Super Mario RPG Comes to Virtual Console Wii U
SNES games in the Virtual Console on Wii U is few and far between. And if these SNES Classics appear in the Virtual Console library, especially in the Wii U, they often get released in certain territories. Definitely, the region-locking in Nintendo products does not help Nintendo’s Virtual Console program.
Nonetheless, and finally, North American players can finally play Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars in their Wii U video game consoles. Japan and Europe already received the game of the Virtual Console last year. The classic SNES RPG will be available in Wii U’s Virtual Console this week.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is technically not made by Nintendo, or any Nintendo-owned studio. Instead, this RPG was developed by SquareSoft (now known as Square Enix after company merger). It was released back in 1996 for the SNES.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is known for employing an isometric angle. Even though the game is clearly an RPG just by its name, it never forgot its roots and retained Mario-like platforming gameplay mechanics. Upon contact to enemies in the field, the game will send the player into a battle screen. Hereon, there will be no platforming but pure 90’s brand of turn-based RPG ala Final Fantasy. Which is not a surprise given that SquareSoft are the ones who developed the Final Fantasy games.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is launching come June 30 and will cost $8. Very important to take note, though, players who already own the game under the Wii Virtual Console program AND is playing the game through Wii U’s backward compatibility, needs to use the classic controller of the Wii, not the Wii U. In short, those who are playing the Wii version of the game through the Wii U will have to dig up the Wii’s classic controller in order to play the game.
Just a week ago, the Wii U’s Virtual Console received a slew of Pokemon games, three of them being Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, Blue Rescue Team, and Explorers of the Sky.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars received universal acclaim when it got released back in the day. The re-release versions of the game also were praised for being functional. There are no sequels of the game, but the Paper Mario series is considered to be its spiritual successor.
