A title that was originally released back in 1996 when I was barely 1 years old. The reason I didn’t play it though wasn’t due to my inability to keep my head up and grasp the controller in anyway to touch the buttons. Rather it was never released on PAL regionally so even when I was older, outside of importing the game itself and a Japanese or North American SNES I was unable to play it. We as a community were denied for many a year.
Now, well I say now the remake itself has been out well over a year I’ve only just got round to it. Either way I now have the joy of finally playing this.
The game in terms of plot is a pretty standard Mario affair. Nothing to wrong with this seeing as not many games or characters can boast such a depth of history, or the breadth of the gaming catalogue the tiny moustached plumber has. You start off by rescuing Peach from Bowser, the same old obviously. This is where it changed though when a giant sword descends from the sky and pierces bowsers keep. Where both Peach and Bowser go missing.
You then set forth in search of Peach you run into Mallow, Geno and eventually Princess Peach along with Bowser joining your party.
The party system isn’t particularly revolutionary, you can have two other party members active at one go with Mario being a mainstay. Depending on the combination you have you can perform special moves. Deciding on your battle tactics you can swap out in the throes of battle anyhow allowing you to perform them every couple of battles.
Each character has their own stats that increase in increments up until the level cap of 30. You also get the bonus stat boost of either HP, damage and defence or the choice of Magic attack and defence. This just helps to give a bit of more of a dedicated build to each character. I imagine though if you choose to give everyone extra HP or attack overall it wouldn’t hinder you all that much.
Battle is your standard turn based system. You take it in turn to attack or hit a special move. This can be Marios’ jump, Genos’ magic blast or Peach with healing etc. You can choose to skip a turn for defence or using an item instead. What spices the fighting up is if you hit the A button as the exclamation appears above your characters head. You can inflict critical damage which also has a shock-wave effect injuring the surround enemies. Likewise when they attack you can negate incoming damage. This all helps to build up your special move meter. Which once it’s at 100% allows for the aforementioned special move to be triggered.
As far as I’m aware this game is a pixel to pixel remaster. You also have a choice of the original OST or the new soundtrack. Apart from some name changes and hidden chest locations it’s the same game. The game is bought up-to modern standards. Better or for worse.
The game looks as a good as any top title for the Nintendo does especially a Mario game. It’s no 4k behemoth like Horizon or God of War. This doesn’t need to be that, it’d be kinda strange if it was to be honest. The world is as bright and joyful as you’d expect. Having that very distinct Mario aesthetic that just promotes wonderment. All neatly tied together with the very distinct world that’s carefully been built for decades. As you travel this compact world you’ll come along many familiar faces and locations which make it feel that little bit more alive.
Even with my many interruptions when I play a game this took me around 13 hours. I could’ve shaved potentially 2 off that if if I hadn’t just left my Switch lying around as I did others tasks or paid more attention to the TV etc. It’s very much a chunk game, you can easily run through an area or two in a couple hours and make decent progress. Along with the limited items and buffs you can use or weapons and clothing you equip. Nothing is imminently pertinent to collect. Which is also a shame as adding a few more in would’ve padded out the game that much more helped in stat allocation for team builds. Even post game content is basically just re-doing the boss battles but a slightly tweaked for a different battle experience. Outside of doing personal goals, finding all the hidden chest, collecting all the items which some mini games are required to do. You won’t come across any side quests or much other reason to re-visit any areas. Unless you wanna 100% the bestiary and get all battle data against the enemies. As nothing extra is really required it’s a strange design.
What lets it down is that game is small. The story isn’t long nor that in-depth, neither are any areas you battle your way through. It’s no slog just underwhelming. Now nearly 30 years ago I imagine it’d look far more impressive, especially when compared to some of the juggernauts of today’s rpg ilk. We have been spoiled many times over. Even still it is a neatly packaged and complete game that comes with two difficulties standard easier. Which at least makes for a reason to return for a couple play-throughs. Especially if you want to play first time on standard mode and second on the harder difficultly.
Overall I’d give this game a a deserved 7/10, Positively Tasty.
Don’t get me wrong it’s a very concise and tightly built game. Everything runs smoothly and the game is a joy to play. It’s just too short, not enough of a challenge in the battle, a distinct lack of weapons and clothing to aid in character building. Which is also hampered by the level cap being set to 30. I’d happily play it again but it’s only worth going through a second time if I’d want to play it start to finish again.
Released on Nintendo Switch, November 17th 2023
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