Super Mario RPG

I've always been a fan of the Mario games. When I was a kid, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, released in 1996, was probably my favourite. For the first time, gamers got to play a story-focused Mario adventure. And what an adventure! The thought of an enemy so dangerous that Mario and Bowser had to team up left a big impact on my ten-year-old self.

Now it's 2023. The remake, still called Super Mario RPG, but with the Legend of the Seven Stars subtitle dropped, has been available for a few weeks. But how does it hold up? Should you play Super Mario RPG? Should you play Super Mario RPG on the Nintendo Switch? And should you play Super Mario RPG on the Nintendo Switch if you already own the original?

It's fashionable for gamers and gaming critics to say that a remake renders the original obsolete. Super Mario RPG on the Switch complements the original Super Nintendo version, but I don't think it's a good replacement. Yes, this new release adds several new features to the original experience. The inventory system is better; being able to swap characters mid-battle removes the obligation to keep the healer, Peach, in your active party at all times; and the new Triple Moves, which allows all three of your active party members to perform a special ability together, are a satisfying addition. The game also expands on its famous Timed Hits system (in which pressing the button before an attack lands can increase the damage you deal or decrease the damage you take) by providing stat buffs to your party if you can pull off the timing consistently enough. The problem is that, until you reach the post-game, the enemies were not rebalanced around your newer, more powerful party. Granted, Super Mario RPG was never a challenging game, but I still found the even easier battles in the remake a step back.

On the other hand, the post-game content is much harder than anything in the SNES version--though not necessarily harder than something you'd find in, say Final Fantasy V. Like almost all of the boss battles in the original Super Mario RPG, these ones all have something unique about them. Many of the powered-up enemies can cause enough damage to knock out one or more characters in a single attack. However, if you know what the trick is and prepare properly, none of them--not even the final, super-boss--is really that much of a challenge.

But then Super Mario RPG has always been more about atmosphere than challenge, and this game recreates that perfectly. Some of the text has been retranslated, but a surprisingly large chunk of original translator Ted Woolsey's script has been kept, preserving the 90s 'tude while fixing a handful of inconsistencies or omissions. The nostalgia is there, but there's enough that's new for English-speaking fans to keep it interesting. I'm not as fond of the writing in the post-game--you can tell that a lot of that dialogue was penned by a different writer--but there is too little of it to really bother me.

Super Mario RPG, like many of Square's games from the 90s, is filled with surprises, easter eggs, and gags. Characters chastise Mario for jumping on their heads or in their cakes. Overstaying at an expensive inn will trap him in a monotonous bellboy job. He gets dizzy if he stands on the head of a hyperactive child for too long. At one point, using what always seemed to me like a glitch, it's possible to skip from an early-game dungeon to a late-game one; a nearby late-game enemy will warn you to turn back. Super Mario RPG has always rewarded exploration and play, reminding you constantly that the designers knew what you would or could try to do.

So who would I recommend this game to? Someone who likes bright, colourful RPGs with an emphasis on humour. It's not a hard game, but it's a memorable one. If you don't like the original, then the remake probably won't convert you. If, however, like me, you love it, but haven't played it in a few years, then this is a great way to experience it again. 

But if you want to know which version to get, then that's a trickier question. For a newcomer, the extra content in the Switch version probably makes it a better entry point, though there is the caveat that battles will end too quickly and with too little damage to your party. I'd be more likely to replay the SNES version than the Switch one myself, but nostalgia might have its thumb on the scale. 

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the new version. It's familiar, but new, like a good cover of a favourite song.