Mario + RPG = ?

The Mario RPGs have always had a special place in my heart, one that I cannot say for most others, and I’ve always wondered why that is. Maybe it’s the simple fact that Paper Mario was the very first single player game that I got heavily invested in, or that The Thousand Year Door was my most anticipated game ever as a kid, or that it’s possibly the only video game series in which I own and have beaten all of its games, but….I think there’s something more. And after much thinking, I reached a conclusion that I quite like.

I don’t know why, but for one reason or another, I love the Mario world and characters. I love Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser. I love the world and all the different races of enemies and characters, all the different kind of environments that exist in the world; desert, grass, water, lava, snow, mountains, etc. I think the mostly likely reason is that I’ve grown up with and been with the Mario universe for so long, but for one reason or another, I love it, and I never get tired of seeing and learning about the great world and its many characters.

That is point #1. Point #2 then, is more simple, what are RPGs by nature? RPGs as a genre are much different from say, sports, arcade, kart racing, and platformers, which are the main nature of the other Mario games. Compared to these genres, RPGs have much more writing and dialogue. They have lots of characters you can talk to, NPCs (Non Playable Characters) you can interact with, and lots of things to learn and smile and laugh at. This also means that RPGs tend to have a more significant story then the genres above, and also have more work and detail put into their worlds. While the above genres are more about say, playing an enjoyable sport, playing fun minigames, having fast fun racing, and going through some very well designed levels in a platformer, RPGs are more about the atmosphere, the story, and above all, the characters and the world.

And when I put these 2 points together, it all became clear. The Mario RPG series, is the one Mario series that actually has a lot of effort and time put into its world, characters, story, and atmosphere. You get to learn so much about the Mario Universe and its characters, and creating an RPG gives Intelligent Systems and Alpha Dream (the makers of the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series respectively) the ability to explore the Mario Universe and characters in ways no other Mario games could do, precisely because they are an RPG. And because I love the world so much, love learning about it, and love learning about its characters, I love the series. Because this is the one series, in which what I’ve always wanted, a story and world that uses the Mario Universe and actually takes it seriously, can become a reality, and I love this so much.

And it got me thinking, why do I love the other series I love? Does it relate to their genre? Their universe or characters? What would you say to these, when asked of series you love?