The Gift of the War of the Magi

Though Squaresoft’s (now Square-Enix’s) fabled Final Fantasy franchise began in the 8-bit era of video games, I had no exposure to it until the release of Final Fantasy III on the Super NES, which I happily enjoyed and replayed endlessly to the point of exhausting all its secrets. I would discover it was the sixth entry of the series due to Squaresoft’s American branch renumbering the games because of the absence of many earlier entries in English. The company would eventually rectify the numbering, and especially after merging with Enix, milk most of the earlier games financially. The Pixel Remaster collection would be among the latest iterations of the first six entries, with the sixth, Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster, taking the most time to release due to some fine-tuning, but was it worth it?

The game occurs a millennium after the War of the Magi when rival entities known as the Warring Triad enslaved humans and transformed them into magical beings called espers before realizing their errors and emancipating them, the Triad petrifying themselves as well. Afterward, the espers exiled themselves to another realm, magic becoming a myth and humans advancing their society through science and technology, creating a steampunk world featuring opera and the fine arts. In the decades preceding the main action, the Gestahlian Empire, headed by its namesake Emperor Gestahl, has dominated the world with a few exceptions.

The ”present” begins with three imperial officers piloting Magitek Armor: Biggs, Wedge, and the enigmatic ?????? (which I pronounce like a Tim Allen grunt), eventually identified as Terra Branford, a magically gifted maiden with a mysterious past, traveling to the city of Narshe to investigate a frozen esper. Several events follow that result in her alliance with the Returners, an insurgent organization opposed to the empire. Imperial Court Mage Kefka Palazzo plots with the emperor to hunt for espers, unseal their realm, and bring magic into the world to tighten their clutch on humanity.

From the beginning, the narrative’s Star Wars inspirations are apparent, given the adversarial empire and rebellion against it. A few plot holes and video game illogic also abound, which include three characters sharing one diving helmet to traverse an underwater trench and cranes from the imperial palace rising to grab the player’s airship when it could have just flown higher. Other tropes like amnesia exist, and the developers excised a scene that had surprisingly remained in the Super NES version’s English localization where imperial soldiers repeatedly punch turncoat general Celes Chere, as it had been from the Game Boy Advance and original mobile versions.

However, the plot has endless harmonious beats, such as the intricate backstory for most playable characters, with each receiving a notable blurb when introduced into the narrative. In the original game’s time, the greater emphasis on the steampunk genre was also a welcome break from the largely fantastical atmospheres of previous series entries. Most luminaries and their interactions are nothing short of endearing, such as the womanizing King Edgar and his martial artist brother Sabin, the mysterious Shadow with connections to Strago and his granddaughter Relm, and the clownish but maniacal Kefka as an antagonist. Despite its derivative aspects, the sixth Final Fantasy’s plot was and remains a pinnacle of Japanese RPG storytelling.

The latest localization, with the original Super NES version’s script a hallmark of translator Ted Woolsey, breathes life into the narrative. The naming conventions are sound, starting with the initial homage to Biggs and Wedge from the Star Wars series (with Woolsey originally mistranslating the former as “Vicks”) and continuing with other reasonable choices such as changing Tina to Terra (since the former sounds exotic only in Japan), Lock to Locke (like philosopher John Locke), magic-based armor to Magitek armor, phantom beast to esper, and so on. Corrections of Woolsey’s other errors like "Merton" to "Meltdown" and Setzer’s opinion of the empire regarding his finances (due to misinterpreting a Japanese idiom) remain from the Game Boy Advance and prior mobile versions.

However, the latest translation isn’t entirely untouchable. For instance, many nonplayer characters have the same dialogue; some lines also come across as awkward, like those during Kefka’s initial scenes when approaching Figaro Castle, along with others by the villain such as “Son of a sandworm!” (where “Son of a…” would sound better) and where he enjoys the sound of voices “screaming in unison” (when “in agony” wouldn't have been as ridiculous). Lines also abound that Ted Woolsey wrote better like Edgar saying that Shadow would “slit his momma’s throat for a nickel,” retranslated as “He’d kill his own best friend for the right price.” Another is Locke chastising as rude a merchant who calls him a thief instead of a treasure hunter, which was faithful to the Japanese script, but Woolsey rewriting it as threatening to rip said salesman’s lungs out sounded cooler.

Even so, the script lacks spelling, grammar, and name consistency errors, and many iconic quotes flourish. Among them is the running gag of Locke terming himself a treasure hunter instead of a thief, and some of Kefka’s lines like inviting Edgar to “enjoy the barbecue” when incinerating his castle, noting to his troops why oppose rhymes with dispose, and saying the playable cast “sound like pages from a self-help book.” Many characters also sport dialects like Cyan’s Renaissance-era usage of “thou” and “thy” (which leads to Gau, who speaks in pidgin, calling Sabin “Mr. Thou” when the former word comes up) and Setzer’s utilization of gambling terminology. Ultimately, despite its issues, the localization is well-executed and doesn’t impede the plot.

Mechanically, the sixth Pixel Remaster is like its predecessors, but many differences exist. Initially, players control Terra and her two guardians from a galaxy far, far away as they pilot Magitek armor through Narshe, encountering several enemies that hopelessly try to off them. The active time system, with players still able to select between Active and Wait modes, the former letting the action continue as they navigate menus and the latter pausing it as they do so, returns and follows the same rules as previous games. Users of Magitek armor can use several laser and missile-based abilities to slaughter the enemy, with Terra initially able to cast MP-consuming magic.

There are about two other times throughout the game where the playable characters pilot Magitek armor, but the player’s active party of up to four characters will mostly fight on foot in random encounters that the Pixel Remaster mercifully allows them to toggle on and off at a whim outside combat. Battle commands in this mode include attacking with equipped weapons, with damage depending upon what row a character is in (although flails and boomerangs deal equivalent damage regardless of position); using an ability inherent to specific characters, like Locke stealing items from enemies or Edgar utilizing various Tools; casting different types of MP-consuming magic, with espers eventually allowing everyone to learn and use it; or consuming an item.

Characters can also defend to reduce damage, retaining their stances until they execute a different ability once their active time gauges refill, change their row, or attempt to escape simultaneously, which usually works except against bosses; however, evacuation time may be higher versus more powerful adversaries. Victory rewards all characters still alive or not zombified experience for occasional leveling, money to purchase goods, and later, Ability Points to acquire magic from espers. Death necessitates reloading a prior save file; luckily, autosaving occurs frequently, alongside standard save points where players can use Sleeping Bags and Tents to restore their party, reducing wasted playtime.

Another combat mode aside from pedestrian encounters and those in Magitek armor is strategy battles, which occur twice early in the game, where the player controls up to three parties with a maximum of four characters each, first with Locke and numerous Moogles, among them being Mog whom the player later recruits officially, and second with all mainline allies acquired up to that point, albeit lesser in number. In these skirmishes, the player can switch between parties and move them around the battlefield, able to contact advancing enemy sprites to trigger combat, which works as it does in standard random encounters. An adversarial sprite reaching the target the player must defend results in needing to reload the last save while defeating one representing a boss yields victory.

A plot point comes where the player’s characters split, and they must choose one of the parties to advance the storyline until they reunite. Other moments come, including the final dungeon, where the player must divide their party into teams and make it to the end, with party swapping working as it does in the strategy battles. Other dungeons sport quirks like the Cultists’ Tower, where players can only use magic and items. The final boss battle sequence features a structure where players must choose a base party and backup characters from the rest of the accumulated cast that replace them should one be dead when a tier ends.

Returning to unique character skills, improvements from the original mobile ports remain with further refinement. Unlike the Super NES and Game Boy Advance versions, the player no longer needs to sit and do nothing as Cyan’s Bushido skills charge and can control other characters until he ultimately executes them. In the Pixel Remaster, selecting one of Sabin’s Blitzes opens a box with the button combination necessary to use it; if they err in input, they can restart until they get it right and let him unleash his fury. Turbo auto-battling from the previous collection remakes returns, with some quirks like not needing to repeat said Blitz inputs for Sabin to reuse them.

Characters can eventually equip espers that grant stat bonuses whenever they level while allowing them to learn various magic through acquiring Ability Points after combat, with each spell having a multiplier that dictates the learning rate. Depending on how one plays their cards, this system can grant them an advantage later in the game. Boosts from the previous PlayStation 4 and Switch ports of the Pixel Remasters return that can modify rewards from combat and reduce the old-school grind and brutality that the original Final Fantasy VI could often feature, making the latest iteration more accessible than ever to modern audiences.

The mechanics work pleasantly, given the agile pace of combat, diverse ways to slaughter the enemy, fun tricks like using Phoenix Down and Holy Water to off undead enemies instantly, and the mentioned Boosts to accommodate players of different abilities; however, there are a few issues. For instance, some innate character abilities can backfire, like Celes’ Runic ability that absorbs the next cast magic (even healing cast by other characters); Gau's use of specific Rage abilities is also random and uncancellable until he dies. Other nitpicks include the inability to view enemy status benefits and detriments and some unskippable cutscenes before critical boss fights, including the last.

The final Pixel Remaster inherits most quality-of-life improvements from its predecessors, which include autosaving during transitions between areas, a suspend save, and helpful in-game maps for the overworld (which shows unvisited locations as gray dots and how many treasures remain in each location) and the myriad dungeons. Positive usability features from the previous versions, including a sortable inventory, unlimited space for different item types, optimizing equipment for each character, and an in-game clock viewable any time outside battle, also return. However, issues abound in the lack of fast travel before acquiring an airship, the difficulty for newcomers in finding many secrets without a guide, and (with rare exceptions) the unskippable cutscenes.

Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack for Final Fantasy VI was one of the highlights of his musical career, gloriously reorchestrated in the Pixel Remaster, with some surprises. Beginning with a title screen theme inspired by “Thus Spake Zarathustra” and sporting tracks indigenous to the series, like the prelude and overture, the soundtrack features endless variety, with every playable character having a musical motif and sundry remixes, like Terra’s theme, one of which doubles as the first overworld music. Other notable tunes include the “Spinach Rag,” of which Scott Joplin would be proud, most noticeable at the Opera House, which has a surprise as actual English vocals for the game’s iconic opera scene, consequentially sounding better than before. The sound effects are never out of place, with Kefka’s iconic digitized laugh returning. Aside from frequent silence and the slight derivation of a few pieces, the sixth entry’s sound is near-note perfect.

That the original version featured taller character sprites without battles as within could explain its lengthier remastery compared to the previous collection entries. Plenty of pluses are present, like the superb art direction, with character sprites reflecting their respective designs, the characters showing vast emotional spectra, the environments having harmonious color schemes and occasional weather effects, and so forth. The Super NES iteration utilized Mode-7 visual effects, which its respective remaster still does mostly on the overworld, but even more so in scenes like the opera performance. However, the heavy pixilation from the previous remasters returns, and the buildings on the said overworld appear flat, reversing the 3-D effects of the the last mobile version. Laziness further abounds in the battle visuals, with most issues from prior entries returning; despite flashy ability effects, the telekinetic attacking by the player’s characters persists, along with inanimate foes (many being reskins) that merely flash when executing their commands. Ultimately, the graphics don’t detriment the experience yet fall significantly short of perfection.

The sixth is the longest of the Pixel Remasters, taking beyond twenty-four hours to complete, with nods to lasting appeal as PlayStation Trophies, sidequests, mastering every obtainable spell from espers, and constantly attempting to beat the step record the game tracks. However, most unversed in prior versions may need to reference the internet to find everything, and a New Game+ is absent.

In summation, Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster is inarguably amazing, given its harmonious gameplay mechanics, the quality-of-life improvements over prior incarnations, the rich narrative with endearing characters, the above-average translation, the beautifully remastered soundtrack, and the solid visual direction. However, it has issues that make labels like “one of the greatest games of all time” and “masterpiece” aberrations, given the handful of scrappy game mechanics, some unfriendliness to those who have never touched previous versions, some unoriginal narrative elements, a few oddities in the localization, and many lazy visual choices bequeathed from past iterations. Regardless, it is the best way to experience the classic and ends the Pixel Remaster collection on a high note.

This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the reviewer's PlayStation 4, played to the standard ending.

The Second Crusade

When Atlus’s Etrian Odyssey for the Nintendo DS saw its North American release, most gamers found it a throwback to old-school role-playing games, given a fully customizable party, first-person dungeon exploration, and sometimes punishing difficulty. Given its success, it was natural that a sequel would see its release soon afterward, later given a 3DS remake and years later remastered for Windows and the Nintendo Switch as part of the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection as Etrian Odyssey II HD, allowing new generations to discover the original version of the first sequel of the dungeon-crawling franchise.

Upon starting a new game, the player must create a party of five characters of diverse classes, with some new selections in the sequel, which include Gunner and War Magus. Before choosing a party, it’s a good idea to give their skill sets a once-over to ensure that whatever party the player selects can work harmoniously. For example, the Survivalist has certain skills that can grant specific allies the initiative in a round of combat, which can, for example, help healers execute their healing before the enemy kills whomever the player wishes to heal.

Battles in the labyrinth are random, with an indicator gradually turning red to indicate how close the player is to encountering enemies, a feature that, like in the first game, alleviates the typical tension associated with random encounters. Fights follow the traditional turn-based formula of inputting commands for the player’s party and letting them and the enemy beat up one another in a round, with agility determining turn order. The player puts their characters into a formation consisting of a front and back row, each able to hold up to three characters, with characters in the front row dealing and taking more damage and back row characters taking and dealing less damage.

Commands include attacking with an equipped weapon, defending, using items, attempting to escape (with up to five opportunities and an increased chance of success with a skill all characters have), changing the front and back row formation (if all characters in the front row die, the back and front rows will switch), or using a unique Force skill when a character’s Force points are at maximum. Defeating all enemies results in the player acquiring experience for all participating characters who are still alive, not to mention monster parts that the player can sell at the shop in town for money (since monsters don’t drop money themselves).

Violating the Hippocratic Oath

Sold parts gradually unlock more powerful equipment and consumable items. In some cases, gear and consumables are of limited stock, so the player must acquire more monster parts to unlock the equipment and items again for purchase. What happens when the player dies in combat depends upon the difficulty setting: the lowest challenge, Picnic, transports players back into town with no experience lost, while higher settings result in a Game Over but the chance to preserve the dungeon map.

Leveling results in the player acquiring a skill point they can invest in a character class skill tree, with upper-level skills requiring weaker skills to have a certain number of points to unlock them. Bosses end each Stratum, their difficulty depending upon the challenge mode, and as a hint for those playing on standard or advanced settings, using bind skills on their head, arms, and feet can be pivotal. Ultimately, the game mechanics are virtually flawless and accommodating to players of divergent skill levels.

The interface is mostly the same as it was in the first game, with a linear structure and a hub town where the player can perform various tasks such as buying new items and equipment, recovering health, and so forth, with expectant features like the ability to see how gear increases or decreases stats before purchasing it while shopping. The ability to map walls automatically also reduces some of the stress of dungeon cartography, and there are some improvements in dungeon navigation, primarily magnetic poles every couple of floors that provide teleportation shortcuts. Aside from the lack of visibility of stat increases or decreases when pawning equipment, control is very tight.

While one can argue that the first Etrian Odyssey sequel is light on plot, it isn’t forced down the player’s throat like in contemporary high-end video game releases. Plenty of positives include intricate backstory (especially elaborated upon towards the end), tavern quest subplots, and mysterious characters such as the adversarial dungeon-crawling duo Der Freischütz and Artelinde. The translation is equally solid, although it features some of its preceding remaster’s missteps with awkward lines such as “It’s a horde of enemies!” when targeting all monsters in battle.

An Etrian autumn

Yuzo Koshiro’s soundtrack, like in the first game, is one of its high points, with plenty of catchy, memorable tracks for each Stratum and enemy engagements, the primary battle theme changing midway through the game. Sound effects could have used more diversity at times, but otherwise, the sequel is an aural delight.

The sequel uses the same remastered visual style as its predecessor, relying on anime character portraits for the player’s characters, people in town, and occasional people in the labyrinth, with three-dimensional dungeon visuals that look nice and colorful, While the monster designs in battle look nice, they’re still inanimate, and a few reskinned foes abound. Still, the game looks good in high definition.

Finally, one can breeze through the sequel in as little as twelve hours; however, plenty of lasting appeal exists: a postgame Stratum, filling the compendia, tavern quests, and Steam achievements, which can push it well beyond that length.

In summation, Etrian Odyssey II HD is, like its predecessor, a great remaster that sports quick combat with adjustable difficulty, making it more accessible to players who would not usually enjoy such RPGs. Control and the signature cartography are also tight, the audiovisual presentation is solid, and the story has some good twists; however, many may admittedly find the narrative shallow. Regardless, the remaster of the first Etrian sequel accomplishes the goal of the remaster collection of bringing the old-school-style dungeon crawler to new audiences. Given the endless possibilities of character and party customization, it will keep prospective players occupied for a fair time.

This review is based on a playthrough to the standard ending with no postgame content attempted.

The Road to Zenithia

Dragon Quest is a series with an extensive history of remakes to reach new generations of gamers, one of them being the fourth game using the visuals of the seventh mainline installment for the Sony PlayStation. Although Enix America originally intended to localize the remake, the closure of developer Heartbeat in Japan terminated such plans. About two generations later, however, Square-Enix announced remakes of the fourth through sixth Dragon Quest games, known as the Zenithian Trilogy, for the Nintendo DS, with the American branch translating the fourth game as Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, which would be ported years later to iOS devices.

The fourth game differs from its predecessors and successors in its use of a narrative system of chapters, staying true to the English subtitle, new to the remake (but present in the PlayStation version) being a prologue chapter where the player briefly controls the protagonist, male or female, they create when starting a new game. Following this are several chapters during which the player controls the deuteragonists before they join the main character. These include Ragnar McRyan, a knight of Burland; Tsarevna Alena and her protectors, Kiryl and Borya; Torneko Taloon, a fledgling merchant; and the gypsy sisters Meena and Maya.

The chapter-based structure, where the player controls different characters, individual or part of a small group, remains unique within and without the franchise, with the overarching plot of Psaro the Manslayer unleashing demons upon the world and seeking the Secret of Evolution. While developing cutscenes are admittedly scarce and plot direction can be poor at times, the narrative never feels forced in the face of the player, with an extra postgame chapter putting a new twist on the original plotline, accounting for one of the better stories of the series.

The translation breathes life into the dialogue, with different parts of the world having regional dialects, such as Scottish in Burland and Russian in Zamoksva, with puns aplenty in terms of names for encountered enemies, towns, and certain characters. Moreover, the localization team reconciled the naming conventions of the original NES English version and the Japanese script very well. There are also a few cultural references; for instance, one opponent Alena faces in the tournament is named Quick Draw McGore. Some minor errors exist; for example, a couple refers to each other as mother and father, and keeping the name of a central town as Endor with zero Star Wars references one could perceive as asinine. Regardless, the localization is one of the strongest Square-Enix has produced.

Good luck beating these guys before they run away.

Players of prior Dragon Quests will be familiar with the game mechanics, enemies randomly encountered, and the frontline party of up to four active characters squaring off against them. New to the remake, at least to Anglophone players, is the ability to input manual commands for allies once they join during the main chapter instead of relying upon various AI commands. However, they are still available if the player does not prefer manual command input. Each character can attack, use MP-consuming spells if able, defend, or use items. The party can collectively attempt to escape, though this option naturally can fail.

If the player doesn’t want to waste time on weak enemies, Holy Water or the Holy Protection spell can nullify fights with them. Battles, for the most part, flow quickly, especially if the player sets message speed to the maximum setting and lets the AI take over for standard encounters. While the AI has quirks such as allies not deciding commands until they reach their turns, in which case they may heal a character that gets to low health within the same round, it’s not foolproof. During most boss battles, players will likely prefer more control over their party’s actions.

The order in which the player’s characters and the enemy execute their commands in a round after input can vary, even when battling the same types of opponents; however, the Accelerate spell can help them take their turns first. There’s also an annoying tendency of magic that damages enemies to do nothing against various foes, even versus the same types, and slight early-game hell in the form of revival magic that only works half the time (but that which always works the player eventually acquires). Total defeat in combat costs players half their carried gold, though the bank in Endor can somewhat nullify this penalty.

The original Dragon Quest IV also had been released in an age when sleeping at inns did not fully restore the party, with the player needing to pay at churches to recover ailments and revive deceased characters, death in combat leaving only the protagonist alive at the last church saved at. Grinding may also be necessary to make it through the game, with the Whistle ability acquired by Torneko summoning enemy parties instantly and helping here. Furthermore, should players partake in the postgame chapter, they will want to hold on to cursed equipment. Ultimately, the battle system works, although the dated traditions of the franchise are still in play.

Putting the Dragon in Dragon Quest.

The iPad controls take some getting used to (in my case, I mostly used my left hand and an Apple Pencil). However, they work, with the menus being easy and the new presence of a bag to store excess items negating that players sell or drop goods. The player can further see how the equipment increases or decreases stats before purchase, text speed is adjustable, and an option for auto-healing all characters in the party using spells exists in the menus. Moreover, magic allows for instant exit from dungeons and conveyance among visited towns, and descriptions exist for spells and items as they should be in any RPG. However, as mentioned, the plot direction is often poor, and dungeons lack maps. Regardless, despite some rough spots, control is tight.

The soundtrack by the late Koichi Sugiyama, as usual, is astounding, with plenty of neoclassical tracks, but one technical problem is that the music of wherever the player is, be it in a town or dungeon or on the overworld, resets after the player fights a battle or acquires a quest item. This issue can make the tracks feel repetitive and impossible to hear in full without remaining still. The signature primitive sound effects of the series in battle are also present, but the audio is a high point.

The graphics mostly remain unchanged from the PlayStation version and show their age. The colors are pretty, as are the character and monster designs (despite some palette swaps). However, pixilation abounds with the sprites and environments, and combat remains in first-person like classic franchise entries. Some positives are present, like the perpetual animation of enemy sprites in battle and night/day effects, but the visuals have not aged well.

Finally, the fourth entry is around a twenty-four-hour game, with the postgame content possibly boosting playtime beyond that, and filling the monster compendium provides another source of lasting appeal. However, one will likely need a guide, and no other replayability exists.

In conclusion, Dragon Quest IV, when the Nintendo DS version was released, was a great return of the game to the Anglophone world, following the trend the eighth installment had started regarding localization style, with the iOS version bringing it to more audiences. However, it does retain some dated elements of the franchise, especially in its core gameplay. Furthermore, the graphics have aged poorly, and the lasting appeal is finite. Still, its narrative form remains unique in the franchise, with a solid translation helping, and the musical score remains magnificent as always. As the start of the Zenithian trilogy, it proves a good diving board into the franchise, available for modern gamers to enjoy.

This review is based on a playthrough of the iOS version on an iPad without the postgame content completed.

The Body Koopa

One of the last roleplaying games for the Nintendo DS was the AlphaDream-developed Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, the chronologically third entry of the Mario & Luigi subseries of RPGs. Years later, on the 3DS, the very first game in the subfranchise, Superstar Saga, would receive a remake with added content, the second game, Partners in Time, overlooked. However, the third would receive its own rerelease entitled Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey, which is essentially two games in one akin to the enhanced port of Superstar Saga.

The main quest opens with a disease known as The Blorbs affecting residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, causing Toads to become morbidly obese, akin to Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its film adaptations. As Princess Peach and her cohorts, including siblings Mario and Luigi, discuss what to do about the pandemic, Bowser invades. The classic Mario antagonist is defeated, sometime after which he eats a Vacuum Shroom, making him engorge everything in sight, including Mario, Luigi, and Peach. The game’s action frequently alternates between Bowser and the Mario brothers as they unknowingly work together.

Bowser Jr.’s Journey follows Bowser’s son in parallel events as he conspires with his father’s seven primary minions, the Koopalings, their origins pretty much unexplored, alongside Junior’s matronage. The game tells both its stories well, with plenty of humor and a semblance of originality, at least in the Mario mythos, with other media like the film Fantastic Voyage exploring body exploration when miniature, and RPGs such as the original Star Ocean have featured the goal of curing a mysterious affliction. The translation is an admirable effort, given its humor, but odd onomatopoeia abounds like “oog” and “muh,” and characters addressing Bowser’s son as “Lord Junior” sounds asinine.

Luckily, the main quest fares well in the gameplay department, with enemy encounters visible on side-scrolling (within Bowser’s body) and top-down maps. Mario and Luigi can jump on or hammer them to get the initiative, dealing premature damage when the subsequent battle commences. Fights are mechanically like those in Superstar Saga minus fire and thunder attacks, the siblings alone facing several foes, able to deal damage by jumping on them, hammering them, or using BP-consuming attacks with minigame-esque sequences that can either be easy or hard to master.

Bowser himself faces off solo against various enemies, able to get the initiative in fights with his own map abilities, and can punch foes, exhale fire on all, or use point-consuming minion skills that can ultimately be more powerful, if ably executed, than his standard free attacks. Sometimes, he can inhale enemies for the Mario brothers to finish off, with all participants in combat after a victory receiving money and experience, the latter allowing them to level occasionally. In these instances, their stats increase, and players can use a roulette mechanic on an individual stat for a bonus increase that lessens at a certain threshold.

Bowser Jr.’s Journey is also mechanically like the Minion Quest in the 3DS remake of Superstar Saga, with customizable unit formations introduced, some of which can grant all participants in combat bonuses. Also new is the ability for Bowser Jr. to have a second officer, with players ultimately able to make Junior of melee, ranged, or flying type. The automatic real-time battles transpire with the Rochambeau formula, where melee units beat ranged units, ranged beats flying, and flying beats melee. Minions randomly and collectively or individually execute special skills, which the enemy faction can cancel. However, players can accomplish the same in return, with other Captain Point-consuming skills in the mix.

The gameplay mechanics in the main quest generally work well, aside from some annoying enemies and wildly unpredictable antagonist attack patterns (with the warning indicators the player can turn on and off in the game menus often not helping here). However, Bowser Jr.’s Journey is a different ballpark, necessitating frequent grinding to stand a chance against story maps, and leveling itself carries an all-or-nothing risk if the player loses even one of a stage’s fights. While some battles may leave players with beans to grant free experience and status increases, leveling units on lower-level maps can be difficult, and overall, the subquest could have used a once-over.

Control, though, fares worse, with the developers loving minigames, most mandatory to advance the storyline and repeated at times. One that requires the stylus near the end, in particular, enraged me. Players can also accidentally switch between the Mario brothers and Bowser, given the proximity of the 3DS’s face buttons. Furthermore, while the primary storyline features detailed in-game maps, they aren’t wholly foolproof, with some passageways to other chambers not even indicated, leading to the player losing themselves at times and having to consult online guides. A redeeming aspect is that the game menus are easy to navigate, but interaction could have used a greater reevaluation.

Returning composer Yoko Shimomura’s soundtrack, however, is good as always, with most characters having their own squeaky voices that are fortunately skippable in most instances, although there are some common silent parts of the game.

The graphics are nearly identical to those in the 3DS rerelease of Superstar Saga, which isn’t a bad thing as they border on perfection, and many areas, like the various chambers of Bowser’s interior, contain superb design, along with character and enemy sprites that face most directions. The only real shortcoming is the lack of three-dimensional capability.

Finally, finishing both games will last players around twenty-four to forty-eight hours, with some lasting appeal (particularly in the main quest) of achieving one hundred percent when it comes to things such as digging around the world for stat-increasing beans alongside achievements in Bowser Jr.’s Journey as well. However, no New Game+ modes or narrative differences exist, and the mentioned minigames and grinding can be frustrating.

Overall, the collection has many things going for it, such as its enjoyable gameplay systems, humorous parallel narratives, superb aural presentation, pretty visuals, and reasons to play onward. However, there are issues, particularly regarding Bowser Jr.’s Journey, with the repetitive grinding necessary to make it to the end, not to mention problems with the main quest like mandatory minigames and the ease of getting lost a few times despite in-game maps. It’s certainly not the best Mario RPG of all time, but it’s far from terrible and warrants a look from fans of Mario and Nintendo games.

This review is based on playthroughs of the main game and Bowser Jr.'s Journey to their standard endings with many achievements not obtained.