Mario has been taking on grand role playing adventures for over 25 years now, and he has so far amassed more than a dozen of them since its inception. They pretty much all have been turn based, with a party of mostly unique original characters, and timed inputs called “action commands” helping sprucing up combat with engaging quick time events.
It all started with a little known company called Squaresoft. Back in the 90s, they were putting out hit after hit in the RPG space, but they wanted to get more traction in the West. To that end, they directly pitched a collaboration with Nintendo to bring their flagship mascot into the RPG space. [Super Mario RPG](https://youtu.be/oxTKt4kIIgA) came out in the twilight years of the SNES’s life, but its combination of engaging turn based combat, charming humor and writing, and beautiful music by the legendary Yoko Shimomura helped it gain a cult following that lasts to this day. Unfortunately, keeping this game readily available on modern consoles has been a consistent source of frustration, as Square retains many of the rights to the game and any re-releases that do happen end up being an afterthought. Until now…
After Nintendo and Square’s messy divorce shortly after the game’s release, it took 4 whole years for us to get another Mario RPG. For this effort Nintendo partnered with longtime collaborators Intelligent Systems, known for making Fire Emblem and the Wars series, to produce a unique Mario title for the Nintendo 64. Like its SNES big brother, [Paper Mario](https://youtu.be/HskUPFc2DR0) came out towards the end of the console’s life, but it stood out thanks to its wide array of unique playable characters, flexible action command-based combat and progression, and of course its pop-up book artstyle. The Paper Mario series continued to evolve and change over the next 20 years, seeing 5 sequels and decent commercial success regardless of the wild turns and fan reception along the way.
Meanwhile in the handheld space, Nintendo saw the work of a little company called AlphaDream, who notably produced an RPG for the Game Boy Advance called “Tomato Adventure,” and decided to give them the keys to produce a second Mario RPG series. This, combined with several key members of the original SNES game’s staff joining the team, led to the creation of [Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga](https://youtu.be/ml4YnugmKXg) in 2003. This brought in Mario’s cowardly little brother into the fray with dynamic two-person turn based combat, with each brother being designated a specific button. This was probably the best Mario game on the GBA, with many praising its colorful cartoony graphics, strong sense of humor, unique landscapes and scenarios, and toe-tapping score once again provided by Yoko Shimomura. This series went on for 6 more installments, including two remakes, and has maintained a more consistent gameplay foundation than its papercraft older sibling. However, unable to keep up with the changing times, AlphaDream filed for bankruptcy in late 2019 and a new Mario and Luigi game has yet to be announced. It’s truly the end of an era for Mario role playing games.
I personally got into Mario RPGs with the original Superstar Saga on GBA. I never finished it as a kid, but I fell in love with the music, combat, and cartoony aesthetics of it all. I also didn’t know what “balanced stats” meant, so I kept dumping all my bonus points into HP and didn’t spread them out evenly like I probably should have. The first and only Paper Mario game I finished was Super, but it wasn’t until a repeat playthrough many years later where more and more cracks showed up in my eyes. I own the modern Paper Mario trilogy and I have easy access to the N64 game, but I haven’t gotten around to any of them. I also own the two Mario Rabbids games and all 4 Camelot Mario sports RPGs on handhelds, so if you got any of those I’d love to hear it.
by Asad_Farooqui
15 Comments
I have actually only played SMRPG, and didn’t know there were other RPGs. Now I’ve gotta dive in..
Love rpgs. Never played the Mario variants. Will get the Mario rpg remake when it’s on sale.
I’ve only played Superstar Saga and Bowser’s Inside Story and I haven’t completed either of them. They’re fun games, but I found them to be a bit hard. I usually prefer normal platforming Mario games. I haven’t played Super Mario RPG yet, but the remake looks good.
Used to love playing partners in time on my ds. that game was the shit. I loved the story and world building and the tough battles. playing as baby mario nd luigi was lit too. also the visuals are fire. just a great game in general for an even greater system.
Super Star saga was my first as well. It was my favorite game, so cool to see the characters in this light. I remember getting stuck half way and having to buy a strategy guide to figure it out!
I remember scrolling through upcoming releases on Nintendo’s website and I just saw the words “Mario & Luigi 2”. I was beyond exciting, I always hoped for a sequel. Loved PIT as well.
I’ve played all the M&L and Paper Mario games. Love all the earlier stuff and like Paper Jam/Sticker Star/Color Splash enough.
I’ve only played minutes of Super Mario RPG so looking forward to giving it a full playthrough.
I always imagined what a M&L home console game would look like, sad we never got there 🙁
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is one of my favorite games of all time.
Mario RPG and Paper Mario are also fantastic.
I started with Mario and Luigi superstar saga when i was little then paper Mario the thousand year door. After that i played all the rest. I didn’t actually know about super Mario rpg until a bit later on
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was my first Mario RPG. I’ve since played all the Mario and Luigi games and all the Paper Mario games except the original and Color Splash. I’ve really enjoyed most of them but a few (Sticker Star and Dream Team to name a couple) really dragged near the end. My favorite was Bowser’s Inside Story, mainly because I love Bowser and getting to play as him was great.
Really looking forward to the SMRPG remake to see how it all began.
Tried Super Mario RPG when I was like… 6, I was too stupid to understand it so I didn’t get much further.
A friend at School in fourth grade lent me Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga and I got obsessed over it. I absolutely loved it.
A few years later I got another person in school to trade games and I managed to play Partners in Time. I didn’t love it as much as SSS but I also breezed through it in a few days.
Bought Paper Mario for the Wii Virtual Console and I breezed through the game in a few days, I loved its story, charm and originality.
That got me to replay Super Mario RPG, now being able to read and understand everything, it easily became one of my favorite games. A little too easy though, I don’t put it above SSS and PM.
Got Bowser’s Inside Story in launch date and it became my second favorite in the series. An absolute classic that made Bowser a real character in my eyes.
Got Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door with the box, manual and everything in a Garage Sale for $10. I played on my Wii. It’s a great game however I slightly prefer PM64 due to the better level design. TTYD had too many straight paths and backtracking, although narrative and battles are indeed better.
I got Super Paper Mario used in a game store for $20. It was different from the other two games and the gameplay was flawed. The great story and themes made the game a delight to play though.
Also got Dream Team on launch date. This game was long… even though I played it non-stop I think it took me like a 2 weeks to finish it. That makes me afraid to replay it since, loved the game though. It felt like the last time we had a very creative Mario game until Wonder’s announcement.
Got Paper Mario Sticker Star on launch date, I was so hyped…. then it became one of the most miserable experiences I have had with a videogame. What an absolute pile of trash. Who greenlighted this? It ended my history with Paper Mario. I watched the trailers of Color Splash and I dipped out immediately. Same with Origami King. Not repeating the same mistake twice.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam looked so… bland and boring. It reminded me of Sticker Star which is a no no. I ended up getting it during an E3 sale though and I enjoyed playing it. There’s basically **no story and originality what-so-ever** (What a waste of a crossover) but the gameplay carries hard. So I finished it and I would play it again even.
I was interested in the M&L remakes but when I noticed the blandification of many characters and how I was getting tired of the DT graphical style, I decided to skip them and stick to the originals (Seeing the sales I suppose many people thought the same).
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle looked interesting but I was on the fence due to Ubisoft’s track record. I got the Gold Edition for a sweet $20 (Thanks Ubisoft) and I got 100% in both Mario and DK Adventure. It felt like the fresh air I needed for Mario after so many mediocre Spin Off games.
I got Sparks of Hope on launch date. Whether it’s better than KB or not is debatable. I think it improves on some things (Characters, exploration, customization) but all of that and dumbing down enemies destroyed the balance. So this game is piss easy. Willing to go back to it when Rayman DLC releases.
My grandma owned a SNES and Mario RPG when i was really little. I remember being shocked Bowser was a character and didnt know who this Mallow guy was. Then I owned Paper Mario 64 as a kid but mostly watched my dad play it, he even beat it. One of those games he really latched to. I got MLSSS as like the 4th game I ever owned on my SP without having any idea to it’s connection to Paper Mario and adored the game, still one of my all time favorites. Then I got PMTTYD and its probably my second favorite game after Banjo Kazooie
I remember when Super Mario RPG first came out and the news it made in the gaming magazine community. My experience with the genre at the time were the first two Legend of Zelda games and Dragon Warrior (free with Nintendo Power subscription.) I loved Super Mario RPG and spent a lot of time playing it.
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga was the first game I bought the first time I bought a Gameboy Advance SP. I enjoyed the game, but put it down when I beat it.
I played Paper Mario through other means, but came to enjoy the story of Super Paper Mario.
The Thousand Year Door is my favorite video game (see my username), and somehow holds up or gets better every time I play it!
Paper Mario 64 and Super Mario RPG are top tier games.
I remember enjoying the first two Mario & Luigi games, but I haven’t played them since they were new.
Heck, I even enjoyed Super Paper Mario.
I’m really hoping that the Super Mario RPG remake leads to more remakes or new turn-based RPG games.
Would always get Paper Mario n64 from blockbuster, I was too little to fully grasp how to navigate a game such as this nor was I ever able to progress the story, but I’ve always enjoyed it. It was not until it came out on Wii virtual console when I was able to beat it from start to finish. I have much stronger memories with TTYD however. I remember playing the demo on one of those GameCube set ups at a target. And then getting the game itself for my birthday. When I was near the end, that was the very first time I stayed up all night. I beat TTYD just as the sky was turning blue!
Started with Paper Mario 64 (which is probably my overall favourite). Played The Thousand Year Door and loved that one as well. Enjoyed Super Paper Mario, although I never did finish it, and it was more platformer than RPG.
Beat the original Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga playing co-op with my brother. We used the Gameboy player on GameCube and each used a separate controller where one of us would hit A for Mario’s attacks and the other would use B for Luigi, and it was a TON of fun. Co-op actually works really well for that kind of button timing battle system where each person controls a separate character.
Tried Super Mario RPG on the Wii virtual console and after two hours it just didn’t hook me. Didn’t play any of the other Mario & Luigi titles after the first one. Played Paper Mario Stick Star and was very disappointed by it, as the game design made the battles completely arbitrary. I haven’t gone back to the Paper Mario series since then.
Honestly, while it’s a tactical RPG, I feel Mario × Rabbids Kingdom Battle deserves a shoutout. I was very pleasantly surprised by that game, it’s a great XCOM-lite, whose only fault is that it might be a little too difficult for some of the younger members of it’s target audience. Have not tried Spark of Hope yet, although I have heard it is also good.
I’ve loved SMRPG for a long time (25 years) and never even knew it was by Squaresoft!