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Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

polygon.com

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Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#101

Post by sylens »

Trasmatta wrote: post #9

SMRPG 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. Sometim…

I know most people will say they transitioned from Digg to Reddit in the 2000s, but I feel like GameFAQs was the spiritual precursor to Reddit because there was a board for every game and even more general boards for most interests.

It had to be one of the most popular Web 1.0 sites around

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#102

Post by cdelsolar »

Trasmatta wrote: post #9

SMRPG 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. Sometim…

FF4?

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#103

Post by cdelsolar »

ninkendo wrote: post #53
djur wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not surprising that you would find a game boring if you've only played the first 10 minutes of it 50+ times, but you might enjoy it more if you stick some of those 10 minute sessions together and try getting past the tutorial.

In their defense, I also tried it semi-recently and literally couldn’t get past the tutorial. I got to a point where I didn’t know what to do next, walked around for 20 minutes, then gave up. I could’ve searched the internet but I generally make it a policy not to do that with games. I’m probably just stupid, but games back then had this tendency to make everything into a maze, where the “challenge” was in figuring o…

If you guys get the chance please give earthbound a real try, get past the first town or two. I was also in the same boat, not making it past the opening several times as a kid and young adult.

I gave it another try when it came out on the switch SNES app last year and the game is absolutely magnificent. I wish i had actually played it as a kid. I don’t even want to spoil it, but there is so much creativity and love that went into some of those areas. The final battle is one of my favorite moments I’ve ever experienced in a game. This is a great candidate for a new remake (or better yet sequel) but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#104

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

tobiasSoftware wrote: post #45
noirscape wrote: post #19

SMRPG is great. It's absolutely "baby's first JRPG" (but with actual stats, not the low stats of Paper Mario) and it wears that badge with pride. I don't think there's a JRPG more accessible than this one if you're not familiar with the genre - the UI of the original is very much geared around "make it understandable to people who've only ever played the Mario platformers" and it just... works. From what I've seen, t…

" I don't think there's a JRPG more accessible than this one" I'd argue there's one more, though I may be biased as it's what got me into RPGs - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. It's a relatively unknown title as it was an attempt by the Final Fantasy franchise to get beginners into RPGs. It's like Super Mario RPG in a lot of ways, including seeing monsters on the overworld. However, it's much more like table-top RPGs, wi…

Mystic quest peak moment: a fight with Naga/medusa with low HP. The medusa sprite would change from the regular giant femme fatale image, to an old lady, distraught about losing her hairpiece.

Odd game for sure

Speaking of Peak pixel Art : Paladins quest. Thats Mystic quest on crack

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#105

Post by low_tech_love »

Trasmatta wrote: post #85
low_tech_love wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it’s just nostalgia but neither paper Mario nor Mario & Luigi come a light year away from SMRPG for me. They feel just like bland superficial attempts at a formula when the formula is actually the least important part of SMRPG. The apparent weirdness that the reviewer mentioned is for me exactly why I love it: the characters just are what they are; you don’t have to understand, their unexplainable weirdness mak…

> this expectation and design will never come back. This type of game design 100% still exists. FromSoftware is probably the best current example, but it's also prevelant in so many indie games.

I don't know, maybe. I'd certainly agree that at least the King's Field and Shadow Tower games are like that, perfect examples of how you can start a game in a complete state of WTF and slowly get better and better until in the end you feel like Superman. And Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 and 2 might fit that too, but from then on (DS3, Bloodborne, Sekiro) it became more of a question of combat challenge than actual discovery/exploration itself.

I'm currently doing a sweep of the From catalogue in release order, and I have to say, wow I love their early approach to game design with King's Field and Shadow Tower. (Armored Core is fun but not really my cup of tea)

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#106

Post by low_tech_love »

noirscape wrote: post #91
low_tech_love wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it’s just nostalgia but neither paper Mario nor Mario & Luigi come a light year away from SMRPG for me. They feel just like bland superficial attempts at a formula when the formula is actually the least important part of SMRPG. The apparent weirdness that the reviewer mentioned is for me exactly why I love it: the characters just are what they are; you don’t have to understand, their unexplainable weirdness mak…

Paper Mario was initially fine IMO. It laserfocused into a very different niche; because it made stat logic simple math puzzles, the developers were able to build out the interactive element to SMRPGs fights into something that feels appropriate, yet not too obtrusive (something which the franchise would end up losing by the time Sticker Star came rolling around). A lot of attacks in SMRPG just have one button you pr…

Cool, thanks for the analysis, you obviously have played much more Paper Mario and M&L than I have. :)

Yes, it's inevitable, I understand and that's why I said that I don't want to step into right vs. wrong territory. It is what it is, but personally I find it exhilarating to step into a world like the ones from King's Field or Shadow Tower (early From Software games) and realize I have absolutely no frigging clue of what's going on around me, and then slowly learning how to handle the crushing difficulty until I master it. By coincidence the commenter below mentioned From Software which was exactly what I was thinking of when I commented. Early Souls games are also good examples, but even they have become basically arcade-fighting games by now.

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#108

Post by goosedragons »

terminous wrote: post #59

The subtext to this article is that Nintendo has never released SMRPG for the Switch's virtual console, but they are selling a remake for $69.99. No thanks, give me the relic ROM.

It might end up there someday. They did put Link's Awakening on there despite remaking it. That said, you could have bought the ROM on Wii or Wii U.

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#109

Post by goosedragons »

djur wrote: post #58
slily wrote: post #11

Several inaccurate details just in the first couple of paragraphs: conflating remakes with preservation, citing a localization change as an "original" subtitle, and crediting Nintendo for third-party productions. I realize video game press is not known for its rigor but the more I read Polygon the less I can take it seriously.

"1996 Super Nintendo game, originally subtitled Legend of the Seven Stars" Is this what you're referring to? The original SNES release did have that subtitle: http://thevideogameproject.com/suprpgsnesdisplayonly.html

The Japanese release had no subtitle.

Re: Super Mario RPG is an endearing, perplexing relic

#110

Post by mock-possum »

moduspol wrote: post #61
wingmanjd wrote: post #48

One feature I loved was that player characters that weren't in the current main party would still gain XP from battles, even if they weren't involved. It allowed me not to have to choose early on who would be the party member and avoid my terrible case of analysis paralysis.

In case you haven't played it: they actually improved on this in the remake. You can swap fighters during the battle like Pokemon, so you can make use of all five characters (which helps a lot on some of the post-game fights).

Oh wow that’s a big feature to add! I’m into it, I love tag team JRPGs.
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