Super Mario RPG (2023) [Switch] review

“This console now belongs to us, the Smithy Gang!”

Nearly 30 years ago, in the far-off distant past of 1996, the RPG genre hadn’t really taken off in North America. Sure there were some standout titles like Final Fantasy III (in reality, Final Fantasy VI) and Chrono Trigger, but it was still something of a niche market back then and oftentimes RPGs were overshadowed by more mainstream fare.

Introduction (AKA: The Recipe Backstory)

Not many people knew who Locke Cole was but everyone knew who Mario was. Imagine people’s surprise when, in the pages of Nintendo Power, it was announced that Nintendo and Squaresoft had joined forces to create an RPG starring the most famous plumber in the world. It was a move that few had likely foreseen and early screenshots, while nice, left me wondering how it would play. I was and am a Mario fan and through my parents’ love of video games came to love RPGs as well; this pairing seemed like a dream come true.

I still remember the commercials for the game, with the crazy old grandfather animatedly telling his grandchildren the story of how “Smithy the sword SHATTERED the Star Road!” The marketing for the game was bizarre but it did at least show off some of the game’s neat effects and its battle system. When the game finally released I enjoyed the visuals that had taken cues from Donkey Kong Country, using 3D models to create the game’s sprites and environments. I became immersed in the world beyond the Mushroom Kingdom and enraptured by the game’s cheerful yet adventurous music. Sure, some of the platforming was a bit clunky and navigating the menus was slow, but the game was fun, funny, and most of all a great time.

Fast forward 27 years and we now have a full remake of Super Mario RPG put together by Arte Piazza, the folks behind many of the wonderful Dragon Quest remakes for the DS as well as the 2D mode of Dragon Quest XI. Early footage garnered a good deal of positive attention from people who fondly remembered the game and curiosity from many who hadn’t been alive to experience the original.

How does the remake hold up to the original? Is it worth playing if you’ve never played before? Let’s take a dive into the Midas River and see where it leads us; just try to grab as many Frog Coins as you can on the way down.

Visual Presentation

The increased detail allowed me to finally recognize what was on this desk

One of the first things that you will notice when you start a new game of Super Mario RPG is that the colors are nice and vibrant and the characters have a charming, squat appearance compared to their more recent designs. The original game had a similar aesthetic for its characters and colors, and while the new look certainly sports cleaner 3D character models over pixelated sprites it’s easy to see that the developers wanted everything to look as close as possible to the original without appearing dated.

Though most of their motions are simple, the characters are expressive and the foes you face in battle animate well while attacking or when reacting to damage. Some of these reactions are downright amusing and highlight the game’s whimsical nature; the Enigma monster that resembles a flying purple pig head turns out to be made of several bats enemies clustered together, and they all fall apart when the foe is defeated. There is also a noticeable smoothness to the character animations that was impossible to fully realize in the SNES release. While the motions themselves are largely the same (a testament to how well animated the original game was to begin with), they are a lot more fluid here.

More objects that benefit from the visual upgrades

The character models weren’t the only things to get a bit of a facelift; the environments themselves have been improved, and in some cases, vastly so. There is more detail to nearly every facet of the environment, with more natural coloration and smoother designs to bring Mario’s world to life. One thing that veteran players will almost certainly notice is that the blue and black voids surrounding the main action areas are almost entirely eliminated in favor of expanded scenery. In many cases I almost didn’t notice some of these at first because they just felt so natural – like it had been there all along.

Audio Presentation

Along with the visual upgrades there is a noticeable improvement to the audio. Yoko Shimomura’s original Super Mario RPG soundtrack was well composed and well regarded, but the new renditions of the musical tracks gave me the feeling that this is what she wanted from the music from the start. To a veteran player, the tunes will all sound immediately familiar despite their improved instrumentation and at times added length, and newcomers will be greeted by a fun soundtrack full of both new themes and motifs and a bit of the familiar thrown in for good measure. As an added bonus, the entire game can be played with the original SNES soundtrack if one prefers a simpler sound.

Another thing that you’ll notice fairly early on is that there isn’t a single clip of voiceover; not even Mario’s iconic “It’sa me!” While this might put off some players new to the game, it was likely done to further emphasize the fact that Mario is a silent protagonist. Up to that point in 1996, Mario’s only spoken lines in video games had been in Hotel Mario for the Philips CD-i and Mario Teaches Typing (which was Charles Martinet’s debut in the role of the character), so him being silent in this game wasn’t unusual. In fact, he doesn’t even have a single line of written dialogue, and the main chatter comes from the rest of the party.

Mario’s silence doesn’t mean that he’s detached from the story – far from it! On a number of occasions the mustachioed plumber will explain things via charades, often to amusing effect. The fact that everyone who witnesses these pantomimes fully understands what he’s trying to convey makes the sequences all the more charming. Why waste time explaining in words what the player has already seen when you can tell by showing in a cute, silly fashion?

Gameplay

Some scenes are presented with more cinematic flair

With Super Mario RPG being an RPG, one might wonder just how “Mario” it can be. Despite everything playing out in isometric maps and turn based battles there is a decent amount of platforming to be found. While none of it is as complex or as difficult as a standard Mario game, the platforming moments found here are a nice touch and keep the world true to its source to the best of its ability.

As mentioned, battles are turn based. There is no active time element to be found, and characters take individual turns based on their speed stats. This is definitely for the best, considering that every attack that you perform (or suffer) has an active element baked in. Pressing the A button at the correct time during an attack animation can not only boost damage but may also cause a nice ripple effect that causes splash damage to the remaining enemies (the latter being a new feature to this version of the game). Special attacks have unique characteristics, and the game will notify you of what you’re expected to do to get the most out of your commands.

A slightly tweaked feature in this version is how the game handles defending against attacks. In the original you could press the A button at the appropriate time to reduce the amount of damage taken from most attacks, but now a perfectly timed button press will negate damage entirely and display a translucent honeycomb shield in front of your character accompanied by a satisfying “ding.” Some attacks can’t be blocked at all but the game does indicate these by displaying a “Can’t block” message below the attack’s name when it’s used.

Entirely new to the remake is an action gauge that builds as you perform timed attacks and successful defense. The more frequently you land your timing the faster the gauge builds, and once it reaches 100% you have the option to unleash a satisfying group attack (provided your party is full and not knocked out or otherwise incapacitated). Should you be down a party member you can opt to use the gauge for an assist move with a variety of simple but helpful effects, but that was never remotely as useful as a good Triple Move.

Throughout the game you will encounter a fairly large variety of mini-games – many of which can be repeated for fun or for coins. These are baked into the story, and most of them are very well designed and make sense in context, but a couple of them were somewhat clunky in execution. They weren’t perfect but they were creative.

Story

Mario looks on as his new foe flaunts his new home

Whether or not an RPG is considered “good” can largely depend on the story. That’s not always the case as a genuinely fun game with compelling gameplay can carry some of the weight where the story might be light. Super Mario RPG‘s narrative is lighter fare with a simple premise, but the characters, events, and the gameplay all work in tandem to carry the weight and it’s all balanced well.

Without going into too much detail, the story opens with Princess Peach enjoying a patch of flowers outside of Mario’s house when their dastardly enemy Bowser swoops in with his flying Clown Car and makes off with her. Mario immediately leaps into action and rushes off to Bowser’s Keep. What ensues is a fairly easy series of battles that act as a tutorial moment without much stress followed by a boss battle with the Koopa King himself. Mario’s victory is cut short, however, as the castle begins to shake. High up in the sky, a star shatters into pieces as a massive sword with eyes plummets and embeds itself in Bowser’s Keep, sending the trio flying off in different directions.

This is only the beginning, and as Mario’s adventure progresses he will meet a variety of new and familiar characters, visit locations both interesting and vaguely familiar (many of the typical “Mario” style locations are accounted for), and battle against many new foes. The ultimate goal is to recover the pieces of the shattered Star Road, and during the journey many wacky adventures ensue.

Again, it’s not particularly deep, but the fun characters, well written dialogue, and good pacing make it easy to get into and hard to put down.

Overall

Expect to see some familiar faces

I enjoyed my time with Super Mario RPG. Oftentimes I’ll approach a remake with a mote of caution. Occasionally developers will alter too much and compromise what made the original game so endearing, or they’ll update too little and trivialize the remake entirely. Super Mario RPG strikes a great balance, delivering a familiar experience with enough improvements and quality-of-life features to make the game far easier to simply sit down and enjoy. After having played through the original version a handful of times in my teenage years, I find it a bit hard to return to now due to its clunkiness (which shows all the more now that so much has been ironed out here).

Without spoiling anything specific, there is stuff to do after you’ve finished Super Mario RPG. There isn’t a lot there but it was definitely a welcome series of challenges that had me on the edge of my seat (and wiping out several times in battles while I only did so one time in the main story).

This is a remake done right, and if I had to level any real criticism in its direction it would be that it felt a bit too easy and far too brief. They didn’t shorten the game (everything plays out as it did before with a few little added surprises to the presentation) but the improved smoothness of the gameplay, the time-saving quality-of-life features, and the ability to swap party members in battle made the game flow that much more quickly. I found myself hitting the halfway point during my first sitting and rolled credits after two more sessions. Part of this could easily be chalked up to familiarity with the base game however, and someone playing for the first time may stop and smell the mushrooms and take their time. Still, it’s not the longest of RPGs by a long shot, but it is a treat for fans of Mario and can be a great springboard into the wider RPG genre.

PIXEL PERFECT

Nate Eldric (not his real name) is an old codger who spends his days working nights and grinds for experience at his local gym. He’s been a gamer for most of his life and enjoys JRPGs and platformers more than most other genres. If you’d like him to inflict goofiness upon you, you can find him on Twitter (yes, Twitter) at @TerranceHarken