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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Am I alone in thinking Super Mario RPG is inferior to other Mario RPGs?

MaxwellGT2000 on 20 June 2009

To me personally I like the Paper Mario series better then Super Mario RPG, I have fond memories of Super Mario RPG and used to I would have said it was better then Mario & Luigi but going back not long ago and playing it again I'd give my vote to Mario & Luigi now for the battle mechanics and better writing.



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mike_intellivision on 20 June 2009
d21lewis said:
It's a testament to the quality of the series. All of the games are awesome. The fact that Super Mario RPG came out in 1995 and we are comparing it to the latest Wii/DS games says a lot, though.

This says a lot.  They are all worth playing.

I played Chrono Trigger and SM-RPG back-to-back as my first two RPG experinces.  Then people told me how good Final Fantasy was. I tried it and went -- what's up with these random battles. The person responded it has a great story. I said I don't care about a great story if you can't play it.

So my point is that SMPRG and Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi are all better than Final Fantasy -- in my opinion. And that's good enough for me.

 

Mike from Morgantown

 

PS -- Notice I did not say they were better than Chrono Trigger.



      


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Kasz216 on 20 June 2009
Cheebee said:
Kasz216 said:
Cheebee said:

Yeah, basically the later games are all vastly superior, it's just that, well, SMRPG was the first Mario RPG. People get blinded by nostalgia and tend to look at the game through rose-tinted glasses. Sure it's a great game, but the later ones are just, well, better. I think most evryone would agree if they were to look at each game objectively and unbiased. Though everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course.

Did the later ones have Geno?

I think not.

Ok.  I didn't really love Geno... but a lot of people did for some reason.  Why no one every made a second game with him i'll never know.

Anyway.  I dunno.  Super Mario RPG i think really did the best job of combining RPG with Mario.  The rest have been good... but not been quite as RPGish to me.

Whether a certain game did a better job than another one of incorporating RPG elements into its gameplay is totally irrelevant as to which is the better overall game. Doesn't have anything to do with anything. :p More or less RPG elements do not make it a better or worse game.

Zelda II did a better job of including RPG elements into the game than OOT did, but no-one will claim it's a better game. No-one who isn't trolling around anyway.

Still, everyone can have his or her own opinion. ;)

 

Oh, and Geno was just awkward. I mean, people who say Tingle is weird obviously haven't seen Geno.

It does to me... I like RPGs better.

 



Games4Fun on 21 June 2009

I like the Paper Marios and the Gameboy Mario rpgs but I loved Mario RPG and hope one day they will team up agian and make another.  HEY I SAID DREAM!



Monteblanco on 21 June 2009

I only got a chance to play the Mario rpgs with the Wii. As such, nostalgia doesn't really matters to me. They are all great games, but I think the three Paper Marios are better written than Super Mario RPG and, to me, this makes all the difference.



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Soleron on 21 June 2009

I agree with you. I don't like the handheld ones (too easy and repetitive) but I do think the first two Paper Marios are better because they aren't trying to be Final Fantasy dumbed down. And Paper Mario makes much more use of platformer/puzzle elements.



theRepublic on 21 June 2009

I'll put in my vote for Super Mario RPG. One of my favorite Mario games of all-time.



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Steroid on 21 June 2009

I agree with you.



Mise on 21 June 2009
Kasz216 said:
Cheebee said:

Yeah, basically the later games are all vastly superior, it's just that, well, SMRPG was the first Mario RPG. People get blinded by nostalgia and tend to look at the game through rose-tinted glasses. Sure it's a great game, but the later ones are just, well, better. I think most evryone would agree if they were to look at each game objectively and unbiased. Though everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course.

Did the later ones have Geno?

I think not.

Ok.  I didn't really love Geno... but a lot of people did for some reason.  Why no one every made a second game with him i'll never know.

Anyway.  I dunno.  Super Mario RPG i think really did the best job of combining RPG with Mario.  The rest have been good... but not been quite as RPGish to me.

 

 

Square-Enix owns the rights to Geno, as well as all other original characters in the game like Mallow. Geno has a cameo in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Alphadream/Nintendo had to get a separate license to use him in the game.

So unless Squeenix and Nintendo can come up with a some kind of agreement, don't expect to see Geno again - Squeenix has probably forgotten the character anyway.

As for the topic: I actually prefer Super Paper Mario over most of the other RPG's - just because of the Nerd Chapter.



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Words Of Wisdom on 21 June 2009

It's difficult to explain but I'm going to try.

Paper Mario games have good and hilarious writing but bad stories.  They're bad at tying events together and bad at developing characters.  Essentially they're Mario games with RPG elements more-so than they are RPGs with Mario.  

For some this is fine.  A Mario game with some RPG elements is all a lot of people ask for.  However, some want more.  For example, some people don't just want a dialog heavy Mario game, some want an actual RPG that tells a coherent story that involves the characters.  Compare the character development of Flurrie of Paper Mario TTYD with the character development of Mallow (SMRPG) with the character development of Almaz von Almandine Adamant (Disgaea 3) and see what you get.  Flurrie gets almost no development and Almaz gets a crapload.  As for Mallow, he's closer to Almaz.  Mallow actually changed a lot over the course of the story going from a crying little puff who didn't know where he came from to a strong companion of Mario who learned where he came from and resolved to continue on his journey with Mario to save the world.  Mallow wasn't just there taking up space, he was part of the story.  Flurrie wasn't really integral to anything really.  She was there for her little area where you get her and then she just got shuttled around with Mario for the rest of the game.  Heck, Flurrie has more in common with Mario's hammer than Mallow in terms of character involvement in the story.

People can hem and haw all day long around the subject but if you shove opinions out the window and examine each game critically, you'll notice that the Paper Mario games had shortcomings you won't find in Super Mario RPG such as the one I just pointed out.