Super Mario Starlight

darkred is a 3D open-world adventure game, and a long-awaited sequel to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The game was developed mostly by Nintendo after acquiring the rights to all of Square’s content in the first game. The game has many of the locations from Super Mario RPG, but most aren’t important to the plot and are instead simply dark, inaccessible locations on the map.

Gameplay
Super Mario Starlight has standard controls, very similar to Super Mario Odyssey’s. The main difference is that Cappy isn’t in Super Mario Starlight, with the Y button instead being a “Special Attack” button. The R + L buttons are used to change the Special Attack being used.

Super Mario Starlight doesn’t often force the player to do things, but does provide guidance in the form of signs, notes on the wall, pathways, and character dialogue. When the player is forced to do something, it is most often to do something essential to the plot.

XP/Battle System
Defeating an enemy gives the party XP, which is used to level up. When a character levels up, their Attack Power (ATK), Health Points (HP), and Special Attack (SPK) all improve. Some weapons cannot be used until the player is at a certain level.

The player’s attack power is how strong their attacks are against enemies. Their HP is how many times they can get hit before getting a Game Over. Their SPK is both how strong their Special Attacks are, and how much SP is used to perform a Special Attack. A player’s SP is used only to perform Special Attacks, and is shared among every character in the party. The player has limited SP, and must use Syrup of any kind to get more SP. Due to this limit, it is recommended to save your SPKs only for when they’re needed.

The battle system in Super Mario Starlight is very different from most Mario games. An enemy may take several hits to defeat, and the player may get ambushed by several enemies at once. The player isn’t forced to fight any normal enemies, but it is recommended to defeat as many as possible to level up for the boss fights. Some enemies are immune to certain attacks while especially vulnerable to others. These enemies can also give the player status effects.

When the player is affected with a status effect, they must use an antidote or other healing item, or in some cases, simply defeat the enemy that gave them the effect. In many cases, they have to search for an item that will cure them or buy one from a shop.

Plot
The game's plot isn't concrete, and there are many multiple-choice scenarios where it's up to the player whether or not to do something. This section will describe the plot assuming that the player does everything the "normal" way.

Super Mario Starlight begins with Bowser separating the land Peach’s Castle lies on from the rest of the world. Mario is visiting when this happens, and attempts to rescue Princess Peach before the land drifts off. Bowser separates them, however, forcing Mario to evacuate on his own. Mario escapes just as the land cracks. Peach's Castle drifts off to collide with Bowser's Castle, and the bridge to Bowser's Castle is shattered.

Mario ends up lost in a forest, and has to follow the path to his house. On his way there, there are multiple enemies and a few Toads wandering the path. Mario’s house lies at the end of the path, where there are a couple of Hammer Bros. trying to break their way in. It's up to the player whether or not they should be stopped, but refusing to fight them ends with Mario's house being successfully broken into and the Hammer inside being stolen. Choosing to fight them and succeeding allows Mario to enter his house and grab the Hammer weapon. Either way, the Toads there will guide you through a dangerous pathway to the Mushroom Kingdom to meet The Chancellor.

After Mario fills in the Mushroom Kingdom on what happened to the Princess, he's set off on a journey to a nearby town named