Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
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Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#2I know it's anathema to say this, but I played Super Mario RPG when it was first released and didn't think much of it.
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#3I know it's anathema to say this, but I played Super Mario RPG when it was first released and didn't think much of it.
I tried playing through multiple times throughout my childhood and could never finish it. Finished Final Fantasy III/VI. Beat Chrono Trigger multiple times. SMRPG never did it for me.
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#4Mario RPG might possibly be my favorite video game of all time. I grew up pretty poor and really wanted an N64 for Christmas. We couldn’t afford it at the time so I found an alternative - I remember being sad about it, but I found a used copy of Mario RPG for something like $30, this was at the end of 1996. When I sat down with it it’s like something clicked. I didn’t get the N64 for another year but it didn’t matter. I still remember everything about this weird and wonderful game. I haven’t gotten the remake yet, maybe partially because I don’t want to ruin those memories…
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#5As someone who's also playing through the game for the first time now, I can both see the ways in which it holds up, and the ways it doesn't. Personally I don't think the characters feel out of place in the Mario universe, since the RPGs in general tend to take a very different approach to their cast and universe than the platformers do. The Smithy Gang feel as Mario like as the Shroobs, X-Nauts, Super Paper Mario cast in general, Legion of Stationary, etc. They're not traditional Mario esque species, but they work very well for the story they're needed in.
Where it feels a bit archaic is in the gameplay side of things, simply because its successors have built on its ideas so much. The action commands and being able to block enemy attacks in battle were a novel concept back then and still work well, but the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series have taken those ideas so much further than it can feel a tad quaint by comparison. When your successors let you block/counter everything and have attacks that sometimes play out like entire mini games, having moves that require pressing a single button with seemingly arbitrary timing can feel a tad basic.
And the overworld exploration feels a bit similar sometimes, just because of how future games go full on Zelda style exploration dungeon with your abilities and how you can navigate the world with them, while this one mostly plays out more like a traditional RPG overworld map.
But it's definitely very approachable for a new player, and someone who hadn't played this in the 90s is going to get a very enjoyable experience trying the remake for the first time in the 2020s.
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#6As someone who's also playing through the game for the first time now, I can both see the ways in which it holds up, and the ways it doesn't. Personally I don't think the characters feel out of place in the Mario universe, since the RPGs in general tend to take a very different approach to their cast and universe than the platformers do. The Smithy Gang feel as Mario like as the Shroobs, X-Nauts, Super Paper Mario ca…
Yeah, I just can't get over the Paper Mario games and I am also a great fan of Mario and Luigi: Dream Team which takes advantage of the stylus on the 3-DS to deliver some of the most interesting boss fights I've ever seen. (some of those are somewhere between a boss fight and a minigame)
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#7After Final Fantasy III/VI, Chrono Trigger, Secrets of Mana, Illusions of Gaia, Super Mario RPG, etc..
The golden age of RPG's was the release of the playstation. The combination of mechanics that had been refined into the richer world of cd quality audio, voice dialog, visual improvements to 3D worlds and CGI sequences.
Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, Chrono Cross, Breath of Fire, Arc the Lad, Tales of Destiny, Grandia, Lunar, Star Ocean, Breath of Fire, Xenogears, etc...
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#8Easily my favorite single player game of all time.
I would love to see a true sequel on Switch 2 with new characters and new lore - give Mario some new friends once every 25 years!
Would be an innovative way for new characters/IP/stories to build out over time/generations.
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#9SMRPG has an interesting place in my life. I got it when I was 12, and it sort of kickstarted my "online life". I started posting on the SMRPG GameFAQs message board, which was sort of my introduction to the internet. I made a lot of online friends there, some of whom I would stay up for hours and hours chatting with on AIM. One of those, I stayed friends with for about 15 years, until he disappeared one day.
Sometimes we would hang out on AIM and see who could answer questions from newbies the fastest. ("Which Final Fantasy is Culex from?" being a favorite.) Other times we would just talk about life. I remember talking with my best friend from those days (the one who disappeared) on the night the US invaded Iraq.
Nostalgia goggles and all, but I miss those days of the Internet.
Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic
#10Mario RPG might possibly be my favorite video game of all time. I grew up pretty poor and really wanted an N64 for Christmas. We couldn’t afford it at the time so I found an alternative - I remember being sad about it, but I found a used copy of Mario RPG for something like $30, this was at the end of 1996. When I sat down with it it’s like something clicked. I didn’t get the N64 for another year but it didn’t matter…
It's right up there for me as well. I remember getting it for the SNES and not understanding it. I was quite young. I knew Mario, but I had no concept of an RPG. I didn't touch it for years then picked it back up and loved it.