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Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

Back in the '90s, whoever thought that Nintendo would team up with JRPG giants Square Enix (then known as Square or Squaresoft) to create a Mario RPG starring the Italian plumber, Princess Peach, and Bowser? Not us! But they did, and we're forever grateful for the existence of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

Despite Mario continuing to venture into the RPG genre with two separate series — Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi — we've never seen a direct sequel to Square's original Mario RPG or even a remake, only ports via Virtual Console or on the SNES Classic. But leave it to the fans to create something truly special — a modern-day mock-up of what a Super Mario RPG remake might look like.

Originally reported on by Destructoid and shared by GoNintendo, digital artist Finn has been creating some lovely-looking visuals for a dream Super Mario RPG remake and sharing them on Twitter. These screens are from Mushroom Way, one of the early parts of the game, and feature Mario and Mallow. And despite being a "remake", the visuals still retain that top-down perspective and toy-like visuals of the SNES original.

It's an entirely faithful reimagining of this RPG classic from the looks of things, and we want to dive right in. But Finn has already stated on Twitter that this version won't be playable "due to legal reasons", which we totally understand! But that makes us want a remake even more.

This footage is also totally not helping — the Koopa Paratroopa shells are shiny! And in combat, the way that Mario and Mallow attack and move is much more fluid. it's a think of beauty.

Well, it looks like we'll have to just admire all of this from a distance. But Finn has done fantastic work here and we're utterly in love with this vision. Maybe Nintendo has a spot for you on its team to make this remake a reality?

What do you think of this mock-up of a Super Mario RPG remake? Let us know!

[source destructoid.com, via gonintendo.com]