During June’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced it was remaking the original Super Mario RPG, a fan-favorite Super NES game believed to have been forgotten by the company. The game is not only getting updated graphics, but new battle mechanics as well. The September 14 Nintendo Direct went more into detail about the changes to the game mechanics coming to the remake.
Super Mario RPG follows Mario as he sets to save the land from the Smithy Gang and their troublemaking tools. Along the way, Mario teams up with classic characters like Bowser and Peach, as well as Mallow and Geno, two characters unique to the story.
The remake keeps the original game’s “Action Commands” element during battle. By pressing the button that appears on screen at a certain time, you can increase the damage done by Mario and his friends when they attack. In the remake, this feature is expanded. Now, properly executing an Action Command will have one character’s attacks hit all enemies. In addition, Action Commands will now work when your characters are being attacked as well, and well-timed Commands will lower the amount of damage received. Action Commands also now contribute to filling a “Triple Move” gauge, that, when full, allows your party to unleash a powerful group attack. The attack animation and effect changes depending on which characters are in your party, so make sure to try them all!
These souped-up attack mechanics may be designed to assist players with another new feature. Once players clear the main story of the game, they now have an opportunity to challenge previous bosses again. However, these boss fights are much harder than before, with some of the bosses having attacks that can even instantly kill your entire team! It will take a skilled mastery of the old and new battle mechanics to prevail in these fights.
The Super Mario RPG remake releases on November 17th, 2023 on Nintendo Switch, with pre-orders available now!
