Does Super Mario RPG still hold up?
2nd December 2023, 5:03 PM
This, for me, is a "go to" game I replay every few years. I adore it and to me, it did hold up. There is more to the combat than "timed attacks" since the special moves have unique little gimmicks of their own, but I can understand someone not enjoying the turn based combat regardless.
I've reviewed this game in the past, though I'm rather embarrassed by my writing skills at the time. I'll say this. I love just how much detail is put into so many little moments throughout the game. Every town is worth revisiting at numerous points to see what new little quips characters have to say, and the level of odd interactions to reward more "playful" players is amazing. See that character running around in circles? Yes, you CAN jump on their head and ride around a few times, and yes, the game does respond to your act. There's results for taking chests from someone when they aren't home, or jumping up on a shop shelf, or sliding down a chimney into a house, or oh so many things. Little cameos, dreams, things like that for taking the time to explore old inns.
I enjoy me some turn based combat, so I've always enjoyed this game. It also presents some fun end-game challenges. There's rewards for managing 100 super jumps (good luck, you'll need a CRT or to play the modern game on something with very low latency to pull it off), a super boss inspired by something out of Final Fantasy, and all kinds of hidden little areas that require searching high and low all over the world to track down.
Now one good detail regarding difficulty is you can turn it up to "classic" difficulty levels in the options, and I recommend doing so if you've played before. Even so, yes it's true that much like Final Fantasy IV, and VI, and Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound, this game really isn't all that challenging once you know what you're doing. The extra boss fights at the end, the rematches, are where the challenge is really brought out. That said, if you hadn't been enjoying yourself, I wouldn't expect you to slog through more of it but harder. What I love about these remastered "hard mode" bosses is they've got full dialog and some unique aspects.
Yes, Culex is still in the game, he's still a Final Fantasy styled boss with Final Fantasy music playing in the background, and he's still a 2D sprite marveling at the power of the third dimension.
The first time...
The second involves... a very expansive new form for the boss.
All in all, while I can understand it not being for everyone, in the same way I know the Paper Mario games aren't for everyone, I very much enjoyed the original and find the remake to have become the new definitive way to play the game....
Except for one detail... I'm not a fan of the menu designs. They seem very "plain" to me for some reason. I just prefer the menu designs in the original version and wish they didn't make them feel so generic and.... "mobile gamey"?
I've reviewed this game in the past, though I'm rather embarrassed by my writing skills at the time. I'll say this. I love just how much detail is put into so many little moments throughout the game. Every town is worth revisiting at numerous points to see what new little quips characters have to say, and the level of odd interactions to reward more "playful" players is amazing. See that character running around in circles? Yes, you CAN jump on their head and ride around a few times, and yes, the game does respond to your act. There's results for taking chests from someone when they aren't home, or jumping up on a shop shelf, or sliding down a chimney into a house, or oh so many things. Little cameos, dreams, things like that for taking the time to explore old inns.
I enjoy me some turn based combat, so I've always enjoyed this game. It also presents some fun end-game challenges. There's rewards for managing 100 super jumps (good luck, you'll need a CRT or to play the modern game on something with very low latency to pull it off), a super boss inspired by something out of Final Fantasy, and all kinds of hidden little areas that require searching high and low all over the world to track down.
Now one good detail regarding difficulty is you can turn it up to "classic" difficulty levels in the options, and I recommend doing so if you've played before. Even so, yes it's true that much like Final Fantasy IV, and VI, and Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound, this game really isn't all that challenging once you know what you're doing. The extra boss fights at the end, the rematches, are where the challenge is really brought out. That said, if you hadn't been enjoying yourself, I wouldn't expect you to slog through more of it but harder. What I love about these remastered "hard mode" bosses is they've got full dialog and some unique aspects.
Yes, Culex is still in the game, he's still a Final Fantasy styled boss with Final Fantasy music playing in the background, and he's still a 2D sprite marveling at the power of the third dimension.
The first time...
The second involves... a very expansive new form for the boss.
All in all, while I can understand it not being for everyone, in the same way I know the Paper Mario games aren't for everyone, I very much enjoyed the original and find the remake to have become the new definitive way to play the game....
Except for one detail... I'm not a fan of the menu designs. They seem very "plain" to me for some reason. I just prefer the menu designs in the original version and wish they didn't make them feel so generic and.... "mobile gamey"?
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)