Super Mario RPG Remake (NSW) Review

A quirky classic returns.

 

 1996's Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is regarded as one of the best RPGs made and holds a special place in the genre. It was co-developed between Nintendo and Squaresoft (of Final Fantasy fame) for the Super Nintendo and since then, it's been a beloved game in the Super Mario franchise with its charming style and turn-based gameplay. That's why news of a long-overdue remake for Nintendo Switch came as a surprise this year and has had fans excited to revisit the game and for newcomers, playing it for the first time. I for one, reads lots of praises for the game over the years, so I got excited to check it out. So does Super Mario RPG lives up to its reputation?

 Our story begins just like every other Mario game: Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, Mario journeys to Bowser's Castle, beats him, and saves the Princess. Just as thing are wrapping up, a large sword belonging to the Smithy gang falls from the sky, knocking the three out of the castle and claiming it for its own. Now, Mario must rescue Peach while also searching for Star Pieces that have fallen from the sky, which when seven of them are collected, can defeat Smithy for good. The red plumber will meet and befriend Mallow, a cloud-shaped kid searching for his parents; Geno, a spirit-infused puppet aiming to bring down Smithy; Princess Peach, who's dying to go on an adventure; and lastly his nemesis, Bowser, joins him to retake his castle.

Mario and the party are on a world-saving adventure.

While simple in nature, the story quickly grew on me with the memorable cast of characters you meet and witty dialogue that made me chuckle on more than one occasion. Many scenes like Geno's first and the initial one with Smithy crashing Bowser's Castle were stood-out to me with how cool they were. Even the adversaries you'll meet weren't the usual one-note villains and each had their unique quirks that made you not help but love them. 

 Super Mario RPG is as you can tell, a turn-based role-playing game where you control Mario and company as they battle enemies, explore the world, meet wacky characters, level up, equip new gear, and collect Star Pieces. You can only control three characters at a time and each has their own unique skills to use like Mario being able to jump and shoot fire balls while Peach can heal and cure ailments. In addition to having your health (HP), each skill actions consume Flower Points (FP), so you'll need to keep an eye out for both during battles. 

 A meter is filled during battles and once it reaches 100%, you can perform Triple Moves that can attack enemies or heal the party. It's a pretty simple RPG as enemies other than boss fights rarely put up a challenge and the levelling system was generous with the health and attack increases. There's no random encounters too, so you're free to pick your battles.

The gameplay was fun and catchy in 1996 and continues to be today.

 To deal extra damage to an enemy, you need to press the A button at the instant an attack lands, which when timed right, can even damage nearby enemies too. It makes battles more interesting than the standard turn-based affair. It's a precursor to what would later define the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi RPG series as those games relied heavily on timing attacks. 

 Also, you now can freely switch between characters during combat in the remake and it won't skip your turn. The game will have you explore a bunch of levels such as the likes of the famous Mushroom Kingdom, the maze-like Booster Tower, a sunken ship at sea, a town full of reformed monsters, and Nimbus Land, a kingdom in the clouds to name a few. At certain points you'll fight bosses, some of which were rather interesting like Booster, Speardovich, Axem Rangers, Valentina, and Smithy as all of them were fun to fight. 

While it's on the easy side, some fights were a welcome challenge.

 Super Mario RPG wasn't a long game for its time, clocking at 12 hours long. There's a small selection of activities that you can do after the credits roll like partaking in mini-games like Yoshi races, finding all hidden treasures chests, collecting beetles in exchange for coins, and some side-quests. New features in the remake include auto-saving, fast-travel, a storage box in Mario's home, boss rush mode, and easy difficulty dubbed "Breezy" mode. I still wished that the remake would've introduced more content like extra side-quests and new post-game areas to explore.

 Since the original game is now 27 years old, it's no surprise that it looks ancient today. Thankfully, the new HD visuals are fantastic while still keeping the essence of the original intact. Characters are presented in cute, bite-sized designs that blend well with the game's cheerful tone and colorful backgrounds. Remake also introduces a new UI and CGI cut-scenes in specific story moments and gameplay that looked amazing. It performed well on Switch, with me mainly playing in handheld mode. The new arranged soundtrack by original composer Yoko Shimumura was great, though you can revert to the original as well. Some of my faves were the battle, boss, overworld, and Booster Tower themes.

The new facelift adds a lot of character to already charming game.

 Super Mario RPG Remake is a blast for RPG fans and fun experience that impressed me with how good it was. With the whimsical story and cast, solid gameplay, and cheery presentation, I can see why it's held in high regards over the years. It's significance was great with it introducing fan-favorite characters like Geno and for inspiring the Mario & Luigi series, a favorite series of mine that I played while growing up. It's definitely an adventure I can see myself going back to in the future and one that fans of the genre should play.