I really like the music arrangements in the Super Mario RPG remake. It seems like most other people I've seen feel the same way. There is however one recurring criticism I've seen of certain tracks, and it's one I've also felt myself to some extent - they lack the "punchiness" of the originals. I think that's a really interesting sensation to be getting and feels very unique to the transition from old game hardware music to music played by live instruments.
The arrangements in this new Mario RPG are very faithful, even the ones that develop the material a bit more or add new flourishes in the orchestration. For example, the instrumentation for the Forest Maze music is nearly identical to what the original SPC version is implying. And yet when I first heard it my first thought was "This feels a bit subdued". Where was the punchiness? Shouldn't live instruments always be automatically better than short compressed samples playing with limited expression and polyphony? But that's exactly what gives the original its unique flavor!
It's the hard attack on the notes, it's the lack of any reverberation beyond what the SNES could simulate, everything felt dry and direct, there's almost like this pseudo-percusiveness that makes even a calm theme like Forest Maze "punchy". Something I find especially interesting is that I don't usually enjoy those recreations people make of SNES music using the original samples they sourced from. I actually think the shitty short compressed versions of those samples somehow make SNES sound as special as it does.
For the record, I love the new arrangement and I got used to it really quickly. But I think both versions have merit and that extends to the entire soundtrack. I guess you can't gain all the expression and acoustic complexity of real instruments and better sampled instruments without losing the magic that comes from chip music's limitations. And that's why so many people like me still love that music!
