20 Nintendo Games You Must Play Before You Die
12. Super Mario RPG (SNES)
Mario can turn his hand to almost anything: plumbing, moonlighting as a doctor and even starring in a bona fide role-playing game.
The rotund platforming hero had that honour during the SNES' twilight years when Nintendo teamed up with Square Enix to release Super Mario RPG, a Final Fantasy-like title starring Mario and his friends.
Don't let the Mario branding fool you. This was a fully-fledged role-playing game with as much depth and complexity as Square's previous offerings. Mario became entwined in a complex plot which had him teaming up with arch-nemesis Bowser to thwart an alien invasion. New friendships were forged and rivalries borne.
Super Mario RPG is graphically superior to almost anything else on the SNES. It really put that 16-bit hardware through its paces with the kind of 3D visuals that wouldn't have looked out of place in the next hardware generation.
On top of that, Nintendo's collaboration with Square struck a balance between delighting Mario fans with its handling of the series' colourful cast, presenting them in a fresh light, and pleasing avid role-playing fans alike.
Mario RPG never made it to the UK when it was originally released, but the good folks at Nintendo have since made it available to download via the Virtual Console service and included it as one of the Super NES Classic Edition's built-in games.