Well, the original is my favorite game of all time, which is easily 10/10 for me.
I would give the remake either a 9 or a 10, but it’s hard to say. In many ways the game improves on the original, but there are other elements that I don’t think I like as much. I don’t necessarily think the updated localization is objectively better. They fixed a few dialogue mistakes from the original game, but also cut out a few jokes they thought would be controversial in 2024, and made some weird, arbitrary changes, like giving the Shadow Sirens the much more generic name of “The Three”. Shadows.” What’s up with that?
The game looks beautiful, especially in chapter 4, which I would say had the most flare. Music is something I’m torn about. I really appreciate all the extra music they added – this game probably has three times as much music as the original, if not more, which is crazy. Some of these remixed tracks are better than the original, but there are also a few where I think the simplicity of the originals was ruined because they added too many instruments that just sort of muddied it up. Sometimes less is more. But I’m glad we have the option of the original.
Unfortunately, the sound effects cannot be changed back to the original, and as others have said, the sound effects in this game are much softer and less iconic compared to the original. You also can’t go through dialogue as quickly, which is strange since Nintendo has long had such an anti-story stance. If you’re playing the game for the first time, you shouldn’t skip dialogues anyway, but for repeat play and especially speedrunners, it will be a pain.
The Mario & Luigi remakes on the 3DS made fast-forwarding text much easier, so I’m shocked it’s not here. The original version of TTYD also allows you to rewind the text in case you accidentally skip a line of dialogue, but that’s not the case here at all. Battles now also stop when a spectator is about to throw something at you, which is annoying.
However, the characters have a TON of new animations, which really adds to the experience and is fantastic to see! Probably my favorite new addition is seeing the characters even more fleshed out than ever. I don’t care about the frame rate debacle – 30 FPS is perfectly fine for me.
Then there are quality improvements like more efficient fast travel, a much higher maximum coin limit, and more inventory space, all of which go a long way. Not to mention they’ve restored some of the lost content from the original, which will make longtime fans like me very happy! Concept art is wonderful to have, but unfortunately it’s mind boggling. Most of it is basically just screenshots from the remake. Each chapter only has one image, which is actually an early design of the characters from the original.
Nintendo really polished this remake in every possible way and from a gameplay standpoint the game is now practically perfect. But in terms of presentation, in some ways I feel like they’ve polished the game so much that the colors are starting to peel off a bit. There are things I wish they would tone it down or just leave it out.
Still a phenomenal game, but since I’ve played it so many times and already know all the story beats and jokes (except for the handful that changed), it’s never going to be as good as my first blind playthrough. The reason we all wanted a TTYD remake so badly is because we want it to be a catalyst for Nintendo to make NEW games in this style that will hopefully blow me away again. Hopefully in 2027 it will finally happen. See you all then!