It may surprise you to learn that the Super Mario RPG Remake is going forward without this one key person from the original team, but they were surprised too.
As reported by The Gamer, Chihiro Fujioka, who served as the game’s producer, had this to say when asked by a fan on Twitter:
“I am not involved in the remake.
But I am very surprised and pleased with the news!”
As producer for the original Super Mario RPG, Fujioka was head of the Square Enix side, who worked for Nintendo under the management of Shigeru Miyamoto himself. Super Mario RPG was the fruit born of a desire from Nintendo to bring the Mario franchise to an RPG format, and for Square to make an RPG that would appeal outside Japan, of course, years before they would find that success on their own with Final Fantasy VII.
While Square’s relationship with Nintendo had not always been fruitful, don’t let it obscure this fact: Super Mario RPG was a major collaboration that would create closer ties between the two companies. That would account for the companies’ on again, off again relationship, but it is definitely true that Square had always been a major presence on Nintendo’s platforms, making unique titles that fit with Nintendo’s shifting visions for what gaming should be.
Fujioka had quite an interesting career trajectory after Super Mario RPG. He actually left Square Enix and went on to help start a new 3rd party studio called Alphaland.
Alphaland was then hired by Nintendo to make a new Mario themed RPG series, called Mario & Luigi. Mario & Luigi would carry over the hybrid action and turn based action of Super Mario RPG, but would also bring their own flavor of RPG to the franchise. One could argue Mario & Luigi was doing what Mario Rabbids is doing now, 15 years earlier (and perhaps more successfully).
The Mario & Luigi games carried over from Game Boy Advance to DS and 3DS. Unfortunately, Aphaland declared bankruptcy in 2019. While the series’ future is currently under question, it must be strange for Fujioka to now see his other older work that made Mario & Luigi even possible now being brought back.
In any case, there’s no need to feel bad for Fujioka himself. Aside from working as a drummer for bands like the Earthbound Papas, he actually worked on designing a new RPG himself. The iOS exclusive Fantasian reunited him with old friends at Square Enix, a product of Nobuo Uematsu’s Mistwalker.
Super Mario RPG Remake will be released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on November 17, 2023.
