Topic: Super Mario RPG Finally Hits the Virtual Console...in Europe

[KDR_11k]

Well, Sonic at least has a consistent supporting cast. Who would you draft as a party for Metroid? Some new bounty hunters noone cares about? Do you introduce some new evil and make Samus fight together with the space pirates so you get Kraid, Ridley and the mother brain as your party members?

[NWR_Neal]

Well, Sonic at least has a consistent supporting cast. Who would you draft as a party for Metroid? Some new bounty hunters noone cares about? Do you introduce some new evil and make Samus fight together with the space pirates so you get Kraid, Ridley and the mother brain as your party members?

Kirby has a consistent supporting cast.
Metroid as an RPG wouldn't work because of the solitary nature. Well, at least a conventional RPG.

[Halbred]

I like Mallow for his cheap multi-enemy strikes, like the Lightning Storm. It's actually pretty decent later in the game, especially if you hit the A button right after the last bolt hits the ground. Overall, I found Geno pretty unreliable. My party generally consisted of Mario, Peach, and Bowser.

I had the player's guide back when SMRPG first hit stores, and I gotta tell you--it's one of the most error-ridden player's guides out there. If has a section dedicated to where all the hidden treasure chests are, but a few chests are accidentally repeated. So out of, say, 50 chests, you only find out where 48 or 49 are. :-( Also, there was an enemy list with HP, SP, weakness tables, etc., and more than half the time, SOMETHING was wrong. I remember distinctly that according to the guide, Mack's weakness is fire. It turns out that's totally wrong--he's strong against fire (he uses fire attacks) but weak against Jump.

[NWR_Neal]

I like Mallow for his cheap multi-enemy strikes, like the Lightning Storm. It's actually pretty decent later in the game, especially if you hit the A button right after the last bolt hits the ground. Overall, I found Geno pretty unreliable. My party generally consisted of Mario, Peach, and Bowser.

I had the player's guide back when SMRPG first hit stores, and I gotta tell you--it's one of the most error-ridden player's guides out there. If has a section dedicated to where all the hidden treasure chests are, but a few chests are accidentally repeated. So out of, say, 50 chests, you only find out where 48 or 49 are. :-( Also, there was an enemy list with HP, SP, weakness tables, etc., and more than half the time, SOMETHING was wrong. I remember distinctly that according to the guide, Mack's weakness is fire. It turns out that's totally wrong--he's strong against fire (he uses fire attacks) but weak against Jump.

Mario, Peach and Bowser would always be my final party.
My friend and I had that same strategy guide and I remember correcting the errors with pen. That strategy guides now lies in tatters somewhere with two 9-year old's scribbles all over it.

[UltimatePartyBear]

I never bought this game because I rented it for one weekend and beat it, so I didn't think it was worth full price.  It's just too bad I never once saw it for less than $60.  I was severely underleveled for the final boss, but I had Mario's best armor (and weapon, for that matter), so Smithy could barely even hurt him even though I couldn't keep the other characters alive.  Winning was just a matter of patience.  I think I beat Culex the same way.

[Ian Sane]

Everyone's party eventually becomes Mario, Peach and Bowser.

You have to have Mario.
Peach is the only healer.
Due to everyone sharing FP you want to save it for Peach.  So you need to rely on physical attacks and Bowser has the strongest attacks.

[NWR_insanolord]

Everyone's party eventually becomes Mario, Peach and Bowser.

You have to have Mario.
Peach is the only healer.
Due to everyone sharing FP you want to save it for Peach.  So you need to rely on physical attacks and Bowser has the strongest attacks.

To me that sounds like a flaw in the game's design, where technically you have options but all the options except one don't work, but I'm sure someone here will find a way to twist it into a reason SMRPG is better than Paper Mario.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Everyone's party eventually becomes Mario, Peach and Bowser.

You have to have Mario.
Peach is the only healer.
Due to everyone sharing FP you want to save it for Peach.  So you need to rely on physical attacks and Bowser has the strongest attacks.

To me that sounds like a flaw in the game's design, where technically you have options but all the options except one don't work, but I'm sure someone here will find a way to twist it into a reason SMRPG is better than Paper Mario.

Pretty much every RPG has that problem, at least in the style of Mario RPG where you have a big party. It is kind of like most of the fighters out there where everything is not as balanced as it should be.

[Ian Sane]

To me that sounds like a flaw in the game's design, where technically you have options but all the options except one don't work, but I'm sure someone here will find a way to twist it into a reason SMRPG is better than Paper Mario.

I won't.  It's a flaw in the design, outright.  It's a great game but it isn't perfect.

Though note that the ideal party configuration everyone uses involves the three Nintendo characters.  Conspiracy on the part of Nintendo perhaps?

[Armak88]

Bah, I came home too late to argue with GP about arguing with my post! So let's do a drive by on the stuff that was posted since I read this last.

About comparing MRPG and PM: At what point do games get similar enough that we are "allowed" to compare them. I think that the problem that you see in this is in trying to discern whether or not one is better than the other, which was never what I was advocating. As a matter of fact, it is the differences in the games that make games worth comparing at all. You could very easily compare metroid prime to halo, but to do so with the goal of proving one is better than the other would be foolish. What we can learn is what mechanics work or don't work for the genre and the intended purpose of the game. You don't necessarily need to compare games to do that, but it can provide some insight that is worth while.

About the strategy guide: I've never really been one to use strategy guides (except the first time I played earthbound, but that was because it came with it and was masterfully written). I do remember my friend having the guide and I think I showed him more hidden chests than he showed me. My favourite was the invisible chest in the sunken ship in the room with the fake mario that mirrors your moves, where you have to fake him out, jump on his head, then from his head onto the visible chest floating in the middle then you jump again to hit the invisible chest..... good stuff.

Now the the topic at hand: The only character I didn't use very much was mallow. Any other party combination is workable with the proper items supplementing them, though balance is weighted heavily in favour of the mario bowser peach combo.

[Halbred]

See, you put the Lazy Shell armor on Peach so that she's never in danger of actually being hurt, but give the Lazy Shell weapon to Mario, whose attack stat then matches or exceeds Bowser's.