As someone who always loved the Mario RPGs growing up, I ended up never playing this one because I never really had the means to play it (and by the time I got a Wii U, I never found out it ended up making its way to Virtual Console there). That said, I think it's a blessing in disguise that happened, as I was able to play the remake of it! I'm sure the original game holds up fine enough, but I really love all the Quality of Life improvements the game's made this time around!
First I'll talk gameplay. The timing is a lot more strict in this game compared to the Mario & Luigi games which really surprised me, and I enjoyed that, it gave the game a much better challenge. The fact that each weapon has a different type of timing also made the game and characters feel that much more alive, on top of adding to the challenge. I managed to 100% this game in everything except managing to do the 100 super jump challenge, I couldn't pull that off sadly, but it was still fun all the same.
I'd heard from many people how this game was very easy overall, which is why I went out of my way to try not overgrinding too much, and not using my Flower Tabs to up my FP or even upgrade my equipment all the time, and I found it gave the game a healthy amount of challenge, on top of the strict timing for button inputs. I ended up being level 25 by the end, and beat all the super bosses in the post game at this level. The game wasn't brutal by any means but I wouldn't say it was a complete cake walk either, I thought it was just right with those limits I abided by. Overall it was very fun and I enjoyed it, and the post game really scratched that challenge itch well too! I definitely needed the Lazy Shell armor to stand a chance in some of those fights, though some I did without it and got by.
As for the story and characters, it's a fair bit unique compared to the other Mario RPGs, as Square's involvement is very clear and palpable here. The fusion of Square's type of writing with Mario was so charming and very refreshing as well, all the characters are hilarious and fun to interact with, the environments are pretty varied and explore some places you wouldn't normally see Mario go to.
I honestly think the writing for most of the main party here is pretty on point as well, and arguably better compared to other Mario RPGs. Mario himself has more personality than usual, despite being silent. Him pantomiming previous events to catch other characters up on what's been going on, along with his dialogue options when talking to other characters really help say a good amount about him. Mallow is honestly pretty underrated among the fanbase, he has a pretty nice well rounded character arc of him finding his family and going from a crybaby to a brave young hero, and I found myself very endeared to him. Geno... I ironically found to be the weak link of the party writing wise. He's cool and stoic... and that's kinda all there is to him. I get why that made so many kids fall in love with him, and that's why people want him in Smash so badly, so I understand, even if I think he's just alright.
Bowser and Peach I think were especially done justice in this game compared to the other Mario RPGs. in most of the other ones (aka mostly Mario & Luigi, though Paper Mario falls victim to this somewhat too), Peach tends to end up being a plot device who is kinda idiotic and ends up making a lot of mistakes/just getting kidnapped at convenient times because the plot needs to progress a certain way that relies on her doing dumb things/making mistakes she normally wouldn't, and also just shoving her out of the story for 90% of the game (you could argue this is the case for the mainline Mario games too but at least there, usually her getting kidnapped is the premise, not her just getting kidnapped part way through the story or at several diff. points in the same story). Bowser (while I love him to death, even when he's written like this) is also just a big manchild who flies off the handle every 5 seconds and is also clowned on very often, and made the punching bag no one ever takes seriously to boot.
But in Mario RPG, they feel much more competent and less one-dimensional as characters. Peach has her soft side, and of course isn't the bravest and is very sensitive, but she knows when to put her foot down and stand her ground, and can take charge when she needs to on top of being kind and steadfast as a leader should. She's got a good balance and isn't just a girlboss, nor a weak Princess either. Bowser meanwhile is just generally a lot more mature in this game; he flies off the handle sometimes because it's still Bowser, but he actually lets a lot of things that would get to him in the other games go and actually has genuine respect/care for a lot of his minions, even when you could argue that they might've done things disrespectful to him. He's also just generally respected overall (by foes and allies alike) and isn't made a punching bag for the story to make fun of. He's also a decent bit smarter too. I honestly really like this take on both of them which I imagine was because of Square's writers involvement, and I wish this kind of version of both of them will come back in future games.
As for the story itself, while a very interesting and unique premise, it's more about being a fun enjoyable romp like most Mario RPGs, which isn't a bad thing. I think the cast and world do enough to make this game standout among the many spiritual successors it influenced and gave birth to, very nice to see how many of those well worn tropes and ideas started here with this great game.
The OST is probably my favorite OST among any Mario RPG I've played yet, once again done by the great Yoko Shimomura, but I feel here she had a lot more to work with in terms of material due to Square's involvement. It probably also helps this game was her first Mario RPG she orchestrated for, so she might've had more inspiration and unique ideas to work with as well. Her re-orchestrated soundtrack for the remake never misses a beat, and I still hear a lot of good songs even when I compared it to the SNES OST in the game's sound player itself (wonderful choice on the devs to include both by the way, more remakes should do this and let you toggle which to use).
All in all, I was very impressed by this game, and honestly think it's the best Mario RPG I've played after Bowser's Inside Story, though I still need to replay that one to re-evaluate my thoughts on it beyond just childhood enjoyment and nostalgia. This game is one of the most unique Mario RPGs and I'm glad it's been made more accessible to newer audiences, cleaning up and addressing certain issues while improving its already good qualities the SNES version already had! Will definitely be replaying this game in the future, no doubt about that.
Final Playtime: 21 hours, 10 minutes and 8 seconds.
First I'll talk gameplay. The timing is a lot more strict in this game compared to the Mario & Luigi games which really surprised me, and I enjoyed that, it gave the game a much better challenge. The fact that each weapon has a different type of timing also made the game and characters feel that much more alive, on top of adding to the challenge. I managed to 100% this game in everything except managing to do the 100 super jump challenge, I couldn't pull that off sadly, but it was still fun all the same.
I'd heard from many people how this game was very easy overall, which is why I went out of my way to try not overgrinding too much, and not using my Flower Tabs to up my FP or even upgrade my equipment all the time, and I found it gave the game a healthy amount of challenge, on top of the strict timing for button inputs. I ended up being level 25 by the end, and beat all the super bosses in the post game at this level. The game wasn't brutal by any means but I wouldn't say it was a complete cake walk either, I thought it was just right with those limits I abided by. Overall it was very fun and I enjoyed it, and the post game really scratched that challenge itch well too! I definitely needed the Lazy Shell armor to stand a chance in some of those fights, though some I did without it and got by.
As for the story and characters, it's a fair bit unique compared to the other Mario RPGs, as Square's involvement is very clear and palpable here. The fusion of Square's type of writing with Mario was so charming and very refreshing as well, all the characters are hilarious and fun to interact with, the environments are pretty varied and explore some places you wouldn't normally see Mario go to.
I honestly think the writing for most of the main party here is pretty on point as well, and arguably better compared to other Mario RPGs. Mario himself has more personality than usual, despite being silent. Him pantomiming previous events to catch other characters up on what's been going on, along with his dialogue options when talking to other characters really help say a good amount about him. Mallow is honestly pretty underrated among the fanbase, he has a pretty nice well rounded character arc of him finding his family and going from a crybaby to a brave young hero, and I found myself very endeared to him. Geno... I ironically found to be the weak link of the party writing wise. He's cool and stoic... and that's kinda all there is to him. I get why that made so many kids fall in love with him, and that's why people want him in Smash so badly, so I understand, even if I think he's just alright.
Bowser and Peach I think were especially done justice in this game compared to the other Mario RPGs. in most of the other ones (aka mostly Mario & Luigi, though Paper Mario falls victim to this somewhat too), Peach tends to end up being a plot device who is kinda idiotic and ends up making a lot of mistakes/just getting kidnapped at convenient times because the plot needs to progress a certain way that relies on her doing dumb things/making mistakes she normally wouldn't, and also just shoving her out of the story for 90% of the game (you could argue this is the case for the mainline Mario games too but at least there, usually her getting kidnapped is the premise, not her just getting kidnapped part way through the story or at several diff. points in the same story). Bowser (while I love him to death, even when he's written like this) is also just a big manchild who flies off the handle every 5 seconds and is also clowned on very often, and made the punching bag no one ever takes seriously to boot.
But in Mario RPG, they feel much more competent and less one-dimensional as characters. Peach has her soft side, and of course isn't the bravest and is very sensitive, but she knows when to put her foot down and stand her ground, and can take charge when she needs to on top of being kind and steadfast as a leader should. She's got a good balance and isn't just a girlboss, nor a weak Princess either. Bowser meanwhile is just generally a lot more mature in this game; he flies off the handle sometimes because it's still Bowser, but he actually lets a lot of things that would get to him in the other games go and actually has genuine respect/care for a lot of his minions, even when you could argue that they might've done things disrespectful to him. He's also just generally respected overall (by foes and allies alike) and isn't made a punching bag for the story to make fun of. He's also a decent bit smarter too. I honestly really like this take on both of them which I imagine was because of Square's writers involvement, and I wish this kind of version of both of them will come back in future games.
As for the story itself, while a very interesting and unique premise, it's more about being a fun enjoyable romp like most Mario RPGs, which isn't a bad thing. I think the cast and world do enough to make this game standout among the many spiritual successors it influenced and gave birth to, very nice to see how many of those well worn tropes and ideas started here with this great game.
The OST is probably my favorite OST among any Mario RPG I've played yet, once again done by the great Yoko Shimomura, but I feel here she had a lot more to work with in terms of material due to Square's involvement. It probably also helps this game was her first Mario RPG she orchestrated for, so she might've had more inspiration and unique ideas to work with as well. Her re-orchestrated soundtrack for the remake never misses a beat, and I still hear a lot of good songs even when I compared it to the SNES OST in the game's sound player itself (wonderful choice on the devs to include both by the way, more remakes should do this and let you toggle which to use).
All in all, I was very impressed by this game, and honestly think it's the best Mario RPG I've played after Bowser's Inside Story, though I still need to replay that one to re-evaluate my thoughts on it beyond just childhood enjoyment and nostalgia. This game is one of the most unique Mario RPGs and I'm glad it's been made more accessible to newer audiences, cleaning up and addressing certain issues while improving its already good qualities the SNES version already had! Will definitely be replaying this game in the future, no doubt about that.
Final Playtime: 21 hours, 10 minutes and 8 seconds.