How similar is the Super Mario RPG remake to the original?

[Jotari]

Super Mario RPG is a fun game. It's filled to the brim with charm, and although, for the most part, it's pretty easy, it manages to avoid being mindless due to the timed hit system. I've played it, enjoyed it and now they've made a remake. But the trailers don't entice me that much. Because it looks like they've made the exact same game only with different visuals. Is the trailer just really trying to cash in on nostalgia by showing familiar stuff? Or is the game basically the same? Because Super Mario RPG is absolutely fine as a SNES game, it has no control issues at all and, as a believer that 3D has no inherent superiority to 2D sprites, I think it still looks fine as it is too. So have you played the remake and what do you think?

And he's, I know I can probably find this I fo by just googling it because I am undoubtedly not the first person to wonder this, but I actually like you people and would prefer to be informed by you than random internet articles that take way too long getting to the point.

And, uh, despite saying I wasn't going to Google it, I decided to not make a fool of myself, to look up to see if the game has actually been released yet and I see it won't come out until tomorrow. So, yeah, good job me there on nit making myself look like a fool 😂. Oh well I'm going to post anyway as some of you might have access to better prerelease information and if anyone can play it then the thread can serve as a sort of expectations vs reality of it.

[henrymidfields]

This seems to have all of the info, there are some minor differences, such as name standardizations (some of the enemy names are either direct transliteration of Japanese or completely different names in the original) and there are some additional gameplay features and graphic/audio upgrades. Storywise, there doesn't seem to be any difference:

Super Mario RPG (Nintendo Switch) - Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia

Unless if Japanese or English isn't your first language and the the newly introduced remake is indeed your first language, you're not going to miss much tbh; for reference, I won't be getting the game.

Edited November 16, 2023 by henrymidfields

[Jotari]

34 minutes ago, henrymidfields said:

This seems to have all of the info, there are some minor differences, such as name standardizations (some of the enemy names are either direct transliteration of Japanese or completely different names in the original) and there are some additional gameplay features and graphic/audio upgrades. Storywise, there doesn't seem to be any difference:

Super Mario RPG (Nintendo Switch) - Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia

Unless if Japanese or English isn't your first language and the the newly introduced remake is indeed your first language, you're not going to miss much tbh; for reference, I won't be getting the game.

Hmm. That's what I was afraid of. Well, I still hope the game does well, as it'd be nice if they released a sequel on the same engine, as I would play another game in the same style. Though, I also expected them to use the Switch Link's Awakening engine again and have been sadly disappointed. Why didn't they remake the Oracle games on that Engine? Even if they didn't change much at all, a combined remake of them would immediately become the definitive version of the game as it could be done without the clunky password system and instead have a more seamlessly integrated linked game.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

No control issues? Yeah that's what everyone thinks until they get to Pipe Vault's platforming sequences. Even SMRPG speedrunners occasionally flub the tight enemy dodges outside of battle, and these are the same guys that do 100 frame perfect Super Jumps while looking away from the screen, talking to twitch chat.

Anyway I will be playing the remake, but I'm not focused on whether it surpasses the original. I just want to play a comfy, nostalgic game artfully reimagined. If it captures 100% of what made the original game great, then it's a success. If there's any area I'm worried about, it's the re-translation. Ted Woolsey is the grand storyteller of SMRPG. He gave voice to every one of those characters. Wrote those goofy item descriptions. There's going to be an opportunity to fix his mistakes. Should we call Koopas Koopas instead of noko nokos? That's a deep philosophical question that would force me to quit if I were hired onto this remake.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Zapp Branniglenn

[Etrurian emperor]

Gameplay wise I hope Bowser gets a bit of an up. Despite being the best character he was apparently kinda bad in the original game. 

[Jotari]

57 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Gameplay wise I hope Bowser gets a bit of an up. Despite being the best character he was apparently kinda bad in the original game. 

Was he? I used to always field Mario, Peach and Bowser. Though maybe I was doing that more for favouritism than for practicality. Still, as I said, an easy enough game one way or the other. One thing that was very interesting is that the MP (or FP as they style it) isn't character based but shared collectively by your entire party. Pretty weird. I've never seen an RPG work that way, though such a method is common in table top board games.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Okay so the Remake is pretty straightforward in its recreation of the original game. The game was retranslated yet includes all the Woolseyisms we know and love. It's mostly the enemy names that were updated. Koopas are now called koopas. Shyster was changed to not sound like a 1930s slur. The main area in which the remake improves upon is Conveyance.

I think many veteran players are going to "discover" a lot of things that were always the case in the original. For instance, the perfect block. If your guard timing is perfect, as opposed to "good enough", all damage is reduced down to 0 no matter how strong it was. This is on every attack, unless it's designated to not be guardable. Which brings us to conveyance update #2, moves that can't be guarded will tell you by saying (Can't Block) underneath their name. Hitting an elemental weakness also tells you in big bolded letters. Mallow's Thought Peek (called "Psycopath in the original) will newly reveal the enemy's elemental and status weaknesses. In the original game, these details were all something you needed to "feel out" for yourself like most RPGs of its era. I would know Mario's Jump does a lot of damage to an enemy, but not whether they were simply Weak to the "Jump" Element, or if they just have no magic defense. Now I do know. It's also apparent whether a status ailment (like Bowser's Terrorize) worked on an enemy.

 

[Jotari]

55 minutes ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Okay so the Remake is pretty straightforward in its recreation of the original game. The game was retranslated yet includes all the Woolseyisms we know and love. It's mostly the enemy names that were updated. Koopas are now called koopas. Shyster was changed to not sound like a 1930s slur. The main area in which the remake improves upon is Conveyance.

I think many veteran players are going to "discover" a lot of things that were always the case in the original. For instance, the perfect block. If your guard timing is perfect, as opposed to "good enough", all damage is reduced down to 0 no matter how strong it was. This is on every attack, unless it's designated to not be guardable. Which brings us to conveyance update #2, moves that can't be guarded will tell you by saying (Can't Block) underneath their name. Hitting an elemental weakness also tells you in big bolded letters. Mallow's Thought Peek (called "Psycopath in the original) will newly reveal the enemy's elemental and status weaknesses. In the original game, these details were all something you needed to "feel out" for yourself like most RPGs of its era. I would know Mario's Jump does a lot of damage to an enemy, but not whether they were simply Weak to the "Jump" Element, or if they just have no magic defense. Now I do know. It's also apparent whether a status ailment (like Bowser's Terrorize) worked on an enemy.

 

All sound like useful and worth while additions to the game. Though I still don't think  I'll actually purchase it.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

All sound like useful and worth while additions to the game. Though I still don't think  I'll actually purchase it.

Yeah if you have ready access to the original, then I think the best argument for this version is it's playable on a handheld system. And it's more pick up and play than ever with it autosaving on every screen transition. But I'm pleased with the idea of people experiencing SMRPG first on this version. Couldn't say that about modern Nintendo or Square remakes. I skimmed the changes with the pixel remasters and it was a lot of unnecessary gutting and homogenizing of the original games' systems. Leave the bugs alone, they add character. Or at least keep them in as a separate "Original" mode.

[Zanarkin]

This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but as a new player to the game, I really wish they had changed a few things. Some of the specific game interactions feel kinda clunky. I kinda wish there had been some option to make them less awkward. Like the bashing of the door. I spent so long trying to time it with the shifster, and even when I though it was quite in sync, the game begged to differ (or i was a pixel away from the door). It didn't help that the shifster's queue was a little too fast and not enough time given to prepare for it. Bowser's snaps were better in this regard imo.

Also, the bean stalk jumping... I'm pretty sure this beanstalk i'm trying is optional, but god damn it Mario keeps touching it, and then slides right off. It seems the jump is calculated so that you have to be very precise when you let go of the directional button, other wise you will fall. But this just seems like bad design because it is difficult enough to make the jump anyway. The shadows in theory help with lining up the jumps, but these particular beanstalks are so far up you can't see the damn cloud. So so much for that.

 

THERE WAS A SECRET BLOCK I FEEL SO DUMB ALTHOUGH SECRET BLOCKS AND TREASURES ARE ALSO ANNOYING. Seriously, i wish the sensor had a rumble feature or something. Maybe that would make it too easy, but i honestly would prefer it over having to look it up or spend 5 minutes jumping over every single tile in the room.

Edit: and of course there is such a device to find hidden chests more easily lol. Although you get it quite late... I only have 1 chest left to find and I just go the device lol

Although I have had a few gripes with small things like the above, I am enjoying the rest of the game though. Thankfully the frustrating things are not as common at least.

I hate the jumping challenge to reach 100... ;_;

Edited November 24, 2023 by Zanarkin