Full Review

A few weeks ago, I rediscovered my adoration for Mario games. I spent a lot more time playing Mario Kart and even found a few Super Mario Bros. cartoons online to bring back nostalgia. But then something hit me - I hadn't purchased a GBA game in quite a long time, and decided that it was time to add to my collection. Shortly thereafter, I settled on Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. This is the third Mario RPG ever created for any system. Super Mario RPG, made for the SNES, was the first of its kind. Then came Paper Mario, a very enjoyable title that is very underrated. But for the holiday season of 2003, Nintendo released a third Mario RPG, the first on a portable system, and not only does this game deliver, it is definitely one of the Top 3 GBA games of 2003.

Suprisingly, when you start the game, you will learn that Bowser has not stolen Princess Peach. The storyline for Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a bit original. It all starts out as a delegation from the Beanbean Kingdom arrives to deliver a gift to the princess. But to everyone's surprise the evil witch Cackletta pops out, steals the voice of poor Peach and disappears. The Princess's voice is now replaced with an "explosive" vocabulary. Bowser soon arrives at the scene to steal Peach, yet ironically he cannot do so because the Princess's voice would destroy his castle. He asks Mario and Luigi to aid him in retrieving her voice, and this is how the game begins. Shortly after, Peach's voice will be recovered and that is when Bowser will come back, kidnap her and it will once again be up to the Mario Brothers to rescue the Princess.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, you control both Mario and Luigi simultaneously. When the lead character moves, the second character follows. The lead character is controlled with the A button, while the second character is controlled with the B button. The position of the characters can be switched with the Start button, while their abilities are toggled with the shoulder buttons. One of my pet peeves is games in which you cannot save your progress at any time, and this is one such game. There are checkpoints scattered throughout the game, however not being able to save at any point (especially after battles) or even to pause is very frustrating for me.

In the beginning, the Mario brothers only have the basic jumping ability. However as you progress throughout the game, Mario and Luigi learn more and more abilities. You will be able to have Luigi jump on Mario’s head to perform an extra long vertical jump, or Mario will jump on Luigi’s head to perform an amazing horizontal leap. Once you receive the hammer (one of many interesting items), you can hit Mario on the head with it so that he shrinks and can go through the smallest caves. Or you can hit Luigi and have him burrow underground. The character sprites are so unique when they are performing their special abilities.

This game is actually an action/RPG game with a bit of platformer elements. From the paragraph above, you can see where the platformer elements come from. But what makes this game so unique is its action/RPG flavor, making it slightly similar to a Zelda title. You will journey through kingdoms and dungeons, will fight many battles and will engage in fights versus bosses. Mario and Luigi will level up, will gain attack, defense, speed and other various points. They will learn new abilities, will build up “stache” points, which not only increase the length of the characters moustache but also increase the chance of performing a lucky, extra-damaging attack. Mushrooms heal characters, while other items revive them. As you can tell, this sounds just like any RPG game only with a bunch of Nintendo elements thrown into the mix. If this is true, then the battle engine, the most important thing, must be stellar for everything to function well. I am sure that that is a question on your mind now.

Fortunately, the answer is a resounding yes. First of all, to everyone’s relief, there are no random encounters in this game. You will see all of your enemies beforehand and if you wish, you can avoid certain battles altogether. However once you see an enemy and run into him, you will be taken to the battle screen. On one side of the screen will be your duo, while the enemies will be on the other side. During the battles, all of Mario’s attack will be handled with the A button while Luigi’s are executed with the B button. By pressing one of the buttons, the character will attack, and if you press the button again right before the attack (such as jump on the enemy) is executed, you will deal extra damage. After this you have your second character attack and this is followed by the enemy attack, therefore this is a turn-based combat system. Later on, you will be able to use the hammer or special abilities like Mario’s fire or Luigi’s lightning. When enemies attack, by pressing the respective A or B button, you can actually dodge or counter attacks. Although this does not happen all the time, if you time it right, this can make a major difference in a fight.

Finally, the most interesting thing that the brothers can do during the battles in the “Bros. Attack”. During this attack, both Mario and Luigi attack at the same time, and if executed correctly, it does a lot of damage. However to perform this attack you must spend Bros. Attack points. There are three difficulties of this attack: the easiest in which everything is slowed down and you are shown what to press, the medium level at which everything is done at normal speed, and finally hard when you are not shown what to press. The harder it is, the less points it costs to execute and the more damage dealt. If executed incorrectly, usually no damage will be dealt at all. Later in the game, you will be able to pull off advanced “Bros. Attacks” that require complex button combinations that you will never be told and must look up online. Boss fights are much longer and harder than normal fights and you must be alert at all times. Although some have said the battles may get tedious, I loved them and they are one of my favorite parts about this game. When you win a battle, you will be rewarded with coins, which you can spend on better items and experience.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga has plenty of fun mini-games and sub-quests to get your mind off the main game. It has many cameos, as characters from previous Mario games show up. There are plenty of jokes cracked and Nintendo fans are bound to enjoy them. Also included is the original Mario Bros. game, which has been tacked onto every single Super Mario title for the GBA to date. It’s the same single or multi-player arcade game, which was fine the first time around but is far too outdated now. If any of your friends owns a GBA and any Super Mario title, you can link up and go through this outdated game together.

The audio department is certainly not lacking in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The soundtrack brings back memories, as most of the background music is tunes from previous Mario titles. Most of the tunes have been re-mixed and are entertaining to listen to, yet the originals really make you feel good inside. The sound effects were right on par with other Mario titles, and all of the effects were basically ripped. The voice-overs return in this game, as both brothers actually talk in this game, yet unless they are yelling out their names you can hardly make out what they are saying.

The graphics in this game are sensational for a Mario game. All of the colors are so lush, bright and vibrant. The character sprites were drawn fairly originally, as there is a big difference is their appearance compared to other Super Mario titles, although I like this cartoonish style. The combat animations were right on the money, as the combat appears to be not-too-brutal yet fitting violence. The camera angle is worthy of note, as this is not a traditional side-scroller. This camera gives you a slight overhead view, and works well for some peculiar reason.

Overall, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a game that I absolutely cherished from beginning until the very end. It took me around 20 hours to complete this adventure, but I admit that I searched every nook and cranny, therefore the total gameplay will be between 15 and 25 hours, depending on the age of the person playing. The replay value is not too high, but I am sure that I will definitely keep this in my collection and will replay it once again fairly soon. I recommend this game to everyone, as fans of RPG, platformer, action or Mario games will surely enjoy this. This is not a traditional RPG game so it is not too complex, therefore I recommend it to people of all ages. Finally Nintendo has made a completely original Mario game for the GBA, and it turned out to be one of the console’s best!