Preface from pidgezero_one, December 18th, 2023:

This is a collection of tweets posted by Jiro Mifune, who worked on the 1996 release of Super Mario RPG. He is credited officially for Visual Effects and Plot Assistance, but also designed the game’s UI.

Mr. Mifune created a Twitter account in November 2023 in celebration of the Switch remake of Super Mario RPG. On this account, he posted early concept art, shared anecdotes from his time working at Square, and engaged with all of us starry-eyed fans. His Twitter account was intentionally short-lived: he declared in advance that he would be deleting it on December 18th, 2023. That time has now passed.

I was already saving concept art and anecdotes posted by SMRPG’s development staff as references for a major SMRPG-centric project I’m working on, which I have been sorting into private documents like this one to help organize my sources and thoughts for that project. Because his account and all of its content is now deleted, I am making this specific document public in the interest of video game history preservation.

This document includes text copies of tweets I felt might be historically or narratively significant, accompanied by screenshots showing dates (in EST) and direct uploads of image and video assets in the highest quality that I could obtain. You can hover over any image or video and select “View Original” from its menu to view it in its highest quality in a new browser tab.

Hopefully this will make it convenient for historians and enthusiasts to cite Mr. Mifune’s posts in future projects. While this encounter may have lasted for only a short time, we are all better off for it having happened. The games we enjoy and the people who bring them to life are important, and their stories deserve to be told and cherished.

三舟さん、ありがとうございます！

As a member of the original #SuperMarioRPG staff, this 35 year anniversary remake really surprised me. This title is because I made "VFX" in Square for the first time and I have many memories.

In honor of the release of the remake #SUPERMARIORPG, we have revived the account for the entire year 2023. No replies to DMs or discussion of other titles this time. One individual retired from the gaming industry is just going to talk about his memories.

The SFC version of #SUPERMARIORPG is made up of young staff in their early twenties. At the time, "SQUARE" was a development style in which game planning and design ideas were shared among the entire staff. This is the pile of proposals.

Kazuyuki Kurashima (Kura san) seems to be participating in the #SUPERMARIORPG for swiatch, so I put him at the top. :)

I will answer as my own opinion. Also, it will be long to explain, so I will keep it simple. In 1992, as SQUARESOFT expanded, many young people with a love, passion and talent for game development joined the company. I was one of them.

The development team was small, with dozens of people, separated by title. There were jobs and titles within the team, but it was a very "breezy" development environment where the whole team came up with ideas and made games, regardless of whether it was up or down.

Because of this very "breezy" development environment, on the contrary, there is no compromise. Talent and talent collided, and I was trying to create a good piece with a spark. I think this was the company culture and development style of SQUARESOFT at that time.

Yeah, I knew it was long .... Just in case, I put it through machine translation ... Did it somehow get through? :)

I was digging through cardboard boxes with memories of this "#SQUARE era" and found an item from #SUPERMARIORPG, so I will upload it. Gummy and chewing gum were sold in Japan at that time. It didn't contain gummies, but it contained the contents of the time. (Can you eat?)

This is the sample rom cassette of the time. It is not clear why there are two. #SuperMarioRPG

I was really surprised to see my artwork and VFX reproduced so far. I would like to thank the remake staff with love. #SuperMarioRPG