Super Mario RPG Remake Review: Still One of Mario’s Best RPG Adventures

Life is funny sometimes. When I reviewed Paper Mario earlier in the year, I mentioned rumours of a Thousand Year Door Remaster being in the works. I didn’t review it for that reason, it was just because I wanted to, but it was a rumour that was circulating at the time.

I didn’t think much of it at the time. These kinds of rumours pop up all the time and at this point they come across as wishful thinking than actual insider information. Very rarely do rumours like that turn out to be legit. But this turned out to be one of those times.

We are indeed getting a Thousand Year Door remaster for Switch. And considering I’ve opined on multiple times that it is my favourite game of all time you can imagine how excited I am for it. But that isn’t all. Because we also recently got a full remake of the original Super Mario RPG… Super Mario RPG.

Now this was something I never expected but always hoped would happen one day. Super Mario RPG is one of my favourite old school RPGs, and I always felt like it could have used an update for modern systems. Especially if you look at how good a lot of RPG remakes have been in the past few years.

Even just looking at recent offerings from Square Enix like the Live-A-Live remake it’s hard to find a bad one. Which is important to note since Super Mario RPG is a Square Enix game. Though the remake wasn’t developed by them.

But before I talk about the remake in more detail, I should probably talk a little about why the original game was made in the first place. In the mid 90’s Nintendo were looking to expand the Mario series into other genres. They had already had successful venture into puzzles and racing games, but now they were looking to take him into a much bigger genre, the RPG.

Makes sense. RPGs are predominately fantasy oriented, Mario takes place in a fantasy world, it’s not hard to see why they would do this. Well, that and the genres insane popularity in Japan.

But to make the game, they would hand development duties to Square Soft, now Square Enix. Which was the best choice considering they were absolutely killing when it came to RPGs on the SNES. Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, the Mana series, it seemed like Square could do no wrong in the 90’s.

Square agreed to develop the game, but for their own reasons. See, Square had a bit of an issue when it came to their games. While they were doing gangbusters in their native Japan, they weren’t pulling the same numbers in the west.

Their thinking was the RPG genre was too complex for westerners. So, they made a beginner friendly, simplified RPG called Final Fantasy Mystic Quest for us simple western folk. It did not go over well.

Mystic Quest was lambasted by everyone. Hardcore RPG fans found it too boring, and newcomers found it insulting. About the only thing people liked about it was the music, which is admittedly awesome.

Getting to do a Mario RPG was a bit of a second chance for them. They could make a beginner friendly RPG that learned from the mistakes of the previous endeavour and attract a new western audience at the same time. I mean it was a Mario game, and Mario was a household name around the world. It had to do well, right?

Well thankfully, it did. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars released on the SNES in 1996. It got decent critical reviews, with most bemoaning the battle system but praising the writing, music and graphics. The latter of which used the same pre-rendered art style as Donkey Kong Country, and if you’ve read my review of the original DKC trilogy you’ll know what a big deal that style was at the time.

It did moderately well at retail, though its success was hamstrung by the release of the Nintendo 64. Which came out 4 months later and soaked up all the attention. Despite this it ended up selling over 2 million copies and became a cult favourite.

More recently it’s been reappraised by critics as one of the finest RPGs on the SNES. Which is high praise considering the company that it keeps. I mean the SNES had games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Breath of Fire 2 and Earthbound. These are some of the best games of the genre, yet Mario RPG is still ranked as one of the best among them.

I didn’t get to play the original Mario RPG until 2008 when it released on the Wii Virtual Console. Which was also the first time it released in Europe. Because Europe always got screwed when it came to RPGs in the 90’s.

When I first played it, I loved it. I loved the characters, the story, the art style, the music, pretty much everything. I played it a few times since, but it’s been a while since I last sat down and played through it.

So this remake will be a good chance to go back and see whether or not the game still holds up. But I’ve also played the original enough to properly opine on the changes made to the remake. Advantageous position to be in really.

The remake of the game was developed by Artepiaza. This is the same group that did the Dragon Quest DS and 3DS remakes, so it’s safe to say we’re in good hands. They’re kind of specialists when it comes to RPG remakes. So, let’s look at Super Mario RPG, and see whether this Switch remake recaptures the magic of the original.

Super Mario RPG begins as you would expect io game to begin, Peach being kidnapped by Bowser. The opening section even plays out like the ending to a Mario platformer. You storm the castle, beat up Bowser and rescue the princess. But just before the day is saved, a giant sword shoots down from the heavens, pierces the keep and sends our plumber hero flying into the distance.

This intro perfectly sets up the game. it starts with a traditional Mario story set-up but then quickly turns everything on its head. The story is still about rescuing the princess, at least at first, but it becomes obvious early on there’s a lot more going on.

See, after you’ve got your bearings straight and informed the Mushroom Kingdom’s chancellor, who exists now for some reason, of what happened you run into Mallow. A small puffy cloud boy who has magic weather powers and who is a bit of a cry-baby. Also he thinks he’s a frog, something even the game doesn’t buy which makes it even funnier.

Mallow is a brand-new character created for Mario RPG, and a perfect encapsulation of the games feel. He certainly got the look of a Mario character, but at the same time he is something decidedly different from what we’ve seen so far.

We’d never seen a talking cloud boy who can cause rainfall because he cries before and that’s what makes it work. He’s something fresh and interesting. Even now we haven’t had a character like Mallow, even though the idea of a sentient race of cloud people fits perfectly into Mario’s world. I guess that’s what happens when you’re created by a company who had issues with Nintendo for the better half of a decade.

It’s a shame because I really like Mallow. He’s a lovable little puffball who can summon big fuck off bolts of lightning from the sky. And if my love of Kirby is anything to go by, I think it’s safe to say I have a soft spot for cute characters with the powers of God.

Mallow isn’t the only new character. The other is Geno, and he is a bit more important to the plot. See that big sword that pierced Bowser’s keep also shattered the Star Road. The place where all wishes are born.

Geno is an emissary of Star Road sent down to find the seven lost pieces of it and repair the damage, something he does by possessing a wooden doll. The name Geno is actually the name of said doll, its real name is unpronounceable, so they just use the dolls name for convenience.

That’s the plot of the game. Trying to recover the Seven Stars that make the Star Road. Rescuing the princess does happen, but it’s not the main plot. In fact, it happens right in the middle of the game with Peach joining the party shortly after.

Even Bowser himself gets in on the action, though he’s only helping because he got kicked out of his home and his minions ran off and left him. He isn’t an intimidating monster like in the main series, he’s more of a dork who tries to appear tougher than he actually is. It’s one of the endearing portrayals of Bowser in the Mario series, right up there with Bowser’s Inside Story.

But if Bowser isn’t the main villain, who is? Well, that would be the Smithy Gang. A race of sentient weapons from another dimension who want to destroy wishes and make a world of weapons. They’re a fun cast of baddies and make for a decent change of pace, with my favourite of the group being the Axem Rangers due to the obvious Power Rangers tribute.

The whole game is filled with a lot of memorable characters. There’s Croco a thieving crocodile with a gangster voice. Frog Sage, who was named Frogfucius in the original, a wise frog hermit who adopted Mallow. Johnny, a pirate shark with a noble code of honour who is looking for a good opponent and is one of the coolest side characters in any Mario RPG.

Then there’s Boshi, a blue Yoshi Bully who is an extremely minor role but has such a cool design you still remember him.

That’s the thing with Mario RPG. Even the minor roles are very memorable. I still remember characters like Toadofsky, or the kid who constantly jumps on the bed, or Raz and Ranni a toad couple who get married during the course of the game.

These aren’t big characters, but they are memorable. Let’s be honest, the bulk of RPG NPCs are forgettable at best. They exist solely for exposition or to act as glorified tutorials. Super Mario RPG is one of the rare examples of an RPG where even the most minor NPC’s are given distinct characteristics which makes the world all the more charming.

And that’s the best way to describe the writing in the game, charming. The story itself is very simple. This is not a complex narrative with deep engrossing themes. It’s a standard good vs evil story with a magical McGuffin quest. Which for a Mario RPG is perfectly fine.

Mario isn’t a narratively driven series. it doesn’t have complex lore and themes to explore. The bulk of the games are the classic save the princess from the dragon story. Sure, Mario RPG could have had deeper narrative and complex themes and characters, but that would fly in the face of what Mario is all about.

Instead, the writing is simply focused on being entertaining. I said this in my Paper Mario review, Mario RPG’s make up for their simple stories by having a bunch of very fun moments. And Super Mario RPG isn’t short on those.

There are plenty of fun sequences to play through with lots of action and humour. The game is very funny, with a lot of jokes that poke fun at both Mario and classic RPG tropes. Though most of the humour comes from the games off kilter tone. Because Super Mario RPG isn’t afraid to get weird. Take the Booster section for instance.

Booster is already a bizarre character. An over-the-top man child who does things because he thinks they’re fun without thinking of the implications. He rides a toy train everywhere, is obsessed with his toys, and wants to marry Peach solely so he can eat cake afterwards. I hate it when companies mock their fans like this.

And this section is just as weird as the character himself. You play hide and seek behind a curtain, chase Booster up a hill avoiding barrels, crash his wedding and get kissed by Bowser, then you cap the entire segment off with a boss fight against a sentient cake.

It doesn’t contribute much to the story, has some of the strangest interactions in the entire game, and I love every second of it. Super Mario RPG is weird as hell, but in the best possible way. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and for a Mario RPG where the story is there to make you laugh it works beautifully.

That isn’t to say the writing is shallow though. There is some really good character writing here. Though only Mallow has anything akin to an arc. It’s a good arc, it’s developed well over the course of the game and has a satisfying conclusion, but he is the only main character with something akin to proper development.

It’s funny that Geno is the breakout character of the game for most considering he doesn’t really grow or change much throughout the game. Then again, he is cool. He has a sweet design, cool powers, and the idea of him being a doll with a god inside him is an interesting idea. It’s not hard to see why he’s the fan favourite.

And while the main Mario characters don’t have any kind of narrative arc, this the first time the Mario characters felt like actual characters rather than classic tropes. Mario is a good-hearted hero, but he can be full of himself and a little impulsive. Peach is kind hearted and willing to shirk royal duties to help the adventure, but can be a bit of a scaredy cat at times. And I already mentioned how great Bowser is.

While their characters would be expanded on more in later RPGs, but this was the first time the Mario World was expanded on in any meaningful way. A lot of groundwork for the excellent writing in the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series began in Mario RPG.

I really don’t have many complaints with the story and writing. It would have been nice to get more character development for the rest of the cast, but what we got is still very solid. It’s consistently entertaining, it’s paced well with almost no lulls in the action, and the characters are all incredibly likeable and memorable. As far as Mario RPG’s go it is one of the best in terms of the writing.

The remake thankfully keeps a lot of what made the original story work. It doesn’t really add or change anything substantial and is a faithful retelling of the original tale. It would have been nice to have a new story chapter, but at least they didn’t screw up what was already there.

The only changes to the script are small tweaks that remove a lot of the Woolseisms from the original translation. If you don’t know what that is, Google is your friend. But short version, they’re little additions added to English translations in the 90’s to appeal to western audiences.

I already mentioned Frogfucius’ name change to Frog Sage, a name more accurate to the original Japanese, but there are some other changes like that. Some hardcore fans might bemoan these changes, but in the grand scheme of things they are pretty minor. I also guarantee there’s already a mod that changes things back anyway. That’s just how the internet works.

Graphically the original Super Mario RPG was a showpiece. It used the same pre-rendered art style that elevated Donkey Kong Country to superstar status. For those who don’t know what that is or haven’t read my 3-part series on the original DKC trilogy, the pre-rendered art style essentially takes 3D models and compresses them down to 2D sprites.

It basically creates a 2D sprite game with the look of a 3D one. This art style was big in the 90’s, though admittedly it did have mixed results. When it was done well it looked magnificent, when it was done poorly it looked like a cheap mess trying to mask crappy art direction behind technical innovation.

The best pre-rendered games always had a style behind the technology. It’s why games like Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct still look great today. The former for its naturalistic levels and atmosphere, and the latter for being 90’s and metal as fuck.

Super Mario RPG was one of the games that got it right. it felt like a mix between the cartoonish and colourful world of Mario, mixed with the more fantastical elements of a traditional fantasy RPG.

While the pre-rendered look accounted for a lot of why the game stood out to so many, especially since we had never seen the style in a game of this scale before, there was a strong art direction that held everything together. Ensuring the game had a timeless look.

So, all the remake had to do was simply take the original art style and transfer it into full 3D. Which they did, and the game looks fantastic as a result. Everything feels a lot brighter and more colourful, with a much better lighting engine that makes the locations really pop.

The remake keeps the same art direction as the original. All the locations, characters and enemies look exactly like you remember them only with a snazzy new coat of paint. I’m glad they didn’t try to modernise the look and try to make everything homogenous like a lot of recent Mario RPGs did. it helps keep the original games quirky vibe.

A lot of the old animations were also recreated nicely. Mario still does the pantomimes to explain the goings on and it’s just as charming as it was in 1996. Though with the new 3D engine this allows them to recreate some of the in-game scenes with fully rendered cutscenes that give the remake an added cinematic edge the original didn’t.

These scenes also look great. They keep a lot of the same beats as the original just with much smoother animation and more interesting camera shots. There aren’t many of these, which I think was for the best. It makes a scene feel more important when they show up.

The battle animations were also replicated very well, with many of the attacks looking a lot better. Not every old animation returns. Some of them were altered slightly like Mario’s victory animation now being him removing his hat rather than doing the piece sign. No idea why that was changed, but it was.

The remake manages to recapture the look of the original but improves upon it in logical ways. The original game had a bit of a dioramic look to everything. With each town and area being broken up into different sections, and the isometric look making everything look like, well, a diorama.

The downside to this was that the edges of these areas were empty voids with no real scenery. Which was largely down to technical limitations. With the remake that is no longer the case. Now every area has scenery at their edges which makes everything look more like an actual living breathing world now, as well as making everything look much nicer.

Even the world map is now one big, interconnected hub and it looks so much better. There is much more colour to it with the added ocean in the background. Compared to the black void that comprised the original world map this is a lot more appealing.

I even love the new level up screen where all the characters cut a jig to celebrate. It might be the most charming level up screen in any RPG ever. They really make you feel good for levelling up in this game.

When it comes to the visuals, I only have two critiques. First, there are some performance issues. There are sections where the framerate takes a noticeable drop. These aren’t frequent enough to ruin the game but are frequent enough to be noticeable. Though since this a turn-based RPG it doesn’t affect the gameplay much.

The second complaint is, I don’t like the menu’s. I know this is a super minor thing, but something about the menu design just doesn’t sit right with me. It’s a little bit too sleek, too modern, and it lacks a lot of the charm the original menus had. I can’t blame the remake for this since every game is using a similar menu design, but it did remind me of how homogenous and boring user interfaces have become.

Audio wise, it’s also an excellent showing. The original music was done by Yoko Shimomura, and at this point I’m pretty sure name dropping her should be shorthand for “this soundtrack kicks ass”. Seriously, has she every had a bad soundtrack to her name? I’ve played multiple games with soundtracks by her, and they’ve all been excellent.

So yeah, the music here is very good. One of Shimomura’s best outings, I think. There’s just so many memorable tracks here. the big stand out is the Forest Maze track, Beware the Forest Mushrooms, which has sort of become the unofficial theme of the game.

In fact, sitting here thinking of things to say about the music, I’m amazed at how much of the soundtrack I can remember. Almost every track here is an ear worm that’ll get stuck in your head. In most games there’s usually a few tracks that get lost in the shuffle, but here every track is excellent.

Even the more basic tracks like the map theme are insanely catchy. While it might not be as emotional as bombastic as Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger’s soundtracks, the catchy feel-good nature of it means I would absolutely put Super Mario RPG’s soundtrack on the same level as them.

The music also manages to incorporate a lot of the classic Mario tunes. Stuff like the classic level 1-1 theme and the underground theme make an appearance, obviously, but there’s a few other throwbacks that should please a lot of Mario loyalists.

Yoko Shimomura returns to the remake to offer a remixed version of the original soundtrack. Because who better to remix a classic than the original composer. The new soundtrack is excellent, hearing the songs with real instruments and no compression makes everything sound nicer, but if you do find yourself preferring the original soundtrack, there is an option for that.

So when it comes to the presentation, the remake is an absolute winner. It looks and sounds fantastic, keeping what made the original work while improving and adding to it. As far as remakes go, Super Mario RPG does focus more on the graphical and audio side of things rather than the gameplay. Because as far as that’s concerned it’s extremely like the original, with a couple of new things added.

The first thing you need to know about Super Mario RPG is that it’s an easy game. Very little in the game will challenge you if your even remotely familiar with RPG’s. This isn’t a fault with the game however, because this is all by design.

Super Mario RPG is meant to be a beginner friendly introduction to RPG’s. Think the RPG equivalent of a Kirby platformer. Because of that I can’t really call the game out for being easy because that’s the entire point. it would be like complaining Dark Souls is too difficult, you know what you’re getting into when you play that kind of game.

And as far as beginner friendly RPG’s go this is one of the best ones. As I said in my Paper Mario review, a good beginner friendly games bring the player up to the games level. They simplify things to make them easier to grasp without going so far as to become condescending.

Let’s look at some examples. In Mario RPG you only have 6 stats to keep track of, your health points, attack defence, magic attack and magic defence, as well as speed. Not too many to keep track of, at least when compared to more complicated games in the genre, but each is easily defined and simple enough to understand.

As you get stronger these stats will increase, and every level up allows you to put extra points in you HP, physical or magical stats. This gives you some leeway in how each character grows.

However, the freedom you have in this is somewhat limited by each character having a more defined role. Mallow is the mage of the group with powerful elemental spells, Bowser is the physical tank, Peach is the healer, Geno is a glass cannon with strong attacks but almost no defence and Mario is the all-rounder.

So you aren’t allowed to fully customise each character in any way you want, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing for this kind of game. Having each character fill a specific role is a good way of teaching players the importance of a balanced team and the strengths and weaknesses of each role.

Mallow has powerful magic, but his physical attacks are much weaker. While Bowser has great attack and defence, but his magic is weaker. Much like how in a traditional RPG the mages all about are magic and fighters are there purely for physical might. It’s teaching you about RPG class dynamics but in a very subtle way.

Mario is the only character that can’t be swapped out which limits what team compositions you can create. But again, this isn’t a bad thing as it shows the sort of team builds you can make in RPGs. The most balanced team is Mario, Peach and Geno, but if you replaced Peach with Bowser then you have a team that’s pure offence. Add Bowser in place of Geno and it’s a more defensive team.

And in a way the game also teaches you a bit on customisation. While you can’t fully customise them, you are still allowed to tweak the characters stats. And with that you could either play into the characters inherent strengths or cover up their weaknesses.

See what I mean. The game doesn’t dumb itself down in any way. All the depth expected from the genre is here just simplified so as to be easier to understand for newcomers. It doesn’t bring itself down to your level, it brings you up to its level.

As a beginner friendly entry point in the genre, it’s near perfect. It teaches you how RPG’s work in a subtle, hands-off way. Just allowing you to play the game and figure it out on your own.

But even when looking at it as a player with a bit of RPG experience, Super Mario RPG is still an engaging experience. Even if it is on the easy side, the game gets a lot of things right that still make it fun to play.

A lot of that is down to the action elements added to the game. Since Mario is a platforming protagonist, Super Mario RPG adds a lot of platforming elements into the overworld exploration. It isn’t exactly on par with the platforming of a main Mario game, and the isometric perspective can make it a pain at times, but it does add something to the exploration.

There are some fun puzzles to solve and a lot of secrets and hidden treasures you can find. Some of which will require going out of your way to get but reward you will powerful items that can break the game in half. Though you won’t be able to find everything on your first playthrough without using a guide since a lot of the secrets are extremely well hidden.

The game doesn’t really have any dungeons or even a proper overworld like you see in more traditional RPG’s. Instead, the game uses a world map structure akin to a classic Mario platformer. Where you can access a variety of area’s that act as their own levels of sorts. In a way it’s structured very much like a traditional Mario game which makes sense considering this was the first RPG starring him.

The game also has a variety of different minigames to play through. Some of these are entirely optional, while others are required to finish the game. Regardless they serve as a decent distraction from the main game and are quite a bit of fun in their own right. With my favourites being the Midas River and Mine Cart games.

Most will reward you with rare items or the rare Frog Coin currency which can get you some very powerful equipment. It should be noted that not all of the minigames from the original return. Most of them do, but some of the more secret minigames have been changed to avoid a higher age rating. I won’t say more than that for spoilers, but if you know the original game then you’ll probably know what I’m talking about.

One thing I appreciate is that the game doesn’t have random battles. This was one of the first RPGs to have enemies visible on the overworld allowing you to avoid combat if you want. It wasn’t the first game to do this, but it was the first to get it right, in my opinion.

Of course, you will need to battle enemies if you want to get stronger, which leads us into the battle system. It’s a traditional turn-based affair that was the standard at the time. In keeping with the beginner friendly nature of the game, the battle system isn’t too deep or complex. When compared to other games of the period it can come off as shallow, but there are elements that mitigate this.

For one, the Action Commands. In keeping with the game adding action elements to the exploration, the battle system does the same. Every attack and special move use action commands which will boost the damage or effectiveness of the move when done correctly. This helps make the battles a lot more engaging despite the simplicity of it.

There are quite a few types of Action Commands too. Most simply require a well-timed button press, some require tapping the button as fast as possible, some require holding a button down and some require rotating the analogue stick. It helps add variety to things.

One thing I appreciate is that the Action Commands for basic attacks change depending on the weapon equipped. Like most RPG’s each character has their own sets of weapons they can use, and the weapon they currently use changes the attack animation and the timing for the Action Commands. It helps make each new weapon feel like an actual new attack, rather a way to see a higher damage number.

The game also has Action Commands for defence as well. Pressing the button right before getting hit. mitigate some damage or even block the attack completely, and there’s a healthy variety of enemies with their own set of attacks to master the timing of. With later enemies being a lot trickier to time, on top of having unblockable magic attacks.

The remake doesn’t change how Action Commands work, but there are some quality-of-life improvements that make them easier. There’s now an indicator to tell you when to press the button correctly, though this will go away once you’ve gotten the timing right a few times.

There’s also a new gauge for certain attacks to properly convey whether you’ve successfully performed them or not. It doesn’t change the attack, but it provides better clarity for the player.

Admittedly I can see why critics were so hard on the battle system as it is very simplistic otherwise, but the Action Commands do help elevate the experience. There’s also a decent variety of enemies to battle. Each with their own attacks that require their own timing. The bosses especially add a puzzle like element to the battles. So for a simple as the battle system is it never gets stale or boring.

It is also balanced in a way to prevent things from being so easy that it becomes mindless. There’s a limit to the resources you have that make you think about how best to use them.

The number of items you can carry is restricted, although you can carry more in the remake. In the original there was a strict limit of items you can carry, but in the remake it’s a bit more open with you being able to carry all types of items, but only a specific number of them. With more powerful items having a stricter limit.

Another limitation is the cost of special moves. In this game special moves cost Flower Points, or FP for short, which is a shared resource for every character. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same system used in the Paper Mario series.

By making FP a shared resource, rather than give each character their own supply, it forces you to play more strategically with how you use special moves. You could use a powerful special move with Geno, but that might not leave enough for Mallow who can more easily exploit an enemy’s weakness.

Obviously, this is much harder in the early game where FP is scarcer. Later in the game you’ll have built up a much healthier supply allowing you to go a bit more ham, though careless use will see you run low and items that replenish it fully are rare. So you still need to be careful.

Another way the game balances itself is the lack of level grinding. So long as you battle frequently enough you should never need to grind for levels. in fact, you can skip a good chunk of the battles and still be at a decent enough level for the bosses. Which prevents battling from becoming tedious.

So it is a good battle system despite its simplicity. A lot of its ideas would be expanded upon in later games and considering a lot of modern indie RPG’s like Sea of Stars have taken huge inspiration from it, it’s a system that’s highly influential in it’s own right.

The battle system is kept mostly intact from the original game. It’s still the same solid experience it’s always been, but they’ve also seen fit to add some new mechanics to try to freshen the battle system up a bit.

The first thing they added is splash damage. In the remake, perfectly timing Action Commands won’t just damage the enemy you’re attacking, it’ll do minor residual damage to every other enemy. A very useful thing for crowd control, but not as potent as special moves designed to attack everything at once.

Another new addition is the combo system. As you successfully perform Action Commands your combo meter goes up, while failing them causes it to reset. Getting a combo going will provide passive buffs to the party. The higher your combo the better the buffs become.

Which buffs you get depends on your team. Mallow increases your magic attack, Geno increases attack and speed, and Bowser and Peach increase defence and magic defence respectively.

And what of Mario you ask? Well, his buff is tied to the next new addition. Super Mario RPG adds a gauge to combat that increases as you successfully perform Action Commands. When full this lets you perform the new Triple Attack. Big cinematic super moves that are Super Mario RPG’s equivalent of Final Fantasy 7’s Limit Breaks.

The Triple Attack you can use, once again, depends on what party members you have and there’s a decent range of effects to these. One heals the entire party, another makes you invincible for one attack and some attack every enemy in battle but in different ways.

Of all the additions made to combat this is my favourite. The little cutscenes that play during them are suitably flashy, and the variety of them makes it worth experimenting with different team combinations.

Which brings me to the final change they added, the ability to swap characters in the middle of combat. In the original you could only swap characters outside of combat. This made it a bit too easy to get comfortable with a specific team combination and using that the whole game.

But here the ability to swap characters mid combat gave me a better reason to try other character out. Either because their special moves would be more helpful in that situation, or because one character is incapacitated.

Thankfully this is balanced enough to prevent it from being too broken like it was in Sea of Stars. Each character can only swap in once per turn. So, if you swap Mallow out with Peach you can’t swap Mallow back in and vice versa. You aren’t freely swapping characters in this game, once you swap out you have to commit.

It isn’t perfectly balanced. Swapping out a slower character with a faster one can lead to situations where you attack twice in a row, but it’s hard to turn that into a reliable strategy. It’s more a bonus you stumble into by accident on occasion.

I like all of these additions. They fit nicely into the battle system and make it feel brand new again, but there is one problem. All these changes take an already easy game and make it even easier. There’s even an alternate breezy mode which acts as an easy mode. Which seems redundant considering how easy the game was already.

As a veteran this was a little disappointing. Even though it defeats the purpose, I do wish the game had something akin to a hard mode. At least for veterans that have played the game before and are looking for more of a challenge.

Although if you are a newcomer then you probably won’t notice the difference. And you will still need to learn the timing for Action Commands which can be tricky. The remake is also balanced enough where the changes don’t break the game. They make it easier sure, but not to an extent where it trivialises anything.

The game is also short enough where the lack of difficulty doesn’t become too much of an issue. It takes about 20 hours to complete it. A short length for an RPG but perfect for this kind of game. it’s a nice breezy experience that never outstays it’s welcome.

There are also some post-game bosses new to the remake. These can be quite tough if you’re not prepared for them, and I did appreciate the added challenge they offered. And if you remember the original super boss from the SNES version than the ultimate super boss will be a treat.

Despite the lower difficulty, I found myself coming away loving Super Mario RPG remake. It’s still the same charming adventure it was all those years ago, and the remake is a very faithful recreation of it. Admittedly it is perhaps a little too faithful.

It doesn’t add anything substantial to the experience like some of the better videogame remakes do. And while it adds a lot of nice quality of life improvements and the new presentation is excellent, it would have been nice to see some story and gameplay expansions to put it over the edge.

Still, this is a fine remake that I can easily recommend. Is it the definitive version? Perhaps, but I think the original still has its own qualities that make it worth playing. I’d say the remake is just as good as the original. Better in some ways and worse is others.

Regardless this is an easy recommendation. For veterans looking to reexperience the classic adventure, and newcomers looking to see what the fuss is about. It’s still a wonderful game all these years later and is still one of the very best examples of a beginner friendly game done right.

Mario would get quite a number of different RPGs after this one. Paper Mario being one of the more famous ones, but there was also the Mario & Luigi series and even the sports games dabbled in it a bit. With recent games turning away from the RPG formula a lot, it’s nice to see a throwback to classic Mario RPGs with this and the upcoming Thousand Year Door remaster.

Hopefully this leads to a new era of Mario RPG’s that actually try to be RPG’s for once. It would be nice if Super Mario RPG got a proper sequel that expanded on its world with stuff from newer games. Like imagine Booster meeting Wario, the weirdness of that would put Monty Python to shame.