History YMMV / SuperMarioRPG

* CultClassic: Regarded as such, especially in the United States. The SNES game did receive critical acclaim, but its success was limited because the Nintendo 64 was released four months later with a far more commercially successful and famous game, ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', ''and'' the game was released against an increasingly-successful and robust [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation PS1]] library, to boot.

** Mallow's certainly a likeable character, but his battle prowess is less than adequate compared to other characters once you finish Marrymore. [[WhiteMage Princess Toadstool]] is a much better dedicated healer than Mallow (most of her healing moves being able to restore everyone to full health and remove status effects) and her Frying Pan allows her to hit as hard as Bowser, and Geno is by far the best offensive character when he gets Geno Blast around the same time Mallow learns Snowy. While he does eventually learn Star Rain, potentially the strongest [[HerdHittingAttack crowd control attack]] in the party, and it costs less than the similar Geno Blast, it's harder to time. Fortunately, the remake's revamped battle system was kind to him: it's easier to scout the elemental weaknesses that Mallow's attacks prey on, you can switch him into battle at any time if you find them, and his passive Magic Attack boost makes him and Geno (when boosted by him) the best magic attackers in the party.

** Though very few would likely be confused as to why, many were upset that Exor's mouth's name was changed from "Neosquid" to an understandably more accurate "mouth". Though "Neosquid" never made sense, it certainly stood out. The first of Smithy's gang being changed from "Mack" to "Claymorton" is less of an issue, but the third going from "Yaridovich" to "Speardovich" is regarded as more of a dud.

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: This game was groundbreaking in ways that are easily taken for granted years later. It introduced ActionCommands, which became a staple of all future Mario [=RPGs=], had Peach as a fully developed playable character instead of a pure DamselInDistress, and greatly fleshed-out Bowser's personality while having him PromotedToPlayable. Beyond the Mario series, the game was an RPG with a heavy focus on comedy at a time when most took themselves very seriously. However, these features and concepts became far less revolutionary over time, with [=RPGs=] that don't take themselves all too seriously becoming much more common in later decades. Peach and Bowser's characterization would also become the standard for most future Mario [=RPGs=], with Action Commands also becoming very popular in both Mario and non-Mario [=RPGs=]. This has caused many to deem the game dated in comparison to later Mario [=RPGs=], many citing the [[ScrappyMechanic shared FP mechanic]], relatively linear progression and lack of first strikes.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: While more of a [[BaseBreakingCharacter Base-Breaker]] than an outright [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] (see the "Original" folder above), Mallow in the original was hated by many for being a crybaby and having little to no reason to be kept around once Peach joins the party. The remake, however, gives him more expressive animations, repainting him as a joyful little guy who, in spite of how easily he cries, is always ready to do his best. And on the gameplay side, the ability to swap allies on the fly has given Mallow a unique niche to fill as a scout, in addition to being a low-cost crowd control character who can serve as a backup healer in a pinch, bolstered further by Thought Peek now revealing enemies' elemental and status weaknesses.

* ThatOneAchievement: "Where's My Super Suit" requires getting 100 Super Jumps, one of the most challening things to do in the game.

* FanNickname: Exor's mouth is inexplicably named [[BlindIdiotTranslation Neosquid]] in the original English localization. The sheer absurdity of the name has led some to use it to refer to Exor himself.

* GeniusBonus: Smilax/Megasmilax is named after an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilax actual plant genus]] that bears red berries.

** During the boss fight against Countdown, he'll announce what time it currently is and follow it up with a corresponding attack. When it's 12:00, he'll say "[[MemeticMutation It's high noon]]" and unleash a powerful spell that [[VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} attacks your entire team]].

** In Monstro Town, you get an item called the Super Suit from a Chow after jumping 100 times. So, ''that's'' where [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Frozone's]] wife [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2qRDMHbXaM hid it]]!

** Mallow's certainly a likable character, but his battle prowess is less than adequate compared to other characters once you finish Marrymore. [[WhiteMage Princess Toadstool]] is a much better dedicated healer than Mallow (most of her healing moves being able to restore everyone to full health and remove status effects) and her Frying Pan allows her to hit as hard as Bowser, and Geno is by far the best offensive character when he gets Geno Blast around the same time Mallow learns Snowy. While he does eventually learn Star Rain, potentially the strongest [[HerdHittingAttack crowd control attack]] in the party, and it costs less than the similar Geno Blast, it's harder to time. Fortunately, the remake's revamped battle system was kind to him: it's easier to scout the elemental weaknesses that Mallow's attacks prey on, you can switch him into battle at any time if you find them, and his passive Magic Attack boost makes him and Geno (when boosted by him) the best magic attackers in the party.
** Bowser is often considered the worst party member, and for good reason: he suffers from CripplingOverspecialization, having awesome physical stats but terrible Magic Defense. Even when given all the level-up bonuses you can muster, he's still not great at taking the magic attacks that many bosses frequently use, especially starting around the mid-game. His weapons and armor don't help his case, as they provide the lowest stat increases by far (his best purchasable weapon is as powerful as Toadstool's worst weapon and all but his last piece of armor is outclassed by the Work Pants). While he's still not on par with the other characters in the remake, he's another beneficiary of the revamped battle system: parties with Bowser receive a passive Defense buff, perfect timed hits let his strong attacks inflict splash damage, he has good Triple Attack options, and he can be switched into battle at at any time against physically-inclined enemies. Like Geno and Mallow, he also gets a much better PostEndGameContent weapon that lets him catch up a little.

** In Japan, the Guerrilla enemy is named "[[https://dic.pixiv.net/a/ドソキーユング Dosoki Yung]]", which is "Donkey Kong" with two of the katakana changed to lookalikes. His Psychopath/Thought Peek quote is a ThisIsAWorkOfFiction disclaimer (which was retained in the English Switch remake), which leads to mentions of that trope being jokingly replied with pictures of Guerrilla by Japanese fans.

** The super star music, more than usual -- you get exp for all the enemies you kill with it, so grabbing a star is usually a sure level up or two for the entire party.

** "This is Booster Tower" sounds a bit like the song "Comanche" by The Revels, most notable for being part of the soundtrack of ''Film/PulpFiction''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Yoshi gets [[WolverinePublicity top billing alongside the main cast]] on the Japanese box art[[note]]The Switch version's box art, which is based off said Japanese one, has him omitted entirely[[/note]] despite not being a playable character or having any major involvement in the story. His appearance in this game is pretty underwhelming, and he definitely would have made an interesting party member.

* ValuesDissonance: A mild example of it caused Bowser's victory pose to be changed. In the Japanese version, his pose was a BicepPolishingGesture. That gesture isn't used in America, and it looks very similar to slap-the-crook-of-your-elbow, which means roughly the same thing as the [[FlippingTheBird middle finger]]. Bowser's victory pose was thus changed into a double fist clench in the English version.
* ViewerNameConfusion: The giant sword is not Smithy. His name is actually Exor. Smithy is his boss. Even the American marketing team fell victim to this confusion, as promotional material refers to Exor as "Smithy the Sword". It's understandable, though: although the antagonists openly state they act in the name of the "Smithy Gang", it's never clearly stated who Smithy ''is'', and Smithy himself does not make an appearance until the very last fight of the game. Many people just assumed that the [[LargeAndInCharge large]], threatening sword distinctively impaled in Bowser's Keep was meant to be the BigBad.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: The remake's international box art was widely criticized for being too plain when the original game's Western box looked a lot cooler, but this isn't the first time that the international art was just an adaption of the Japanese art. That happened first with the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series starting with its third game, ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'', but the minimalism in that series is widely more accepted because the covers still display the character dynamics of everyone involved, such as Luigi getting scared by Bowser or Paper Mario jumping onto the cover art from a peeling-back corner. The ''Super Mario RPG'' remake, by contrast, is nothing but the party characters standing in neutral positions in a white void with the logo below them.

** Count Down's name was changed in several countries to preserve the English version's pun. In Dutch, he's called Majestijd, a portmanteau of "Majesteit", meaning "Majesty", and "Tijd", meaning "Time". In French, he's instead called Chronomaître, which comes from "chronomètre", meaning "stopwatch", and "maître", meaning "Master".

** The Lazy Shell armor gives a ''massive'' defensive boost and immunity to elemental and status attacks. The trade-off is that their offensive stats are crippled, but if you equip ''Peach'' with it, it just means her healing spells are a bit less powerful (though still powerful enough to keep the party alive), but your healer is now nigh-indestructible.

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: This game was groundbreaking in ways that are easily taken for granted years later. It introduced ActionCommands, which became a staple of all future Mario [=RPGs=], had Peach as a fully developed playable character instead of a pure DamselInDistress, and greatly fleshed-out Bowser's personality while having him PromotedToPlayable. Beyond the Mario series, the game was an RPG with a heavy focus on comedy at a time when most took themselves very seriously. However, these features and concepts became far less revolutionary over time, with [=RPGs=] that don't take themselves all too seriously becoming much more common in later decades. Peach and Bowser's characterization would also become the standard for most future Mario [=RPGs=], with Action Commands also becoming very popular in both Mario and non-Mario [=RPGs=]. This has caused many to deem the game outdated in comparison to later Mario [=RPGs=], many citing the [[ScrappyMechanic shared FP mechanic]], relatively linear progression and lack of first strikes.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Punchinello was a one-shot boss in the original game who is never seen after his defeat and his sole wish was to become famous. In the remake, he appears in the ending standing on stage with the rest of the cast and his handiwork with enhancing Bowser's Chain Chomp impresses the latter enough to offer him a job fixing up his castle, giving Punchinello the shot at fame he always wanted.

** The ChestMonster enemy line had Japanese names that were puns on the phrase ''nan darō'' (roughly "I wonder what it is", i.e. something someone would say before opening a treasure chest), which the original English localization replaced with box-related ThemeNaming (Pandorite, Hidon, Box Boy, and Chester). The English version of the remake preserves the spirit of the pun with the new names Huhwhat, Whuhoh, Pleaseno, and Comeon, phrases that express surprise and exasperation at being repeatedly pranked by fake treasure boxes.

* GoddamnedBoss: The rematch with Belome is the first one most players will fight and, while not the hardest, is certainly the most annoying. The gimmick given to Belome makes it so that, now when he summons his clones, they will shield him from ''any'' damage. Killing the clones isn't too hard, but Belome will summon them fairly often (and this can't be blocked with Mute, either) and both of his magic attacks can put your party to sleep, forcing players to waste time waking them up, making for an annoying slog to get through.

** When Croco steals Mallow's coin and runs off, Mallow yells at the Toad lookout and asks why he didn't step in. In the Japanese version, the Toad says that he's only a lookout. In the American version, he sarcastically quips that he "forgot his bazooka at home". The mental image of a Toad with a firearm is so funny, many Western gamers prefer the translation over the original and were very pleased to find the remake didn't remove it amidst other tweaks to the localized script.

** While the game encourages you to experiment with your party, expect experienced players to always use a Mario/Toadstool/Geno party. Toadstool's healing is powerful and cheap, while Geno has some of the best attacks in the game, and Mario [[CantDropTheHero cannot be removed from the party]]. Bowser suffers from terrible magic defense (which will be exploited by many late game bosses), and Mallow's spell list is useful early on but made redundant when Geno and Toadstool join. The remake tries to move away from this; while Mario/Peach/Geno is still the best default party setup, their Party Attack is one of the worst in the game, party members can be freely switched during battle, and the {{superboss}} rematches can't just be cheesed with a Lazy Shell-equipped Peach, [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman encouraging use of]] Mallow and Bowser in certain situations.

** It’s pretty clear the [[LimitBreak Party Attacks]] were intended for the post-game boss rematches, as using them against most bosses in the main campaign will usually either result in you one shotting the boss in question, or leaving the boss close to being one shotted by a basic attack. The only real notable exceptions to this are [[spoiler:[[SuperBoss Culex]] and [[FinalBoss Smithy]].]] Once you get into the post game, the party attacks, while still useful, are no longer as overpowered as they are in the main story as the post-game rematches are designed with them in mind.

* LowTierLetdown: Mario, Geno, and Peach's [[LimitBreak Party Attack]], "Spare-Us-All", ''does'' have the potential to come in clutch in certain situations, as it allows each active party member to tank one attack without taking any damage. However, this requires a lot more forethought on the player's part for them to be able to guess when an enemy is about to use their strongest attack, which is a ''[[LuckBasedMission lot]]'' harder than it sounds, as most enemies and bosses work on an AIRoulette instead of having set attack patterns you can follow. Compared to either hitting a field or a single enemy hard with an attack, buffing the entire party, or healing everyone, it often ends up being a lot more situational in comparison. [[ObviousRulePatch This may have been done]] to encourage use of the other two party members in tandem with the new battle mechanics such as passive buffs and free switching, as the original game was infamous for the ComplacentGamingSyndrome of a Mario/Geno/Toadstool party [[CharacterSelectForcing outclassing all other party setups by a longshot]]. The one place where [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman this move does shine]] is [[spoiler:the Culex rematch, where the fact that his HPToOne attack is on a countdown makes it easy to predict when to use Spare-Us-All.]]

** The inventory system. Not only does it have a paltry amount of space (around 20 slots), but unlike traditional [=RPGs=] where multiple copies of consumable items are put in the same slot, consumables you get in this game go into individual slots. You also can't expand your inventory. What exacerbates the problem further are several items that are unique and are categorized as regular items instead of key items (such as the membership card to Grate Guy's Casino). This means that you're stuck with rare items you don't want to throw away, which makes your limited inventory space even smaller.

* VindicatedByHistory: While it wasn't an outright ''failure'' at release, ''Mario RPG'' was overshadowed both by the wildly successful UsefulNotes/PlayStation and the impending release of Nintendo's own Nintendo 64, with [[VideoGame/SuperMario64 its own Mario title of some renown]]. Being an RPG on the SNES also meant it cost quite a lot. Many SNES players were moving on to bigger things, with ''Mario RPG'' being a comparative blip on the gaming radar. By the end of the millennium, however, it went on to become a much beloved title, and many consider it to be one of the greatest games in the Super Nintendo library.

* VindicatedByHistory: While it wasn't an outright ''failure'' at release, ''Mario RPG'' was overshadowed both by the wildly successful UsefulNotes/PlayStation and the impending release of Nintendo's own Nintendo 64, with [[VideoGame/SuperMario64 its own Mario title of some renown]]. Many SNES players were moving on to bigger things, with ''Mario RPG'' being a comparative blip on the gaming radar. By the end of the millennium, however, it went on to become a much beloved title, and many consider it to be one of the greatest games in the Super Nintendo library.

** Bowser goes from calling his underlings "the Koopa Troop" to "Bowser's Minions". Aside from the original name just sounding better due to the alliteration (and being an established name for his underlings already), it doesn't fit Bowser's BenevolentBoss portrayal in this game to have him refer to his followers as "minions". The game also tends to capitalize both words and/or put them in quotation marks, and in tandem with some of Woolsey's dialogue that includes the words not being changed otherwise, "Bowser's Minions" is treated like it's the proper official term for them, which is a bit silly. It should be noted however, that Paper Jam refers to Bowser's troops as his "minions", the [=3DS=] remake of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperStarSaga'' is ''Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga & Bowser's Minions'' and ''VideoGame/BowserJrsJourney'' uses "Koopa Troop" after ''Extra Spice'' but Bowser (Melee)'s description uses "Minions", indicating that "Bowser's Minions", aisde from a line here and there, is the official term.

** Bowser goes from calling his underlings "the Koopa Troop" to "Bowser's Minions". Aside from the original name just sounding better due to the alliteration (and being an established name for his underlings already), it doesn't fit Bowser's BenevolentBoss portrayal in this game to have him refer to his followers as "minions". The game also tends to capitalize both words and/or put them in quotation marks, and in tandem with some of Woolsey's dialogue that includes the words not being changed otherwise, "Bowser's Minions" is treated like it's the proper official term for them, which is a bit silly. It should be noted however, that Paper Jam refers to Bowser's troops as his "minions", the [=3DS=] remake of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperStarSaga'' is ''Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga & Bowser's Minions'' and ''VideoGame/BowserJrsJourney'' uses "Koopa Troop" after ''Extra Spice'' but Bowser (Melee)'s description uses "Minions".