Dream Arena: Forest Maze

Thanks to Cart Boy for help with edits.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is incredible, so much so that I’m already anticipating writing about it. But since I’m not ready to tackle such an extensive topic yet, let’s discuss something closely related to Square Enix’s premier series in the meantime. Even before its 2023 remake, Super Mario RPG’s iconicity was apparent to any terminally online Nintendo fan. Considering how celebrated role-playing games of the SNES era are, it’s no wonder this one-and-done adventure set in the Mushroom Kingdom garnered its almost mythical status. Whether you played it or not, you knew about Mallow, the Smithy Gang, Yoko Shimomura’s legendary soundtrack, and especially Geno.

The latter’s particularly relevant when we’re talking Smash Bros., having remained one of the roster’s most prolific hopefuls for a very long time. Sakurai perpetuated this by giving the starry savior a Mii costume and Spirit before his game even made its comeback, but regardless, it’s all added up to a candidate whose chances have only gotten better and better. However, whether or not Geno becomes a proper fighter, the place where we formally meet him could make for a phenomenal stage. If you’ve never heard of it, you’ve at least heard its unforgettable background music: Forest Maze.

What Is Forest Maze?

Mario and Mallow’s quest to find the seven Star Pieces takes them to Rose Town, which is plagued by a stream of falling arrows that paralyze their victims. Here, the plumber meets and gets battered by the Toad Gaz and his beloved Geno doll. In fact, the toy’s so impressive that, when a glowing entity descends into the inn, it possesses Geno and takes off toward the source of the arrows. The party of two head there themselves, getting turned around by this Forest Maze’s complicated layout and native enemies. Upon reaching the end, they team up with Geno to take on the Smithy Gang higher-up Bowyer, secure the second Star Piece, and save Rose Town.

Now, Forest Maze isn’t my favorite of SMRPG’s locales, but it’s among the most emblematic of what makes the title so compelling. Here, Mario navigates a “dungeon” full of foes both familiar and foreign to him, stumbles upon some secrets, and engages in turn-based battles alongside a pair of RPG-original characters. Unsurprisingly, it’s gone on to become synonymous with Geno, its backing “Beware of Forest Mushrooms” tune even accompanying him whenever he’s brought up. If you need convincing, guess which song played both times Geno’s Mii costume was revealed for Smash. From that perspective, the maze already has more of a foothold in the crossover than anywhere else in its game does.

Importance to Nintendo & Series

As far as an SMRPG arena in Smash goes, I think we can all agree that Forest Maze is a frontrunner, but how likely is the spin-off to receive such an honor in the first place? If Geno finally joined the fight, a home stage would practically be a given, but what if the remake ends up not being enough to earn him an invitation? I mean, it’s not like he got a wholly new game or anything. As is, three of SMRPG’s party members are playable (with Peach’s moveset even taking some cues from it), so I could definitely see Sakurai passing over the fan favorite once again. Fortunately, we already know Smash is more than happy to rep the offshoot via secondary content.

Although it takes a lot of iconicity, relevance, or luck to become a Smash combatant, stages are a lot more lenient. It’s commonplace for games without reps to secure a battlefield instead, especially when it comes to Mario spin-offs. Paper Mario and Luigi’s Mansion are prime examples, so there’s little reason to think SMRPG would be any different. Well, there is the matter of Square’s dubious stake in it, but now that they’re consistent contributors to Smash, that probably wouldn’t be a dealbreaker. Yeah, the company’s content tends to be relegated to DLC, but there’d be nothing wrong with Forest Maze getting in via that route. It’s how Super Mario Maker’s arena made its Smash for debut, after all.

Music & Design

Before we talk layout and hazards, what would Forest Maze look like in Smash? For one, I could see it directly emulating its sprite-based version from the SNES original. Otherwise, it could take after the remake’s diorama-like art style. Both have their merits, but I’d go with the latter since we already have plenty of retro Mario stages. Moreover, I feel it’s worth adding a battlefield that resembles the looks of the SMRPG and Zelda: Link’s Awakening remakes, both of which were notable releases for the Switch. Granted, the two don’t look quite the same, but you get the point. Expect bright colors, plastic trees and stumps, and maybe a bit of purple fog to maintain the mystique. As for background characters, although Ultimate went hard with them, we’ll only be adding one here. The rest of the place’s cameos will contribute to the fight, but we’re getting to that.

All right, it’s time to list the music that’d follow Forest Maze to Smash. Like I said, SMRPG’s tracks are absolute classics, so good that I’d argue they justify giving their game a stage all on their own. For the most part, we’ll be pitching remixes for overworld songs and direct ports for battle themes. And to keep things realistic, we’ll include around as many as the likes of Final Fantasy or Persona have. By the way, as much as I’d like to include some Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi tunes, we’ll be sticking to their predecessor since they already got their due in the crossover. Oh, and whether Culex’s revamped battle theme counts as a Mario one or a Final Fantasy one is up in the air. Regardless, I couldn’t exclude it:

“Battling Monsters” (Remake)
“Danger Aplenty on the Journey” (Remix)
“Battling Strongish Monsters” (Remake)
“Battling a Weapon Boss” (Remake)
“Minigame Medley” (Remix)
- “Let’s Take the Midas River”
- “Let’s Race”
- “Moleville Mountain Rail”
- “Dodo Has Arrived!”
“Beware of Forest Mushrooms” (Remix)
“Beware of Forest Mushrooms” (SNES)
“Booster Medley” (Remix)
- “This Is Booster Tower”
- “And That Makes Me Booster!”
- “The Hill”
“Battling Culex” (Remake)
“Smithy Medley” (Remix)
- “Battling Smithy”
- “Battling Smithy’s Many Forms”

How Would It Play?

A Forest Maze stage could focus on any of its namesake’s oddities, from the titular maze to its underground caverns, but I’d rather reel things in and focus on something specific. Like with many battlefields of its universe, this one will alternate between multiple layouts, two in particular. We begin matches on a flat stretch of earth, with walk offs to each side and the background’s trees barring most sunlight from getting through. For comparison, the area’s about the size of Figure-8 Circuit, and its most obvious distinction is a trio of hollowed stumps littered along the floor. They’re as big as pipes tend to be in whichever Mario stages they’re a part of, dividing the action into four segments and giving fighters enclosed spaces to brawl in. The stage remains like this with hazards off, making for a fairly typical fighting ground.

With hazards on, one of three SMRPG enemies can crash the party at any time: the Buzzer, Amanita, and Wiggler. The former two appear from the sides and wander the skies and floor, respectively. Upon spotting a target, they’ll pester them with predictable attack patterns. The Buzzer continuously stings and retreats, while the Amanita spins on its bottom and attempts to collide with fighters (by the way, it overcomes stumps by jumping). They can be dispatched with ease, usually causing them to drop themed items. Where the Buzzer always leaves behind a Beehive, the Amanita surrenders either a Super Mushroom, Poison Mushroom, or Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom. Finally, the Wiggler crawls out from beneath random stumps, then marches toward either side of the stage. Neither it nor the combatants can hurt each other, but the latter ought to not idle on the arthropod as it walks out of sight.

As all this takes place, arrows occasionally fall from above, flying at a moderate pace and stunning anyone they hit. Their appearance indicates that the battlefield is about to shift to its second layout, at which point a giant and perfectly flat mushroom erupts out of the ground and carries the fight to the treetops. This new platform’s a lot more like your typical Final Destination or Battlefield, enemies no longer spawn, and we have a clear view of SMRPG’s surrounding world. The most eye-catching detail is the aforementioned cameo: the monolithic sword Exor piercing Bowser’s Keep. Inevitably, the peaceful scene is disrupted as fellow Smithy Gang boss Bowyer descends onto the mushroom and stands in the background. From there, he fires more of his arrows skyward, which descend toward the foreground and continue to stun fighters.

However, that’s not all Bowyer can do to mess with the battle. Occasionally, a brightly colored slab appears on the ground to his side, bearing one of four symbols that’s clearly legible to players: “B,” “↔ B,” “↑ B,” and “↓ B.” When he fires his next arrow, it hits this slab, temporarily locking the corresponding special move slot for every fighter in the match. As I’m sure you can imagine, being offstage without your up special would be especially dangerous. Personally, I can’t wait to see R.O.B. flounder offstage without his free recovery! Before long, the specials come back and Bowyer resumes his usual attack pattern, and after a few more cycles of moves locking and unlocking, the mushroom resets the stage by returning the fight to the Forest Maze’s floor and submerging.

Closing Thoughts

You know, it’s been almost five years since the last time I brainstormed a stage like this. I don’t usually attempt them since over-the-top arenas are an aspect of Smash I hardly engage with nowadays, but I thought it’d be worth giving Forest Maze a shot for a few reasons: MAR10 Day makes it topical, I wanted to spotlight SMRPG without defaulting to a Geno concept, and I’m on something of a Final Fantasy high. I don’t know how I feel about this looser “Dream Arena” format, but I suppose not every pitch needs tens of graphics and move slots. That aside, now that I’ve finally played the first in my favorite genre of Mario games, I’m very interested to see how the platform fighter’s next installment handles it. For all we know, Cloud and the rest of his company’s material could vanish without a trace (but even if they do, let’s not forget how much Square loves sticking to post-launch content). Anyway, now that my monthly article quota’s been met, I’ll be busy seeing what ideas I can derive from Rebirth. Until then, happy MAR10 Day!