As I alluded to the other day, I’ve been spending my time playing Super Mario RPG on Switch for the past few days. I rolled credits on it this evening and am very happy I took the time to play this. (There’s a surprisingly extensive postgame that has been added to the Switch version, but I will be waiting until tomorrow to check that out, as it’s getting late.)
One of the reasons I decided to start playing this is that the holiday season, for me, will always be associated with Nintendo. I’m not exactly sure why, as there was only one Christmas where I actually received something Nintendo-related under the tree — a Super NES with Super Mario World — but I’ve continued to make that association ever since. I think it goes along with how I associate Disney movies (the good ones) and Star Wars (ditto) with the holidays, too; fond memories of times gone by spent with family.
And Nintendo, it can be argued, has a fair amount in common with the House of Mouse. They’re both gigantic corporations that absolutely dominate a particular industry. They both do business in a way that the particularly anti-capitalist people really don’t like. And they have both, over the years, put out some absolutely magical pieces of work for people to enjoy: pieces of work that don’t necessarily require you to engage your brain too heavily, but which are nonetheless extremely memorable and enjoyable.
Take Super Mario RPG. By console RPG standards, it’s short, simple and very easy. You can roll credits on it within 12 hours. But every bit of the game feels like it’s there for a good reason. There’s no filler, no grinding, nothing that feels unnecessary; sure, there are some minigames you can engage with to a frankly obsessive degree that reward you with some optional items that aren’t at all necessary to beat the game, but if you’re just playing the game through to enjoy it, nothing feels out of place, nothing feels like it’s actively getting in the way of your enjoyment.
And the presentation is wonderful, too. Sure, the Switch may be creaking a bit in its old age, but after a few minutes with something like Super Mario RPG it just doesn’t matter. The music, in particular, is astounding. I hadn’t realised it was the work of Yoko Shimomura, but in retrospect it makes a lot of sense — particularly with the newly orchestrated arrangements found in the Switch remake. The ending theme, in particular, was beautiful; it was like a full-on orchestral finale to something you’d watched in the theatre — with a touch of honouring the original by starting with the SNES mix of the music, then bursting into full orchestra by the conclusion.
(Don’t ask why the creator of that video felt the need to brag about it being “4K” when the Switch only outputs 1080p, and a significant proportion of that end sequence is deliberately heavily pixelated.)
Anyway, I had a lovely time with Super Mario RPG, and I will be taking a look at the postgame stuff tomorrow. I’m happy I’ve finally played this — even if it wasn’t in its original form, which, let’s not forget, never came out in Europe back in the day — and now I feel suitably equipped to take on the Paper Mario games without feeling like I haven’t played “the original”. (I know Paper Mario is a distinct series from Super Mario RPG, but both it and the Mario and Luigi games count it as a common ancestor, so I’ve always wanted to give it a go.)
So that’s that. If you’re in a holiday funk, fire up a Nintendo game. I can guarantee it’ll put a smile on your face remarkably quickly.
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.
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