Jiro Mifune, who was one of the developers on Super Mario RPG when it originally came out on the SNES, has revealed a bunch of sketches that were created at the time including a concept for Three Musketeers, Wario, and much more.
Mifune wrote on social media that the project was made by staff in their early twenties. He said that Square “was a development style in which game planning and design ideas were shared among the entire staff,” suggesting that many people were able to contribute.
Here’s some other background information that was shared:
Based on the ideas of the development staff, a three-day all-night meeting was held to decide the direction of the Super Mario RPG. Taro Kudo, Kazuyuki Kurashima, and me. It was hot because the air conditioner stopped at midnight in the middle of summer.
At the time of this meeting, I was thinking “Yoshi” had a strong role of “helping the character” by prioritizing “fun to ride.” So I remember I had no plans for him to be a party member.
Incidentally, the most heated debate at the meeting was whether Mario, the children’s hero, should have a “weapon.” And when a conclusion was reached on this, everything was decided for Super Mario RPG.
I felt uncomfortable with Mario wearing a sword and armor, which was the template for RPGs at the time, so I drew the original idea of Super Mario RPG with “Three Musketeers” as the motif. I drew this artwork from there.
My original concept for Super Mario RPG was that a third force called the “Slug Kingdom” would invade and rule the “Turtle Kingdom” and kidnap Princess Peach.
Check out the gallery below for the full Super Mario RPG proposal sketches including Wario, the Three Musketeers sketches, and more.
The Super Mario RPG Switch remake is currently available worldwide.
Thanks to Greatsong1 for the tip.
