TheMario RPGseries began in 1996 when Square and Nintendo developedSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Starsfor the SNES. While a true sequel never surfaced, Intelligent Systems - developers ofFire Emblem- picked up where Square left off and delivered a successor:Paper Mario. This developed into its own series spawning a sequel,Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, are often lauded as the series' best games.
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The question now remains of what is the best Mario RPG. Could it beSuper Mario RPGor is itPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door?
10Super Mario RPG: Soundtrack
WhilePaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorhas a fine set of tracks,Super Mario RPG’s defining musical point comes in delivering consistently high-quality tunes throughout the entire game. Themes like the Forest Maze, the boss themes, and the Factory stand out as highlights. Most notably, however, is that this game’s music was composed by Yoko Shimomura.
Super Mario RPGwas so noteworthy that Yoko Shimomura listed it as aturning pointin her musical career. Notably, Shimomura would later go on to composer more works for Square, later Square-Enix. Among those works areLegend of ManaandKingdom Hearts.
9Paper Mario: Writing
Super Mario RPGoffered clever dialogue but came with translation issues. While enemy names deviated heavily from the Japanese translation, the game still delivered a noteworthy script. However,Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorshowcased clever writing not found in most contemporary JRPGs. The dialogue involved real-world situations, such as dating and romantic problems. Luigi got to embark on an adventure and narrate it. Even the NPCs offered interesting tales of their own life.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorutilized various techniques to achieve its effect. Shaky dialogue, giant dialogue, and different colored text boxes were all emphasized the story. But the sheer quality of writing that went into the game made it stand out among the entire series.
8Super Mario RPG: Pacing
Both Mario RPG titles offer a fairly linear adventure.Super Mario RPGprogresses forward throughout the entire game. MeanwhilePaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Dooralways connects to the central hub, Rogueport, with interconnecting paths.
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Perhaps the only time you need to revisit an area inSuper Mario RPG, however, is after you rescue Peach from Marrymore. The game will automatically take you straight to Mushroom Kingdom. Besides that, you could explore for hidden treasure chests later. On the other hand,Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorranges from dungeons to train cars where you’re exploring and not battling at all. Near the end of the game, it even commits a fetch-quest crime, forcing you to hunt down a white Bob-omb.Super Mario RPGnever interrupts the pacing of the adventure while its successor does this several times.
7Paper Mario: Battle System
Super Mario RPGinvented the action commands battle system. Hit a button, or rotate your pad, and power up your attacks. It felt like the perfect way to engage the player with a turn-based mechanic.
The originalPaper Mariocapitalized on this with multiple variations. Its sequel took this a step further with stylish moves. Using these boosted the crowd’s engagement which, in turn, boosted your star power. The game featured different action commands, based on the characters you used, to find new and creative ways to engage the player.
6Super Mario RPG: Level Design
As mentioned earlier,Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doortakes you on quiet train rides and fetch-quests. While many of its dungeons are good, a few parts of the game disrupt the story’s pacing.Super Mario RPG, however, is full of creative dungeon levels. Pipe Vault has you warping through pipes and playing mini-games.
Meanwhile, Land’s End features a canyon, sand whirlwinds, and an underground temple. The Sea lets you jump slowly through the water and leads into a Sunken Ship, which has passwords and giant squids attacking you. Even Bean Valley leads to a new path when you must head up into the clouds.
5Paper Mario: Badges
Super Mario RPGoffers you basic weapons, armor, and accessory equipment. The accessories are special due to various stat boosts or status-ailment nullification.Paper Marioand its sequel, however, offer badges.
you may equip multiple badges to give you new attacks, boost your stats, boost a partner, and more. The variety improves on the standard equip systems featured in most RPGs. The customization possibilities were endless and allowed the player multiple strategies as well.
4Super Mario RPG: Creativity
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorbuilt on its N64 predecessor with overhauled visuals, new characters, and new puzzle mechanics. It served as a sequel to an already fantastic title and still managed to make improvements.Super Mario RPGwas the first to blend a platformer with a turn-based RPG. Its own foundation served to introduce memorable characters and a revolutionary battle system that would influence games likeThe Legend of Dragoon. Mario’s first foray into this genre became many players' first RPG.
Paper Mariohas the benefit of at least three games released in the 2000s. However, while theMario & Luigiseries carried the torch that started fromSuper Mario RPG, the games were still fundamentally different. To this date, nothing plays likeSuper Mario RPG,which still maintains its status as a top JRPG from its era.
3Paper Mario: Challenge
Super Mario RPGoffered a standard JRPG level challenge. The right party alignment and preparation allowed you to beat most bosses. You could also boost Mario’s attacks with items, or with Geno Boost, then finish them with Super Jump. You could even defeat Culex, the game’s superboss, with a party around Level 17.
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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Dooroffered some more challenging enemies with creative setups. Your partners,all of whom were useful, had HP and could be KO’d, forcing Mario to fight on his own. Perhaps the most pressing challenge of all was the optional Pit of 100 Trials. You entered a gauntlet with 99 battles leading up to the superboss, Bonetail. At this point in Mario RPGs, he was by far the hardest boss in the series.
2Super Mario RPG: Easter Eggs
Super Mario RPGoffered a ton of Easter Eggs. Among them included a cameo by Link fromThe Legend of Zelda, Samus fromMetroid, an Arwing fromStar Fox, an enemy resemblingDonkey Kong, and the Blue Falcon and Fire Stingray fromF-Zero.
You can bother a Toad leading you through the castle until he reacts with annoyed dialogue, you can find invisible chests with rare items, and even fight a boss inspired by Square-Enix’sFinal Fantasyseries. While Culex never appeared in aFinal Fantasytitle, the fight includedFinal Fantasy IV’s boss theme, the trademark victory theme, and even played the series' prelude at the end.
1Paper Mario: Puzzles
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorgot creative with its puzzle design. Stages like Hooktail’s Castle had you exploring the castle, searching for keys, and using partner abilities to cross gaps.
These tested your ability to adapt to a level structure that consistently changed through each chapter. WhatPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorlacked in pacing, with some levels, it made up for with its clever dungeons. Plus with over half-a-dozen partners, the game consistently found creative ways to test your puzzle-solving skills.
