As we know Super Mario RPG is a remaster of Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars which was released for the SNES back in the 90s. Unfortunately for me I wasn’t able to get an SNES back in the day so this was a game that I missed out on and spent decades hearing about how it was such an amazing experience. Now that the remaster is available for the Nintendo Switch I am finally able to experience this for the first time. The story stars Mario who is on a quest to save Princess Peach from Bowser when a mysterious third party shows up and disrupts the fight causing everyone to scatter. In order to stop this third party Mario searches for Peach and fights alongside newcomers Mallow and Genos to stop this new threat.

So for the story it’s interesting. It’s not nearly as detailed as I would expect from the RPGs I’m used to but I came into this expecting as much given the crossover with Mario. I feel like the story is rather straightforward where it’s about collecting the seven stars which will ultimately undo all of the bad stuff happening in the game and save the world. That’s actually fine because it’s not the overall story that makes this game so engaging but the individual moments between the characters. I find all of our familiar characters have a lot more personality to them than I’m used to seeing in the mainline Mario games and it was a very welcome change as there was a lot of charm here. The dialogue is humorous relying on well timed skits as well as hilarious banter going back and forth between the characters. Newcomers Genos and Mallow add an interesting dynamic that really creates a pleasant experience. I honestly wish there were more moments where we got to see them interact in the story because every time we had scenes where the characters were talking it almost always resulted in something memorable and the charm was so compelling that I couldn’t help but smile at a lot of the moments, moments that I expected to be too corny to be hilarious were done in such a masterful way that I found myself laughing at them. However, there in lies the one flaw of this game and that’s it’s length. While it does tell a good story from start to finish and I am very happy with the experience I got it was also rather short. I think it took me nine or 10 hours to beat the main story and I was left wanting more.

The gameplay was a lot of fun. It is your traditional turn based combat that we see in games like Pokemon, Golden Sun and more but there is a twist to this. During your attacks if you time the A button right they will do additional damage and during your enemies attacks a well timed A button blocks most of their attacks. It’s an interesting concept that helps make this combat stand out from a lot of other RPGs and it kept me engaged the entire time because I had to make sure I was focused to get my timing right. While I did enjoy this concept the fact that the timing is changing constantly as you change to different enemies and weapons made it to where it was hard to really keep time with everything and I was actually reluctant to change weapons to a better one when the one I had equipped I already had the timing mastered so until I got the hang of the new weapon I actually ended up doing less damage with it. It’s a fun concept but not one that I loved.

Overall I can see why everyone loved this game so much. The character interactions make for a very charming experience and while it was short it was a game I stayed glued to from start to finish because of that. The combat is nothing special but unique and engaging, though not perfect. I can honestly see why so many people want Geno for Super Smash Brothers and you can now add me to that list. With that being said I am glad I got this game on sale. As great as this game is I don’t know if it’s a $60 experience when it’s as short as it is. I wound up getting this for 20% off which to me feels like a more justifiable price point for it. Also looking at this I also pondered if I would buy this game if I went into it already played the original and in this case I wouldn’t. While the game is absolutely incredible the best part of the game is going into it blind and seeing the charm in how these characters interact with each other for the first time, but outside of that charm the game is one that does all of the elements of a typical RPG well but not outstanding. If you’ve played the original I can see this being a pass and even then with the amount of content it has I strongly encourage waiting for some kind of deal but with that being said if you can get a good deal on it you’re in for a short but unforgettable experience.