The game was directed by Chihiro Fujioka and Yoshihiko Maekawa, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and scored by Yoko Shimomura.

For example, Princess Toadstool's abilities are primarily healing techniques, whereas Geno and Bowser have offensive attacks that deal high amounts of damage.

The combat is based on a traditional turn-based battle system with the addition of action commands that amplify a move's effects.

The player starts each turn by choosing to attack, defend, run, use an item, or perform magic from the combat menu.

[3] The action command consists of timed button presses during an attack, special move, defense, or item usage, which became a mainstay of later Mario RPGs.

While attempting to stop the group, Mario is joined by Mallow, a cloud boy who thinks he is a tadpole; Geno, a doll possessed by a celestial spirit from the Star Road; Bowser, whose armies have deserted him out of fear of the Smithy Gang; and Princess Toadstool, who was lost in the turmoil that occurred when the Smithy Gang arrived.

The duo travel to Rose Town where they meet a star spirit who has animated and taken control of a wooden doll named Geno.

After battling the bow-like creature Bowyer, who is immobilizing residents of Rose Town with his arrows, they retrieve another Star Piece.

[9] After her rescue, the princess returns home to Mushroom Kingdom only to then decide to join the party while her grandmother takes her place in disguise.

[12] Mario and company cross over, find the heart of the factory, and defeat Smithy, thereby stopping his army creation and causing Exor to disappear.

[15][16] 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.

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.

At 70% completion, the mix of adventure and action gameplay elements placed it in a category closer to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

[19] When Nintendo of America received a 60% complete version in November, the staff were surprised at the inclusion of an RPG battle system.

[22] Plans continued through February for the North American version,[22] changing the release date forecast from winter to spring.

[19][23][24] The game's soundtrack was composed by Yoko Shimomura, who incorporated arrangements of music by Koji Kondo from Super Mario Bros., and three tracks by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy IV.

[25] On March 25, 1996, NTT Publishing released a two-disc soundtrack album, Super Mario RPG Original Sound Version.

[37] Super Mario RPG was released on Virtual Console for Wii U in Japan on August 5, 2015,[38] in Europe and Australia on December 24, 2015, and in North America on June 30, 2016.

[43] It was developed in the Unity engine by ArtePiazza, which had previously worked on games in Square Enix's Dragon Quest series.

Nintendo Power's review commented that the "excellent" 3D graphics helped the game appeal to a much wider audience than most traditional RPGs.

[68] Scary Larry of GamePro gave the game a perfect 5/5 in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and fun factor), and praised the rendered enemies, cinematics, and spell animations.

[68] RPGamer editor Derek Cavin called the backgrounds "beautiful" and stated that they "perfectly bring the Mushroom Kingdom and surrounding areas into 3D".

[62] Skyler Miller from Allgame stated that the graphics are "absolutely outstanding, with colorful, 3D rendered visuals that once seemed impossible on the Super NES.

[55] In the Virtual Console re-release, IGN's Lucas Thomas's review of Super Mario RPG stated that the game's experience "completes itself with a compelling story, a humorous attitude and a variety of interspersed mini-games that break up the adventuring action".

The publication also stated that the soundtrack is "spectacular and a joy to listen to" and the graphics "took full advantage of the system's 16-bit technology and looks great".

[61] Scary Larry similarly said the game "should please diehard RPG fans as well as novice players", as it is genuinely tough and offers considerable replay value in the form of sidequests and bonus features such as Toadofsky's music levels.

[80] Though his only starring role in a video game was in Super Mario RPG, Masahiro Sakurai added the fan-favorite character Geno as a Mii Fighter costume to the crossover fighting game series Super Smash Bros. as paid downloadable content, attributing his inclusion to his matching arm cannon.