By Stephen Vernon Smith on December 17th, 2003

Perhaps you are a Nintendo fan such as I. Perhaps, back in the mid-’90s, you picked up a little title for the Super Nintendo called "Super Mario RPG." And chances are, if you did- and were an RPG fan; you had a lot of fun. The joint game between Square and Nintendo was quite the accomplishment, boasting semi-3D worlds, original battles, and loads of humor. Let’s not forget it’s buckets of charm. A few years later, Nintendo presented us with a semi-sequel, Paper Mario. The thoughts on it were mixed. I, personally, didn’t appreciate it’s lack of an actual second character for battles, whereas some loved it for all that you could do.

This time- we’ve got a new beast on the block. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. And it is quite possibly one of the best RPGs I’ve played since even the likes of Final Fantasy VII -and I’m a man who loves his RPGs.- Nintendo seems to have gotten the formula just right. Instead of making a huge, complex battle system based on a plethora of mind boggling stats mixed with an insane amount of equipment, and at the same time, not going with a baby-battle system with a single stat and no equipment, they’ve set my personal new standard. You are presented with a medium of the two. Of which you get real time + turn based combat. Top this off with some of the most hilarious Mario-esque humor on the market, and you’ve got a real winner. Sound interesting? Read on, fellow gamers. Read on.

Presentation

Mario and Luigi sets itself up quite well. You’re treated to a problem in Mushroom Kingdom, with Toad running to Mario’s house and catching him in mid-shower. Needless to say, Mario needs to lock the bathroom door from now on. You’re taken right into the meat of the story. Peach had her voice stolen, and replaced with explosives. So when she talks, the words turn to bombs and crash into anything around her. Bowser is already at the castle - but was shown up by this new villain. A mysterious being from the Bean Bean Kingdom. A close neighbor of Mushroom Kingom.

From here on, you’re taught everything at a pace that is slow enough for newer gamers to get the hang of it and succeed, but fast and easy enough for veteran gamers to take it on without feeling walked by the hand. Everything blends in well, too. It all fits the Mario world perfectly. You’ll immediately see old and new enemies alike. And from the moment the game starts, you’ll be having both fresh and nostalgic humor. If it doesn’t make you laugh out loud like a madman, I guarantee it’ll put a smirk on your face. From border guards wanting you to play jump rope on a Mario Bros. 1 backdrop to Luigi being oblivious from anyone’s memories. It’s quite funny watching everyone try to figure out who he is.

Everything runs perfectly smooth, never seeing a hint of slowdown. It all looks beautiful, perfect 2D graphics for this type of game. It actually makes me ache for a remake of the original Mario Bros. using these sprites. The controls are simple but deep, and absolutely no one should feel lost when playing.

Audio

Quite possibly one of my favorite parts about this game. If you can’t hear your GBA/SP without headphones, do yourself a favor and get a pair and/or the input jack if you don’t already have them. This game has wonderful sound. The music is upbeat and funky, while the character sounds are some of the best in the Mario series yet. The characters themselves don’t make many sounds- but the few lines they do use are great. My favorite is Luigi’s "Oh YEAH!" which sounds incredibly funny due to the actions on-screen. At one point, the local villain is rambling on and on about their plan, Luigi gets tired of hearing it; walks right up to the enemy and pounds his face flat into the dirt- and then turns to the screen, gives a big thumbs-up and says "Oh YEAH!" That alone is easily my favorite video game moment ever. You just don’t understand how beautiful it is until you’re right there laughing hysterically at the little guy.

I think the only real problem I have with the audio (If you want to call it a ’real’ problem, anyway.) is that a few of the sound bytes are a bit poorly made. All-in-all, I love every moment of it.

Visual

Not much to say here that hasn’t been stated above. No slowdown, hilarious animations (The dances given when it’s one of the characters’ turns or when one of them levels up is classic.), and super-smooth characters/environments. There has not been a single part in this game where I’ve been disappointed with any graphical aspect. Bravo, Nintendo.

Gameplay (Fun Factor)

The gameplay is very reminiscent of Super Mario RPG and of course Paper Mario. You run around various environments that are like a 3D plain, hitting item boxes, solving puzzles, interacting with locales and fighting with enemies. There’s a twist this time however. Both Mario and -you guessed it- Luigi are on the playing field. This adds a new dimension to many aspects. You may interact with eachother using your weapons and skills, or just plain jumping on eachother. Both characters must be together to progress, however. The brother in the back, though, will always follow the one in front. But you don’t just press jump and both of you jump. Each character’s actual actions are controlled separately. If on jumps, the other will simply follow while walking. Which is where the platforming strategy comes in.

Controlling is simple. The D-Pad moves both characters, A controls the front brother’s actions while B controls the sap in the rear’s. Who is and is not in front/back has a lot to do with puzzles. For example, if Mario is in back at one point in the game, and has his hammer equipped for use instead of jump- he’ll pound Luigi with it. Now, at this point, you’ll have a skill that let’s Luigi move while underground. So he can get under gates and whatnot. Something Mario cannot do. At which point you take over Luigi, solo-style. You can switch back to Mario any time; as the game a lot of the time requires co-operation between the two. What if Luigi is in back, you ask? Well, he’ll pound Mario making him very small. So can get into holes that would otherwise be impossible to gain access to. This is one of many strategic elements to platforming and puzzles alike.

Now, onto the actual battle mechanics. As usual with Mario RPG games, you can see all enemies on-screen before entering a battle, and of course, how you enter the battle may determine the outcome. Using a skill may damage and enemy when entering battle. Using your hammer may disable their movement for a turn beforehand. Jumping on a spiked enemy will cause you to take damage upon battle entrance. If the character in back runs into an enemy without using an attack/skill, he’ll be unable to attack for a turn. Once inside the battle, you’ll be presented with various options. One is of course run, which costs coins and requires a lot of A tapping. Encouraging you to fight. Another is items, the usage of stat-improving and health-recovering trinkets. Then there’s Solo. Solo is where you attack on your own, and is a basic foundation of smaller battles. Tapping A or B at the correct moment- depending on the character you’re attacking with; will improve the damage and/or effect of what you’re using to strike. A well placed tap will make your jump hit harder, while a separately well placed tap will severely increase your hammer’s attack power.

Oh, where’s the magic you ask? Well, Mario & Luigi doesn’t have the classic magic attacks. Which for Mario RPG veterans is no big surprise. What we have now is Bros. Attacks. Simultaneous co-ordinated strikes between both brothers at once. There are a ton of these to be unlocked, and the damage can be massive. They start from simple A+B+A+B combos to Spin-the-D-Pad-While-Timing-A-Jump-Attack combos that’ll boggle your mind if you’re not quick on your fingers. The thing that makes this part of the battles so interesting, though, is the absolutely user-friendly nature of the bros. attacks. There are three settings for each attack which can be changed any time. These are changed using R and L before choosing the technique. Level 1 is simple. The game will slow down time for a brief moment and pop up a message showing which button to press. Press it in time and you’ll advance to the next button, etc. and so on until you start inflicting damage. Level 2 will remove the element of time slow-down. Meaning you’ll be doing things at about twice the speed. Level 3 virtual removes all aid. You’ll have to time the buttons based on a split-second colored starburst behind the character doing the action requiring the co-responding button press. It gets very fun and very confusing if you’re not good at remembering attack strings.

Sounds good, huh? Well, what if I told you that not only are there a bunch of these attacks- but each can be advanced to do even more damage and possibly multiple strikes. After a certain amount of experience (Not physical experience, but just a lot of successful usage of said bros. attack.) Mario will suggest something to Luigi and he’ll give an "Oh YEAH!" After this, the next time you try that bros. attack, you may notice a small exclamation mark over what would normally be a button input segment. This means either button will trigger an action. Pressing the opposite button of what the attack originally used at this point will treat you to an entirely new attacking sequence. These range from going completely nuts and having Luigi popping out of the ground while being smacked back in by Mario to both characters flying towards separate enemies. It not only can do more damage, but can provide you with the perfect arsenal against a tough enemy.

Speaking of enemies, each has their own weakness. Goombas can easily be defeated by being stomped. However, Spike-Headed Goombas will damage you if you attempt to jump on them. Thus making your hammer a good bet. Some enemies are strong against physical attacks- so may require an elemental attack. This at the same time may bring up a question I haven’t yet answered. What about defending from attacks? Gone are the days of pressing A at just the right moment to lower the amount of damage. You can now dodge almost every attack in the game completely. If you’ve got quick fingers, you could probably beat the game without taking a single point of damage- but don’t expect to, it ain’t that easy. Each enemy will attempt to take you in a completely unique way from one another (Assuming they’re not the same exact enemies... Der.) and at which point you’ll have to time your jump or counter-attack. If an enemy is coming right at you to swipe, you’ll have to hold down your hammer just long enough to smack it away, but not so long to where it (Your hammer.) falls apart. If the enemy is launching projectiles at you, or shockwaves- along with itself trying to ram right through you, you have to time a perfect jump. Add to this that you can’t always tell which brother they’re going to attack, and that they both move differently (Luigi is slightly slower at responding than Mario.) plus the fact enemies often attack more than once in a single turn; and you’ve got yourself quite the challenge.

How about when one of them dies? Does the game end ala Paper Mario? The answer is a swift ’no.’ You see, when a character in Mario & Luigi dies in mid-battle, everything becomes tougher. You can no longer use bros. attacks, and defending is twice as hard because your reaction time is down. During enemies’ attacks you’ll be holding your fallen brother over your shoulder so as to protect him from further damage. This makes bother jumping and counter-attacking far more difficult. By using a simple 1-up mushroom, you’ll revive them. Not too rough. Once out of battle, they’ll be revived to 1 health automatically, meaning if the battle isn’t too big, you can probably last without wasting a precious 1-up mushroom.

As for the equipment itself that you two use- I won’t spoil it specifically, but I must say that I like how later on it begins to expand and you can equip more and more different items. You start off with simply different pants, which effect defense, attack, and bros. points based on how expensive and ’fashionable’ they are. Beyond this, very soon into the game you can equip badges. Of which you can raise your stats. But only being able to equip one means you’ll have to choose wisely; as some badges can give your beneficial techniques like being able to inflict double damage to spike-headed enemies by jumping on them.

That about covers gameplay, but trust me- you’re going to find little parts of it on your own that you may very well love.

Final Thoughts

As much as I want to give this game a perfect ten, there’s one thing that keeps me from doing so- it’s the fact that the game is relatively short. If it were longer, I’d have immediately presented it with a ten. This game is absolutely brilliant in every way, and I recommend immediately buying it. Whether you love or hate RPGs, I feel that you’ll find something you can’t resist in Mario & Luigi. Never before have I felt so submerged and into a Mario game. The story is a perfect fit to a virtually perfect game, the controls are intuitive and brilliantly done, the battle system makes every battle fun, and there’s humor at every turn. I’m going to give this game a 9.9 without any regret or remorse whatsoever. Very rarely will I award a game such a high score without some doubt. And believe me, if it were longer I’d regret ten being the highest number on the scale. I am in love with this game. Absolute brilliance, Nintnedo. Bravo, and encore. And a slight notation on my part: I can no longer stand the wait for Mario RPG/Paper Mario (Whichever they decide to go with.) Gamecube sequel. After experiencing this masterpiece, I feel compelled to pick up my Wavebird and go through the adventure on the big screen without the use of a Gameboy Player- as great as it may be.