Seeing as how Nintendo's remakes and remasters have mostly been discreet in terms of changes and scope, I have enjoyed the way Super Mario RPG has been shaped for the Switch from the get-go. The 1996 original was a rare gem that didn't even hit the European Super NES, as it was perhaps a bit too late in its lifecycle, and within an uncharted genre for the company. That hesitance, together with the divorce from Square and the consequent Final Fantasy VII "betrayal", turned what was a beloved adventure into some sort of niche black sheep for several generations in the manufacturer's eyes. However, whereas I managed to start it on both the Wii's Virtual Console and more recently on the SNES Mini (its absence from Nintendo Switch Online got fans hyped that something was in the works), it somehow didn't hook me until the end credits like the Switch remake has done for the past week.
To be clearer, and even if I appreciated their respective efforts, this goes beyond Ocarina of Time 3D or Metroid Prime Remastered, as it's more along the lines of what MercurySteam did with Metroid II, or closer to the treatment Link's Awakening got a few years ago.
This means that the then-beautiful pre-rendered 2D sprites with a 3D vibe (the style Rareware made trendy on the 16-bit system with legendary hits such as Donkey Kong Country or Killer Instinct) is now replaced by full polygon-based environments and characters. At the same time, the fact that the new game remains true to the original's isometric perspective and constrained stages allowed the devs over at ArtePiazza more resources to make both elements incredibly crisp and detailed, at least when you compare Super Mario RPG with any other Mario, or RPG, on the system, which normally are more open-ended and hence visually limited.
That being said, every single friend, foe, town, or dungeon has been rendered after the original designs, as a result maintaining a look from the 90s that, interestingly, feels nostalgic for the veterans and somehow fresh to the newcomers, who are more used to seeing modern Mario designs everywhere. In other words and combining these two paragraphs, to me Super Mario RPG looks like putting on screen, and in-game, the very CGI graphics I dreamed of as a teenager, when I saw the printed ads and TV commercials from that era.
It's-A-shorter, chubbier, no-voice Mario, a doll-like Princess Toadstool Peach, and the classic designs for most of the enemies, together with the touch Square added with Smithy's army of weapon-inspired foes, and with additions such as Geno and Mallow which, if a bit off-putting at first (same as part of the medieval setting), feel right at home after a while.
Haunted forests, colourful villages, and... Yoshi rhythm races!
And Bowser? Bowser deserves his own separate mention as it was here, in an external project, where The King of the Koopas (please read out loud in Kamek's voice) saw his personality defined for the very first time. With some memorable, even poetic lines, and the then-never-before-seen conflict between his evil knack of kidnapping the princess/ruling the world, and having to humbly collaborate with Mario and the party to reconquer his castle, fans will surely have a great time witnessing how the character we all know and love, with the traits that evolved until his show-stealing role in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was born.
Likewise, it's a game to understand the roots of the two branches Mario RPGs sprout after the Square debacle, Intelligent System's Paper Mario and AlphaDream's Mario & Luigi. Not only can you see their basic combat system defined (with timed press of buttons for greater effect, or how it deals with items and powers), but also the comedy style the series would follow going forward. It was a childish premise at first sight, with the whiny cloud-shaped Mallow and the wish-granting storyline, but it introduced some of the hilarious anime-like banter and sharper comments both branches kept developing down the line.
The fantastic localisation of all that dialogue (at least I can speak for the Spanish part) adds a lot to the last point for obvious reasons, and it already became the biggest reason why users in several European countries pre-ordered this game right away. It's the first time it releases outside of Japanese and English, and from what I can tell it's an incredibly welcomed feature.
Water, lava, and wood areas are beautiful.
So, as a remake, it's mostly about the audiovisual side of things. The aforementioned 3D graphics render some of the most whimsical and unique Mario environments, including haunted forests and a very peculiar tower, while Yōko Shimomura's recognisable tunes receive the orchestra version they deserved (though you can always switch back to the SNES chiptunes). This doesn't prevent tracks such as the main combat music from going from "catchy" to boringly repetitive, and it could have used a few new tracks for added variety.
Speaking of additions, and while understanding this is mostly audiovisual, I couldn't help but wanting to enter every combat encounter by hitting the enemy in the overworld as a first attack, as it wasn't implemented in the original and remains like that, perhaps as a missed opportunity. Similarly, even though the analogue stick makes character control way smoother, it really doesn't improve the 8-direction platforming, perhaps even the opposite, whereas enemies still move on the 4 diagonal directions.
I also missed a tad more difficulty. It is an accessible RPG for all ages, perhaps one of the best "my first RPG" despite its age, but unless you avoid a lot of encounters - I don't know about you, I can't help but cleaning up most of the areas - you'll be clearly over-powered most of the time and beat almost every boss on first attempt (other than Culex, of course). With this, I reached the final areas with all my party members above Level 22, which made them killing machines. If there's an otherwise welcomed "Breezy" difficulty setting in place for newcomers and I played "Normal", I would've liked the option to switch to a "Harder" or "Veteran" mode from the start.
Right: "Super Mario of the Wild".
Other additions such as the ability to swap one of the three lined up characters during combat with any other of the two reserves from the party is really nice, not because it makes it even easier (as you can even switch downed enemies), but because it makes pretty basic combat a notch more strategic, when you keep elementary weaknesses and the new Triple Move in mind. The latter, once the new gauge is filled, triggers a fan-serving CGI for some of the most spectacular specials in the series (both this and regular cutscene are at movie-quality level), but the when and the who are crucial to their success. Furthermore, stat-geeks that want to learn just everything about the enemies for tactical perfection will enjoy their time at the Monster List, a surprisingly-comprehensive bestiary.
When it was all said and done, and after 12-15 hours of playtime, I felt pretty good about Super Mario RPG as both finally getting to play the original adventure in full, and enjoying one of the finest remakes Nintendo has ever published. It feels a bit silly and dull in both terms of storytelling and combat every now and then, but not so much when you put it into its context, and it even has a special 90s charm to it a big part of the community will relate to. It also is a kind, friendly RPG for those who haven't enjoyed the genre as of yet, and even though it leans a bit too much to the easy side, it still maintains some of the more obscure, old-school, even archaic systems and secrets the original had. However, to me the most exciting prospect is that, after completing this game, and with Mario & Luigi sadly gone for good, I really feel like Nintendo and Square/ArtePiazza could keep exploring this series as it can definitely work in parallel to IntSy's Paper Mario. It just sets the perfect stage for a Super Mario RPG 2.
Left: Mario, again, taking notes from Donkey Kong's handbook.
Birdo, Culex, and Hinopio are of course back. And look at those retro ships!
