With the release of the remakes of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, in addition to the announcement of the return of the Mario & Luigi series, I've been in a Mario RPG mood. It wouldn't be the first time. If you go back through this blog, I once wrote many short analyses of various Mario RPGs when I played through them all from 2012 to 2013 (link here). The Mario RPGs mean a lot to me, it's probably my favorite video game series from a personal standpoint. I grew up playing and loving these games, and despite how old I've gotten, they can still touch me in a way few games can. Paper Mario: The Origami King was a reminder of this, as seen in my recent review of it.
With this in mind, I'd like to talk about why I still think about these games, and how I would categorize them under a particular perspective. Head on below for a general analysis of this special series.
There's a lot you can say when talking about the Mario RPGs. In a previous write up I spoke of the different ways the Mario RPGs approach storytelling, and how some focus on the main Mario characters while others focus on original characters. You can talk about their different systems and overall quality. But today I wanted to use one question to look at the series:
How do you make a Mario RPG?
On the surface this doesn't seem like a complicated question, but let me walk you through it. When you think of "Mario," ie a Mario game or merchandise, what qualities would you use to describe them? Fun, family friendly, popular with a large appeal, easy to understand, these tend to be the traits associated with Mario. His games are fun, simple, and can be enjoyed by all. It's why many Mario spin off series have found such success: Mario Kart makes for fun chaotic racing games, Mario Parties take board games and add fun minigames that are easy to understand. Finally, the many Mario sports games focus on creating fun variants of familiar sports by adding power ups, special moves, etc. Mario is made to add fun to anything.
...But then you have the RPGs. When you think of "RPG," and by this I mean Japanese RPGs specifically, since this is the subgenre of RPGs that is often associated with Mario, what qualities would you use to describe those? As a long time lover of the genre, I would describe them as complex, slow and thoughtful, story focused, and occasionally dark and mature.
This is almost the polar opposite of Mario games. Those tend to be fun, easy to understand, fast paced, and appealing to everyone. JRPGs on the other hand often have complex turn based battle systems that can be slow, with you spending lots of time navigating menus and using complex progression systems like skill trees and item management as you progress with your ever changing party. Furthermore, this party of characters will often feature complex backstories, with the general story leading to scenes that can be difficult for some to watch, or moments that can tug at your heart strings from the long journey these characters go on.
Unlike every other genre Mario has entered, the RPG genre has always been a formidable foe. JRPGs by nature stand in stark contrast to what your typical Mario game is like. They are nearly incompatible. (As an aside, I will be using the terms 'RPG' and 'JRPG' interchangeably throughout this write up.)
I think this is why the Mario RPG series has seen so many different variations. As of 2024, there are six (or five) different styles on creating a Mario RPG: Super Mario RPG, the traditional Paper Marios, the modern Paper Marios, Super Paper Mario, the Mario & Luigi series, and (debatably) the Mario + Rabbids games. Making a Mario RPG doesn't have a simple formula to follow. Do you prioritize making the game more Mario like, or RPG like? How do you handle the battle system? What about the story? How would a Mario game set in a world with talking characters work? I would argue this dilemma is part of why the series has had such a turbulent history in its near 30 years of existence.
There is another element to consider. This conflict at the core of the series might be why Nintendo has never directly created their own Mario RPG. Instead, they have always let other developers handle the projects, which is another reason the Mario RPGs have such variance between games. Super Mario RPG was developed by Square, the Paper Mario series was made by Intelligent Systems, Mario & Luigi Alphadream, and the Mario + Rabbids games were developed by Ubisoft.
It is worth asking why these companies came to create the series, both to understand it better, but also because the answer is relatively simple. If we look at all these companies at the time of creating their first Mario RPG (save Ubisoft) you notice something. Before Super Mario RPG, Square's Final Fantasy series was very successful in Japan, but outside of that it sold all right, though nothing special. It wouldn't be until Final Fantasy VII that the series found worldwide success. Similarly, by the time of Paper Mario, all of Intelligent Systems' big games (Fire Emblem and Advance Wars) had seen success in Japan. However, they hadn't seen any outside release, likely because they would not have sold well. Finally, Alphadream, at the time of the first Mario & Luigi, had released a couple games that found success in Japan, most notably the RPG Tomato Adventure. However, none of these saw an international release, again because they likely would have not sold well.
This has been a long and storied trouble of the JRPG genre. It sells great in Japan, but in North America and Europe, the other two big video game markets for much of the industry's history, their success was limited. The genre has always struggled to find audiences outside of Japan.
This is why these studios became the brains behind the Mario RPGs. Even if meshing a Mario game with a JRPG is difficult, wouldn't marrying the popular and worldwide appeal of Mario with the unpopular JRPG genre lead to success? And indeed it did, Super Mario RPG sold more in North America than any Final Fantasy up to that point (iirc). Paper Mario put Intelligent Systems on the globe, and led them to finally bringing their Fire Emblem and Advance Wars series outside of Japan. Lastly, Alphadream became known for their Mario & Luigi games, which would become their most successful games.
With that out of the way, let's get to the games themselves. How did they tackle the ever daunting question of how to create a Mario RPG?
Super Mario RPG was the first title in the series, and thus had a lot to accomplish. It was the first Mario game to give its titular characters dialogue and personality, and was the first to create a fleshed out world for the Mario series. With this in mind it's hard to not be impressed at Square's craft. They created a game world that features what makes Mario games great, and what makes RPG games great. It had an excellent story, cast of characters, battle system, platforming, and world to explore.
There is one Mario RPG development story that always stuck with me. At one point, Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was in a debate with members of Square. They wanted Mario to wield a sword and cape, being a typical hero in a fantasy adventure. Miyamoto thought this was un-Mario like, and wanted Mario to wield a hammer instead. They put it to a vote and had a crowd of people at a convention vote on which weapon Mario should wield. The hammer won, and that set a precedent every Mario RPG would follow. This already shows the compromises that will need to be made to solve the Mario RPG question.
But let's get to the big question: How did Square solve it? The most interesting thing about Super Mario RPG is how distinct it feels from every game that came after. This is from one important feature: you gain no environmental abilities outside of running and jumping throughout the course of the game. This means that for every part of the world, you can only navigate around by timing jumps and avoiding enemies. Thus, when you're not in classic turn based combat, Mario RPG actually feels a lot like a platformer. Navigating the world of Mario RPG feels so fast compared to later games, because you never have to pause to open the menu and change abilities. You are running, jumping, collecting power ups to heal or boost stats, and avoiding enemies. Which is...exactly what you do in the Mario platforming games.
Keep in mind that at this point, Super Mario 64 had yet to release (or was about to), so when people thought of Mario games, they thought of games like Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World. By making the world of Super Mario RPG one that you can only traverse by running and jumping, Super Mario RPG actually feels like a 2D Mario game more than any other Mario RPG, and I think this was intentional. Square tried to preserve the feeling of running around a world, dodging enemies, and jumping on platforms. In an effort to preserve the Mario nature of the game, the game has a lot of emphasis on platforming.
On the other hand, Mario RPG features a fairly traditional turn based battle system. You take turns attacking, and all your characters have special attacks and various moves, like in classic Final Fantasy. The big change made to make battles more engaging, more Mario like, is action commands. These act as quick time prompts that players must press at correct times during attacks and enemy attacks. Successful button presses will boost the attack of Mario and co, while also reducing the attacks of enemies. It makes battles more dynamic and action oriented. Nonetheless, battles can still be long, feature quick thinking, and a knowledge of stats and elements to properly get through the game.
I would describe Super Mario RPG's answer to the Mario RPG question as simple: Take a traditional Mario game, and a traditional turn based game, and tape them together. This is what Mario RPG feels like, at one point you're jumping around the world platforming, then the next you're in a classic turn based battle, taking turn attacking as you defeat all sorts of foes. Its answer to the Mario RPG question was to preserve both the Mario and RPG elements, while keeping them as separate as possible. Sure there were some fusions made: action commands being the clearest example of a Mario element added to a turn based system. But overall, Mario RPG does its best to preserve both the RPG genre and Mario like feeling of platforming. Later games would not follow this, which is why Super Mario RPG always felt so distinct from later entries.
Next, let's move on to the traditional Paper Mario games of Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. These were spiritual successors to Super Mario RPG, and while they shared some elements from it, they also very much went their own direction when it came to solving the Mario RPG question.
First, the art style. Paper Mario was made to be story book like in its presentation and atmosphere. It fits, children's books are appealing to all, while also featuring stories and characters that can veer into complex territory. This is how the Paper Mario games handled their story, having a plethora of original characters and residents that populated the Mario world and made it feel more alive and lived in. They weren't the most complex characters, fun and humor were often used when characterizing them, but they had moments of drama and depth that you wouldn't see in the typical Mario game.
This wasn't that different from Super Mario RPG, which also featured a world of characters and locations. But the first two Paper Marios took things further. Where Luigi got a cameo in Super Mario RPG, he had a whole character arc in Paper Mario, and adventure in The Thousand Year Door. Where Peach and Bowser joined the team and had some moments in the spotlight in Mario RPG, in the first two Paper Marios they were constantly at centre stage, appearing multiple times with their own separate journeys to aid or stop Mario, receiving loads of screen time.
There were also more partners joining Mario on the adventure. Where Super Mario RPG features a total of five playable characters, Paper Mario featured a whole nine, and The Thousand Year Door featured eight. There was a clear boost in cut scenes, dialogue, and overall writing, making the games feel JRPG like.
On the other hand, the battle system and world exploration of these games was simplified. Mario can only have one partner in battle at a time, as opposed to two in Mario RPG, and the strategies that could be used were many, but were generally easier to understand and know when to use. Paper Mario also introduced an entirely new equipment system in the form of badges, which could be used for any number of effects, while remaining fairly simple to follow and understand. When exploring the world, Mario's partners could all use a different ability, which were used to solve puzzles. But again, these puzzles were fairly easy to follow, and it greatly slowed down world traversal compared to Mario RPG.
All this is to say, the route the traditional Paper Marios took when combating the Mario RPG challenge was to create a game that feels more JRPG like then Mario, but is also more simple and easy to understand then Super Mario RPG. The one exception to this is the story, which features a lot more characters, dialogue, and cutscenes.
Nonetheless, the core philosophy at the heart of these games is to create a simple RPG. It contains all the trappings that make RPGs great, characters and a story, exciting turn based battles, but it's also more accessible and generally easier to follow then your typical RPG. This is best seen in action commands, which have more variety then in Super Mario RPG, but are also more lenient and easy to pull off, with clearer tutorials to help players out. This made them easy to pick up and get invested in, while being full of secrets and fun characters to find and smile at. For their emphasis on creating many interesting characters and worlds that feel lived in, both of the traditional Paper Marios are remembered fondly among fans.
On the other hand, Super Paper Mario, the third Paper Mario, took nearly the opposite approach. Rather than create a simple RPG, Super Paper is the most platformer like of all the Mario RPGs. However, it is also one of the most complex, long winded, and dialogue heavy platformers out there. Super Paper Mario attempted to create an epic adventure while working within the constraints of the platformer genre.
Super Paper gives you more party members then any previous Mario RPG, at a whopping 17. This means there are many different ways to approach the obstacles you'll face throughout the adventure. However, this also means you can get stuck as you cycle through the many different abilities you have to find that one that will let you progress. Levels in Super Paper Mario can also be long winded and confusing to navigate, leading to environments that can be frustrating to wrap your head around.
The story is equally complex, being arguably the most ambitious Mario story ever. There is so much lore to the game in its many sacred items and prophecies, interesting characters with complex, often dark, backstories, frequent plot twists and emotional moments that will tug at your heart strings, and a romeo and juliet styled romance at the centre of it all. It makes for a narrative that can feel powerful one moment, and then confusing and unnecessary the next.
Where the previous Paper Marios simplified the JRPG genre, Super Paper Mario made the platformer genre more complex with its many systems and characters. This made for an interesting attempt at a Mario RPG, but its complexity and strange moments mixed with the platformer genre, what is normally a simple Mario styled genre, led to the game having a contentious reception among fans. It is a shame that no Mario RPG has attempted this style, because I see much potential in it.
Next, let's move on to the Mario & Luigi series, spamming five whole games that have stuck to a fairly similar style. The Mario & Luigi series was a spiritual successor series to Super Mario RPG, like Paper Mario. Many developers actually left Square to join Alphadream, meaning many of the developers of the series had previously worked on Super Mario RPG, making for a cool continuity (note them having the same composer).
The Mario & Luigi series went a similar route to the traditional Paper Marios, creating a JRPG that attempts to be more accessible and simple then its contemporaries. However, the series didn't follow the formula set by the first two Paper Marios. Rather than focus on a variety of new original characters, the series keeps its playable characters to a small amount, all of which are familiar Mario characters, with the most important being of course: Mario and Luigi. These games feature a generally more lighthearted tone and story compared to the Paper Mario series. You won't find complex characters with a dark backstory here, though it will occasionally dabble, like the villains of the second game, which are arguably the scariest villain of any Mario game. However, in general these games are light on dialogue and cutscenes, sticking to good ol gameplay like most Mario games. This was likely a result of the Mario & Luigi games being playable on handheld systems you play for short spurts on the go, as opposed to long play sessions on a home console.
Regardless, where the story was kept simple, the main draw of the Mario & Luigis came in their action packed battle systems, which were far more tense and unforgiving then anything in the previous Mario RPGs. In Mario & Luigi, action commands do not simply increase Mario and co's damage while decreasing enemy damage; action commands could be used to dodge enemy attacks entirely! In addition, special attacks, or bros attacks, were more demanding in timed button presses and player skill, requiring many buttons being pressed with perfect timing. For this reason, enemies do a lot more damage in the Mario & Luigi series, and special attacks can take serious focus to consistently pull off. As the series has gone on, its special attacks and enemy attacks have only become more elaborate and long winded.
So while the Mario & Luigi series follows a similar path to the traditional Paper Marios in regard to the Mario RPG question, there is an important distinction. Where the first two Paper Marios were generally simple RPGs, with an emphasis on its many characters and story, the Mario & Luigi series were also generally simple RPGs, but instead placed emphasis on their combat, with battles that are more demanding and intricate. Rather than requiring quick thinking and a detailed and changing strategy, like many traditional JRPGs do, the Mario & Luigi games ask players to provide quick thinking when it comes to button presses, and a willingness to practice nailing action commands consistently. This emphasis on action commands and timed button presses finds its way into other parts of the series. For example, the Mario & Luigi games have always featured more minigames than its contemporaries, minigames that can be quite difficult on harder settings.
One last thing to note is how closely the Mario & Luigi series has stuck to this philosophy by looking at its continuation. If there is one point in which the series drastically changed, it would be its third entry: Bowser's Inside Story. The main new addition it added to the series was giant battles. These featured loads of great music and animations to really empower players and introduce a sense of scale and epicness that you wouldn't find in the other Mario RPGs. These giant battles would remain a staple of the series afterwards, showcasing the Mario & Luigi series' commitment to creating exciting memorable battles, the sort of thing associated with great RPGs. In general the series has received a positive reception, though some entries more then others.
Next, we come to the most interesting segment of the series: the modern Paper Marios. These games are the most controversial of the Mario RPGs, largely because of how different they were from the older titles in the series. However, I'd like to discuss them in the context of the Mario RPG question. For most of the series history, the titles most beloved by fans were the Mario RPGs that took the route of creating an RPG that adds Mario elements to it. The one game that attempted a different route (Super Paper Mario) wasn't received as well. This may have led to a mindset that Mario RPGs must at its core be JRPGs. The modern Paper Marios defy this notion with their unique take on the Mario RPG question, which I believe is a part of why so many were put off by them. I'd like to portray them in a more positive light by discussing how they tackle the Mario RPG question
Where the traditional Paper Marios and Mario & Luigis are RPGs, Super Paper Mario is a platformer, and Super Mario RPG does its best to be both, the modern Paper Marios feel like....neither a strict platformer nor an RPG, but also both.
The modern Paper Marios remove the many characters, story, and dialogue that populated the first three Paper Marios, but its battle system also lacks the epic battles of the Mario & Luigi series. This leaves one area for the game to excel in, one that no game in the series has really pursued: world exploration. The worlds of these games are packed with hidden passages, secret items, little references, and shocking moments as you explore every nook and cranny of these dense worlds. Even though your tools of exploration are simple: jumping, hammer, and a new ability based around each game, the worlds still feature tons of variety in how you navigate each environment. You will often have to explore a large part of a world, backtrack to a previous location to find a new path, and loop around as you piece together a grand puzzle that involves the entire world.
This is interesting in regards to the series the Mario RPGs came from. Mario platformers have never been about exploration. The 2D entries are often fast paced and about overcoming platforming challenges more then anything. RPGs also often emphasize either their stories and characters, or a complex battle system to engage with.
However, trends in both genres show that, actually, both the Mario platformers and JRPGs are moving towards exploration. Ever since Mario went 3D, exploration has gained more importance as its levels become more complex, with the most recent entries: Super Mario Odyssey and Bowser's Fury, putting a new emphasis on exploring worlds however you like.
The JRPG genre has also opened up to now feature many kinds of JRPGs, with some recent titles focusing on exploration. The Octopath Traveler games give its players more freedom to explore its world than most JRPGs ever did. Final Fantasy XV put a new emphasis on exploring its vast open world that previous entries hadn't seen. And Pokemon, what were once simple 2D environments have become vast 3D worlds in its newest entries that let players explore them in one of many different ways. As technology has evolved and allowed for larger and more complex worlds to be created, they have gained popularity in both the RPG genre and Mario games.
This is why I refer to these titles as the modern Paper Marios, because their emphasis on world exploration reflects the changing nature of both Mario games and JRPGs as they move into the modern world. Mario RPGs don't need to put emphasis on their battle systems or stories anymore, now they can revolve around a vast world to explore however you'd like. In a sense, because it's a feature both RPGs and Mario games have, it makes the modern Paper Marios feel at times like the best fusion of Mario and RPGs. These two styles of games that were once so different have only become more similar over the years, and the modern Paper Marios reflect this. It retains the epic scale and sense of adventure RPGs are known for, while still keeping things simple from their puzzle like battle systems and simple stories. It is another worthy and interesting style in the Mario RPG series, showing the depth of the genre and how many different ways you can create them.
Finally, we have the Mario + Rabbids games. There is debate on whether these count as Mario RPGs at all. To that I will say, if they are not Mario RPGs, then they do not fit into any already existing Mario spin off series. Thus they are either Mario RPGs, or their own thing. Let's assume they are Mario RPGs for the sake of talking about them, and look at how they handle the great Mario RPG dilemma. (disclaimer: I haven't played the second game)
The Mario + Rabbids games go in a route similar to the Mario & Luigi series. They feature simple stories, characters that are kept to being cheerful and funny, and a miniscule amount of writing. Navigating their worlds are also quite simple, Mario doesn't have any abilities to use outside of battle, and he cannot even jump!
The area of emphasis in these games then, and where all the complexity lies, is their battles. Battles are chess like areans in which strategy and proper understanding and usage of the games mechanics are key to victory. Unlike the Mario & Luigi series, which requires quick thinking and precise timing, the Mario and Rabbids games go for a strategy focus. Your mind will be what is tested in these battles, as you choose which of your many party members to use, how to position and navigate them, and when and how to attack. It brings positioning of enemies and your characters into the spotlight in a way no previous entry has, leading to a fun gameplay experience.
So the Mario + Rabbids series follows the template set by the traditional Paper Marios and Mario & Luigi series, in what is the most popular answer to the question: create an RPG with simple mechanics to make a generally more accessible experience, keeping complexity to a small part of the game.
This is the conclusion to this analysis. While I oversimplified these games and there is a much nuance I left out, we can view the Mario RPGs as a mixture of three things: narrative (that's story, characters, cutscenes, and dialogue), battle systems, and world exploration. These are three core parts of JRPGs and adventure games in general, and thus remain a staple of every Mario RPG. Yet in order to make them appealing, give them a Mario like quality with wide appeal, these three parts are simplified. However, if all three were so simple, there would be no challenge, no obstacles, no moments of critical thinking required that makes games so satisfying to play. Thus, one of these areas will receive more focus, as the part of JRPG complexity that stands out from an otherwise Mario like game.
Each series can be defined by which element they chose to emphasize. The traditional Paper Marios emphasized their narratives, featuring a vast amount of characters and dialogue to find all over its many towns. The Mario & Luigi and Mario + Rabbids series emphasized battles, putting great focus on the epic and long battles that are a staple of RPGs. Finally, the modern Paper Marios emphasized world exploration, in which the tools you find, the secrets you can uncover, and the many hidden areas will be key to overcoming the adventure.
Which style of Mario RPG you prefer says a lot about which part of RPGs you most value. But it also leaves Super Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario as interesting cases. The latter is a straight up platformer that attempts to feature a complex narrative and world, and its struggle show the limitations of taking a Mario game and adding RPG like systems. But Super Mario RPG, in being the first, feels like it tried to do all three and generally succeeded, but didn't greatly excel at any one in particular. Its characters and writing are excellent, but the traditional Paper Mario were definitely a step up. It's battles are fun, but you won't feel the satisfaction you do from giant battles in the Mario & Luigi series or the long strategic endeavours of Mario + Rabbids bosses. And its world is fun to explore and full of secrets, but the surprises aren't as frequent or exciting as those of Paper Mario: The Origami King. In a sense Super Mario RPG feels like the blueprint for the entire series, and every subsequent entry took one part of it and ran with it.
Each of the Mario RPGs has taken the series in a different direction, and I propose this was not an accident, but foregone conclusion. For when you have something as difficult as fusing the JRPG genre with a Mario style of gameplay and world, there's going to be a lot of different ways of doing it, and not all will land. But rather than see those Mario RPG titles as mistakes or blunders, I see them as experiments; interesting attempts at solving the complex and never ending conversation that is the Mario RPG series. There is value in every game in the series, because even the most flawed entry carry fascinating elements, and no series really makes my mind wander the way these games do. Here's to the Paper Mario series, whatever direction it goes in, and here's to Mario & Luigi Brothership and the future of this series. I cannot wait to see where it goes with Alphadream gone. We may be witnessing the birth of a brand new type of Mario RPG, one different from the previous Mario & Luigis, and I cannot wait to see it.
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