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Super Mario RPG [Model SHVC-ARWJ-JPN]

Nintendo Super Famicom cart. published 28 years ago by Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Listed in MAME

Super Mario RPG [Model SHVC-ARWJ-JPN] screenshot

Super Mario RPG © 1996 Nintendo Company, Limited.

Mario stars in his first RPG in this highly acclaimed role-playing adventure. Excellent 3-D graphics and a rich variety of game play will enthrall Mario and RPG fans alike!

In Super Mario RPG, Mario's beloved Mushroom Kingdom has been thrown into chaos by the appearance of an extraterrestrial villain. This evil and outer space menace, Smithy, brings fear and treachery to the once-pleasant Mushroom Kingdom. Once Smithy crashes into the Star Road, he causes seven stars to be scattered throughout the land.

Mario and his friends must recover the Seven Stars and repair the Star Road by making an epic journey to Bowser's castle to confront the dreaded Smithy. Princess Toadstool, Mallow, Geno, and -- believe it or not! -- Bowser help Mario restore tranquility and happiness to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Powerful weapons, sinister spells and other items help Mario complete his harrowing journey. Conflicts take place in animated battle screens. After you choose battle options, the game carries out your fighting commands and spells.

There are seven stages and 29 areas to navigate in Super Mario RPG. Integrating a traditional menu-driven RPG with action and puzzles, this pak offers a medley of playing excitement. The stunning graphics include fully rendered characters and gorgeous landscapes. For fans of Mario and role-playing games alike, Super Mario RPG shouldn't be missed.

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TECHNICAL

Model SHVC-ARWJ-JPN

TRIVIA

Super Mario RPG was released on March 9, 1996 in Japan. Japanese audiences received Super Mario RPG well with 1.47 million copies sold, making it the third highest-selling game in Japan in 1996.

It is the first RPG in the Mario franchise, with major elements drawn from Square's RPG franchises and action-based gameplay reminiscent of the Super Mario series. It was the final Mario game published for the Super Famicom.

Yoshio Hongo of Nintendo explained the game's origins: "Square's RPGs sold well in Japan but not overseas. There have been calls from all ages, and from young girls, for another character to which they could become attached. Mario was the best, but had not been in an RPG. Nintendo's director, Mr. Miyamoto also wanted to do an RPG using Mario. There happened to be a chance for both companies to talk, which went well."

Development began in earnest during the second quarter of 1995. The game was officially unveiled by both Mario creator and producer Shigeru Miyamoto and co-director Chihiro Fujioka at the 1995 V-Jump Festival event in Japan. Miyamoto led teams at Nintendo and Square, who spent over a year developing the graphics. Square reported that the game was about 70% complete in October 1995. The developers created the interior elements such as columns, stairways, and exterior elements with advanced computer modeling techniques. Special lighting effects were used to create shadows and reflections that were meant to improve the 3D elements. With guidance from Miyamoto, Square developed the game, combining role-playing aspects of previous Square games like Final Fantasy VI with the platforming elements of Nintendo's games. Square's Final Fantasy series was the model for the battle sequences, while the tradition of Super Mario Bros. games demanded a lot of action. Mario's ability to jog in eight directions and jump up or down in a three–quarter perspective gave him a (comparatively) large range of motion.

When Nintendo of America received a 60% complete version in November, the staff were surprised at the inclusion of an RPG battle system. The battle screens, using pre-rendered sprites as in the rest of the game, included attack animations of equipped weapons. In December, further development and improvements to the gameplay delayed the translation of the game.

The music from the game was released as a two-disc soundtrack album in Japan by NTT Publishing on March 25, 1996, titled Super Mario RPG Original Sound Version.

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STAFF

Directors: Chihiro Fujioka, Yoshihiko Maekawa
Event Design: Keisuke Matsuhara, Yasushi Matsumura, Taro Kudo
Battle Design: Yasuyuki Hasebe, Akiyoshi Oota
Lead Programmer: Fumiaki Fukaya
Battle Programmers: Ryo Muto
Menu Programmer: Mitsuo Yoshioka
Graphic Coordinator: Hideo Minaba
Lead Character Design: Kiyofumi Kato, Yuko Hatae
Monster Character Design / Character Supervisor: Kazuyuki Kurashima
Visual Effects / Plot Assistance: Jiro Mifune
Map Data Coordinator: Kenichi Nishi
Background Map Design: Akira Ueda, Yuko Abiru, Yuka Miyamoto, Toshiyuki Mogi, Yukiko Sasaki
Battle Background Design: Misako Tsutsui
Assistant Map Data Coordinator: Toshi Kurihara
Background Map Graphics: Tomoyoshi Sakaguchi, Yuki Azuma
Music: Yoko Shimomura
Sound Engineer: Teruaki Sugawara
Sound Programmer: Hidenori Suzuki
Assistant Sound Engineer: Motoko Watanabe
Sound Effects: Chiharu Minekawa, Yoshitaka Hirota, Kaori Takahashi
Publicity: Yūsuke Hirata
Publicity Assistant: Kiyoko Maeda
Translation: Rika Maruya, Noriko Wada
Translation Coordinator: Aiko Ito
Translation Supervisor: Ted Woolsey
Monitor Coordinators: Ryuko Kouda, Hiromi Masuda, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Hiroyoshi Hamada, Yuriko Chiba, Norimasa Hanada, Kozue Kaneko, Yoshi Shibano, Rei Komatsu
Special Thanks: Shinji Hashimoto, Kazuyuki Hashimoto, Hidetoshi Omori, Mikinori Sakakibara, Tomohiro Kayano, Akihiro Yamaguchi, Takuya Kuribayashi, Hiroyuki Yamada, Koji Kondo
Extra Special Thanks: Hiroyuki Itou, Nobuo Uematsu, Tetsuya Nomura
Production Supervisor: Hironobu Sakaguchi
Character Advisor: Yoichi Kotabe
Screenplay Advisor: Kensuke Tanabe, Atsushi Tejima
C.G. Model Designer: Shinya Takahashi
NOA Production Analysis: Jim Wornell, Kayomi McDonald
Producer: Shigeru Miyamoto
Executive Producer: Hiroshi Yamauchi, Tetsuo Mizuno

SOURCES

Game's ROM.