Chihiro Fujioka, the original director of Super Mario RPG, says that a sequel would be better without Luigi. The Mario-themed role-playing video game was developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996. Thanks to its characters' intricate backstories and its replayability, Super Mario RPG is arguably one of the best RPGs of all time. Now its director is expressing interest in developing a Super Mario RPG 2.
After the success of Super Mario RPG, Fujioka and several other members of Square left to form the studio AlphaDream in 2000. AlphaDream went on to develop the Mario & Luigi role-playing game series, where players could play as both Mario and Luigi. Chihiro Fujioka eventually left AlphaDream in 2015, before the video game developer began to face financial troubles. Unfortunately, several games in the series, like Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, did not perform as well in recent years. In 2019 the Mario & Luigi developer AlphaDream filed for bankruptcy, citing low profits and high costs as the reason. Because its developer filed for bankruptcy, the fate of the RPG franchise remains uncertain. However, there may now be hope for another Mario-themed role-playing game.
As reported by Nintendo Everything, Super Mario RPG director Chihiro Fujioka explains in an interview with MinnMax that he would like to make another Mario RPG to close out his career. Fujioka goes on to say that while he appreciates Mario & Luigi, he would like to make a Mario RPG where the player would only be able to control Mario. Furthermore, when asked by the interviewer if the director had any story ideas in mind for a new game, Fujioka said he couldn't share any specifics.
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Since AlphaDream's bankruptcy in 2019, Nintendo filed a new Mario & Luigi trademark for products related to video games, cartridges, memory cards, and phone covers in South America. With this new trademark, many fans are theorizing that Nintendo could be gearing up to develop new games related to the Mario & Luigi RPG series - perhaps for mobile phones or even the Nintendo Switch. If Nintendo develops another Mario & Luigi RPG, it may ignite interest in another Super Mario RPG.
Whether another Super Mario RPG is developed or not, it cannot be denied that the 1996 game opened the door for other Nintendo games that involve role-playing elements like the Paper Mario games. If Super Mario RPG 2 is planned, fans will surely hope that Chihiro Fujioka will direct it.
Sources: MinnMax (via Nintendo Everything)