about the whole "Mario-Bowser-Peach" team up, not knowing at all what rpg meant. When I started my SNES and realized this was not, in fact, another side-scroller Mario game, I was even more bedazzled. I started playing with a little skepticism but after a few hours I was completely invested in it.?
I returned and re rented this exact game (yes, the very same cartridge) 5 other times. I had my father strike a deal with the guy in charge so he would keep the game just for me from one weekend to the next. After 5 weekends of non stop playing, I finally beat it and it was a glorious experience. This game has been with me for over 14 years and I think it will never leave.

STORY

The story, in a magnificent twist of know ?tropes and things-yet-to-discover, begins where most Mario stories usually end, that is, at Bowser's castle, about to rescue Princess Peach. Everything goes as you'd expect, with Bowser giving a fight and Mario beating him in the end, but all of a sudden a new and huge enemy appears in the sky and takes over Bowser's castle, effectively evicting him from his own home and leaving Princess Peach stranded somewhere unknown.?That's when Mario sets off to look for her yet again and prevent Smithy to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.

What's awesome about this story is how it plays on the expectations of the audience over and over again. It is aware on how Mario has already become a known formula and rejoices in twisting said formula all the time. More than in any other Mario game before or after have I gone "OH!" so many times. I won't spoil any of these fine ?and delightful narrative twisting moments, but will sure praise the game for it.

Another thing awesome about this story is how imaginative and unrestrained it is. It expands the Mario universe on so many levels and leaves room to develop different characters and settings that go far beyond the usual suspects. While being respectful of the inspiring material, it still tries to propose something of its own and it works wonders.

GAMEPLAY

Probably one of the most recognizable features of this game is its signature game play. It implemented a timed booster for attacks and defense moves that took effect under different conditions depending on many different factors. This, while simple on paper, was a HUGE game changer, since now the fairly simple and common strategy of "attack or defend" that most rpgs of the time used, became more complex by demanding actual participation from the player in the outcome of the battles. There's the still random "miss" every now and then, but no random criticals this time: it depends solely on the player to achieve maximum efficiency on the battlefield and that made this a more compelling, challenging and entertaining game than most.?This kind of battle gameplay would become so popular it would transmigrate to different games over the years, most notably the Paper Mario series and the Mario & Luigi saga.?

Outside battle, action moves forward on the usual rpg manner. On an ever perpetual isometric view that takes some time to get used to, you go from town to town, talk to different people, solve their problems, equip new items, meet new allies and the proceed to the next town to rinse and repeat. While still very "safe" on its approach, the different adventures never become "chore-ish" or boring; they're actually very well developed sub-plot stories with their own charming and colorful set of characters, some of which include familiar faces from the Mario universe.

All in all, the rpg of this rpg is very solid. You can equip your entire party, customize their ability set and while only able to use 3 characters at a time, you can keep the rest of your rooster on the bench and swap between characters at any time. It is simple, engaging and familiar at the same time, but it is the spectacularly innovative battle system that takes the applause for its ingenious use of action timed button inputs.

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

For the time, graphics in this game are as rare as they're awesome. As I said earlier, the perspective is isometric, so the modeling of the sprites is 3d-ish, something fairly uncommon in the SNES library and only mastered in the Donkey Kong series. Here, while still a little bit unpolished in comparison, it still looks very well even to this day. The whole depth a 3D environment gives to the action is central for a game centered on a character which mostly expresses himself trough jumping and was a very good design choice by Squaresoft (soon to become Square).
The modeling also gives perspective to the volume of some of the characters, which makes them look very different of what we had come to known. Bowser, for example, looks very much wider and more menacing than before, while Peach is slim and ladylike.?The smooth animations are also a treat for the eyes and become essential when trying to achieve a perfect timed attack, which you will crave for most of the time.?

The music for this game is stellar. Nothing to be surprised about really, considering Yoko Shinomura, the composer for "Street Fighter II" was in charge of it and was joined by both legendary video game composers Koji Kondo (Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time) and Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series). The result is a soundtrack you can listen over and over again and never get tired of. Truly amazing considering it was rendered to be played on a 16-bit machine, every score on this soundtrack is a 10/10.

FINAL COMMENTS

This is one of the greatest games on the SNES library, no doubt amongst the top 10, and probably one of the greatest rpgs of all time. Everyone that claims to love storytelling, Mario, rpgs in general, or the simple notion of adventure and wonder, should play this masterpiece. Never again has a game like this been achieved; it is unique in every way and even though the story is fairly lineal, there are plenty of secrets scattered around from strange, yet amusing cameos from Link and Samus Aran, among others, to secret bosses, items and sub-plots that will keep the completionist coming back for more. ?If you don't fancy yourself as one, still play it and enjoy the ride Mario and friend will take you on, because there's nothing quite like it anywhere else.