Super Mario Bros. Wonder was announced during last week’s Nintendo Direct, and fans were immediately taken by the new and vastly improved art style. The stale and uninspired aesthetic of the New Mario generation, which 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:our own Stacey Henley wrote had “no soul, no personality” has been replaced by something that feels fresh, playful, and imaginative. There’s nothing quite like Wonder, which features an expressive Mario in๊ a trippy, malleable world. Super Mario Bros. Wonder shows that Nintendo still has a lot of creative juice left in the tank, so why on earth does Super Mario RPG look so damn boring?
I’m a huge fan of Super Mario RPG, so I was👍 delighted when it was revealed ahead of Wonder in the direct. I’ve played the original countless times since I was a kid, and I expect to have a great time re-exper🅷iencing it on the Switch with a brand new look. The only problem is the new look isn’t very new, nor is it a good representation of what the original game looked like. I’ve wanted a remake of Super Mario RPG for a long time, but I feel like I’m in a monkey paw situation, because I never wanted it to look like this.
I’m probably an outlier here. showing clips from both games side by side, and it seems like the reaction is generally very positive. People are praising the 3D models, upgraded textures, and better use of lighting, and while I agree that the remake does improve plenty of graphical de🐬tails on a technical level, I also think the visual identity of Super Mario RPG has been lost in translation. A lot of people seem to think this is a “faithful” remake, which is partially true. Yes, the tree stumps in the Forest Maze are all in the same spots, and the path through Rose Way is unaltered, but the whole vibe is wrong. Nothing else looked like Super Mario RPG, now Super Mario RPG looks like everything else.
When it comes to remakes, we have a tendency to look at the original as an incomplete work. We act as though the artists and designers had intentions for the game that were unobtainable due toꦫ the limitations of the hardware they were working with, and so it’s the job of the remake to fill in the gaps. People talk about the way Super Mario RPG and other remakes capture the “artists intent”, as if the creators had a vision that is finally being realized.
There is a kernel of truth in that thinking. Many early game developers knew that gaming had greater artistic and technical potential than wh꧅at the hardware was capable of at the time, and worked to push the medium to its limits with every project. Developers are still doing that today, and in 20 years when we’re all living in Ready Player One virtual reality, they’ll still be looking for ways to push the envelope. It’s incorrect to think of older games as incomplete, because limitations are what breeds creativity - and Super Mario RPG is one of the most creative gaꦕmes of its era.
Take a look at these two images from the boss battle against Yaridovich. The original is haunting. Mario and pals stand on one side of cracked earth that plummets down into an en꧃dless abyss. The background is a red sun over a stark black horizon. The use of angular lines, long shadows, and extreme contrast evokes German Expressionism, and Yaridovich himself is intimidating and mysterious. This is a strange and dangerous place and you get the feeling that Mario could be in a lot of trouble.
Now look at the new version. They’re in a cave at sunset, and it’s kind of beautiful. The chasm has been removed and the cave entrance has transformed from foreboding to picturesque. Yaridovich’s features are detailed, and it’s clear that he’s just kind of a silly-looking dude. The mystery and intensity of this scene have been replaced with cartoonish realism, and it completely alters the tone and energy of the battle. This is what happens when remakes arꦦe used to realize the original artist’s ‘true intentions’. Someone looked at the original and said ‘that red orb and black hori🧸zon are meant to be a sunset’, so they made it look more like a real sunset, and ruined the whole thing.
Most art, especially in games, is representative. The style of the original Super Mario RPG is not an accident or a compromise based on underpowered hardware, it is the result of artists working with intent within the confines of their medium. Simply filling in the gaps with more detail doesn’t serve the artist's intent or preserve the style of the original. You may like the way the new version looks - Nintendo has certainly spent a lot of time and money making this the default Mario style over the years - but it’s not authentic to the original and it doesn’t capture the original’s tone or aesthetic at all. All of the strange and dreamlike qualities that made Super Mario RPG unique have been replaced with the blandest, safest version of Mario. The new Super Mario RPG is utterly dripless, and it’s a shame to see such a one-of-a-kind game succumb to the lowest common denominator.