Super Mario Rpg

I’ve wanted to play Super Mario RPG from the moment I saw it on Super Nintendo. And just like with many other major Nintendo games, I completely missed the boat on Super Mario RPG. Once I became a collector I bought Super Mario RPG with the intention of playing it. Years went by and it was never played. The only time I came close to playing the game was on an emulator and I barely remember that. Expectations were a little high for a nearly thirty year old game. 

I only found out about the Mario RPG remake about a month or two before its release. Hesitantly, I pre ordered the game not knowing when I would find time to play it. When the game arrived I felt an urge to play it then and there. “It’s been almost 30 years what’s another couple of weeks?”, I thought to myself. But I knew it would sit on my shelf forever if I didn’t get on it. 

As a complete novice to this game I had no idea what to expect. As I made my way through the story I started to realize what the intent of this game was. Throughout I found myself bored. The gameplay felt slow and I was not having much fun with the game. The battle system was fun (even though I could never get the timing right) and the overall experience was fine. After a few hours I wanted to play another RPG. Not because I hated Mario RPG. I just got a craving for something else in the genre even though I am not big into RPGs. Towards the end of my roughly 13 hour adventure I realized I really wanted to play a Mario and Luigi RPG game. I loved those on the 3DS and Mario RPG made me want one of those games on the Switch. 

It took me two attempts to beat the final boss. I finished the game missing one final star that I had no desire to earn. I felt middling about my experience with Mario RPG. The revelation I had midway through was that this game on the Super Nintendo was the perfect vehicle to get into RPGs. Someone like me could have wet their whistle on a game like this before jumping into the genre as a whole. That is where I feel I missed out the most. The first RPG I ever played was Eye of the Beholder (old post you can read about) and it soured RPGs for me. I still struggle to really get into the genre even though I’d really like to. Playing Super Mario Rpg would have been the perfect way to love the genre possibly.

30 years later the Mario RPG cannot fix my childhood FOMO but at least I can cross it off my list now. Unfortunately, the game is not worth the price. For the 10-13 hours of gameplay you will get you should not pay full price. I have no way of comparing it to the original but I’d rather buy that for $60 if possible.