For a long time, the Super Mario family of games has found surprising success in the field of RPGs. The RPG genre is pretty far from the core platforming fare of Super Mario, but the stories and adventures made possible by the colorful Mushroom Kingdom mean Super Mario RPGs actually work pretty well. For many years, Nintendo produced the Mario and Luigi line of JRPGs, as well as Paper Mario, letting Mario fans get a taste of turn-based action. Long before those franchises came to be, though, there was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the SNES title that first brought RPG mechanics to the Super Mario franchise.
It's been a long time since Super Mario RPG came out, and it remains an acclaimed title with tons of fans. While it hasn't received a sequel, it has lived on through other Mario RPGs. Unfortunately, these Mario franchises have fallen by the wayside or dropped many of their RPG elements, raising questions about the genre's future in the Mario brand. Nintendo may already have the perfect solution, however; Super Mario RPG's director Chihiro Fujioka says he'd like to develop a sequel to the game. A true Super Mario RPG sequel seems like the perfect way to restore RPG play to Super Mario while supporting the Switch in its later years.
The Need for a Super Mario RPG Sequel
For many years, Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario have carried the RPG mantle for the Super Mario brand, but times have changed. Mario and Luigi developer AlphaDream declared bankruptcy in 2019 due to poor revenue after some games got lukewarm receptions. Without AlphaDream, there's no clear developer for Mario and Luigi games, meaning the series is dormant for now. Paper Mario is still going strong, as evidenced by 2020's Paper Mario: The Origami King, but the series has vastly trimmed down its RPG aspects, opting for a more action-adventure model. Without these two franchises filling the space, Nintendo has a major untapped market of Mario RPG fans on its hands.
The long-term status of the Switch also creates some need for a Super Mario RPG sequel. Even though the Switch is more than five years old now, Nintendo says that it wants to keep working with the Switch for a few more years, meaning it needs to produce some highly compelling games to make up for the technological gap that's opening up between itself and its competitors at Microsoft and Sony. Something as nostalgic as a Super Mario RPG sequel sounds like a perfect game to join the Switch lineup in the console's late years.
Preparing for Super Mario RPG 2
Super Mario RPG may be over 25 years old, but thanks to the Switch, it can still be a very relevant game. Nintendo Switch Online's library of NES and SNES games is crucial to the Switch's overall lineup. Super Mario RPG hasn't joined that library yet, but if Nintendo decides to start making a sequel, it could add Super Mario RPG to NSO to generate interest among both young Mario fans and nostalgic fans from the SNES era. With the first game available in that way, anyone could enjoy Super Mario RPG 2.
For now, Super Mario fans will just have to wait and see if Nintendo decides to act on Chihiro Fujioka's hopes. The original game clearly still has its fans, considering how many people still adamantly love Geno, but it's hard to say who exactly would develop the sequel, aside from Fujioka. Nintendo doesn't generally develop RPGs internally. It's possible that Nintendo would team up with Square Enix again to make Super Mario RPG 2, or maybe it would try to hire previous AlphaDream developers to make the game. Regardless of Nintendo's approach, though, adding Fujioka's interest and lasting fan enthusiasm to the state of the Switch and Mario RPGs makes it clear that Super Mario RPG 2 is a game worth making.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars released in 1996 for the SNES.
