27-years after first hitting the Super NES, Super Mario RPG is back and ready to get a brand-new facelift on the Nintendo Switch. With the remake coming out on Friday, I was curious what critics thought of this unlikely mash-up back when it first came out in 1996. Was this the role-playing event of the year or a massive misstep from two industry giants? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Next Generation, Game Fan and more classic magazines to see what the critics said back when Super Mario RPG was first released. It may not be part of an online subscription service, but this is a Super Mario-enhanced episode of Nintendo Switch Review Crew.


If you did a double take when Super Mario RPG was first announced, then you weren't the only one. Released in 1996, this was a time right before Japanese role-playing games went mainstream. While the success of Final Fantasy VI had pushed the turn-based genre forward, there was no getting around that to most Western gamers and critics, role-playing games were a niche product made for a certain kind of audience. Mario, on the other hand, was simple and fun and the kind of platforming hero that anybody could love. The idea of these two worlds colliding was legitimately shocking, as many openly wondered how much of an overlap there was between the average Mario fan and the Final Fantasy player. Obviously, looking back on it now, the pairing makes complete sense. This would be the first of many Mario adventure games, and even fellow platforming heroes, like Sonic the Hedgehog, got their own RPGs. If anything, this unlikely pairing introduced a lot of new players to the exciting world of role-playing games, helping to set the table for the genre's mainstreaming just one year later.

When it comes to the reviews, the critics were all over the place. Between the skepticism of the mash-up to Mario fatigue, you get the feeling that every critic brought in their own type of baggage before reviewing Super Mario RPG.

Let's use Electronic Gaming Monthly as an example. Sushi-X liked the game, but found himself sick of seeing a certain plumber: “Besides being completely overused, I feel Mario should just take a vacation until the Nintendo 64 gives him a new home. Mario RPG uses great in-combat graphics and continues Nintendo's tradition for clean animation and worthwhile visuals. But I feel the characters and the game base is a bit too childish for the demanding play and difficult battles against the hordes of opposing forces. If you can overlook these childish tendencies, Mario RPG will satisfy the majority of players with the enjoyable combat system and the many twists and turns in the plot.” Mark, on the other hand, called the game a masterpiece: “Mario RPG combines the role-playing elements of Final Fantasy with the world of Mario flawlessly. The graphics are the best seen on the Super NES, with a combination of rendered characters with a complement of drawn sprites. All of these elements help make this game outstanding, but where it really shines is with its plot. The three-fourth perspective takes getting used to, but it allows for a whole new level of puzzles. I can only hope the Nintendo 64 Mario is this good.” EGM gave Mario RPG an average score of 8.75 out of 10.

Believe it or not, the rest of the magazines are just as split as Electronic Gaming Monthly. You saw a lot of scores in the 80% range, such as Nintendo Power giving Super Mario RPG a score of 4.1 out of 5. For their part, Super Play gave the game an 81%, placing it as the magazine's 181st best-reviewed Super NES game of all time, right between Breath of Fire 2 and Dragon's Lair. And then there's the notoriously grumpy Next Generation, who gave the game four stars out of five and came with their own set of critiques: “Successfully blending action elements with a reasonably complex storyline and battle strategies, Mario RPG is the perfect introduction to the world of RPGs. While it would be impossible to successfully argue that Mario RPG maintains the complexity of most RPGs, it is deep enough to command the concentration of even the most seasoned RPG fan. On the other hand, it's not so difficult as to alienate non-RPG fans. Thanks to the consideration given to both genres (a rare feat), Mario RPG is truly an attractive title for most gamers.”

Of course, there were a lot of magazines that gave this unusual pairing a higher score. For example, you saw Game Players going as high as 91%. Game Fan was even more enthusiastic about the game, giving it a 97%. Waka may have been one of the critics who gave Super Mario RPG a near-perfect score, but he was confused: “How did Square squeeze all of this joy into a tiny little cart? With SGI graphics and Square and Nintendo behind the wheel, you can't possibly go wrong with Super Mario RPG. With games of this quality still coming, I'm beginning to wonder if 16-bit will ever die.” E. Storm agreed, arguing that “Mario RPG is not only everything that a Nintendo Mario game should be, but everything a Square RPG should be as well. The two combined equal a game that can only be described as legendary.”

As always, if you're looking for the highest score, then look no further than GamePro, who gave Mario RPG a perfect 5 out of 5. “This fun, intriguing role-playing game should please die-hard RPG fans, as well as novice players. Once you pick this one up, you're hooked. Mario lives up to his Super status once again.”

This is one of those situations where critics today would likely give it higher scores than those at the time. I feel like a lot of the issues brought up in these reviews (such as Mario fatigue, role-playing game skepticism and concerns about it being too kiddie) are no longer applicable, especially now that role-playing games are more commonplace. It will be interesting to see how the critics of 2023 react to the Super Mario RPG remake.