One Christmas when I was a kid, “Santa” got me Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64. When we first booted the game up I remember there were still save files on it from the previous owners, when we were kids though we thought the elves must have played the game before it got to us.
I played that game a lot when I was young. I remember really enjoying it, but I was a kid and I didn’t get very far into it. I believe I got through the third chapter before I got stumped as to where to go next. We had some friends from church that were gamers so we loaned the game to them and asked if they could get us further into it. When they returned the game the save file was just past chapter 5, so I had some new party members to play with, and some new areas to explore.
That game is almost assuredly the first RPG I played, before Paper Mario it was a lot of platformers and racing games. But because of my enjoyment, and the simplicity of the game systems I learned that I really did enjoy RPG style games. I would imagine that for many, Super Mario RPG on the SNES would have been a similar experience.
Now for myself personally, I’ve played just about everything. I’ve done all the Paper Mario games (yes even sticker star), all the Mario and Luigi games, Pokemon (both main series and mystery dungeon), most of the Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger, Legend of Heroes series, the list goes on. There’s something so simple and easy to get into about the Mario RPG’s though, they’re basically designed to be played by people that have never touched anything resembling an RPG. Small numbers to make any bonuses very obvious, action commands to keep the player engaged during battles, generally very lighthearted worlds and characters, they do a lot to make the games very accessible.
It’s worth noting though that I’ve tried to play Super Mario RPG (SNES) many times and just never got into it. So I went into this remake hoping that I’d be able to enjoy this game as much as I did Paper Mario. And I’m glad to say that I did.
Graphics
It’s hard to go wrong with a first party Nintendo release, and this game is no exception. They’ve nailed the look of the original game, while remastering it in a fresh coat of paint. All of the characters are so expressive, but in a unique way that only the original Super Mario RPG allowed. Mario shapeshifting to explain a story never gets old!
Performance
I was honestly shocked to find that the performance wasn’t nearly perfect. To me this game doesn’t seem like it’s all that demanding (the fans on my Switch OLED never seem to spin up the way they do with some more demanding games anyways). However there are very odd performance issues sporadically. I’ve found that there’s almost a frame skipping, or something to that effect, that happens in more populated town areas. Luckily this hasn’t had any effect on timing intensive aspects of the game, insofar as the performance during battles and minigames has been stellar. I would bet that if there’s any patches this weird performance issue will be addressed, but it’s worth pointing out because it is quite obnoxious when it happens.
Story
The story is simple and lighthearted, as most Mario RPG titles like to keep it. You won’t find a deep love story like that in Super Paper Mario, and while the characters are charming, there’s not much depth to their individual journeys here either. But not all games need to have a rich story that pulls at your heartstrings, and this game does a good job instead at bringing some comedy whenever possible. From the reveal about Mallow at the Tadpole Pond, to the whole Booster scenario, to a Bowsers whole reason for joining the group. This game loves to keep things light and it moves from story beat to story beat at a fast enough pace that it’s hard to get bored at any given moment.
Music
In a word, spectacular. The new OST takes what was already a masterful selection and brings some new life to it. A stand out for me has been “Fight Against a Somewhat Stronger Monster” which brings in a horn and some record scratches to make the music pop that much more, it’s super catchy! If for any reason the new music doesn’t strike your fancy though, the complete original OST is also available to use in game and can be toggled in the settings menu.
If there’s any complaints to be had from my perspective, it’s the battle music being tied to combo number (which I’ll discuss below). That of course is mostly because I sometimes have a tough time consistently hitting the action commands, causing the music to go from very energetic to somewhat more subdued. The system actually reminds me of Mario Kart 8, where the music adds in a drum line when you’re in first place. Of course this is a minor gripe, even the low combo versions of the music are great. If I had it my way there would be a toggle for high combo versions of the music.
Gameplay
If you’re looking for a direct comparison this game is more “Mario & Luigi” than “Paper Mario”. Characters have 5 stats, HP, Attack, Defense, Magic and Magic Defense. The numbers on all of these can go well into the triple digits on some characters, so you don’t get the simplicity that Paper Mario ends up with. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s worth mentioning.
In terms of battles, you have 4 options:
- Attack
- Special
- Item
- Other
Within Other you have things like Defend and Run away. Attack is just a basic attack, where you have to hit A at the correct time, once or more depending on the weapon and character. If you do this perfectly you will do higher damage and do some splash damage to other enemies. In the Special menu you have magic. Each character has a number of options that are wholly unique to them. Mario has jumps and fireballs. Mallow has lightning magic, healing rain and the ability to identify enemies. Geno has high damage moves and boosts. Bowser seems to focus on status effects on enemies. And Peach has the best healing, and some status moves.
Compared to other Mario RPG games, the action commands are a bit tough to identify and hit in this game in some instances. I found most enemy attacks were doable after getting hit once or twice, but some attacks I just couldn’t find the timing to get that splash damage. The game does assist though, I found that until you hit the action command a few times the character will show an exclamation mark above their head when you need to press A. Additionally, the HD rumble seems to go off when you need to press A, so if you’re having trouble with the timing I’d try and get a “feel” for that.
Overworld exploration is pretty standard. There’s some spots where slightly tricky jumps can get you places you wouldn’t normally be able to access, but it’s not too complex.
There is a large number of minigames included that I’d be remiss not to mention. Nearly every area has one or two, and they’re generally all unique. I will say that some were definitely more hits for me than others. I found the waterfall section of Midas Falls to be not super interesting, but the river section is fairly enjoyable. Similarly for the minecart I couldn’t figure out why I was constantly falling off the tracks while braking going into corners in the 3D sections, but the 2D sidescrolling sections were quite fun! I was very bad at the Booster Hill section, but I had a lot of fun with it regardless. I’d compare the density of minigames in this game to Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, but I honestly think there’s more here than that game had. Either way, these generally serve to switch up the gameplay between areas with a lot of battles, so I take no issue with them.
Postgame
I have not completed the game as of yet, and as such I will update this section later if any information is incorrect.
The postgame includes rematches with all notable bosses which ramp up the difficulty compared to the originals, culminating in a final battle which is sure to test your skills.
Online Play
None to speak of, as far as I’m aware.
DLC
I would be stunned if there were any DLC made for this game in the future. However if any is ever announced I will add it to this section.
Conclusion
This is a great remake of an already fantastic game. And even though I had never completed the original, I had a great time with this version. If you like older Final Fantasy games (especially 6), this game has a very similar style. If you like the other Mario RPG games I’d say you’ll likely enjoy this one too.
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