The complete history of Mario RPGs

Mario has done it all, appearing in nearly every type of game imaginable. His (usual) success in every field is unparalleled in the realm of gaming mascots, but of all his spin-offs, our favorites have been Mario's forays into the world of role-playing games. Just like in every other genre, Mario made it his own while still keeping it fun for the level-grinding, loot-collectors. So on the eve of the US release of his newest quest – Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story - follow us down the rabbit hole, or green pipe we suppose, and learn how this dynasty came about.

1996 - Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

The journey to RPG glory began with the eloquently named Super Mario RPG. The story behind its creation is nearly as dramatic as the one in the game. Instead of developing the first Mario RPG Nintendo worked with genre kings and close business colleagues, Square. Though Shigeru Miyamoto was involved, most of the heavy lifting was handled by the vets at Square. This game marked the end of at least two eras: it’s the last Mario game made for the SNES, coming out only four months before Mario 64 in the US, and it’s the last real game Square made for a Nintendo system before throwing in with Sony.

But Nintendo got its money's worth, as Square made a truly massive adventure for the jumping plumber. Though it starts with the standard Bowser kidnapping the Princess scenario, soon the Koopa King’s plans are interrupted by a gargantuan sword that plunges into Toadstool Castle. Villain Smithy and his gang arrived with the sword, replacing Bowser as the biggest threat to the Kingdom, forcing Mario to find seven star pieces if he plans on stopping the evildoers.

On Mario's team is Princess Toadstool - one of her last localized appearances under that name – and for the first time Bowser worked together with his hated foe. It was great to see the Princess taking an active role instead of playing victim, while this began Bowser's slow decline from badass dino-mofo to the continual joke/failure he is today. Mario met new friends too, in the form of Mallow, a kid who thinks he's a frog but is really royalty, and Geno, a marionette inhabited by a star spirit.

At the time it had amazing graphics thanks to the pre-rendered look made famous by Donkey Kong Country, but the years haven't been kind to that graphical style; today it looks like digitized knockoff toys hopping around a plastic world. The gameplay holds up much better, as it created so many standards that later Mario RPGs followed. You explore the world as Mario hops from one place to another, battles involve carefully timed button hits to get crucial extra damage on enemies, leveling up has you assigning bonus points, and Mario stays basically silent, as all good RPG heroes do.

However, it also has some weird choices that were dropped in later games, either due to copyright - we'll get to that later - or because they didn't really fit the tone of the Mario universe. While this game is more than playable today and worth the $10 download for Wii, be prepared for some hideous characters that we aren’t missing at all.

Above: Some of the unsightly designs brought to you by pre-rendered graphics 

Super Mario RPG 2?

For years fanboys have screamed for a sequel to Nintendo and Square’s classic. Just over a year ago the original became available on Wii’s Virtual Console, fueling interest all over again. But what most don’t know is that there nearly was a Super Mario RPG 2, in name anyway. However, there are legal issues with Nintendo making a new game with that title and not involving Square. That also explains why – with one exception we’ll save for later on – SMRPG characters and places don’t appear in any later games. Fortunately, Nintendo made lemonade out of legal lemons and renamed it Paper Mario.

Above: These proto-Paper Mario screens courtesy of Unseen64 (currently down)

2001 - Paper Mario

Once Nintendo finally decided to give Mario another RPG adventure, Square was deeply involved with Sony, so they had an internal team craft a totally new world and scenario. Intelligent Systems took the reins, a smart choice as they worked on top strategy games Advance Wars and Fire Emblem. They took many of the techniques and choices of SMRPG, but gave it a visual overhaul and a slew of new tricks.

Instead of going with the first game’s “cutting edge” look, Paper Mario purposefully used flat and cartoony characters to populate its expansive, colorful world. It gave the whole game a more playful air, and thanks to an outstanding translation, it was even funnier than its cheeky predecessor. And it still marks the only Mario RPG where Bowser’s the main antagonist, even if he’s still a little silly.

And Mario's teammates were now very useful in and out of fights, thanks to their unique platforming attributes that helped him explore the map. Additionally, Mario’s pals had distinct, hilarious personalities thanks to the aforementioned stellar localization, which continues to be one of the best traits of the series. Moreover, while not on your team, the captive Peach was playable during chapter interludes, sneaking around the castle to find ways to help Mario from afar.

Despite its obvious differences with the SNES game, Paper Mario has a lot in common with its predecessor. In both games, after Peach’s castle is sacked, Mario (and friends) must search for seven stars to gain the power to stop the big baddie. Battles worked basically the same too, though your button-pressing abilities were more important than ever in battle, as the menus were streamlined, moves unfolded faster and Mario only had one support character in battle, as opposed to two previously.

Above: A classic Paper Mario commercial

And like SMRPG, it was the last hurrah for the system, coming out only a matter of months before the GameCube. Even as part of the shallow kiddie pool of N64 RPGs, Paper Mario would be a classic on any system and proved way too late that the 64-bit runner-up was capable of role-playing greatness.

A Grand Parade

Another similarity between the two games is they both end with a lovely parade of all the characters you've met in the game. As they pass by above the credits, Luigi is the head of the parade each time as well.