Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars/Controls

General
If you touch an enemy you will initiate combat.

Combat
Combat may seem tricky at first, but quickly becomes intuitive. Your character is surrounded by buttons as follows: So if you want to attack, hit. If there is more than one enemy, you then select which enemy using and hit  again. Then at the moment of impact, you should hit any button to attempt a "timed hit" to deal more damage (you can also use any button to defend against an attack at the moment of impact).
 * : Item
 * : Attack
 * : Defense/Run away
 * : Magic

If you want to use an item, you press to bring up the menu, then you select the item using  again. If you are given the option of who to use the item on, select the desired character, and confirm that with. The timing system used with attacks comes into play with items too; if you press the X button again after the item's used, you can "get a freebie", which gives you another of the item you just used, in essence making it free. The timing for this is quite tricky, though, as it requires a much higher level of precision than timing an attack. For recovery items, the button should be pressed right after the tiny stars that appear on your character fade away. For attack items, you should also try to press the button as soon as the animation ends. Getting a freebie can also occur randomly without an extra button press, but this is very rare.

You always use the same button to continue an action until it is completed. If you start to use an item but decide to attack instead, before you confirm one last time, you would hit to cancel using the item and start an attack.

You can use timed hits with many magic spells, including healing, but some instead work using repeated tapping of, by holding it down to charge and then release, or by rotating.

Menu
You don't actually have access to this particular feature in this introduction segment, but in general it will take you to another screen filled with options, which you can press to back out of. These options will include:


 * Items: Mario and company can store a whopping total of 29 items, which can do things like restore health/life, restore flower points, attack enemies, or induce special effects. With no way to store or keep items in reserve, you'll be feeling the limitations of the 29-item limit very quickly, so get used to selling items which you can buy anywhere, such as mushrooms, and try to keep valuable items which can't be found many places or are unique. (such as Rock Candy)
 * Status: This option will let you see the basic stats for each character, what they would be with and without their current equipment, and how many experience points until the next level.
 * Special: This option will let you view the special attacks each character has, use "healing" techs outside of battle, and see how many levels until the next special ability is available.
 * Equip: Equip and use armor/weapons/accessories. Again, you can only store 29 things, plus whatever you equip on people. Accessories tend to be the rarest, so get used to selling old armor and weapons.
 * Special Item: A list of various "quest related" items you may be carrying, serves no purpose other than to prove to the player that you actually are carrying that cricket jam somewhere.
 * Map: Shows the map of the Mushroom Kingdom.
 * Switch: Let's you switch around party members. This option won't be available until you have four party members.