They streamlined the systems so much that they almost don't even resemble RPGs anymore. At least on Paper Mario. Mario & Luigi only got a bad game.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Many want SMRPG2, but what's more likely?
- Thread starter metalmania4evr
- Start date
They streamlined the systems so much that they almost don't even resemble RPGs anymore. At least on Paper Mario. Mario & Luigi only got a bad game.
Are those characters Square or Nintendo property?
The world where they removed experience and levels from Paper Mario.
Renna Hazel
Member
I'd take Paper Mario 3 over Mario RPG2 but either would be welcome.
Captain Europe
Member
M&L is still RPG af, I'd even argue that it needs to dile back and go a different direction, controlling 3 characters in Paper Jam was a pain. And get rid of the gimmicks.
Cell_Biology
Member
Nintendo always wants to add new gimmicks into any new games in a series, sometimes you don't need to change what already works. I would love a Mario RPG like the original on SNES or a Paper Mario like Thousand Year Door without any new mechanics that stray far from the original.
Sorry, I didn't realize I needed to specify Mario "with traditional turn-based battles" RPG.
Unknown Soldier
Member
I don't want a sequel that would just ruin my happy memories of the original. No thanks.
eXistor
Member
I'm cool with Paper Mario. Color Splash was genius and on track to being one of Nintendo's most underrappreciated games. I actually never cared for SMRPG much, that ugly-ass art-style almost killed it for me.
How so? The original will always be the original, no matter what hypothetical sequels would come out.
TheBaldEmperor
Member
I hear you, OP. SMRPG is my favorite of all the Mario RPGs I've played. At this point I will just be happy if we get it playable on Switch someday.
Captain Europe
Member
Colour Splash was amazing, I'd put it right next to TTYD. It deserves another chance on the Switch.
Because the multiple characters had roles. Mallow was the closest thing you got to a black mage, Mario would be knight, with good physical and special attacks, Browser was a Monk, with super string physical and Peach was a healer of sorts. Mario and Luigi primarily does its own thing and the only thing it really borrows is timed hits and over world platforming.
Geno is definitely Square. They were serious about that when the Smash dlc came out.
Yup! Rosalina, Peach, and Daisy as black, white and red mages respectively would be neat too. Since Luigi jumps the highest he could be the Dragoon, and Toad could be the lethal Joke character/theif: pitiful attacks and defenses, but high speed and avoid means he always goes first and rarely gets hit.
I'm kinda sad we won't get this now.
Storm Kyleis
Member
This is such a popular sentiment and it's silly, considering that the key developers behind SMRPG had to leave Square in order to make a sequel. The president of Square founded AlphaDream, the two directors and the composer of SMRPG are still working on Mario & Luigi to this day.
I too wish the M&L series had more creative freedom, but AlphaDream is your best bet for a good Mario RPG.
I too wish the M&L series had more creative freedom, but AlphaDream is your best bet for a good Mario RPG.
Ownership in SMRPG comes down to two things:
1) If Nintendo created it originally, Nintendo owns it
2) If Square created it, Square-Enix owns it
So in this case, both Mallow and Geno are Square-Enix characters. We got full confirmation of that fact back in 2003, when the first Mario & Luigi game released and had the surprise Geno cameo that was credited to Square-Enix in the credits.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Square doesn't even have the talent to help make a smrpg2 anymore.
Mario and Luigi is just getting caught as collateral damage in the not even an RPG anymore discussion because they keep releasing creatively bankrupt rehashes instead of actually advancing the series post Bowser RPG. It's definitely still an RPG.
Does Color Splash get better as it goes on? I was largely enjoying myself up through the first star until I saw that the bosses would all be Koopalings and there was a WHOLE lot of game left and suddenly got fatigued. I'd like to go back to it at some point as I am actually a big fan of Sticker Star as an adventure game but it would be nice to get some motivation that it's not just more of the same repeated across 6 new star locations.
Does Color Splash get better as it goes on? I was largely enjoying myself up through the first star until I saw that the bosses would all be Koopalings and there was a WHOLE lot of game left and suddenly got fatigued. I'd like to go back to it at some point as I am actually a big fan of Sticker Star as an adventure game but it would be nice to get some motivation that it's not just more of the same repeated across 6 new star locations.
Because those people left Square to form their own company and literally made Mario & Luigi RPG 1, 2, 3, 4...
jasminlovesyoux
Banned
If done right, I'd kill for a sequel. But I have no faith in them to get it done properly.
Yeah. This is monkey-paw wishing.
Polioliolio
Member
There are plenty of Mario RPGs these days. The problem is they can't stop sucking.
Paper Mario began pretty neutered compared to SMRPG, all I remember are some 'trait' badges which were a neat idea but damage was usually 1's or 2's, which was a huge step backward from the stat system in SMRPG. Additionally you only ever had Mario and one "helper" party member.
It felt like going from FF4 to Mystic Quest. Like an RPG for morons/babies. (And SMRPG's mechanics were already slightly simpler than its peers)
Bowsers inside story and M+L dream team were both great.
Dream Team was mediocre as hell and Inside Story was released 8 years ago
HeresSomeWeapons
Member
This is a ridiculous argument.
Yoshio Sakamoto worked on Super Metroid and Other M, but nobody would dare claim that Other M is the same as Super Metroid 2.
Green Mamba
Member
SMRPG's stat system is one of the least interesting stat systems in RPGs, Paper Mario's battle and badge systems are comparably much more variable, interesting, and punishing.
Dream Team is questionable at best and Bowser's Inside Story came out nearly a decade ago. Mario RPGs have been mediocre at best for quite some time.
hmmm.
The only thing i'd like on it is maybe 4 party members, Luigi as a party member, higher level cap and just updated graphics to modern sensibilities.
I feel Paper Mario and M&L are decent successors but also have become their own thing, a new SMRPG with more traditional JRPG sensibilites like the original one would be nice to have.
The only thing i'd like on it is maybe 4 party members, Luigi as a party member, higher level cap and just updated graphics to modern sensibilities.
I feel Paper Mario and M&L are decent successors but also have become their own thing, a new SMRPG with more traditional JRPG sensibilites like the original one would be nice to have.
Ryouji Gunblade
Member
If Mario doesn't do over-the-top pantomimes to express situations, then I'll be greatly disappointed.
_42.gif)
This is one of the biggest differences between the RPGs.
This is one of the biggest differences between the RPGs.
Linkstrikesback
Member
There was a great game in there somewhere utterly ruined by the fact that the game still gives you tutorials on everything right up to near the end of the game. And the game goes on 5-10 hours too long. They should just have cut the woods area at the end entirely.
I'll give you that the end is a bit stretched out, but tbh I don't even recall the tutorial stuff. I guess it depends on your mileage with that stuff.
James Scott
Banned
Dream team is Garbo even if you can make some nice gifs from the game
Not sure if you guys were playing the same game. It was great!
ItÂ’s bloated with too much dialogue thatÂ’s not needed. Never finished it since it was such a poor experience.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
The Mario & Luigi series is the continuation of that game, I thought this was obvious
HeresSomeWeapons
Member
Calling it a continuation doesn't make any sense. Other than the fact that both games star Mario, they are completely different. Nothing carries over between the two, except perhaps development resources.
It always infuriates me to see great characters rot behind IP rights.
SE is NEVER going to use Geno or Mallow in any other games.
The only purpose they serve is a bill to charge Nintendo for when Nintendo wants to use them. Otherwise they sit in the closet, never to be seen again.
SE is NEVER going to use Geno or Mallow in any other games.
The only purpose they serve is a bill to charge Nintendo for when Nintendo wants to use them. Otherwise they sit in the closet, never to be seen again.
Colour Splash is amazing, tho.Paper Mario series
I mean, even Sticker Star is still pretty obviously an RPG. Color Splash is also absolutely an RPG, with levels and experience determining your paint amounts and stuff.
To imply they're not RPGs is to either be a bit ignorant, hyperbolic or just plain disingenuous.
TheDinoman
Member
It's still really amazing to me that Sakurai actually legimately thought about putting Geno in Smash Bros. Made a thread about it at the beginning of last year.
For years in the Smash community, Geno sort of became the poster boy for absolutely outrageous and impossible character requests that would never happen...and yet here we have the director actually showing interest in including him. Even if it didn't exactly pan out, it still blew my mind to read that.
Seeing Geno show up as even a Mii Fighter costume is still surreal to me to this day.
HeresSomeWeapons
Member
What? If you were around for the pre-Brawl character speculation, Geno was consistently at the top of fan request lists. And then we got Sonic. And Snake. And now with Smash 4 we have Cloud. In what world is Geno more outrageous and impossible than fucking Cloud?
grandjedi6
Master of the Google Search
1) Continuation and evolvement of the same style, themes and gameplay
2) Developed by AlphaDream, which is comprised of former Super Mario RPG devs
3) the Japanese title (Mario & Luigi RPG) makes it super obvious that the series is a continuation of Super Mario RPG.
TheDinoman
Member
To be fair, Cloud is the main protagonist of one of the biggest and important JRPGs out there, that just so happened to be on a non-Nintendo system. Geno, on the other hand, is a tertiary character from one Mario RPG spinoff from years ago. Pretty big difference, I'd say.
HeresSomeWeapons
Member
But if you actually play it, it's super obvious that it isn't.
Sequels dont have to be carbon copies of the original to be considered a continuation.
It's lightning in a bottle like other posters have said.
but.
If there was a proper sequel or sidestory and I got to make a pitch:
Super Luigi RPG. Same art style/battle system but with Luigi, Daisy, Wart, Wario, Waluigi, Captain Toad, Rosalina, Toadette + something like Croco in a cameo running into Nabbit or E. Gadd and Luigi's Mansion. Tell Luigi's PoV while Mario is off doing Legend of the Seven Stars. The original Mario RPG never gives his whereabouts. There's a hint/cameo but that's it.
but.
If there was a proper sequel or sidestory and I got to make a pitch:
Super Luigi RPG. Same art style/battle system but with Luigi, Daisy, Wart, Wario, Waluigi, Captain Toad, Rosalina, Toadette + something like Croco in a cameo running into Nabbit or E. Gadd and Luigi's Mansion. Tell Luigi's PoV while Mario is off doing Legend of the Seven Stars. The original Mario RPG never gives his whereabouts. There's a hint/cameo but that's it.
grandjedi6
Master of the Google Search
It's the same music, same humor and the same battle system. Do you really need a giant 2 plastered on the title to make it "super obvious"? I'm really not sure what's supposedly so different about the series compared to Super Mario RPG that it can't be considered a successor of it.
HeresSomeWeapons
Member
Ok, well what makes it a sequel if not the characters, story, setting, or gameplay?
According to some people in this thread apparently all you need are the same genre and a few of the same developers.
I'll never understand the love for Mallow and Geno. As someone that played the game later on I don't have the childhood nostalgia goggles I guess, but from a character design standpoint they're ugly as hell. One is a Pinocchio rip-off and the other one is a stay-puft-man knock-off. They're both "we just figured out how to render spheres" era bubble-character designs.