Review: SUPER MARIO RPG is clean and bright

One of the biggest games coming out in November was Super Mario RPG. Originally released in 1996 for the SNES, the game became a fan favorite leading to the Paper Mario series. Now, Nintendo has brought the game back with a fresh coat of paint for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo was kind enough to provide me with a digital code, but all thoughts below are my own. If you like what you read, you can purchase a copy Super Mario RPG from GameStop (affiliate link), Humble Store (affiliate link), or wherever you want to purchase your Switch games.

Mario, Bowser and Peach work together to repair the wish-granting Star Road in this accessible role-playing game

Join a wacky band of heroes to save Star Road and stop the pesky Smithy Gang. This colorful RPG has updated graphics and cutscenes that add even more charm to the unexpected alliance between Mario, Bowser, Peach and the original characters Mallow and Geno. Enter (or revisit) this world of eccentric allies and unusual enemies in a role-playing game for everyone.

I have a bit of a cute story about that Super Mario RPG. When my wife and I were dating, she said that she really loved the game but she didn’t have a copy. I went ahead and bought a copy for the Wii Virtual Console and gave it to her when I proposed. That said, I tried playing the game once via the Wii Virtual Console, had a blast, but then life happened and that’s all the time I could spend with it. I always wanted to get back to it, though. I’m happy to have this opportunity now.

Since this is going to be short, I want to talk about aspects of Super Mario RPG which I’m not a fan of. In combat, you can power up your attacks and abilities by pressing A at the right time. To facilitate this, they display a fun little exclamation icon. I like all this, but the icon doesn’t always appear. I don’t know if it’s something where I was getting it too many times or something else, but there are a lot of times where it doesn’t appear, which is frustrating. That’s all. This is negativity.

Super Mario RPG It was a blast to play. The updated graphics are absolutely killer! One of the reasons I ditched the SNES version on the Wii Virtual Console was that everything looked a little blurry while this remake is crisp and bright. It looks gorgeous and works great. There are some strange moments where the framerate drops, particularly with cutscenes early on. It’s a little strange, but it doesn’t ruin the experience. It all looks so lively and fun, it’s great.

Meanwhile, in the audio department, the game sounds incredible. The music is top notch, the sound effects are perfect, there’s nothing bad to say about it. Plus, if you prefer to listen to the original SNES tracks, you can turn them on in the settings! This makes you wonder why they don’t let you toggle the graphics to match the SNES ones, except that would probably have been a lot more work for something only a handful of gamers would use.

In case you’re not familiar, Super Mario RPG features turn-based combat like Final Fantasy. You use a team of three characters from your roster which maxes out at five. Each character in battle can attack, use a special action (basically magical attacks), use an item or “other” (defend, escape, etc.). Combine this with the aforementioned timed button presses and it feels really immersive. I don’t know if I like turn-based combat or not, but luckily, Super Mario RPG It involves me, it doesn’t drag on and I enjoy it. Part of that has to do with some of the attacks though. For example, Bowser can get a weapon with which he literally throws Mario at the enemy. It’s incredible!

Super Mario RPG it’s a fantastic game. The only reason I wouldn’t recommend it is if you really don’t like turn-based combat. As I mentioned, the combat here doesn’t feel like a slog like other RPG titles, so you really need an aversion for me to advise against it. The story is fun, the graphics are lively, the audio is perfect! Also, a lot of the dialogue is really well done. I highly recommend this game if you have a Nintendo Switch.