Super Mario RPG (Remake) - Back in Action

I went into this game with basically no knowledge of the original release of this game. I had heard it discussed online as a classic, I had seen the impressive pre-rendered overworld, and most importantly heard some of the game's amazing soundtrack. But, in large part, this game is a new experience for me.

MARIO'S RPG ORIGINS

The game clearly inspired what would become of the various Mario RPG spin-off franchises, with the Mario and Luigi series specifically sharing a lot of DNA with this game. The gameplay is a pretty simple fare, party of three characters using standard attacks and magic attacks to deal damage to a wide range of enemies. What keeps this fun is the timing element required in landing these attacks. It makes gameplay more interactive and variable, but some of the timing on certain moves is not well telegraphed, making it hard to hit consistently, even though I've been playing for a long time. You have access to 5 total party members, including a fully playable Princess Peach, and two original characters that are great additions to the Mario roster! Their roles feel well split-up between support, damage, magic, etc., and I quickly found myself settling into a playstyle of maximizing damage at all costs (which is how I play nearly *every* RPG).

Super Mario RPG, Nintendo

My only critique of the battle system is that for some characters the Magic attacks they have access to are... kinda lame? Contrasting Mario's magic move pool to his same move pool from Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the difference is clear to me; the latter just has a lot more variety and references to the Mario series. The party also has a set of 4 special moves that you can execute depending on who is in your party, and these moves vary a lot and have really neat fully rendered cutscenes that go alongside them, and they look great.

Super Mario RPG, Nintendo

NO LONGER PRE-RENDERED

On the note of presentation as a whole, this game looks really good for the hardware. It brings the vision of the original to life with mostly real time rendered 3D graphics, that look modern, but still carry an element of that early 3D jank alongside them. The character models specifically still adhere to their squat proportions, which looks great in game, and really distinct on the game's box art. I feel the least inspired element of the game is probably the interface design, with it being quite boring and bland, almost looking like a stock Nintendo Switch UI (the same UI they're trying to use in the likes of the new Mario Party titles). The world looks great, as do enemies, and our party, but the one challenge the game struggles with is framerate. For such a basic game, you'd hope it would be fluid throughout, but in lots of parts of the overworld the game noticeably dropped frames, which is pretty bad taste in my opinion for a remake of a game from the 90's.

PROGRESSION

The game progresses through a collection of worlds as you pursue the 7 stars to fight the final boss. The themes of these are solid, as they don't break from Mario tradition, but they expand on it in interesting ways. It's really neat to see the worldbuilding that goes on here, with backtracking to different areas, and the characters that reappear throughout the story. You can actually go back in the postgame to get new story tidbits and rechallenge bosses, which goes a long way here as well. The game has a great sense of humor in it's dialogue, that feels ahead of its time in part, and it genuinely had me cracking up a few times. The story doesn't sell much genuine emotion, but truly I wouldn't expect it to here, and it does well enough with Mallow's backstory, I'd just argue that it's nowhere near the game's strong suit.

Super Mario RPG, Nintendo

The post-game here is a great thing to see after the campaign, requiring you to find hidden areas, find hidden items, and tackle a plethora of post-game bosses, including an absolutely yoked fantasy RPG monster at the very end, the fight of which ending up giving me a lot of trouble, but not to an unfair degree. Most of the bosses here actually go down pretty easy when you understand their gimmick, but it takes a little bit to learn the gimmick for some of them, or it may not be super intuitive. The bosses are creative though, one of my favorites being the literal cake monster that you fight while breaking up a wedding. Again, this game is just wacky and it's a really fun time!

THE WRAP-UP

I'd absolutely recommend this game, especially with it going on sale pretty often, but I don't think I'd recommend it at Full Nintendo Price, it's just a hair short in my opinion to justify it, but it truly is a good time from beginning to end.

I'm looking forward to trying some other Mario RPG titles soon, as I know they've been getting a lot of attention recently. If you've got one you want me to check out, throw it down in the comments and maybe I'll take a look! As always, never forget to play without limits!

-Super Mikey RPG