This or That: Mario RPG Series

[magus113]

I think Earl is opening a can of worms that I don't know if he wants to open, but I'll bite.

I've only played Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario, and all three of the Mario & Luigi games. I've only completed the Mario & Luigi games, but this was mostly due to my dedication and the fact that I didn't any of these games in their prime. So lemme leave my wall of text here and I'll make my decision.

Super Mario RPG, the Mario RPG to start them all. I remember seeing the ads for them in the Toys R Us and Geo telling me about his playthrough constantly. I never tired of hearing it, and I always wanted to play it. Sadly I never got around to being able to do this until the time of emulators (or when I discovered them at any rate) and my dedication for finishing games when they're emulated is nowhere near as close to having an actual copy of the game and the console to play it (i.e. I only finished Chrono Trigger after high school when I actually bought the cart for the SNES). The game is fun! And while I can agree with Earl, that it feels like a Square game with Mario in it, I don't let that detract from how fun it is. There's a lot of new fresh stuff that Square took liberties with and stuff that they kept intact for Mario fans alike. The game looked great for it's time, and it was nice and lengthy. Everything a old-school RPG was, and should have been.

I didn't get too into Paper Mario until later in life. I (still) own an N64 and I had come across the cart in some old GameStop used stuff, but I never stuck around because I was playing so many other things, and I had a lot of other current-gen console games to be playing. While I don't think there was much humor to the game compared to the other Mario RPGs I've played, it was very different and it became a predecessor to even better Mario RPG games in the future. My only gripe with the game was that it felt like things were going very slowly with the game. You walked slow, text came up slow, battles might have dragged on, but it was still good. I hope to finally finish it in the future.

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga on the GBA. MAN did I have fun playing this game. The battle system brought a lot from Paper Mario and some other aspects from SMRPG, and it took the series in a much better, more humorous direction. Fawful is awesome, Mario and Luigi's voices were awesome, everything was just awesome! I don't think I ever had a gripe with playing the game. The pacing was great, there was lots of extra stuff to do, and it wasn't all "I'm a JRPG and I'm gonna rub it in your face" either. It was oriented for a large audience, both Mario RPG and Mario fans old and new, and I think they did a great job.

But then I don't think things came out as well with M&L: Partners in Time. I played the game in it's entirety, but there really isn't much that I remember about it to be quite honest. It seemed kinda forgetful for me for some reason, and while having Baby Mario and Baby Luigi around made for some interesting stuff, I felt the game was too easy, and again, not too memorable. It's probably on the bottom of my list, but my appreciation for Mario RPG games is high so don't think I'm throwing it down with the likes of other terrible games. It just isn't my favorite.

And then Bowser's Inside Story. They came back with full force with humor, nice visuals, innovative gameplay mechanics with Gigantor Bowser, and the whole battle system in general being revamped to include Bowser, as well as Mario and Luigi around at all times. The premise was really farfetched but it just showed how well the developers knew to appeal to our funny bones, making us laugh and not scoff at how preposterous it all was. It took the last two games and brought them to new heights. It also made much better use of the technical capabilities of the DS, like the controls and the stylus which I thought was good since it was pretty much absent in Partners in Time.

So my verdict?

Gonna have to be Bowser's Inside Story if only for the epic ass kicking right in the last boss fight. I literally shouted "Take that!" everytime they whacked that asshole, I was having that much fun.