There's something extra special about the number 5, so we're happy to be there! But for now, it's time to take a look back at the last year, as well as remark on some things that have happened in the past. There's so much that has happened in the last few years, but we're only able to bring up so much during our birthday celebration! Let's start with the year in review!

The last year has been one of the best we've experienced throughout the last 5 years. The year got it's first splash right off the bat when Paper Mario was re-released on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console on July 16, 2007, just 7 days after we celebrated our 4th Birthday. And we were there to show our support: Paper Mario is currently the 8th best selling Virtual Console title with over 280,000 downloads! Getting the game on the Virtual Console was great for retro Mario RPG fans as well as new ones.

The year continued with relatively no news or content. After all, back then, content was a premium since I really did not add a lot during that time period. The updating wasn't that bad; we generally had an update every 2 weeks. Well, not so much. It did get bad at certain times being about a month apart. We just didn't have a lot content additions for a little while there, which was entirely my fault at the time. We just kind of ceased for a bit.

Then came November 23, 2007. Since that point, everything has drastically changed. On that day, the rumor about a Super Mario RPG Ds Sequel broke. And since, it has never been deconfirmed. That to us was incredible news. Not just because it was about a sequel, but because the rumor wasn't just some random one: numerous sites reported on it and Nintendo has never denconfirmed it when asked. Unfortunately, nothing since has come up, but we all still hold some hope that maybe this rumor will indeed flourish later on.

For the next month or so, rumors ran amok about a Super Mario RPG Ds. Along with it, rumors about Geno becoming a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl hit, and those became huge. Many different sources were reporting that Geno would be a playable character in Brawl. Unfortunately, this never came to be, as the two only third party characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. are Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake.

The New Year came and went without much happening around there. A lot of it was just rumors that had either no base or were constantly getting deconfirmed. The site, on the other hand, was slowly starting to come back in terms of activity. To help it, the Message Board was re-opened on January 23, 2008 after it was closed for more than a year. I suppose looking back on it, closing it that long was a mistake. It needed to be closed back then, but the length was a bit too much. Since it's been opened, it surprisingly has some activity, just not as much as it should have.

Big news occurred 4 days later on January 27. In IGN's " Wii-k In Review" podcast, they reported that Square-Enix was considering making a port of Super Mario RPG on the Nintendo Ds. Obviously, this was what we've been fighting for during the last few years, so it was huge new. Although it's unlikely that there will be a port at this current time, the news really assured us that Square-Enix and Nintendo knew how popular the game has become after its release all those years ago.

A week later, there were rumors aplenty. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in Japan and everyone was trying to find some form of Geno in the game. We actually started to update on rumors more than once a day, and we had spans of intense updating. While none turned out to be true, finally, we were back and updating on a consistent basis rather than a once-and-a-great-while updating system.

Of course, reporting rumors isn't always the greatest thing for the site. We took some credibility hits despite saying in every update that everything being posted was a rumor if there was no evidence or confirmation about what was happening. But, that doesn't stop some people who gave us a bad name despite no wrongdoing. We've recovered little by little since then, but it still didn't help us out much.

The next month (February, that is) was all about rumors and debunking them. I went off on some rants about the Brambles song being in Brawl (just because I could!) since there wasn't much going on in terms of news. Which, in retrospect, was good that there was no news because with all the rumors, no one would've believed anything! There was just all kinds of crazy speculation out there.

The end of February, however, did provide one of our most outstanding achievements. On February 20, 2008, Smrpg Legacy crossed the 5,000,000 page view mark! That's a huge number, nowhere near where I thought the site would ever be. But Mario RPG fans are some of the best fans in the gaming community, so I should not be surprised that there is so much support for the site. We are truly grateful to reach such a mark.

Our next big moment didn't come until March 25. On that day, one of our finest articles that we've ever had was put up for everyone: "100 Reasons to Create a Super Mario RPG Sequel or Remake." This article gained a lot of attention from its posting and remains one of our most popular pieces since. We have received all kinds of positive feedback and acclaim for it.

Luckily, we didn't have to wait much longer for our next big thing. Later on that day the news broke that Nintendo Power was polling everyone for games they want to see on the Virtual Console! After petitioning, sending letters, writing emails, etc., this was our defining moment. And we did not disappoint. Under leadership of the site, Mario RPG fans managed to get Super Mario RPG as the number 3 most requested game. Oh, yeah, one more thing: Super Mario RPG was the only game to make the fans' list and the Nintendo Power Staff's list. Pretty impressive on behalf of all the fans!

As if Paper Mario on the Virtual Console wasn't enough, the rumor about a Paper Mario Ds came out on April 16. The rumor stated that it was coming in July to Japan, but nothing has since been heard. Nintendo did not confirm or deconfirm the rumor to us, but if it's coming out this month still, it would be a shock since no one has heard anything about it! Chances are slim, but since it's never been deconfirmed, we still have some hope for it!

Just a week later, Smrpg Legacy took perhaps it's most important step ever. Version 8, dubbed "The Reawakening," was released on April 23, 2008. Styled in a classic Version 2 look, it offered a ton of retro themes with a mix of newer elements to the site. It was important because at the time, everything was kind of "up in the air" about the future of the site and where it would go to. The Reawakening was an instant success.

The biggest part about Version 8 was that content additions have returned. I have gone back and really found some of my passion that I had back when the site first started, and with it, the site has really been rebuilt on a very strong foundation that should last. No more cutting corners, no more delays; I've gone and given everything a complete overhaul. Hopefully, we'll never be in a drought like we once were - I don't expect that to happen again.

Unfortunately, the luster of the new version was diminished in late April. Our sister site, Super Mario Legacy, went through some extreme overturn that caused it to close in May. While the sites are separate entities, there can be no denying that they will always be intertwined because I run them both. While I treat them differently, it didn't really help us to have the site destroyed. As "Super Mallow" from Smrpg Legacy I still have certain people as friends - as "Super Mallow" from "Super Mario Legacy" I do not. It was unfortunate, but we managed to get through it with very little damage.

On May 4, 2008, another big announcement came. Earthbound, the popular Super Nintendo title, was rated by the ESRB for the Wii's Virtual Console. While Earthbound is not a Mario RPG, the two series are intertwined. Earthbound fans are the spitting image of Super Mario RPG fans (And Vice-Versa, of course) in terms of their passion and work trying to get a remake of their game. This was huge news because it gave us hope for a remake; at this time, all there was were rumors.

We didn't have to wait long: On May 30, 2008, Super Mario RPG was announced for Japan's Virtual Console. Ok, it's not the US', but it was still big news. After many sites reporting it, Smrpg Legacy was the first to get a word directly from Nintendo that it was confirmed. This was it: 5 years of work paid off. All of our letters, our emails, our tens of thousands of signatures cultivated into one thing: The Super Mario RPG Remake we have all be desperately trying to get made. Now, that is indeed the case. The game has not been confirmed for the US but has been for PAL regions. However, being a major Mario title and in two other regions, there is little doubt that it will soon come to the US.

But, of course, seeing is believing. We had one through this before. After all, Super Mario RPG was rated by the ESRB as a Virtual Console title before the Wii was even on the market. It remained on the listing for over a year and never happened. Luckily, June 24th happened: Super Mario RPG actually came out as a download on Japan's Wii's Virtual Console. Everything felt...complete at that moment. Nothing, except for a US release or sequel, could be better at that moment.

And that brings us to today. It's July 9, 2008, 5 years to the day since Super Mario RPG Legacy launched. It's been radically changed, yet it's always remained the same. Sites don't get to be 5 years old and active by fluke, so we're extremely proud that we're still going. Not that we're just going, but that we're going strong and are still doing things our way at an extremely high level.

I would've have never thought the site would be 5 years old when I first put it up. I never thought we'd hit 5,000,000 page views. And I know that people also thought that as well way back when Sotss was up. To all those hoping for our failure, we're sorry to disappoint you. Through the bad and the good, we're here, and through our awesome fan support, it doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere else any time soon!

It's been great through these 5 years. Really, it has. I know that there have been times where the site was in bad shape, but we've gotten through them. Right now things are peaking, and that's how it should be all the time. We're getting closer and closer to achieving the things we started years ago, and we don't plan on quitting anytime soon. The only thing I can say with negativity is that I wish the people closer to the site and closer to myself would have been able to recognize what today was and how important it is...no one realized it, and that was an extreme disappointment.

Here's to the future of Super Mario RPG Legacy: Celebrating 5 years on the Internet and still going strong! In order to commemorate the site's 5th birthday, let's take a page from previous celebrations: Here's a wallpaper!

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