An adorable remake of the absolute classic from the SNES. This one is honestly one of my favorite Mario RPGs that Nintendo has released. And this remake does wonders at not only retelling the original's story, but in some ways surpassing the original in quality and gameplay changes.
+The Battle System has been improved for the better
The way you fight feels just as fluent as the original. The Mario RPGs have always been the “anti-button mashing” RPG and Mario RPG is a perfect example of that. Every attack, every dodge, every input in battle is player involved, and I think that’s one of the things that makes this game stand out, even today. The action commands are simple, yet always challenging to master. Making it so you’re spending most of your time in battles learning how to best optimize your timing, rather than just “getting through another battle”. But that’s just stuff that the original did, because the remake packs in a bunch of new battle features. The ability to switch party members on the fly was incredibly nice! It made battles more dynamic and added new levels of planning. That new mechanic in combination with the “action command meter” that would fill up as you gained a combo of action commands really made efficient battling rewarding. That in further combination with the ally super moves that changed depending on your party layout was just… The new system of battling far surpassed the original in terms of quality.
+The graphics look stellar and give the game a fresh new look
When I first saw the new art style in trailers I wasn’t quite sure if it was going to work or not. But after playing through the whole game. I can definitively say that the new style is a boon for the game. Rather than a curse. Everything, from the adorable cutscenes to the remake sprite animations to that cute little level up dance is just… GAH ADORABLE! It’s all ADORABLE and I love the style for this game!
+The remade soundtrack is very high quality
I wouldn’t say that it suprasses the soundtrack for the original. But it definitely served as a moderate replacement for the most part. The remade tracks all had good instrument choices and it didn’t sound “weaker” than the original. It all landed really well in my opinion.
+Geno
Geno. 12 year old me who was obsessed with Geno being in Smash Bros would be very happy to know that Geno got acknowledgement in 2023. I still love Geno and it was very cool to see him alive and acknowledged.
-Frame drops and performance issues
For some reason there were quite a few frame drops that I experienced. Which was a little surprising considering that this game was made for the nintendo switch… Areas like Marrymore, The Sunken Ship, and a few others had small lagging issues. And I experienced lag a few times in battles as well. It wasn’t awful or anything, just a small issue in the grand scheme of things.
-Can’t Dodge Makes my blood boil
I guess this is an issue with the endgame mostly. Basically certain attacks instead of giving you a chance to dodge they’re basically undodgeable. And just display the text Can’t Dodge and give you guaranteed damage. Throughout most of the game this isn’t too bad of an issue. It’s used sparingly and the attacks never deal too much damage. But once you get to the last few areas of the game the bosses start having multiple of these “Can’t Dodge” attacks at one time. And instead of doing moderate to small damage like before. These attacks that you can’t see coming or predict, nor can you dodge. Start doing like 150 damage at a time. And idk man, when attacks that you can’t predict or try to see coming start dealing that much damage it starts feeling unfair in some ways.
I did have some small issues but overall I liked the Super Mario RPG remake. And I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a new, simple RPG to try. Or to anyone who wants to relive the classic in a brand new way.
4.5/5 A wonderful game, just not perfect.
+The Battle System has been improved for the better
The way you fight feels just as fluent as the original. The Mario RPGs have always been the “anti-button mashing” RPG and Mario RPG is a perfect example of that. Every attack, every dodge, every input in battle is player involved, and I think that’s one of the things that makes this game stand out, even today. The action commands are simple, yet always challenging to master. Making it so you’re spending most of your time in battles learning how to best optimize your timing, rather than just “getting through another battle”. But that’s just stuff that the original did, because the remake packs in a bunch of new battle features. The ability to switch party members on the fly was incredibly nice! It made battles more dynamic and added new levels of planning. That new mechanic in combination with the “action command meter” that would fill up as you gained a combo of action commands really made efficient battling rewarding. That in further combination with the ally super moves that changed depending on your party layout was just… The new system of battling far surpassed the original in terms of quality.
+The graphics look stellar and give the game a fresh new look
When I first saw the new art style in trailers I wasn’t quite sure if it was going to work or not. But after playing through the whole game. I can definitively say that the new style is a boon for the game. Rather than a curse. Everything, from the adorable cutscenes to the remake sprite animations to that cute little level up dance is just… GAH ADORABLE! It’s all ADORABLE and I love the style for this game!
+The remade soundtrack is very high quality
I wouldn’t say that it suprasses the soundtrack for the original. But it definitely served as a moderate replacement for the most part. The remade tracks all had good instrument choices and it didn’t sound “weaker” than the original. It all landed really well in my opinion.
+Geno
Geno. 12 year old me who was obsessed with Geno being in Smash Bros would be very happy to know that Geno got acknowledgement in 2023. I still love Geno and it was very cool to see him alive and acknowledged.
-Frame drops and performance issues
For some reason there were quite a few frame drops that I experienced. Which was a little surprising considering that this game was made for the nintendo switch… Areas like Marrymore, The Sunken Ship, and a few others had small lagging issues. And I experienced lag a few times in battles as well. It wasn’t awful or anything, just a small issue in the grand scheme of things.
-Can’t Dodge Makes my blood boil
I guess this is an issue with the endgame mostly. Basically certain attacks instead of giving you a chance to dodge they’re basically undodgeable. And just display the text Can’t Dodge and give you guaranteed damage. Throughout most of the game this isn’t too bad of an issue. It’s used sparingly and the attacks never deal too much damage. But once you get to the last few areas of the game the bosses start having multiple of these “Can’t Dodge” attacks at one time. And instead of doing moderate to small damage like before. These attacks that you can’t see coming or predict, nor can you dodge. Start doing like 150 damage at a time. And idk man, when attacks that you can’t predict or try to see coming start dealing that much damage it starts feeling unfair in some ways.
I did have some small issues but overall I liked the Super Mario RPG remake. And I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a new, simple RPG to try. Or to anyone who wants to relive the classic in a brand new way.
4.5/5 A wonderful game, just not perfect.