Highlights
- The announcement of a Super Mario RPG remake shocked Nintendo RPG fans, especially since it was followed by Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
- Super Mario RPG was highly regarded due to its writing, visuals, music, and mechanics, and a direct sequel could bring back its traditional approach and strengths.
- The path to another Super Mario RPG is clear as other Mario RPG series are in a slump, and a new installment could inspire Nintendo to revisit classic JRPG tropes that once inspired them.
Nintendo RPG fans got a big shock earlier this year when not only did Fire Emblem Engage and Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp release, but a remake of Super Mario RPG was also announced. This was followed up in the September 2023 Nintendo Direct, which ended with the announcement of a remake for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Many fans would have been content with a remake of Super Mario RPG alone, but it's hard to turn down another one of Nintendo's first-party RPG highlights.
There are plenty of reasons why Super Mario RPG was such a hit that it kicked off decades of acclaimed Mario JRPGs. Besides being a novel direction for the platformer franchise, the game was also made by Square, now Square Enix, at the height of its 16-bit RPG popularity. That meant it had comparably good writing, visuals, music, mechanics, and even translation to Square's other hits. Future Mario RPGs carried these strengths on, but they all deviated from Super Mario RPG's more traditional approach. The Mario RPG successors aren't as dominant as they used to be, however, so it may finally be time to give their common ancestor a direct sequel.
Super Mario RPG 2 Could Reinforce The Original's Strengths
Super Mario RPG defined a lot of staples that would return in later Mario RPGs. Aside from high production values, there was an effort to combine turn-based and action mechanics without invoking the Active-Time Battle combat of contemporary Final Fantasy games. The resulting timed hits may have been done better by Mario and Luigi or the Paper Mario games, but Super's remake has incorporated some of their polish, and a true sequel could mark a return to Super Mario RPG's accessible and flexible battle setup.
Not only did gameplay get experimental, but so did the setting. Super Mario RPG marks the biggest departure from the standard Mario aesthetic since Doki Doki Panic was converted into the American Super Mario Bros. 2. Most Super Mario RPG bosses were bizarre creatures just cartoonish enough to fit beside standard Mario characters, and classic Mario races like Toad's incorporated extra flourishes into their designs to stand out.
Even The Thousand-Year Door, which is known for having non-standard takes on Mario characters, didn't reach as far as Super Mario RPG did. Having a direct sequel would allow a new game to tackle Super Mario RPG's freeform approach to representing the Mario universe.
The Path To Another Super Mario RPG Is Clear
It's not like there are any major roadblocks to another Super Mario RPG left. Besides the Thousand-Year Door remake, Mario RPGs are in a slump. After its last few years were spent on a controversial Paper Mario crossover and two remakes, Mario and Luigi's developer AlphaDream declared bankruptcy, leaving the future of its star franchise uncertain. Less dire, but still controversial are the recent Paper Mario games, which have strayed from RPG traditions since 2004's Thousand-Year Door.
A new Super Mario RPG could have the same impact on the expanded Mario RPG family as its predecessor once did. Super Mario RPG 2 could inspire Nintendo to pick other Mario RPG series back up but allow them to revisit the classic JRPG tropes that once inspired them. Nintendo is known for trying to innovate with every new title, but even in the '90s, Super Mario RPG stuck to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. Years later, the world may be ready again for the refreshing simplicity of Super Mario RPG, and a lot of older fans would be happy if Nintendo capitalized on that.
Super Mario RPG will be released on November 17 for the Nintendo Switch.
