In an era where most companies play around with the definition of the word "remake," for better or for worse, Mario RPG in 2023 brings an excessively faithful repackaging with scant upgrades. If you played the 1996 iteration of this game, you know exactly what you're getting into here, just about down to the letter...minus the lovable SNES grit.

Make no mistake, this is the same game, with all of the same pluses. As far as what's new, it's got some great new arrangements by Shimomura and a fresh coat of paint that stays fairly in line with the original's peculiar ideas, nothing controversial. That said, there are odd bits in the presentation that stick out like a sore thumb. Menus are not only bland to look at but also suffer from framerate issues; the pre-rendered cutscenes, inexplicably, also sport some noticeable stutter. Save blocks are highly prevalent, even though the game now auto-saves every time you move between loading zones. There's no sound effect at all for advancing dialogue, where the addition of the bleeps and bloops that later Mario RPGs use for text might have added a splash of flavor. The translation is mostly intact, with few changes — but I suppose Generation Z may not be too familiar with the late 50's hit "Mack the Knife," despite how groan-inducing the name Claymorton is. Maybe they don't know who Bruce Lee is, either, but that one's a little up in the air.

As for changes on the gameplay side, party members can be switched out at any time without wasting a turn a la Paper Mario's Quick Change. A healer can stay on the bench and pop out only when they're needed, providing an incredibly safe option in a pinch. A clear prompt makes the timing of your action command difficult to miss, and hitting it perfectly now results in splash damage that hits all enemies on the field. On the defensive end, a well-timed button press also blocks damage completely, and the window for this is fairly lenient. Action commands also fill up a gauge that leads to a large cinematic attack with varying effects depending on your party lineup.

This is a new quirk of the battle system that can feel satisfying in big fights (until you start skipping the cutscene), but this game clearly was not rebalanced around it. Encounters with run-of-the mill enemies end just as quickly as they start, and bosses tend to fall very unceremoniously as well. One notable boss is surrounded by adds in the original game, and will force Mario into a potentially tricky 1v1 if you get rid of all of them — the optimal strategy is to leave one minion active on the field throughout the fight, to keep the rest of your party around. It's difficult to implement this strategy in the remake without intentionally scuffing your action commands, but even if you get into that solo fight, there's little to fear: you're hitting harder than before, and taking less (or no) damage, making for a less rewarding finish.

Platforming is probably my least favorite part of the original game due to the deceptive depth of some of the setpieces, and it's not improved at all in this iteration. I probably spent more time than anything else trying to quickly climb up shells in Land's End to nab the Troopa Pin — and then, so shortly after that, navigating beanstalks and figuring out exactly where on the Z-axis the game wanted me to be. Call it a skill issue, but it's nonetheless frustrating.

All that being said, this is a perfectly acceptable way for a first-timer to play through this classic, and an exceedingly serviceable way for a fan of the game to revisit it — but if you're looking for more substance than a clean reskin and a few QOL additions, you might not be so keen to drop $60 for ten-to-twelve hours down memory lane.