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[DDayton]

"Good for the time" is a free pass that needs to die. Father Knows Best was a great sitcom for the time. Would you rather watch that than Arrested Development?

Have you watched many episodes of Father Knows Best? It's rather funny, especially the earlier seasons. A bit slow at times, but amusing.

You want horrible -- take Ozzie and Harriet.

 

[GhaleonQ]

I can't believe so many people like TTYD over Paper Mario. TTYD had some great updates to the battle system, but the lackluster environments, forgettable story, and unforgiving backtracking really took away from the game.

1. Setpieces. Awesome, awesome setpieces.

2. It's definitely funnier.

3. I play RPG's all the time, so I stopped caring about backtracking when I was 8. When everything looks so nice, it's even less of a hassle.

 

[Compass]

3. I play RPG's all the time, so I stopped caring about backtracking when I was 8. When everything looks so nice, it's even less of a hassle.

Well, there's backtracking, and then there's, Hey-wait-a-minute,-Nintendo-is-just-laughing-in-my-face-and-daring-me-not-to-delete-my-save levels of backtracking (found in TTYD).

Don't confuse the two.

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

Mario RPG makes the rest look like trash.

 

[SuperAngelo64]

Dear Gaf,

Playing the devil's advocate doesn't make you cool if everyone else is doing it too.

 

[jeremy1456]

It's just the overall feeling the game has. It's through and through a SNES-era Squaresoft game with a Mario coat of paint. It's pretty much at the very top, very bottom or completely off of people's lists, showing just how polarizing the game is compared to the rest of the games.

Everytime someone says something like this I become positive that they haven't played the game for more than a few minutes, or at all.

It has the Mario feeling through and through - the characters, setting, style, simple and interactive battle system, music, and art style all fit the Mario universe quite well. Heck, even the new characters (Mallow in particular) felt like they already belonged in the Mario universe because they match up so well.

The game really doesn't feel like a Squaresoft game. The only hint (besides the opening logo, and credit reel) is the recycled battle theme from the Culex fight.

I would say that it captures the feel of the Mario universe far better than TTYD, Superstar Saga, and Partners in Time.

Even if it had failed to capture the feel of the Mario universe (that's not the case) it's still a pretty solid RPG.

 

[BorkBork]

1.) Super Mario RPG - No it's not nostalgia. I just played it, and it's paced perfectly.
2.) Paper Mario - Very close second, great balance of combat/humour/pacing.
3.) Superstar Saga - Second best RPG on the GBA.
4.) Paper Mario 2: Thousand Year Old Door - loved it until the wrestling and train sections. Still good, but man the backtracking is absolutely ridiculous.












5.) Partners in Time - massive disappointment total.

 

[anaron]

No one has even used a concrete example. Saying "it feels like it" just isn't good enough. I honestly can hardly see any similarities between the two games. The only similarity I can think of is that battles are turned base...but all Mario RPGs are like that. I played Partners in Time and it felt just like SMRPG, but with slightly more complex gameplay dynamics, and a worse story/setting.

Earthbound is honestly much closer to FF than SMRPG is.

Totally agree, still haven't seen a good example to make me believe people are actually judging the game without extreme bias because they hate Square.

It's honestly getting pathetic with the comparisons to Final fantasy come up with something better.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

loved it until the wrestling and train sections

You mean the two best chapters in the entire game?

Seriously, those chapters were what took the game from 'great' to 'Game of the Generation'.

 

[BorkBork]

You mean the two best chapters in the entire game?

Seriously, those chapters were what took the game from 'great' to 'Game of the Generation'.

No, the best two chapters were Chapter 4 and 5.

Chapter 3 and 6 were just way got too freaking tedious. Of course, then IS took it to the next level in Super Paper Mario's chapter 6. Urgh.

 

[Davey Cakes]

It's honestly getting pathetic with the comparisons to Final fantasy come up with something better.

I do think that people are taking the comparison a tad too far. However, I don't think it's necessarily wrong at all to say that Super Mario RPG just feels more like a "super-accessible Final Fantasy" than its successors.

SMRPG established Mario in the RPG world, and Square combined their basic turn-based RPG formula with the world of Mario to create something that actually worked better than most would've expected. This is what makes SMRPG shine. But, the reason why I put this game below, say, the Mario and Luigi titles is merely because I believe that those titles took the Mario RPG ideas established in Square's game, expanded on them, and put them to overall better use.

If you don't want to say that Super Mario RPG is too much like a Final Fantasy game, it's not unreasonable to say that it feels more like a Final Fantasy game than its successors, and that preference for Mario RPGs in general may reasonably stem from the tweaks and improvements that these successors made from a gameplay and storytelling standpoint, which is why you now won't always see (and shouldn't always expect to see) SMRPG at the top of people's lists.

 

[pgtl_10]

Super Mario RPG is probably the most love or hate Mario game of all time.

Edit: I still don't understand how Mario RPG could not feel like a Mario game. The Mario franchise has to be the most diverse franchise in history. You could stick Mario characters in any genre and it would work.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Super Mario RPG is probably the most love or hate Mario game of all time.

Edit: I still don't understand how Mario RPG could not feel like a Mario game. The Mario franchise has to be the most diverse franchise in history. You could stick Mario characters in any genre and it would work.

Well, yes, it worked in the EA Sports games, but it didn't make them feel like Mario games.

 

[Slavik81]

"Good for the time" is a free pass that needs to die. Father Knows Best was a great sitcom for the time. Would you rather watch that than Arrested Development?

Whoa, whoa, whoa....

Are you seriously dismissing it as good at the time, but having aged poorly?
I wish I'd never played it when I was younger just so I could do so now and prove you wrong.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Well, Super Mario RPG did seem harder and longer back when I was a kid.

Now from my new perception it's just as short (if not shorter) compared to the other Mario RPGs and is mostly easier as well, minus a few parts.

 

[grandjedi6]

So which Mario RPG has no claimed to be the worst ever yet? Cuz I think we've managed to call all of them crap by now :/

 

[Blackjack]

So which Mario RPG has no claimed to be the worst ever yet? Cuz I think we've managed to call all of them crap by now :/

I didn't see anyone claim the first M&L sucked. Doesn't mean they haven't, but...

 

[grandjedi6]

I didn't see anyone claim the first M&L sucked. Doesn't mean they haven't, but...

Has Anihawk posted in this thread yet? If he has, then yes someone has claimed M&L sucks

 

[A Link to the Past]

Whoa, whoa, whoa....

Are you seriously dismissing it as good at the time, but having aged poorly?
I wish I'd never played it when I was younger just so I could do so now and prove you wrong.

It's definitely aged really, really bad. Its visuals look poor nowadays, just like how DKC's looks poor now.

And it is really easy, and really short.

 

[HK-47]

Mario RPG makes the rest look like trash.

Mario RPG does look like trash. At least the other four have art styles that age well

 

[pgtl_10]

Well, yes, it worked in the EA Sports games, but it didn't make them feel like Mario games.

True but games with more Nintendo involvment are usually quite good.

Also Mario RPG still looks quite good. It's aged pretty well.

 

[Slavik81]

Mario RPG does look like trash. At least the other four have art styles that age well

Really? I mean, it suffers from having a really low resolution, but otherwise I think it's fine.
Put it on a 480i TV and the blurryness will even take care of that problem.

Blown-up 2x with nearest neighbor.

Certainly not as timeless an art-style as the Paper Mario games, but it's not bad, either.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door > Paper Mario ~= Super Mario RPG > Mario & Luigi: SuperStar Saga >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

 

[Davey Cakes]

It seems like most people who are putting Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time or Super Mario RPG at the bottom of their lists are exaggerating how much "worse" these games are in comparison to the rest.

 

[beelzebozo]

mario rpgs are so awesome. in many ways they're rpgs for people who don't typically like rpgs.

i.e., me.

 

[Ramenman]

mario rpgs are so awesome. in many ways they're rpgs for people who don't typically like rpgs.

i.e., me.

Exactly.

But I'd totally throw out Super Mario RPG from that list. It was a classic JRPG and didn't appeal to me that much.

 

[Baron Doggystyle von Woof]

Thousand year door was awesome. 9/10

 

[VistraNorrez]

I'd put SMRPG at the bottom just for the character of Smithy. What a terrible final boss. I enjoy the game very much, but it's too much of a hybrid for me to enjoy it as a Mario game. Square introduced so many new things that it would be no problem replacing the Mario characters and calling it something else. It would remind no one of Mario game. Nimbus? Booster? Axem rangers? Geno?

Still an enjoyable game, there are just better Mario RPGs out there.

 

[TreIII]

I put Mario RPG at the bottom of my personal list for a number of reasons. The main one being that, in my opinion, it's just been outclassed and surpassed by the Paper Mario, M&L and even the Sports portable games. :lol

Then there's the thing of how it just didn't feel like a Mario game, much at all. It's been said already, but it's gotta be said again: if it weren't for the relatively minuscule dashes of "Mario-isms" here and there, you wouldn't even be able to tell it was a Mario game with a RPG twang.

And finally, Geno and Mallow are quite lack-luster party members, in my eyes. I was actually quite surprised that the likes of Boshi, Jonathan Jones and Booster were not even considered to be Members, and yet those two did. Thank goodness Peach and Bowser eventually joined up...

I give Mario RPG credit for being the start of all things Mario RPG related, but that's about it, really.

My top pick would probably be M&L:SSS. That said, I'm very much looking forward to seeing what the third game is all about next month...

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

It's definitely aged really, really bad. Its visuals look poor nowadays, just like how DKC's looks poor now.

What?

...

Wait, what?

I'll grant you that Super Mario RPG looks clearly dated, but DKC? That game still looks gorgeous, even today. About the only claim you can make against it is that it has two sequels which both looked better.

 

[PARANO1A]

Why all the hate for Partners in Time? I just picked up a DS and was hoping to try it out :/

 

[A Link to the Past]

What?

...

Wait, what?

I'll grant you that Super Mario RPG looks clearly dated, but DKC? That game still looks gorgeous, even today. About the only claim you can make against it is that it has two sequels which both looked better.

Uh, DKC looks lame, and anyone could tell you that without letting a smile break out. DKC was made as a game of the 90s, and YI, which almost went the way of DKC's style, looks great to this day.

 

[blame space]

Thousand Year Door is the fucking best and anyone who hasn't played it should.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Why all the hate for Partners in Time? I just picked up a DS and was hoping to try it out :/

It's not hate, it's exaggeration. People just don't like it as much as SuperStar Saga.

It's still really fun, though.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Uh, DKC looks lame, and anyone could tell you that without letting a smile break out. DKC was made as a game of the 90s, and YI, which almost went the way of DKC's style, looks great to this day.

You have to be joking. That's the only possible explanation.

I still find DKC to look great whenever I play it. It may not be cutting edge anymore, but there's a timelessness to the art of that game.

 

[Compass]

DKC looked terrible the year it came out.

 

[Princess Skittles]

DKC looked terrible the year it came out.

That's what I've always thought.