Here we are; the past being retold, a tale from a time generations ago, whose echoes have being beginning to fade for a while now... an old friend I never got to meet, but one whom I knew pretty well, and now, being face to face, it's when I can truly appreciate it.
Super Mario RPG is perhaps one of the most influential spin-offs of the entire franchise under the Italian plumber umbrella, if not THE most important out of all the many of them, and I say this with full confidence despite the fact I played very little of it and that we never really managed to get it on this side of the world; so I do not claim this from the perspective of a die-hard fan of this game specifically, but from the experience of growing up with and playing the games to which it inspired. While the 1996 titan would never get a sequel, what originated as such would eventually turn into Paper Mario, and it and its sequel are to this very day elevated as some of the best RPG in their respective consoles, and then there’s the Mario & Luigi series, who shares practically its main identity and DNA with the SNES original, and after beating the remake that fact only became much more apparent and obvious to me. Even after the original was seemingly vanished to the Nintendo and Square’s vault, only being able to see the light of say with select Nintendo Virtual Console releases, the impact and its legacy would resist the test of time; when people don’t shut up about a game or ask non-stop for a character that appeared once in a 90’s game to be included in the funny game where Diddy Kong can punch Minecraft Steve, they do it for a reason, because it matters to the, because it’s a truly special work, and in this specific case so much so that it’s torch was still being carried by other developers… but even this flame was starting to turn into ashes…
From Super Paper Mario onwards, many of the RPG elements that characterized the two originals were ç starting to fade, and the problem would only worsen with the release of Sticker Star; this is not to say that they are bad games, Super Paper Mario and Origami King are considered exceptional by many, and even Color Splash has its select group of fans, but with that possible debate aside, it’s obvious that something had changed, that same influence and spirit that spawned the series wasn’t there any more, in favor of a more sanitized, more common interpretation of the Mario universe; whether that’s a bug turn-off for your or it isn’t, that’s to each their own. The Mario & Luigi series never really abandoned its roots, even with the more grimly looked upon Paper Jam it was clear that despite some restrictions at place they were still managing to create something unique and that didn’t distance itself much from the origins of the series, which is something that could be said about the rest of the not-so-popular installments, but it would be the two 3DS remakes of Super StarSaga and Bowser’s Inside Story what signed its death warrant, tho we could call this more of a death by poor financial decisions than anything else, but that’s a tale for another review (Rest in pepperoni, Alpha Dream…). No matter how you look at it, one thing was very clear: by 2020, the Mario RPG sub-genre as we knew was pretty much gone, and this probably wouldn’t be as much of a tragedy if it wasn’t because it was something that happened due to restrictions imposed upon Intelligent Sytems and the death of an entire studio; I’m not here to preach about ’’SupRA MeRIO WAs betteR BefORe!’’ or something like that, because in many ways I kinda like that Paper Mario managed to completely craft and identity of its own (even more than before I mean), but I would be lying if I said that an entire legacy being gone, and with it a series that I hold very dear to my heart completely disappearing, didn’t make me a little bit… sad… the games that already exist aren’t going anywhere, so there’s that, but I guess nothing is really eternal… or perhaps some wishes do come true.
Many see this remake as an opportunity to go back to past times, to re visit a small wonderful part of the SNES library in a brand new way, and will see almost as a miracle that it even exist; many others will be and are thrown off by it, remakes aren’t exactly looked in a very good light, specially in an age where preservation seems to be at the bottom of videogame companies priority lists, the original games being lost to time is a real fear, and I can only hope that won’t be the case… plus, some will just see this as an outright downgrade from the original which it’s completely fair in its own right. Me? I have a bit of a different, more nerdy perspective from those two; I see this as an opportunity that me and many others never had, as an encore that could bring a bit of a new era. It’s not that I wasn’t even a thought by the time the original game released, it’s that Europe and some other regions never even got the chance to even smell this game; the whole thing I spat out about this game’s legacy is something I can only know now after growing up a bit and looking more into the series past, ‘casue I’m pretty sure that the number of people, specially kids, that didn’t even know this was a thing is staggering. Even with those Virtual Console releases, no official translation was ever made to any languages beyond English, wish even tho that wouldn’t be a problem for me right now, I can assure you it was when I was younger, and it still is for many people. Fan-tasnlations only can do as much when you have knowledge about them and how to apply them (even if I have nothing but respect for each of them), and when it came to an official, commercial and generalized localization, the future was looking pretty grimm… and perhaps the thing I value the most of this existing as a remake, is that it made those translations a reality; the game now exists in European store-shelves localized to more languages than it ever was and, at least speaking for the Spanish one, the work done here is almost dream-like, some of the best work I’ve seen in any of the Mario RPGs by a long mile and each adaptation and change has as much love and charm as the things that were kept as close to the original as possible (Bowyer being named Arquelio and Booster being changed to Costarugo are two changes that I didn’t know I needed this much in my life).
It's not that I can enjoy this amazing translation, it’s the fact that so many others car as well as the whole game, and this addition only comes with more changes that only make me love this even more. The original’s pixel art is to this day one of the most unique and fun looks of the SNES library, and the Remake had a really difficult task in topping that look… so they didn’t do that; instead, they tried to replicate the look of the original renders and giving them a new code of paint and polish, and the result is such a fantastic little collection of worlds, little dioramas populated by cute, silly, and even badass little fellas that reminisce their original looks as close as possible, without ever looking like pale imitations or lifeless recreations. Every backdrop and character has more charm than entire games, so much so they managed to make the Toads distinct from one another, which I forgot it was a thing that could be done aside from a palette swap. Combat has also been slightly altered: there are buffs across the board, and even there are brand new mechanics introduced like the splash damage, change partners mid battle and the triple news; do these make the game easier? Absolutely, even if I never beat it, I did play a little bit of the original, and Is still can say for sure this time around the game is even easier than it ever was… however, I’ll take this for two simple reasons: combats never feel like they drag-on, normal battles go by pretty fast while given enough time for each time to feel memorable, and boss fights and the stronger introduced enemies (both the random ones and Super Bosses) will make you pay MUCH more attention since these really poss a threat, and also, things like triple moves and changing mid-combat make fairly static strategies turn into constant movement in the player parts. Everything feels like it works, every single character, be it Geno’s AOE special attacks, Peach’s sustain, Bowser’s sheer force and tankiness and Mallow’s best boiness, constantly changing and thinking about what triple move suites the situation is a game changer, tho they are all worth it because of the fantastic new animations alone, of which they are scattered throughout the game and all are simply fantastic and such a delight, and they kind of remind me of the ones in Kirby games int best way possible. And then, there’s the new soundtrack… with the old one being an option, I expected to be constantly swapping between one another, ‘cause look, I’ve heard the entirety of the original OST and utterly loved it; Yoko’s Shimamura’s work is one that I always end up falling in love with, and time and time again I return to it to give it a listen; but after the OST of the Bowser’s Inside Story remake ended up falling real short for me, I expected this one to be good, but not really superior to the amazing original… well, let’s just say that I didn’t open this review with the new rendition of Forest Maze just to be cheeky. Consider my non-existent mouth shut, ‘cause Yoko has done it YET again; similarly to the visual, I doesn’t feel like thet simply tried to remaster the original sounds and call it a day, they reinterpreted it, the whole soundtrack ahs the same exact feeling as the original songs, but they feel so much more… different, magical and distinct: The Armored Boss battle theme keeps the same goofy sounds that made the original so fun to listen to, but made it far more menacing and it truly feels like a boss theme; the volcano’s theme sounds incredibly beautiful; Booster’s theme is as funny as ever and fits him perfectly, and I could go on and on about all of it even more, even the changes made when you make a chain of 5 attacks.
The respect the people that work on it have for the original is so strong that you can practically see it; it’s that same love that the fans, Alpha Dream and Intelligent Systems have for the game being realized once again, and I mean, how could you not love it…
How could I’ve gone for so long without giving this a proper chance, let alone actually finishing it when I gave a try years ago; Mario as franchise, from the very get go, is insane, is crazy, is creative as all hell, and Super Mario RPG takes that and decides to make it even more impossibly nuts. At each an every corner there are new ideas, new enemies, new areas, all managing to fit so well in this pre-stablished world that it feels as if they’ve always been there; I love Mallow and Geno with all of my being, they are such funny and cool characters that I wish I could jump into another game in which they appear again, hell, that kinda applies to everyone here; every new and old face is so damn lovable and hilarious, from the Weapon Legion to just any normal Toad, and in some cases I really wish we could get to see more of this fellas, I would seriously pay to get an entire section dedicate to the Axem Brothers, they are absolute perfection. Each place is given life both by the way it’d designed and looks as much as by the character populating, and that’s all thanks to the dialogue; I had to actively make an effort if I wanted to stop smiling, because every single interaction carries such charm, such a lovable aura coming from this relaxed yet intense adventure that never stops moving; Characters will move around and break the bounds of the world, Mario will transform and do crazy moves just to retell a story to another character, secrets and funny little fourth wall-breaks are palced at each and every corner, and when the game what’s do hit a comedic moment, it slams it, and its through that comedy and absurdity that manages to pull a simple yet investing story, one that I wished we could see more, ‘cause it really got me feeling for this weird fellas by the end of it, an adventure I could only call… magical.
And I’m not gonna ignore that we are looking at the game that spawned my favorite battling RPG system of all time: the timing needed to do extra damage adds a ton of fun to the moment to moment combat, and it makes every action fell directly controlled by you, and with the amount of special attacks and weapons that change animations and timing at your disposal, there’s a ton to learn, and a ton to enjoy. But the game isn’t content with this super fun combat system, and it takes every chance it gets to introduce secret collectables, minigames galore very distinct from one another, and even platforming and puzzles that sometimes hold the hardest part of the normal adventure (Or maybe I’m just bad, who knows.) The only thing I could complain about and say it’s inferior to the original it’s the UI, but it’s still one that’s completely functional, and it’s a fair trade to see everyone dancing in a stage, with make my dopamine shoot up to levels never seen before.
I still cannot believe how this game managed to make me so happy at so many and different levels; it gives me hope for the future of Mario RPGs, it calms my inner translation fanboy, and on its own, it’s an amazing RPG, a fantastic voyage that never stops and never overstays its welcome. That happiness I felt listening to its music in memes years ago, the happiness I had when playing Mario & Luigi games, is here once again, but as the remake itself, in a different way, on its own, fantastic way. I’m still smiling thinking about certain interactions, locales, bestiary entries or designs, and that smile won’t fade away anytime soon. I don’t know if I’ll stay, but I’m glad Mario RPG is back, I’m glad is back for everyone to enjoy. I finally get why so many want Geno in Smash. And I finally got to experience what started it all. What a happy, delightful adventure.
Super Mario RPG is perhaps one of the most influential spin-offs of the entire franchise under the Italian plumber umbrella, if not THE most important out of all the many of them, and I say this with full confidence despite the fact I played very little of it and that we never really managed to get it on this side of the world; so I do not claim this from the perspective of a die-hard fan of this game specifically, but from the experience of growing up with and playing the games to which it inspired. While the 1996 titan would never get a sequel, what originated as such would eventually turn into Paper Mario, and it and its sequel are to this very day elevated as some of the best RPG in their respective consoles, and then there’s the Mario & Luigi series, who shares practically its main identity and DNA with the SNES original, and after beating the remake that fact only became much more apparent and obvious to me. Even after the original was seemingly vanished to the Nintendo and Square’s vault, only being able to see the light of say with select Nintendo Virtual Console releases, the impact and its legacy would resist the test of time; when people don’t shut up about a game or ask non-stop for a character that appeared once in a 90’s game to be included in the funny game where Diddy Kong can punch Minecraft Steve, they do it for a reason, because it matters to the, because it’s a truly special work, and in this specific case so much so that it’s torch was still being carried by other developers… but even this flame was starting to turn into ashes…
From Super Paper Mario onwards, many of the RPG elements that characterized the two originals were ç starting to fade, and the problem would only worsen with the release of Sticker Star; this is not to say that they are bad games, Super Paper Mario and Origami King are considered exceptional by many, and even Color Splash has its select group of fans, but with that possible debate aside, it’s obvious that something had changed, that same influence and spirit that spawned the series wasn’t there any more, in favor of a more sanitized, more common interpretation of the Mario universe; whether that’s a bug turn-off for your or it isn’t, that’s to each their own. The Mario & Luigi series never really abandoned its roots, even with the more grimly looked upon Paper Jam it was clear that despite some restrictions at place they were still managing to create something unique and that didn’t distance itself much from the origins of the series, which is something that could be said about the rest of the not-so-popular installments, but it would be the two 3DS remakes of Super StarSaga and Bowser’s Inside Story what signed its death warrant, tho we could call this more of a death by poor financial decisions than anything else, but that’s a tale for another review (Rest in pepperoni, Alpha Dream…). No matter how you look at it, one thing was very clear: by 2020, the Mario RPG sub-genre as we knew was pretty much gone, and this probably wouldn’t be as much of a tragedy if it wasn’t because it was something that happened due to restrictions imposed upon Intelligent Sytems and the death of an entire studio; I’m not here to preach about ’’SupRA MeRIO WAs betteR BefORe!’’ or something like that, because in many ways I kinda like that Paper Mario managed to completely craft and identity of its own (even more than before I mean), but I would be lying if I said that an entire legacy being gone, and with it a series that I hold very dear to my heart completely disappearing, didn’t make me a little bit… sad… the games that already exist aren’t going anywhere, so there’s that, but I guess nothing is really eternal… or perhaps some wishes do come true.
Many see this remake as an opportunity to go back to past times, to re visit a small wonderful part of the SNES library in a brand new way, and will see almost as a miracle that it even exist; many others will be and are thrown off by it, remakes aren’t exactly looked in a very good light, specially in an age where preservation seems to be at the bottom of videogame companies priority lists, the original games being lost to time is a real fear, and I can only hope that won’t be the case… plus, some will just see this as an outright downgrade from the original which it’s completely fair in its own right. Me? I have a bit of a different, more nerdy perspective from those two; I see this as an opportunity that me and many others never had, as an encore that could bring a bit of a new era. It’s not that I wasn’t even a thought by the time the original game released, it’s that Europe and some other regions never even got the chance to even smell this game; the whole thing I spat out about this game’s legacy is something I can only know now after growing up a bit and looking more into the series past, ‘casue I’m pretty sure that the number of people, specially kids, that didn’t even know this was a thing is staggering. Even with those Virtual Console releases, no official translation was ever made to any languages beyond English, wish even tho that wouldn’t be a problem for me right now, I can assure you it was when I was younger, and it still is for many people. Fan-tasnlations only can do as much when you have knowledge about them and how to apply them (even if I have nothing but respect for each of them), and when it came to an official, commercial and generalized localization, the future was looking pretty grimm… and perhaps the thing I value the most of this existing as a remake, is that it made those translations a reality; the game now exists in European store-shelves localized to more languages than it ever was and, at least speaking for the Spanish one, the work done here is almost dream-like, some of the best work I’ve seen in any of the Mario RPGs by a long mile and each adaptation and change has as much love and charm as the things that were kept as close to the original as possible (Bowyer being named Arquelio and Booster being changed to Costarugo are two changes that I didn’t know I needed this much in my life).
It's not that I can enjoy this amazing translation, it’s the fact that so many others car as well as the whole game, and this addition only comes with more changes that only make me love this even more. The original’s pixel art is to this day one of the most unique and fun looks of the SNES library, and the Remake had a really difficult task in topping that look… so they didn’t do that; instead, they tried to replicate the look of the original renders and giving them a new code of paint and polish, and the result is such a fantastic little collection of worlds, little dioramas populated by cute, silly, and even badass little fellas that reminisce their original looks as close as possible, without ever looking like pale imitations or lifeless recreations. Every backdrop and character has more charm than entire games, so much so they managed to make the Toads distinct from one another, which I forgot it was a thing that could be done aside from a palette swap. Combat has also been slightly altered: there are buffs across the board, and even there are brand new mechanics introduced like the splash damage, change partners mid battle and the triple news; do these make the game easier? Absolutely, even if I never beat it, I did play a little bit of the original, and Is still can say for sure this time around the game is even easier than it ever was… however, I’ll take this for two simple reasons: combats never feel like they drag-on, normal battles go by pretty fast while given enough time for each time to feel memorable, and boss fights and the stronger introduced enemies (both the random ones and Super Bosses) will make you pay MUCH more attention since these really poss a threat, and also, things like triple moves and changing mid-combat make fairly static strategies turn into constant movement in the player parts. Everything feels like it works, every single character, be it Geno’s AOE special attacks, Peach’s sustain, Bowser’s sheer force and tankiness and Mallow’s best boiness, constantly changing and thinking about what triple move suites the situation is a game changer, tho they are all worth it because of the fantastic new animations alone, of which they are scattered throughout the game and all are simply fantastic and such a delight, and they kind of remind me of the ones in Kirby games int best way possible. And then, there’s the new soundtrack… with the old one being an option, I expected to be constantly swapping between one another, ‘cause look, I’ve heard the entirety of the original OST and utterly loved it; Yoko’s Shimamura’s work is one that I always end up falling in love with, and time and time again I return to it to give it a listen; but after the OST of the Bowser’s Inside Story remake ended up falling real short for me, I expected this one to be good, but not really superior to the amazing original… well, let’s just say that I didn’t open this review with the new rendition of Forest Maze just to be cheeky. Consider my non-existent mouth shut, ‘cause Yoko has done it YET again; similarly to the visual, I doesn’t feel like thet simply tried to remaster the original sounds and call it a day, they reinterpreted it, the whole soundtrack ahs the same exact feeling as the original songs, but they feel so much more… different, magical and distinct: The Armored Boss battle theme keeps the same goofy sounds that made the original so fun to listen to, but made it far more menacing and it truly feels like a boss theme; the volcano’s theme sounds incredibly beautiful; Booster’s theme is as funny as ever and fits him perfectly, and I could go on and on about all of it even more, even the changes made when you make a chain of 5 attacks.
The respect the people that work on it have for the original is so strong that you can practically see it; it’s that same love that the fans, Alpha Dream and Intelligent Systems have for the game being realized once again, and I mean, how could you not love it…
How could I’ve gone for so long without giving this a proper chance, let alone actually finishing it when I gave a try years ago; Mario as franchise, from the very get go, is insane, is crazy, is creative as all hell, and Super Mario RPG takes that and decides to make it even more impossibly nuts. At each an every corner there are new ideas, new enemies, new areas, all managing to fit so well in this pre-stablished world that it feels as if they’ve always been there; I love Mallow and Geno with all of my being, they are such funny and cool characters that I wish I could jump into another game in which they appear again, hell, that kinda applies to everyone here; every new and old face is so damn lovable and hilarious, from the Weapon Legion to just any normal Toad, and in some cases I really wish we could get to see more of this fellas, I would seriously pay to get an entire section dedicate to the Axem Brothers, they are absolute perfection. Each place is given life both by the way it’d designed and looks as much as by the character populating, and that’s all thanks to the dialogue; I had to actively make an effort if I wanted to stop smiling, because every single interaction carries such charm, such a lovable aura coming from this relaxed yet intense adventure that never stops moving; Characters will move around and break the bounds of the world, Mario will transform and do crazy moves just to retell a story to another character, secrets and funny little fourth wall-breaks are palced at each and every corner, and when the game what’s do hit a comedic moment, it slams it, and its through that comedy and absurdity that manages to pull a simple yet investing story, one that I wished we could see more, ‘cause it really got me feeling for this weird fellas by the end of it, an adventure I could only call… magical.
And I’m not gonna ignore that we are looking at the game that spawned my favorite battling RPG system of all time: the timing needed to do extra damage adds a ton of fun to the moment to moment combat, and it makes every action fell directly controlled by you, and with the amount of special attacks and weapons that change animations and timing at your disposal, there’s a ton to learn, and a ton to enjoy. But the game isn’t content with this super fun combat system, and it takes every chance it gets to introduce secret collectables, minigames galore very distinct from one another, and even platforming and puzzles that sometimes hold the hardest part of the normal adventure (Or maybe I’m just bad, who knows.) The only thing I could complain about and say it’s inferior to the original it’s the UI, but it’s still one that’s completely functional, and it’s a fair trade to see everyone dancing in a stage, with make my dopamine shoot up to levels never seen before.
I still cannot believe how this game managed to make me so happy at so many and different levels; it gives me hope for the future of Mario RPGs, it calms my inner translation fanboy, and on its own, it’s an amazing RPG, a fantastic voyage that never stops and never overstays its welcome. That happiness I felt listening to its music in memes years ago, the happiness I had when playing Mario & Luigi games, is here once again, but as the remake itself, in a different way, on its own, fantastic way. I’m still smiling thinking about certain interactions, locales, bestiary entries or designs, and that smile won’t fade away anytime soon. I don’t know if I’ll stay, but I’m glad Mario RPG is back, I’m glad is back for everyone to enjoy. I finally get why so many want Geno in Smash. And I finally got to experience what started it all. What a happy, delightful adventure.