DESCRIPTION

In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Bowser has once again made off with Princess Toadstool and taken her to his castle. Upon hearing the princess' scream, Mario took off for Bower's Keep and soundly defeated Bowser atop a chandelier. After the fight, a giant sword mysteriously crashed into the castle, forcing Mario and Bowser to bury the hatchet and join forces to bring peace and a sense of normalcy to the land.

Super Mario RPG lets you guide Mario (as well as tagalongs Bowser, Geno and Mallow) through the Mushroom Kingdom. Depending on the character, you have a number of weapons and attacks at your disposal, including sticks, cymbals, hammers, punches, fire attacks, blasts, beams and much more.

Battles are fought in a turn-based fashion using four battle techniques. There are timed hits, which let you hit an enemy more than once, continuous hits, which cause more damage, star hits, which are special attacks that let you hold any button until three stars appear, and rotational hits, which require a rotational movement on the control pad. After you defeat an enemy, you may receive a bonus flower, which will provide you with a free turn, extra offensive power, or extra defensive power.

Throughout your journey, you can pick up a number of helpful items, including Able Juice to recover normal conditions, mushrooms to recover hit points; water to destroy ghosts, and Yoshi Cookies that bring forth enemy-swallowing Yoshis. You can also buy and sell various items at tool shops, recover your hit points by spending the night in an inn, and communicate with Frogfucius for advice.

You will encounter platforms, floating panels, spinning flowers, trampolines, pipes, donut blocks and other devices along the way in a nod to Mario's previous side-scrolling adventures. From time to time you will enter mini-games, such as Melody Bay, which has you jumping on a tadpole to make a melody, Moleville Mountain, which is a mining car race, and Beetle Race, which has you collecting as many beetles as you can by jumping on them. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars can save up to four games using its internal memory. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide