Super Mario RPG (for Switch! - 17th November 2023)

[Julius]

AHHHHHHHHH IT'S HAPPENING 

Can finally get around to checking it out! 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Julius

[MindFreak]

Never played the original, so this was a welcome surprise! Looks like it's most just a 1-1 remaster but that's fine by me.

[Ashley]

Just now, MindFreak said:

Never played the original, so this was a welcome surprise! Looks like it's most just a 1-1 remaster but that's fine by me.

It's no wonder. It's only been what, 8 or so years since Europe got an actual release of it?

I played it for a while but never finished it. Might pick it up.

[S.C.G]

46 minutes ago, Ashley said:

It's no wonder. It's only been what, 8 or so years since Europe got an actual release of it?

I played it for a while but never finished it. Might pick it up.

Fifteen years since the Wii release, eight years since the Wii U, and six years since the SNES Classic.

There have been ways to play it for a while now, but it'll be good to see a remake released on the Switch.

This probably means we won't see the original Super Mario RPG on the Nintendo Switch Online SNES application, or if we do, it will be one of the last games to be included.

Got to give the remake a good few years of sales, of course.

It looks like a solid remake though, from the trailer, so it should do well.

[Glen-i]

57 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Never played the original, so this was a welcome surprise! Looks like it's most just a 1-1 remaster but that's fine by me.

No, it's not. I should know, I literally played the SNES version around a month ago.

There's some new system involving "Chains" whatever that means. You can see it on the left of battle screens occasionally in that trailer.

But still, day 1 for me! It's a classic, and this looks gorgeous! Appreciate maintaining the stubbier characters.

Word to the wise, unless they've radically overhauled the balance, Mallow sucks, and Geno's overrated. Ditch them as soon as you get Bowser and Peach.

Spoiler

Dying to know how they handle Culex. Will it be a 2D sprite? Or will they go full modern Final Fantasy and make it look super realistic?

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Glen-i

[Julius]

Yoko Shimomura has announced her return as composer for the remake!

Quote

I am in charge of the music for the remake version of "Super Mario RPG" announced at the Nintendo Direct today. I put all my heart into arranging all the songs, hoping that both the fans of the original and those playing for the first time can enjoy it! Stay tuned for more news ♡

 

[Dcubed]

Well that explains why we never got SMRPG on the SNES NSO service...

Absolutely love that they've kept everything looking off model like in the original.  Was worried that they'd sanitise the look and make everything appear on-brand in-line with modern Super Mario, so I'm pleasantly surprised that everything still looks super stubby & squishy

Now I'm just wondering who's making it... I really hope the old Alphadream staff have gotten back together and have joined Nintendo for this... I want to see them carry on making Mario RPG titles... I miss Alphadream so bad...

Edited June 21, 2023 by Dcubed

[Dcubed]

 

Looks like there's some sort of new Chain system where you get party buffs...

Wonder what the percentage meter is there for...

Either way there's clearly some major changes to the battle system with this remake.

[Glen-i]

14 hours ago, Dcubed said:

 

Looks like there's some sort of new Chain system where you get party buffs...

Wonder what the percentage meter is there for...

Either way there's clearly some major changes to the battle system with this remake.

Just spitballing here, but I'm guessing the "Action Guage" is what that percentage meter is. Probably mostly fills up when you nail action commands.

And I wonder if getting that full will let you do a sort of "Limit Break"? And then I wonder if that changes depending on who's in the party?

There's a small clip of Geno running along a rainbow in the trailer. There's no Rainbow Road in Mario RPG, so that weirded me out. But now that I see that percentage meter, I'm willing to bet it's tied to that. In fact, there's a whole lot of cutscenes of things that never happen in the SNES game. (Bowser using the Koopa Clown Car with other party members in it, etc) So I'm almost certain it's that.

I've also noticed that the NokNok Shell does splash damage, so they've tweaked some of the weapons, at least.

16 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Now I'm just wondering who's making it... I really hope the old Alphadream staff have gotten back together and have joined Nintendo for this... I want to see them carry on making Mario RPG titles... I miss Alphadream so bad...

That font on the chain system smacks of the later Mario & Luigi games, doesn't it?

Doesn't prove anything, of course. But it stands out to me.

17 hours ago, Julius said:

Yoko Shimomura has announced her return as composer for the remake!

Makes sense, they got her back for the Live A Live remake, glad this game is following suit.

[Ashley]

On 21/06/2023 at 4:44 PM, S.C.G said:

Fifteen years since the Wii release, eight years since the Wii U, and six years since the SNES Classic.

Good god I'm old

[RedShell]

On 21/06/2023 at 6:12 PM, Dcubed said:

Absolutely love that they've kept everything looking off model like in the original.  Was worried that they'd sanitise the look and make everything appear on-brand in-line with modern Super Mario, so I'm pleasantly surprised that everything still looks super stubby & squishy

Yeah, they've really nailed the look.

I'd be amazed if the same can end up being said for some of the dialogue though. Pretty sure this will be altered in the new version:

Spoiler

 

 

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, RedShell said:

I'd be amazed if the same can end up being said for some of the dialogue though.

There is no way in hell that they leave dialogue as is. It's very dated in it's pop culture references. Hell, they bothered to change one line for the Virtual Console.

Anyway, a reminder that Geno is an overrated fraud who's only liked because he has edgy guns in his hands, and that he can kill one specific boss in one hit, which was most certainly a programming oversight which will most certainly get fixed in this version.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Glen-i

[S.C.G]

2 hours ago, Ashley said:

Good god I'm old

True... but you're two years younger than me... I'm old, but it's all relative.

I don't play games as much as I used to, but when I do, if I've been using a controller for for a while, I do notice when my finger joints have had enough, but then... it's still good to keep them well exercised, as otherwise they could seize up, so it's probably better to just keep playing, while being more aware of the wear. 

Speaking of which, I seem to remember that Super Mario RPG was the first game in the 'series' to start the whole timed button presses during combat and exploration, which I'd imagine will still be present, though I wonder if the amount of required button pressing will be toned down at all? Perhaps there will be more of it instead, especially with the overhauled battle system, and the assumed addition of 'limit break' attacks or even 'final smash' type attacks, depending on how it's implemented.

It looks really decent anyway, and I can see it being hard to go back to the original game after this remake, unless too much is altered, though it seems as if the essence of the game remains intact, plus the art style really does suit this game, whereas in the Link's Awakening remake, the visuals seemed overengineered, as something more like a 2D HD style might have been more in keeping with the original game; basically, this still looks like Super Mario RPG, just in a higher resolution, which is all it needed to be.

[Helmsly]

On 6/22/2023 at 9:41 PM, Ashley said:

Good god I'm old

I still remember back when Super Mario RPG was announced for the SNES, Nintendo magazine had an issue with a huge preview of it that I just kept reading and re-reading through because I couldn't wait to play it

I had never played an RPG before and it seemed like it would be easier to get into the the established RPG's at the time, plus it looked great. I hadn't been that hyped for a game since Donkey Kong Country

...And then a few months later I read on Teletext/Digitiser that the game won't be coming to the UK!

I was devastated but then I figured I would import a copy of the game from America, since I had one of those converters that let me play American and Japanese games on my Snes, something like this:

...But then I found out that Nintendo and Square had made it so the cartridge would not work on the current converters that were out at the time lol. By the time a new converter came out that could run it, I was already looking forward to the Nintendo 64 and it was getting harder to import snes games from America, they where only really importing PS1 and Sega Satrun games so it wasn't an option anymore.

I did end up importing an American SNES off of ebay in 2004 along with a copy of the game and finally playing it after all that time and then buying the game again on the Wii virtual console. It's a great game, and I am looking forward to the remake. I really like how they've translated the look of the old game into these new 3D models.

Edited Tuesday at 12:59 AM by Helmsly

[Dcubed]

4 hours ago, Helmsly said:

I still remember back when Super Mario RPG was announced for the SNES, Nintendo magazine had an issue with a huge preview of it that I just kept reading and re-reading through because I couldn't wait to play it

 

Lookit all those games that never got a European release! 

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 6/23/2023 at 2:51 AM, Helmsly said:

 

I was devastated but then I figured I would import a copy of the game from America, since I had one of those converters that let me play American and Japanese games on my Snes, something like this:

...But then I found out that Nintendo and Square had made it so the cartridge would not work on the current converters that were out at the time lol. By the time a new converter came out that could run it, I was already looking forward to the Nintendo 64 and it was getting harder to import snes games from America, they where only really importing PS1 and Sega Satrun games so it wasn't an option anymore.

I had one of those! We only used it to play Gradius III though. It was the Freeloader of its time.

[Julius]

Trailer from today's Direct:

Quote

Mario and his teammates are tougher than ever in Super Mario RPG! Use the updated Action Commands to unleash the all-new Triple Moves, where Mario and his party members team up to unleash a unique group attack.

Looking good 

[Dcubed]

Name changes are in-bound!!!

Spoiler

 

Not pictured, Shy Away is now Beezo (this one actually makes sense, Beezos have been a thing since SMB2/SMB USA, so this is actually bringing things back in-line with established series lore... that actually predates SMRPG funnily enough!)

Is nothing sacred? (Neosquid is definitely not long for this world... and that's fair enough, because that's almost certainly a 1996 Microsoft Excel incorrect character name swap related gaff).

I wonder who's gonna replace Bruce Lee... Little Mac perhaps?

Edited October 12, 2023 by Dcubed

[Dcubed]

BTW, I’m just throwing this out there… But my gut is telling me that Greezo is the developer.

Not based on anything in particular, have just been thinking about it for a while; and the timeline would match up, given that they’ve been largely MIA since Miitopia Switch in 2021…

Also, calling it now, LM2 Switch is from Tantalus.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

 

On 23/06/2023 at 2:51 AM, Helmsly said:

 

That's a blast from the past. Reading Digitiser was part of my morning routine as a youngster.

[BowserBasher]

Right, not a fan of RPG games but loved all the Paper Mario games, is this worth getting for me? 
Im going to assume by watching that trailer it is more in line with Paper Mario games (being they were more based on this) than more traditional RPG games that have loads of different characters for your team and a million and 1 power ups and abilities. 

[Glen-i]

33 minutes ago, BowserBasher said:

Right, not a fan of RPG games but loved all the Paper Mario games, is this worth getting for me? 
Im going to assume by watching that trailer it is more in line with Paper Mario games (being they were more based on this) than more traditional RPG games that have loads of different characters for your team and a million and 1 power ups and abilities. 

It's more traditional in that there's traditional equipment you get along the way, (Three slots per character: weapon, armour, and accessory) and each of the 5 characters is a full fledged party member with a defined role. If Mario dies, it's not an instant game over. Stats like HP and attack are a little more inflated compared to Paper Mario, but it's not too bad. (Triple digits is as high as it goes)

Things that Paper Mario kept from this game are the action commands for both attacking and blocking (You can't block magic attacks, mind) and the whole party sharing an FP meter. It even apes the whole "collect 7 thingies to finish the game" deal that Paper Mario loves to do.

Honestly, the biggest stumbling block might be the isometric platforming. It's very twitchy and takes some getting used to. Not bad, but defo not like a 3D Mario platformer. Keep an eye on Mario's shadow, as that's always underneath him.

Edited November 9, 2023 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, BowserBasher said:

Right, not a fan of RPG games but loved all the Paper Mario games, is this worth getting for me? 
Im going to assume by watching that trailer it is more in line with Paper Mario games (being they were more based on this) than more traditional RPG games that have loads of different characters for your team and a million and 1 power ups and abilities. 

If you’ve ever played any of the Mario & Luigi games, they’re more similar to SMRPG than the Paper Marios are (which makes sense, they were made by the same group of people after all).

Edited November 9, 2023 by Dcubed

[BowserBasher]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

If you’ve ever played any of the Mario & Luigi games, they’re more similar to SMRPG than the Paper Marios are (which makes sense, they were made by the same group of people after all).

Oooh sweet, yeah I've enjoyed them games. I think I'll put the game on Christmas list then if I don't like it as much I haven't wasted money. I can blame Santa

[Dcubed]

You were all wrong!