Honestly, the best remake I've ever played. All the other reviews on give the game enough justice, such as this and this. It manages to keep everything from the original intact, unless I'm forgetting an obscure secret. It does this, while also PERFECTLY replicating the visual style; I was particularly blown away with how they accurately nailed every area visually, and mechanically. The soundtrack is god-tier, even more so with it being remastered by the one and only original composer, Yoko Shimomura, of Kingdom Hearts fame.
If there's one thing I'll chip on in, though, from what I personally experienced from all of it, the writing of this game truly is simple, yet effective. The main party is surprisingly well-explored, specifically when reaching a scene near the middle of the game, where you finally get everyone, and they discuss about their reasons for reaching the game's ultimate goal. Even though a lot of the characters don't seem to entirely line up with what the Mario series eventually became, they still look effortlessly cool (looking at you Jonathan Jones). They managed to create Mario-looking characters, with an added Square-flair to it, y'know?
While the new additions to gameplay make it arguably easier, they're a MUCH welcome change, and honestly make it hard to return to the original's combat system. The slightly easier foray is definitely made up for with the post-game content. They are welcome additions to the game, and do a great job at slightly adding on to the story, with seeing all the major villains one final time with new scenes. The difficulty spike with all of them was also extremely surprising, but served as excellent boss fights that shake up the gameplay.
Only complaint I have with this is that the framerate can drop at points where it makes animations jittery. There's a certain cave section that's a little hard to look at in some parts, because of this. Still, it's a section you can EASILY breeze through, so it's not major. It's really the only problem regarding the framerate I had, specifically.
It's an exceptionally well-made RPG, through and through. It's paced beautifully, and it doesn't take long to complete, but the ending will definitely make you miss all the unique characters once it's over. Guess I just got lost in a phase, playing through all of it. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Favorite Track: https://youtu.be/ofKb-v1-OB8?si=x84oiYk_GuShVITk
If there's one thing I'll chip on in, though, from what I personally experienced from all of it, the writing of this game truly is simple, yet effective. The main party is surprisingly well-explored, specifically when reaching a scene near the middle of the game, where you finally get everyone, and they discuss about their reasons for reaching the game's ultimate goal. Even though a lot of the characters don't seem to entirely line up with what the Mario series eventually became, they still look effortlessly cool (looking at you Jonathan Jones). They managed to create Mario-looking characters, with an added Square-flair to it, y'know?
While the new additions to gameplay make it arguably easier, they're a MUCH welcome change, and honestly make it hard to return to the original's combat system. The slightly easier foray is definitely made up for with the post-game content. They are welcome additions to the game, and do a great job at slightly adding on to the story, with seeing all the major villains one final time with new scenes. The difficulty spike with all of them was also extremely surprising, but served as excellent boss fights that shake up the gameplay.
Only complaint I have with this is that the framerate can drop at points where it makes animations jittery. There's a certain cave section that's a little hard to look at in some parts, because of this. Still, it's a section you can EASILY breeze through, so it's not major. It's really the only problem regarding the framerate I had, specifically.
It's an exceptionally well-made RPG, through and through. It's paced beautifully, and it doesn't take long to complete, but the ending will definitely make you miss all the unique characters once it's over. Guess I just got lost in a phase, playing through all of it. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Favorite Track: https://youtu.be/ofKb-v1-OB8?si=x84oiYk_GuShVITk