I posted this in the Evolution Of Nintendo Union but starting this week I will also post in my blog as well and update on a weekly basis. Keep in mind that the recomendations will come from NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and N64 consoles and handhelds.
Well I could not have picked a better suited game to kick off this feature then Super Mario RPG: Legend of The seven Stars. This game is one of the best RPG's to ever grace the SNES and for good reason. First of all it was made by now Square Enix and Nintendo jointly with small (FF references) just like a modern day Kingdom Hearts, which is what made it such a great buy. Another thing is it's what paved the way to the likes of Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi games Saga games which have drawn out great praises from hardcore RPG fans and non RPG players alike.
Starting with the story this game probably has the biggest derailment from previous Mario games ever. Having Bowser and Peach as main characters with playable roles for the first time too was just too good to pass up especially because all were fighting side by side against a unified enemy. Another cool thing was the dark storyline throughout this game which was pretty shocking for a Mario game I remember being scared in some segments when I first played it. One of my fondest memories from that game includes the opening scene where we discover Mario and Luigi are brothers and that he does all the cleaning and cooking.
The graphics in this game really pushed the system and seemed to be 3D at the time, cause the game was shown from a sort of third person view which was not just flat like predecessor and paper Mario games today. The sound was especially cool because it was the first major Mario game to shy away from the same old Mario music fan had gotten a little bore of by now.
My favorite part of this game has to be the difficulty in completing it, damn this thing was hard to finish I remember hors of leveling up before boss fights. The puzzles were also too hard at points and this all contributed to making this one of my top RPG games over the years. Although this game did not do to well at its inception (mainly because they did not like the fact it was different from theclassic Mario games) today is a whole other story where most people regard it as a true classic and is regularly admitted to hall of fame lists.
Overall this gets the vote for best Mario world RPG in my book and for truly good reason. When this thing launches on the VC all of whom have missed on this one should buy it ASAP and they will only then appreciate the medium of games the VC will have. A launch like this will definitely come in a drought period on the Wii simply because it will downplay any other game launch especially at its cheaper price point. So bottom line this one is for any one who appreciates a new story and loves some RPG action- I give it my highest recommendation.