Super Mario RPG

• Genre: RPG
• Time Played: 16 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Super Mario RPG is pretty short for the style of RPG it is, but it feels right for what it is. It never drags, even if there are a couple spots that are a little combat encounter heavy. I guess I would like more, but it's one of the most accessible rpgs, so I feel like it's just right.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Extremely pleased. I mean, I love this game and expected no less.
• Why I played: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is one of my favorite games. Also I have receipts of me saying I wanted to replay it about 3 months before the announcement of this remake, so the timing couldn't have been better.
• Recommend to others: I would absolutely recommend this. To everyone. I feel like it's a game everyone should play, without exception.

Super Mario RPG is a remake of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. I don't know why they dropped the subtitle. Especially when there are other Mario RPGs. I feel like it's one of those title changes that only creates confusion. Anyway, I went in with a bias and strong nostalgia for this game. I don't recall if it was the first RPG I played, but it might be the first RPG I finished. I didn't really get into rpgs until I was 11 or 12 and had internet and I know I played this at least a few years before then. I would have been 9 when it came out and we moved right around the time I turned 10 and I remember playing it before moving.

Anyway, this isn't about when I played it, but that's how much the game is tied to nostalgia for me. Not only did I play it then, but I remember it being one of the first games I emulated, since technically I had only rented it(several times, mind you). I've since purchased digital copies of the game and played through at least one of them, but at this point it has been awhile since I played the game and earlier this year I got that bug in me again.

So it was wonderful news when only a little while later they announced a remake. This is, for better or worse, an extremely faithful remake. On the remake scale, they basically changed as little as they could without it being a remaster or enhanced port. Obviously it got a new graphic overall and music, but that's the bulk of the changes. There are a few quality of life improvements here and there. Being able to instantly travel somewhere is a big bonus, for example. There are also some extra stuff, but for the most part it's not the stuff you will see in-game.

This game is just a joy to play and there are very few games that fill me with such a sense of wonder. Even playing the recent Super Mario Wonder, was not nearly as wonderful. It's just a complete joy to play and I can't help but feel that everyone who worked on this game had a passion for doing so. A passion for video games, a passion for their job, and a passion for the very project they were creating at that moment.

I mean these are people who worked on Live a Live, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Legend of the Dragoon, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 5, 6, and 7. Many of my absolute favorite games. These are people who know how to make good games, for sure, definitely, but there is something most of those don't even have and that's the sincerity behind it all. Super Mario RPG is just such a sincere game as a game. It's Mario so of course it doesn't take itself seriously, but it's not through a lack of effort, but self awareness. The game is just filled to the brim with fun, good decisions, clever secrets, cheeky writing. Not a moment of the game is wasted and none of it feels like anyone ever questioned why they put it in there. I would say it's quite the opposite. All along the way they probably questioned aspect of development seen in there other games I can just imagine a weekly meeting int he development of this game, "Why is X in here?", "ehhh it's expected in RPGs", "Is it fun?", "Ehh not really", "Take it out!" Until just all the best was left.

...there is one problem with the game, and I don't think this is a fault of the original game, as much as an expectation of games in the year 2023, as opposed to 1996. The minigames. The fact that this game is filled with with mini games is GREAT. I don't think it would be quite the same game if it wasn't. Especially when it was originally released. But... a lot of that has not aged so well. The controls are janky and a lot of them can be annoying. Some are also kind of tedious. When I originally played this, I know these were some of my favorite parts, so I know they weren't "always bad", but we have higher expectations for this kind of stuff now and this remake is a little TOO true to the original in some aspects.

That said, I long for the day when an actual NEW rpg fills their game to the brim with minigames and special sequences like this again. Whenever I played new rpgs, I feel like they are very focused on doing their one thing, and don't take the opportunity to mix up game play in the way some games used to. Give me my runner sequences, a fighting game, some logical puzzles, a racing game and smash them into my big rpg. These games are long, mix it up.

Anyway, it's hard to describe how this game makes me feel. Maybe it's that pure unadulterated joy, a warmth that comes from deep within the chest. A tingling sensation that shivers across your skin, but like, a good one, that you want to feel again. That's how this game makes me feel and that's why I feel everyone should play it.

Also, I really relate to Bowser in this game. This is probably the biggest source of why I like Bowser so much, and without a doubt my favorite interpretation of him. He's just like me for real.