Super Mario RPGGeno has been a topic of debate for the past few days, following the revelation that the character will once again receive a Mii Fighter costume Super Smash Bros. Definitive and Nintendo Switch. We had assumed that Geno might be off the table as a result of Sephiroth joining the game, but the revelation of the Mii Fighter costume confirmed that fans shouldn’t expect Geno to appear as a full-fledged fighter. With the character in everyone’s mind at the moment, character designer Kazuyuki Kurashima took to Twitter to reveal some concept art of the character for his appearance in Super Mario RPG.
Images of conceptual art can be found in the tweet included below.
He seems to be getting excited
Check out some suggestions.Participation #Gino #Mario RPG pic.twitter.com/iFhwp7yExX– Kazuyuki Kurashima (This year is almost over) (@kurashimakaz) December 18, 2020
Definitely interesting to take a look at what it could have been! Clearly there were some interesting ideas about how the character might have looked. The third image, in particular, looks almost reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog, which would make sense, given the character’s popularity at the time.
While art books have become increasingly commonplace in recent years, the video game industry has a bad track record in preserving its own history. As such, it is very pleasing to see that these early designs have survived in later years Super Mario RPGrelease, in 1996. With Geno’s first works of art now revealed, it will be interesting to see if any of Mallow’s conceptual art also survived.
Owned by Square Enix, Geno video game appearances have been scarce in the last 24 years. Although the character quickly became a fan favorite, he has since been relegated to small cameos. Super Mario RPG, including those of 2003 Mario i Luigi: Superstar Saga, and the Mii Fighter costume that has appeared in previous Super Smash Bros. games.
What do you think of the concept of art for Geno? Are you glad Nintendo and Square went in a different direction for the character? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all the games!