AlphaDream's Mario & Luigi, a sub RPG series, has seen moderative success onto the various handhelds in the last ten years. It's basic template is Super Mario RPG, but adds comical effects, interesting cooperative combinations and new lands to explore.
Using comedy to progress and develop the story, Super Star Saga is about the Beanbean Kingdom and their bean citizens who are in danger because of an evil witch called Cackletta and her underdog Fawful.
It's up to Mario & Luigi to stop them and Bowser as well, who plays a comical side role and is fought occassionally. The gameplay is a mixture of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, but is entirely new when it comes towards the special Bros. Attacks during battles and using special techniques on the overworld to overcome puzzles and uncover secrets.
Personally as with some other games, the middle part of the game wasn't that exciting for me. It wasn't until 2005 that I beat this game and that spicy final boss after obtaining the game for 2.5 years already.
Rating: 7.9
While Partners in Time is an improvement over Super Star Saga, something about it makes it feel very bland, it's kind of the same with The Wind Waker because I don't feel like replaying these games any time soon.
This time, Mario & Luigi will have to travel through time in order to stop an alien invasion from taking over the Mushroom Kingdom, initiated by the Shroobs. Our heroes are accompanied by none other than their baby counterparts.
The Nintendo Dual Screen is used creatively here, as the second screen allows for interesting new battles, counterattacks and Bros. Attacks to be used simultaneously on both screens. Partners in Time is also a more colorful entry.
It's easy to point the critical finger at the babies for being bland or annoying, but I gotta choose for the Shroobs here that made PiT somehow lesser likeable. So while it is a solid and easy RPG, it won't be a memorable one for me.
The pacing largely shaped the final score for this one, as some sections dragged on for too long.
Rating: 7.5
There's plenty of original content to be found here, surpassing the original M&L and its sequel as well. Bowser's Inside Story features a cool plot because of the way the game is played in several segments, and RPG mechanics are still simple but well executed.
New features include traversing through Bowser's organs coming with their own unique ways of getting further, playing as Bowser with his own moves and the Giant Bosses, where you will have to fight enormous opponents while you switch the DS to a vertical position similar to Brain Training.
Its simplicity is both its lifesaver and disaster. I wish that the world of the M&L games would be a bit more deep, like Mario's other RPG's. Certainly yet another very solid Mario RPG on its own though for it's gameplay, music, comedy and lore. Plus Fawful makes up for an impressive villain.
Rating: 8.4
To end the Year of Luigi when speaking of video games and putting the green plumber into considerable perspective, Dream Team is the last of 3 featured Luigi titles. The latest Mario platformer on Wii U doesn't really count despite him having a distinct ability there. But Dr.Luigi got announced for 2014 then, so the celebration is not over yet.
A new context of dream features is introduced, as Luigi takes a featured role as an avid dreamer while Mario must travel through his subconscious to rescue Pi'illo's and ultimately Peach from the wretched hands of Bowser and Antasma, a nightmarish dream manipulator.
Using Luiginary Works, Luigi will transform into various backgrounds objects in the dream world in order for Mario to progress further, such as manipulating gravity, time, air and more. The dream battles feature special Luiginary attacks which have their own special charm to them considering the vast amount of Dreamy Luigi's that were constantly present.
The Giant Bosses return and this time it's Luigi who will do the fighting instead of Bowser. Pi'illo Island is a pretty fun new location with plenty of secrets and collectables to uncover. My favorite new characters are the Massif Bros. because of their beef and muscle references, and I enjoyed Somnom Woods most of all because of it's quite different tone from the rest of the locations regarding the music.
Unfortunately, Dream Team also suffers from repetitive manoeuvres, long tutorials and not the most exciting pacing. Luckily, there's enough to keep the fans of the sub-series happy, and AlphaDream has done a fine job in general designing all four of them.
Rating: 8.0
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