Super Mario RPG Remake honest review

There’s a lot of love for the OG SNES role-playing game, but does Super Mario RPG live up to expectations? It’s a faithful recreation of the the 1996 game, which introduced RPG gaming mechanics to the Super Mario franchise, and more than a quarter century later it’s back again.

Fans of the original game are clear contenders to love the remake, but does it tick enough boxes to attract new audiences to the title? In general, we think it does, but you should definitely go into it with a pretty good understanding of what you’re getting yourself in for.

If you’ve played RPG games in the past and you literally hate them then you might want to pass, but for everyone else there’s a lot of fun to be had in the game. Even if you’re a bit lukewarm on the genre or you’ve never played an RPG game before, this is the one that will probably win you over if you’re a Mario fan.

To begin with, it’s a very faithful recreation of the original game, so old school gamers are going to be happy with the experience. The improved graphics, attack options, new mechanics and added content will build on the nostalgia to deliver a genuinely brilliant remake of Super Mario RPG.

The good news is that all of that is just as relevant to newcomers to the genre and with the fun platform elements of the game it’s a great crossover with the Mario that you probably know and love. That’s not to say that it’s got that much in common with the side-scrolling or 3D platform games that Mazza is better known for, but there are enough hints to link the two.

You walk around the 3D isometric game world a little like you do in games like Super Mario 3D World. You’ll need to jump platforms, find hidden chests and jump over enemies to avoid them, so pretty standard activity for most games featuring the New York plumber.

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Where things differ is in the enemy encounters and this will be the crux of your enjoyment of the game. Instead of just jumping on a Goomba or Koopa Troopa to defeat then, you’ll need to run into them, which will start a RPG battle with similarities with the original Final Fantasy games.

The comparison is no surprise seeing as Super Mario RPG was originally created by Square for Nintendo. If you haven’t played these and you’re looking for a popular alternative on the Nintendo Switch then you can think of the turn-based sequences in Pokémon games.

In SMRPG you have a party of characters to support Mario, so you’ll be able to include Princess Peach and Bowser in your team. The game also introduced us to a little cloud guy called Mallow (although, he thinks he’s a frog) and a star spirit that possesses a doll called Geno. That sounds a lot creepier than it is. Honestly, it just works, so try not to get hung up on it.

You’re not locked into them once you start an encounter, which is a nice feature, so you can switch them around mid way through a battle. Obviously, with just four additional player characters to choose from you don’t have anywhere near as much variety as you do in Pokémon games, but the turn-based system is a decent comparison.

The battles scale perfectly throughout the game, starting off with relatively easy enemies to help you level up before introducing you to the first boss, Croco, which you can see in the video below. There are a lot of bosses to take on and they get progressively tougher, so get set for a challenge if you want to complete it on the normal difficulty.

The scaling of the bosses is pretty clever too. It’s not just the next one has a bigger health bar and does more damage. Instead, it throws in boss fight features that you’ll need to think about to work out a way to beat them. This can be as simple as elemental weaknesses, which you can discover using Mallow’s Thought-Peak move, or it might be blocked moves to work around.

As with all RPG games, there are plenty of ways to cheese the system if you find a boss particularly difficulty. Grind out some smaller battles to over-level and you should be set, or just stock up on the game’s best items, like Red Essence, which you can find out how to farm with the video below.

For boss-loving gamers like us there are plenty of them to take on and they’re all a delight with a lot of variety in the mix, ranging from living puddings to demon entities from another dimension. In fact, it continues with more after you complete the game, so there’s a lot of fun to be had working out how to defeat them and the character builds that work the best.

This is boosted in the remake with the addition of passive boosts for each character with Mario speeding up the action gauge as the permanent member of the team. Mallow kicks in some magic attack up, Peach magic defense up, Gino attack up and Bowser defense up.

You can also get a boost to this by getting an attack and block chain that’s higher than five, so this can really help you turn the tide in battle. Add that to the variety of weapons, armor and special items that you can give to each of the characters and there’s more than enough to change around to hit different sweet spots.

There are also a number of tough puzzles to make it through to be able to complete the game, so there’s plenty to think your way through. This could be as simple as a maze or as tough as an impenetrable statue that you need to work out a way to get past.

There are also a number of secrets to uncover. There are hidden chests, hidden bosses and hidden weapons to track down, so if you want to take your time and explore there are things to find. This is nowhere near as epic as it is in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, but you can definitely see the links.

Super Mario RPG also has an excellent collection of NPCs and more than a few are totally out there. This adds in a lot of comedy into the story progression and cut scenes, but it also extends into the gameplay, so you feel like a part of the action instead of it just being passive cinematic jokes.

There are only a couple of slightly fiddly mechanics to get to grips with, with the jump taking a fair amount of precision when there’s a drop at times and the hidden chests needing highly specific positioning. However, it’s nowhere near as frustrating as the camera system in the Super Mario Sunshine remake.

Overall, Super Mario RPG Remake is an absolute gem to play. It’s crammed with entertainment from start to end and it provides a completely new experience. If you’re only down with Mario in side-scrolling or 3D action form then it probably isn’t for you, but if you’re looking for something different then it’s a great intro to the genre.

It’s definitely a slower, more thoughtful experience than other Mario games, but this is balanced against a lot of fun, puzzles to work out, comedy moments and a long list of bosses to defeat. It’s also one of the few opportunities to see Mario and Bowser on the same team (sort of) and for that reason it gets our official seal of approval.

Super Mario RPG remake honest review: 90%

Check out our computer games section to see what other games are coming out in the coming months. You can also visit the Nintendo website at www.nintendo.com for more detail on Super Mario RPG on the Nintendo Switch.