INTMD — A Perfect Game Gets Perfect-er

Super Mario RPG (2023) — A Review Session

I never thought I’d be writing about this game. I never thought it’d actually come to exist. In a world where Nintendo loves getting things wrong, this is something they got completely right.

When the original Super Mario RPG was released for the Super Nintendo in March 1996 (mere months before the Nintendo 64’s launch) it blew away the gaming community’s expectations. An isometric top-down platformer with turn-based battles? 3D rendered sprites? And all of it made by the torch-bearers of role-playing games, Squaresoft? In a genre dominated by sword-and-sorcery, a role-playing game featuring Super Mario was a fever dream come to life.

[embed]Even the commercials for this game were way out there.

Super Mario RPG was also my first role-playing video game. It arrived at a time in my life where I was desperate for any escapism from school bullies, isolationism, and the precursors to puberty. A game this unique could not have come at a better time in my life. In the 27 years since its release, I’ve played it almost yearly. It’s the game I’d take with me in one of those “stranded on a desert island” scenarios (ignoring the lack of electricity on said island).

And then out of absolutely nowhere, Nintendo announced a remake of the game for the Nintendo Switch. I reacted calmly and rationally:

These are calm and rational words.

I was beyond elated … until the release date was announced. November 17th. The weekend before Thanksgiving.

The Problem With the Weekend Before Thanksgiving

See, I’m from central Wisconsin. Rural central Wisconsin. I’m from a town of literally one church, one bar, and a self-sustaining Pancake Breakfast. We have a tradition during the weekend of, and through, Thanksgiving: the Whitetail Deer gun hunt. It’s a tradition so ingrained in my DNA that everything else must and will take a backseat. I’ve been hunting (or at least tagging along for hunting with my Dad) since I was three years old. And while it’s mostly about adding meat to the freezer, once in a great while the payoff is significant:

Every deer hunter has their top-tier trophy buck, and this is mine.

It wasn’t enough to release a remake of Super Mario RPG so close to a “holiday” where I spent as many days as possible out in nature. Nononono … the universe had to add insult to injury. Two other huge pop culture items that are a core part of my being also released that day:

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off — the long-awaited animated adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series. Featuring the cast from the 2010 film with a soundtrack scored by Anamanaguchi, the band behind the video game’s soundtrack. Scott Pilgrim is one of my favorite pieces of media. Ever.

[embed]An anime adaptation of a graphic novel!? SIGN ME UP FOREVER.

Power Wash Simulator DLC featuring Back to the Future — power wash your way through 1985 at the Twin Pines Mall, 2015 in downtown Hill Valley, or 1885 in the Wild West. Wash down the DeLorean, or Doc’s Time Traveling Train, and gosh knows what else. It’s a relaxing game featuring one of my favorite movie trilogies of all time.

[embed]I saw this and literally yelled “oh, COME ON!” like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar.

The universe really had it out for me and all I could do was laugh. Well, laugh, AND put my head on a metaphorical swivel. I took my Switch with me into the hunting stand and played Super Mario RPG anyway, checking often to see if any deer would show up.

Playing through the Forest Maze area while in a forest. This is the zenith of my gaming life.

What exactly IS Super Mario RPG?

If you’ve never played Super Mario RPG before, the story goes like this: Princess Peach is abducted by Bowser (again) and Mario chases after them to Bowser’s Castle. After Mario wins the day, the celebration is cut short as an absolutely gigantic sword appears from another dimension, landing right in the middle of the castle and sending the three flying across the world. It’s up to you to find Princess Peach, figure out what’s happening, and save the world from an invasion.

Fighting on chandeliers? Sia would never.

Mario’s world in Super Mario RPG has some elements familiar to Mario fans, but a lot of artistic liberties were taken in the isometric level design. Where previous Mario games had simple colors for the backgrounds, the landscapes are lush and vibrant, and the level design really pops out in the remake as the developers have much better hardware to work with.

There’s a great deal of enemies both familiar and different. The usual suspects like Goombas, Bob-Ombs, and Koopa Troopas are here, but there are also unique enemies Squaresoft created, including an entire army of sentient weapons. Like this walking bow who talks like a 1930’s gangster.

The art design of the characters in the remake is based on their CGI-art original concepts. The 3D rendered sprites in the SNES original were based off of a bubbly aesthetic, and seeing them brought to full true 3D is the original idea come to life. While Mario is shorter and stockier in this remake, we stan our short kings.

Yes, his head is bigger than his entire torso. We still stan.

The original soundtrack featured instantly memorable themes and catchy tunes. For the remake, the original composer returned to create full orchestral rearrangements. One key change (pun intended) to the arrangements is that where the original songs looped through the main themes, the composer opted to add key changes to help extend the songs a bit. Between this and featuring solos of clarinets, oboes, muted trumpets and saxophones, the rearranged soundtrack is just as great as the original. And for folks who prefer the original soundtrack, the game allows you to swap between both!

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The battle mechanics are identical to the SNES original — attacks you perform on enemies, and attacks from enemies that you defend from, have a chance for optimization by pressing an action button right before the attack happens. This is called a “Timed Hit” and depending on when you hit that button, the damage you deal (or receive) varies. You can hit an enemy for low/moderate/highest damage, and also successfully block physical attacks headed your way. The remake is really kind about this mechanic, as the active character will show a (!) symbol above their heads when you’re supposed to press the specific action button.

An addition to the 2023 remake is the “Action Gauge,” which increases slowly as you successfully perform timed hits and blocks in battle. Once you fill the gauge to 100%, you can perform an attack that consists of all members of your party. These “Triple Attacks” differ based on active party members and provide different effects.

And “active party members” is an important distinction in this remake, as it generously borrows a beloved mechanic from that other awesome RPG that released this year (no, not Baldur’s Gate 3, though I will play it): Sea of Stars. You can swap party-members-who-are-not-Mario on every turn. It’s a valuable mechanic and especially welcome if your party members faint.

What’s the difference?

Amidst all of these additions, what’s actually different about this game compared to the 1996 release? Well, not all that much. And that is a perfectly okay thing to say. Because the game as-is was pretty outstanding upon its release. I know I’ve referred to Super Mario RPG (2023) as a remake up to this point, but it really feels more like a fully-fledged remaster, with extra polish. I’m not just talking about the visuals, or the Action Gauge, or switching soundtracks.

After you defeat the game the first time, post-game content appears in the form of boss rematches. Some (but not all) of the enemies you’ve faced are up for a rematch. They’re significantly tougher, their fight mechanics are different, and the rewards you get are pretty great. I found the fights difficult, but not impossible. It reminded me of the DLC released for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which were basically dungeons/challenges featuring harder difficulties.

For folks who are new to Mario RPG but find it too difficult, there’s a difficulty modifier that makes things easier:

Unfortunately, that’s where I have my one of two critiques of the game. For as fun as the post-game boss fights are, it’s unfortunate that Square Enix opted to not offer a “Hard Mode” difficulty for veterans like me. These rematches were the exact kind of “hard mode” I’d been hoping for, and it’d be great to have that option again instead of trying to find my own ways to make the game harder (no weapons, or no armor, low level, etc).

As for my other criticism, it’s the Super Jump move.

The Super Jump Problem

The Super Jump is a special attack that Mario can perform on an enemy, where he repeatedly jumps up and down on an enemy, so long as you can press the action button right as he lands on said enemy. If you do it right, you can jump on an enemy up to 100 times. And as a bonus, there’s an NPC in the game who will give you rewards for performing multiple Super Jumps. On the original game, I’m able to do this trick easily, and I have the receipts:

[embed]It’s 90 seconds of hell, but 90 seconds well played.

The trick to the Super Jump, however, is that you have to be incredibly precise to succeed. The Super NES version runs at 60 frames per second, and in the original game, you have three frames of gameplay where you can successfully complete another Super Jump. In the Switch version of the game, which also runs at 60 frames per second … you have two frames.

Not only that, but technology in terms of television displays has changed in the last 27 years. With the Super Nintendo, you had a wired controller directly plugged into the console, on a big CRT television with virtually zero latency. On today’s HDTV’s, latency is guaranteed. All controllers for modern consoles run on Bluetooth, which is a technology also susceptible to latency issues. Try as I might, I could only reach 77 Super Jumps in the remaster. I used multiple different controller configurations, playing the console in docked mode and in handheld mode, and eventually I had to concede. It’s easy to chalk it up to old age, but I have little doubt that I’d have issues replicating the Super Jump on the SNES version. Fortunately, I’m not alone, as other folks in the Mario RPG community have noticed the changes:

[embed]Someone in this thread coded an Arduino to force the game to enter the correct inputs regardless of latency. It’s not cheating if you’ve reverse-engineered how it works and substitute your own solution to a stupid problem.

Final Thoughts

While I have two critiques for the game, these are the “first-worldliest” of first-world Super Mario RPG problems. This remaster is utterly fantastic. It’s a visual feast for the eyes and a delight for the ears. It’s weird, fun, quirky, hilarious, and a memorable experience from start to finish.

Now if we can just get a real remake/remaster of Chrono Trigger …

[embed]Look, Square Enix — either do it yourself or stop suing people who want to do it for free. If you don’t want to do it you’re not losing money. I’m not a lawyer but it’s the truth, pal.