Super Mario RPG Announced during Nintendo Direct 6.21.2023
Super Mario RPG is releasing for Nintendo Switch on November 17, 2023! Looks like a full remake in 3d with an updated soundtrack. Though the original still ages well and looks great when played on modern emulation, I'm excited to see this as a full remake!
I’m cautious, the remakes have been hit or miss. Zelda Link’s Awakening was well done but the frame rate was inexcusable. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl was a letdown… if anything we got the old one to emulate.
Agreed -- especially with things like the Secret of Mana remake in the recent rear-view, sometimes it is apparent that the team updating the game doesn't understand the overall charm of the original. Here's hoping that the update is light-touch and manages to keep the charm and fun of the SNES classic, but to your point even if not, the old one is still superb when played on an emulator.
It looks like the old game with a new paint job. Honestly, that's probably all it really needs because there was almost nothing to complain about with the original. If Nintendo managed to get the greenlight from Square to repurpose Geno, I would almost wonder if Nintendo might be interested in taking a crack at what might have been before licensing issues with that character caused Nintendo to switch to the Paper Mario series.
I love the original but for some reason wish they went with the 2.5D graphics engine used in the octopath games. I think that would have helped capture the timeless charm of the first while giving it a new lease on life.
I don't know what the stipulations were behind the scenes though, if Nintendo worked directly with Square to get this remake made (meaning they could have used that engine) or if they outright bought the rights to it. If they bought the rights then this would explain the graphical direction - on the plus side it would also give Nintendo the exclusive rights to Geno, Mallow and other characters to finally live in other Nintendo titles as they rightfully should.
You are in for a real treat! Squaresoft was in its prime and you have silliness and drama and tons of secrets to find. It's the first thing i recommend as an RPG for introduction to the genre.
Wow, one of my favorite games as a kid. I even just started to replay it recently, guess I'll put a pause on that lol.
Looks like they are also making some changes to the battle system which is great, the graphics held up ok like you said, but I feel like the combat is actually the part that aged the worst.
What was the issue with the battle system? I always thought timed hits were a great idea to make turn based battles less tedious, and mapping action menus to the four buttons worked well. I guess the encounter rate might be a bit high compared to modern RPGs, and it would be nice to be able to pin attacks to the top of the menus.
I mean since then RPGs have kinda evolved by either moving to faster, more action based systems, or the ones who remained turn-based just do it really really well with customization and strategy like Persona or Dragon Quest.
But Super Mario RPG system was already kinda of dated even for its time, don't get me wrong, I loved it, but compared to a title like FF6 with its esper system, status, relics, and what not, Super Mario RPG for most of the game just boils down to do damage, do more damage while spending a resource, or heal. With the timed hits to make things a little more interesting.
But based on the preview looks like it should have some more depth this time around!
All I need is a simple, not buggy, no frame rate issues, port and I will buy copies for me, my son, and all of his friends. FFVI, Chrono Trigger, and SMBRPG were the holy trinity of the SNES era
my favorite game, and this looks very well done so far. Shimomura returning for the soundtrack, already sounds amazing. I wonder if Square is helping at all this time around.
As a sucker for turn based RPGs, I'm looking forward to this! Hope they hired someone from Atlus so that we'll und up with a SMT like press turn battle system or so