Super Mario Bros. Wonder brought the series back to its roots with a 2D platformer that had excellent reviews.

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Before that, we had the excellent Mario Odyssey and the Switch’s most popular game, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

However, the one genre that Mario isn’t well known for is RPG, as this is the genre usually reserved for his 2D brother, Paper Mario.

Few people know that before Paper Mario was born, Mario himself had his own RPG.

Aptly named Super Mario RPG, Mario travels across the kingdom, making friends, taking part in battles, and saving the day.

The remake was recently released, giving people another chance to delve into this classic.

Super Mario RPG was originally released for SNES, however, this version was never launched in Europe.

Later, versions were released on the Wii and WiiU virtual console, as well as the SNES Mini, but this is something quite different.

Not only have the graphics been given a new 3D refresh, but there have been a number of quality-of-life changes, as well as new fully animated cutscenes.

And just like all good cutscenes, these ones can be skipped, meaning you can choose whether to experience them or not.

There are also two difficulty settings and a number of different accessibility options, allowing more people to be able to enjoy it.

The menus are a lot smoother to navigate, and it has added the most important of things, auto-save.

Overall, it’s not just the improvements that will make you pick up Super Mario RPG, but the quality of the game to begin with.

Mario games are not well known for their story, but Super Mario RPG is filled with heart and character.

It’s filled with hidden secrets to discover, some more difficult than others, and while quickly rushing through the game can be done in under 15 hours, 100% without a guide feels almost impossible.

That’s most of the charm in Super Mario RPG, it brings that old-school style of fairly challenging boss fights, together with managing the build of your team.

But it also regularly switches things up in boss fights so that you can’t just use the same strategies.

It’s quirky, fun and exciting in ways I never expected Mario to be, and you’ll even see a softer side to Bowser along the way.

Super Mario RPG is one of those rare opportunities where it works for both fans of Mario and fans of JRPGs, proving that the portly plumber just can’t miss.

If you want to read more about Mario, then check out our Super Mario Bros. Wonder review.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.