Former Square Employee Reveals Original Concept Art for Geno

Super Mario RPG's Geno has been a hot topic of discussion over the last few days, following the [...]

By Marc Deschamps

Super Mario RPG's Geno has been a hot topic of discussion over the last few days, following the revelation that the character will once again receive a Mii Fighter costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Nintendo Switch. We had assumed Geno might be off the table as a result of Sephiroth joining the game, but the reveal of the Mii Fighter costume confirmed that fans shouldn't expect to see Geno appear as a full fighter. With the character on everyone's minds 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 the concept art can be found in the Tweet embedded below.

It's certainly interesting to get a glimpse of what might have been! Clearly, there were some interesting ideas of how the character might have looked. The third image, in particular seems almost reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog, which would make sense, given how popular the character was around that same time.

While art books have become increasingly common over the last few years, the video game industry has a bad track record when it comes to preserving its own history. As such, it's quite nice to see that these initial designs have survived in the years since Super Mario RPG's release, back in 1996. With Geno's early artwork now revealed, it will be interesting to see if any concept art of Mallow also survived!

Owned by Square Enix, Geno's video game appearances have been few and far between, over the last 24 years. While the character quickly became a fan favorite, he has been relegated to small cameos since Super Mario RPG, including 2003's Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and the Mii Fighter costume that has appeared in previous Super Smash Bros. games.

What do you think of the concept art for Geno? Are you happy that 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 all things gaming!

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