Best Mario RPG

[CrossEyed7]

Do you mean "Why doesn't the label 'platforming RPG' fit SPM?" or "Why doesn't 'platforming RPG,' which is what SPM is, fit into the definition of RPG?"?

For now, I'm just dividing Mario into the 2D platformers, the 3D platformers, the Sports/Karts, the RPGs, the puzzle games, and the miscellaneous stuff (Mario Teaches Typing, Hotel Mario, Mario Lottery, etc.). Out of those categories, SPM best fits in the RPG slot. Beyond that, I would probably label it an action RPG, a bit more RPGish than Zelda and Metroidvania games. I think 'platforming RPG' is a little too specific. An action RPG starring Mario would naturally gravitate toward platforming. Making distinctions like that is like distinguishing between Tales of Symphonia as a To Resonate With You RPG and Tales of Vesperia as a To Enforce One's "Justice" RPG. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but still.

[jmdblazer]

I added Super Paper Mario. But I sincerely hope that they go back to the traditional RPG style for the next game.

[Chupperson Weird]

CrossEyed7, I think you're confusing actual play styles/mechanics with plot points.

[Reading]

SS is close, but the story drags it down (the least cohesive out of the six; it often feels like they were just making it up as they went along).

SS's plot is one of my favorites in the series, actually, because it's the single Mario RPG that doesn't revolve around MacGuffins.

My vote is for TTYD: Great plot, gameplay, locations, and everything. The one thing I liked most about it, though, was that it really pushed the boundaries for a Mario game with darker and more mature content than any game before it. A civilization that was destroyed, a dragon that eats people and spits out their bones, a hub town full of thieves and grafitti...you get the picture. I don't know why this doesn't get mentioned often in discussions where this game could be brought up (such as this one), but it was always my favorite aspect of the game.

SPM comes in a close second, for many of the same reasons as TTYD, and for taking the dark theme even further (of which I'm also confused about the lack of discussion). The secret story, in my opinion, was the best plot in a Mario game to date.

EDIT: Chupperson, do you just browse the forums looking for people to disagree with?

[CrossEyed7]

CrossEyed7, I think you're confusing actual play styles/mechanics with plot points.

With the analogy to the Tales series' "characteristic genre names"? Maybe, but that was completely ancillary to my point. The bottom line is that Super Paper Mario has a lot more in common with Thousand-Year Door than with Yoshi's Island.

With my categories of Mario games(2D platformer, 3D platformer, sport, RPG, puzzle, misc)? I don't think so.

That reminds me, you still didn't clarify what you meant by "Why wouldn't 'Platforming RPG' fit?" I wasn't being rhetorical in my last post, I just seriously don't know which meaning you meant, if any. Just like now. If you want to continue this conversation, then start conversing.
I did like that SS's story wasn't walled in by the star-collecting, but in doing so, I think it just became too unstructured for me. I also don't like how there are some characters that never speak or appear again after they've played their part, like the tree guy in the Chucklehuck Woods that you have to get the three beans to get past... once he moves out, he never shows any signs of life again. Or the skeleton pirates -- once the ship sinks, they're never seen or heard from ever again. I found that part really sad.

Gameplay-wise, though, SS is near the top.

[Chupperson Weird]

I can't help it if I try to explain my point of view.

I meant "Why doesn't the label 'platforming RPG' fit SPM?". In the first place, I'm not in favor of "labeling" things in the first place. But in my mind, SPM is a platformer with RPG elements. All the other Mario RPGs are RPGs with platforming elements.

[CrossEyed7]

The point was that you weren't explaining it, at least not thoroughly enough for me to understand you. Now that you are, we can talk. (You can explain the "confusing actual play styles/mechanics with plot points" part at your convenience.)

SPM may be more platformer than RPG, but it's still primarily a Paper Mario game. It's sort of like how Yoshi's Island is the sequel to Super Mario World in America which is the sequel to Super Mario Bros. 3 in Japan. Even though its connections to SMB3 are spotty, it's more like SMB3 than like Yoshi's Cookie, even though Yoshi's Cookie is in the same series. Rubix that analogy around a bit and it should be kind of similar.

If, in the future, we get both a SPM2 and a more traditional PM3, then I'd be willing to consider SPM its own genre, or possibly part of the 2D platformer series, but until then, for our purposes, it's a Paper Mario game, meaning it's a Mario RPG, even if, measured in absolute, Mario-neutral terms, it's more like a platformer than an RPG, and that was a long sentence.

[Luigison]

In the first place, I'm not in favor of "labeling" things in the first place.

In the first place, that's an awesome sentence in the first place.

[Chupperson Weird]

It's been approved by the department of redundancy department, which approved it.

I'm not feeling the connection between Yoshi's Cookie and Super Mario World, aside from the fact that they contain Yoshi.

[MaxVance]

I voted for M&L:SS.

[Markio]

I vote for Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, as it's the only Mario RPG I've played/own.  My roommate brought his Wii with him, and recently bought SMRPG for it.  Watching him play it, I can see why everyone loves it.  It's pretty innovative for its time, considering it's one of the first games to feature the collecting of Stars/star pieces, as well as how it expands upon the locations in the Mario Universe.

[CrossEyed7]

I'm not feeling the connection between Yoshi's Cookie and Super Mario World, aside from the fact that they contain Yoshi.

Like I said, it's a pretty convoluted analogy. What I was getting at was that even though Yoshi's Cookie and Yoshi's Island would bothe be considered part of the Yoshi series, Yoshi's Island is more similar to the Super Mario Bros. series, which it is only tangentially connected to; it's kind of like Super Paper Mario/Paper Mario series/platformers turned upside down or something. It really wasn't a very good comparison at all. Just read the other parts of the post instead.

[Kojinka]

Best story: TTYD
Best Party: TTYD
Best gameplay: SS
Best villains: SPM (Mr. L made Luigi even more awesome than he already was)

[Fawful Fan]

Super Paper Mario should not be included because there is a difference between an RPG with platforming elements and a platformer with RPG elements.

Anyway, instead of a poll that highlights our favorites, why not have a thread in which we list our favorite to least favorite, with a sentence or so on each explaining why?

[hydrakiller4000]

You guys aren't getting it. Super Paper Mario is an RPG with platforming elements. I don't think a platformer with RPG elements would go so far as to have level ups, stats, side-quests, experience points, etc.

Taken directly from the nintendo.com site:

System: Wii
No. of players: 1 player
Release Date: Apr 9, 2007 
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Genre: RPG 
ESRB Rating: E

Here's the exact link for those of you who might want it: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/_bua93nkRXBBWiJ8ulRPXASuK0xbcL8l

As you can see, it's an RPG. You may not have the same viewpoint, but the creators made the game to be an RPG with platforming elements. It just simply has more platforming elements than the other Mario RPGs. You may not have to agree with Nintendo, but it's an RPG regardless.