In regards to Booster...back when the game first came out, I had just always assumed that Booster was some sort of weird alternate-version of Wario; it does seem odd, as others have mentioned, that they used an entirely new character. I would normally agree with the argument that Nintendo wouldn't like having Wario "sexed-up" at the time (since Nintendo was almost infamous for their censorship back in the 90s), then I remembered that the game has a couple of minor instances of suggestive humor regarding Peach. I remembered finding the
Princess Toadstool's ? ? ? item near the fireplace at the castle. Given that the original item in Japan was called Peach's XXX, I find it odd that NOA chose to leave it in at all, given how protective they have traditionally been over their characters!
As a side note,
given Miyamoto's reference to Princess Peach as a "glutton" last year, he doesn't seem to hold her morality or ethics in very high regard! Perhaps Peach is the Marie Antoinette of the Mushroom Kingdom. (A Mario RPG based on the French Revolution would be awesome, come to think of it!
)
Anyway, Count me in among those who love this game unreservedly. Yes, some of the game mechanics are dated, and yes, the graphics don't really look all that pretty anymore, but this game still has a lot of charm. The music is top-notch, the characters are memorable, and the settings are very diverse and sort of have that story book, fantasy property that is both true to the Mario universe and is fun to play around in. One of my greatest complaints about some of the later Mario RPGs was that some of the towns weren't very visually interesting...I hated the bland towns and NPCs in Super Paper Mario. Anyway, that's not the case here. Each town and game area has a very unique feel.
I think the writing is very impressive considering that most translations for RPGs or other text-heavy games really had a mixed bag of results throughout the 90s. This is hands-down one of the better writing and translation efforts for the time. Looking back now, some of the goofy, offbeat, slapstick humor that was so present in sections of Final Fantasy V and VI are very pervasive in this game as well; fortunately, it never reaches the over-the-top melodrama silliness of a typical Final Fantasy plot.
Just a few more quick observations:
- The parade at the end of the game is awesome, especially when it transitions to nighttime. The music and the lights against the background of Peach's castle remind me of the light parades at Disney World.
See video at 8:35 or so...- I think that part of what makes Geno so popular is that his fate in the end of the game is bittersweet, especially for a Mario game. He accomplished his task, and he has to leave his new friends.
- Maybe I'm in the minority, but I never disliked Mallow. Early on in the game, he serves well as the character that delivers exposition to the player, since Mario doesn't talk during the game.
- I love Mario as a mime; it cracks me up when he acts out past events in the game. I love that they've kept variations of that element of the other Mario RPG series.
- I Still love the Axem Rangers joke. As someone who was annoyed with the Power Rangers phenomenon in the 90s, I thought this was a nice parody.
- No Luigi makes me a sad panda. I wish that he could have been at least a temporary party member, an NPC or a supporting character with a bigger role.
- Always loved Super Mario 2/USA. I wish that Wart could have made a cameo in the game, especially since the Shyguys and Snifits came to the party in Booster's Tower.
- I always thought that Valentina's in-game sprite was TERRIBLE. I never could exactly tell what she was supposed to actually be! I always wondered if she was actually some sort of weird, well-endowed mutant bird lady. A look at the Mario Wiki shows that she was just wearing a parrot on her head. Weird.
http://www.mariowiki.com/Valentina
Topic: RetroActive #11 Discussion: Super Mario RPG (Read 50752 times)
