If they don't try to somehow find a way to HD-2Dify it, I could see them do something like what they did with Trials of Mana and actually make it a real 3D game. But then that sounds way more expensive to me, but I guess Nintendo would be paying for a lot, if not all of it, and would be providing existing Mario character models and assets, so... why not?
I think there is a sizable audience for this though. On Switch more than ever before. And it feels like there are less hurdles around these days than there were, well probably ever since the original SMRPG first released. lol
Oh, I agree. There probably is a sizeable audience for it, or at least sizeable enough.
The 3D game does seem it could be expensive to make, but is more in keeping with the idea of the original. You make a good point, though, that Nintendo is likely, in such a case, to provide existing models so the game better matches the brand aesthetic, rather than allow the game to explore what the models might look like as based on the original game.
And it's possible they try to pull it into their 2D-HD craze, despite the dissonance with the original iteration. That seems a bit less likely to me, though, since it evokes less the game it once was and there are a lot of other projects waiting in line for the 2D-HD treatment.
I kind of think there could be something of a middle ground, though, where the models and all are updated (but preferably not made into generic Mario) to look nice with our modern technology and sensibilities, but the game retains something of its visual identity. I'm not sure entirely how that should work, but the idea seems to make sense.
I guess it depends on their ambition and how much work they want to put into it, or how much they prefer to keep it closer to its original form (your proposed 2D-HD iteration might even remain closer to the original than that all-out 3D remake in everything but visuals).
Regardless, a
Mario RPG in that style, even if not
Legend of the Seven Stars, could totally work, and I would be interested to see it.