Originally released as Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars on the Super Nintendo back in 1996, this game has been a long-standing oddity AND beloved gem in the Mario oeuvre. An unexpected collaboration between Nintendo and Squaresoft, makers of the Final Fantasy series, Super Mario RPG introduced the platforming plumber to a new, turn-based alternative for how to do things.
After 27 long years, Super Mario RPG is getting the remake treatment and transitioning to the Switch, marking the first time the game has been available to players in any form since the shutdown of the Wii U’s Virtual Console. Noted as the inspiration for both the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, this is the game that led to some of the best in the franchise – including Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, another historic gem receiving a facelift next year.
The game begins with Mario once again on his way to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, when a giant living sword named Exor smashes through both Bowser’s castle as well as the Star Road, high above it. Taking the castle in the name of the Smithy gang, Exor scatters Mario, Peach and Bowser across the land, along with seven stars from the shattered Star Road.
Setting out to find Peach and return her home, Mario soon finds unlikely allies along the way – the surprisingly fluffy “tadpole”, Mallow, Geno the living puppet, and even a surprising friend in the form of his long-time enemy. United under a common cause, Mario and friends team up to retrieve the seven stars, restore the Star Road and send the Smithy gang packing.
Super Mario RPG takes one of the best paths a remake or remaster can take with its visual upgrades – it upscales the graphics of the original game, but preserves nostalgia by lovingly updating those original models to match the embellishment of your memory. Mario is perpetually in his stubby, mini-Mario form for the whole game, the Toads are chunky and off-model for what we see in modern titles like Super Mario Wonder, and some “unique” characters, like a certain Booster, will haunt me for longer than I’m comfortable with.
It all comes together to form a unique take on the world of Mario, more like the bizarro instruction booklet art of the Gameboy era than the meticulously maintained brand guide of modern Mario. In 2023, it’s exciting to see two Mario games released that take such radically new angles on the Super Mario setting – in Super Mario RPG and Super Mario Wonder respectively – that come from such different times. Whether it’s from 27 years ago or only a few weeks back, the result of Nintendo getting a little loose and wild with their favourite plumber is a memorable game for the ages.
Given that the original Mario RPG comes from an era of much lower resolutions, the game’s maps are a lot smaller in scale than we’ve become accustomed to. As a result, Super Mario RPG is a perfect fit for playing in handheld mode, especially on the OLED’s vivid screen. The isometric look of the game’s world makes everything ‘blocky’ in a way that telegraphs the world around you clearly, without needing to squint at the details on the smaller screen.
This is something that some games on the system have struggled with (hello, Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I still love you). That said, key story moments as well as combos in battle have all been given lovingly-rendered CG cutscenes that dial the cuteness of the character models to 11.
The story-beat cutscenes feel like a treat for advancing through the game’s story, and building up your combat meter for a party combo is as much about the reward of massive damage as it is getting to see the flashy – and fast-paced! – combo animation. It’s a way to reward a player’s diligence while still respecting their time when playing, which I really appreciated.
Speaking of combos, one of the larger changes from the source material is the addition of the Action Gauge to the game’s combat system. The core combat system of the original remains unchanged, with every attack or special move offering some kind of button prompt that can boost its effectiveness if you succeed. On top of increasing the move’s effect, each successful action prompt fills up a portion of the Action Gauge.
Once full, you can use a Triple Move which is specific to the combination of active party members. Some combination might heal the party, others hit all enemies, or perhaps a single target for extra damage.
The accompanying cutscenes are always fun to watch, and I found the only time I ever skipped them was if I used the same move multiple times in a single boss battle. The combat loop itself is tight and fun – challenging yourself to maintain a combo for damage boosts and other buffs is a great incentive to work on nailing the action prompt timing – and made easier by the addition of a visual prompt.
Even so, I found the timing for the various attacks a little hard to absorb; some of the button prompts feel like they are timed to the wrong moment in the animation, compared to what I’d expect from the more recent Mario & Luigi games, for instance.
It’s also a little counterintuitive that the visual clue won’t show at all if you hit the button too early – it feels disruptive to your flow in combat to fail the prompt, break your chain and not have an indicator of how to improve. Especially when upgrading to a new weapon with a new prompt, it can be disheartening to suddenly lose that feeling of “mastery” in combat, even as your odds of winning improve.
All in all, Super Mario RPG feels like a remaster done right. All of the spirit of the original has been maintained, while subtly updating things here and there to make the game more pleasant to play today.
Small improvements make all the difference with Super Mario RPG, like a less impossible minigame post-battle to double your winnings, or even just the addition of an autosave function – which Toad winkingly calls out, even as he goes through the original game’s tutorial on manual saving. It feels like a game made in reverence to the original, bringing it to a new audience while also reminding returning players what was so great about it in the first place.
Super Mario RPG was reviewed using a promotional code on Nintendo Switch, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
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Super Mario RPG17 November 2023Switch |
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