When I fell in love with Paper Mario as a child, I had no idea that it was the spiritual successor to this game. The influence can be found everywhere: timing-based combat, Mario's hammer, colorful original characters as Mario's party members, star pieces, the list goes on...but the writing stands above it all, from dialogue to enemy thoughts. You read just a few lines and the humorous, witty Paper Mario tone is set (or now I should say: the Super Mario RPG tone).

I'm also grateful to have played games like KH and FF15 before hearing one of Yoko Shimomura's first (and I would now say best) soundtracks. Certain songs in this game immediately teleported me into those worlds, which is a testament to her consistency. Sometimes I am really not a fan of modern sound remasters (Silver vs. Soul Silver is my textbook example), but that's not the case here. This remastered soundtrack is golden: symphonic and full of life. Despite playing the game with the new sound, I really appreciate that there's the option of playing with the classic SNES soundtrack. This should be standard in almost all remakes.

P.S. Mallow is the GOAT.