Felt particularly rough this morning when I woke up with a raging headache and a cough that could wake the dead. I was hoping to get some The Dagger of Amon Ra recorded this weekend, but I rather wisely decided against doing any today; we’ll have to see how I feel tomorrow.
Instead, I spent a significant chunk of today playing the Super Mario RPG remake for Switch. I’ve never played Super Mario RPG in any form, so I’ve been curious to try this for a long time, and something in my head makes an inextricable association between the holiday season and Nintendo games, so I thought I’d start it up and see how I got on with it. After all, what was originally a collaboration between Squaresoft and Nintendo was sure to be fun, right? And people always seem to be making references to both the game and some of its unique characters.
I’ve been very impressed so far. It’s a lot of fun, and it moves at a brisk old pace, as RPGs that originated in the 16-bit era tend to, but that doesn’t mean it feels like it’s rushing things. Rather, it’s paced well so that you’re constantly moving forwards, exploring new areas, meeting new allies and discovering new items. And, pleasingly, the game is a lot more than just running from story trigger to story trigger; there are some actual puzzles along the way to solve, too, along with some light platforming. The only thing I’m not a super fan of is the Hidden Treasure system, where equipping a particular accessory just tells you that there is a Hidden Treasure somewhere in the room you’re in, and then you just have to flail around hoping you headbutt it by chance.
As one would expect for a modern Nintendo title, the soundtrack is fantastic. I don’t know the original Super Mario RPG soundtrack all that well — aside from a couple of MIDIs I downloaded in the late ’90s to use in Klik and Play projects — but we have a fully reorchestrated version of the full soundtrack to go along with the updated visuals and the re-translated script. No speech, of course — it still doesn’t feel quite right to have a talkie Nintendo game — but the writing so far has been concise and pretty witty. Perhaps not to the same degree as Paper Mario, which is a series that essentially built off the back of Super Mario RPG, but I wanted to play this one first before I jumped into the Paper Mario titles for the first time. Yes, believe it or not I’ve never played one; my wife Andie has played most of them, however.
Anyway, Super Mario RPG helped make an otherwise fairly unpleasant day — the weather has been awful here today, too — fairly tolerable. And I even made some time to get all my Christmas shopping done earlier, too. So that’s good. But now it’s probably a good idea for me to go back to bed, and here’s hoping I feel a tad better in the morning. Not only do I want to record that The Dagger of Amon Ra playthrough, but I have the work Christmas do in the week, and I’d rather not still be coughing my guts up and feeling like a roasted dog turd by the time that rolls around.
Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.
Discover more from I'm Not Doctor Who
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
