Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga (Video Game Review)

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
Nintendo Game Boy Advance
2003
Developer: AlphaDream (Second-Party Nintendo)
Publisher: Nintendo

Towards the end of the SNES lifecycle, Nintendo teamed with famed RPG developer Square to create an unique RPG involving Nintendo’s mascot, Mario. The result was a finely polished game that took the SNES to the graphical limit and satisfying even those who grow easily bored of turn-based-RPGs (where generally you choose an action command, perform the action, and then wait for your opponent to do the same). The game revolutionized the RPG world as it bridged the game between non-stop platforming action and turn-based RPG gaming. These two companies were on to something.

That was until the two companies had a break-up over issues with Nintendo’s next console, the Nintendo 64. Square quickly took their ball and went home to shack up with Sony and their glitzy new Playstation and Nintendo quietly wept. Many gamers wept too because the chance of seeing a Super Mario RPG 2 was looking slim. Nintendo decided to go out on their own and release Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64. The game was a critical hit with reviewers and sucked hours away from unsuspecting gamers who wanted to make it to…just…finish…one…more…chapter.

In 2003, Nintendo released their first Mario RPG on a handheld. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga shakes up the formula a bit. Instead of controlling one character (Mario), you also control his brother Luigi; at the same time. This sounded very complicated to some when it was first announced but Nintendo assured the gaming public that the game will be easy to control.

The story starts of the same. Bowser attempts to kidnap the Princess and Mario must save the day. Except someone got to Peach before Bowser did and stole her voice which is causing explosions everywhere. The evil Cackletta has stolen Peach’s voice because she needs it to harness the power of the Beanstar from the nearby Beanbean Kingdom. This time, Mario is not alone in his adventure as his brother Luigi is there to help him along the way too.

On paper, the game can seem quite complicated to control but at the very beginning, there isn’t much that the Mario Bros. can do except for run and jump so it’s not too bad initially. Each brother is assigned one of the face buttons (A or B) to perform his action. By hitting the select button, you can switch the assigned button for each brother. The brother who is assigned to the A button will be the leader while the other follows. The only thing though if there is a hill in the way, most brothers must jump (meaning you’ll have to press both the A and B button to get them to jump over the hill).

Once you acquire new abilities, you can switch the abilities of the leading brother with the Select button. This is where things begin to get a little complicated. As the brothers acquire more skills and the routes become more complex, they gain the ability to combine skills to overcome obstacles and solve puzzles. While the player may know what they want to do, it can sometimes become difficult to get the game to actually do what you want to do because the player keeps pressing the wrong buttons. While this may hold to be no problem for an intermediate player, this is a Mario game we are talking about. This a game for gamers of all ages and younger players may get too frustrated. Even as an older, experienced player, it can get to be annoying or tedious to get the brothers to employ their double team skills to navigate the map area.

The core of an RPG game is the battle system. The game relies on turn-based-combat. The twist though is that you’re always doing something. If you’re on the offensive, you may need to press the brother’s command button and extra or multiple times to keep the attack going or to increase the power of the attack. On defence, you can actually defend yourself using each brothers’ command button. In fact, in some instances, you can inflict damage on an attacking enemy. This is a great concept for those who find turn-based-RPGs boring. There is always action on the screen and the player is always involved.

All the other major elements of an RPG is there; experience points, levelling-up, item shops, magic points (referred to as Bros. Points). There is also a need to perform endless grinding battles to increase the experience level and strength of the brothers in the lead-up to the final castle which can be extremely difficult if you didn’t waste an extra couple of hours fighting and re-fighting enemies to gain more experience points. It takes away from the quick pace of the game but the battles in the final castle are worth the price of the game alone.

There are also a couple of major gripes. There is a water area where the brothers have to swim that can become tiresome after only a few moments. The game is also displayed on as an overview map but the brothers are viewed from their sides so there are times where jumping on the right spot can feel impossible. There is a fair bit of backtracking which may turn off some. As well, the bean collecting is interesting and very rewarding but for the most part is cumbersome and feels tacked to extend gameplay more than anything else.

The story itself is interesting until you hit the umpteenth double-cross or swerve. The Mario RPG games have always had clever dialogue and this game is no different but it does seem like weaker than the other games. There is little voice-acting although the few stereotypical things that the brothers say (Italian-sounding gibberish) can cause more than a couple of chuckles and doesn’t really get old. The music is decent but forgettable although it does feel like music you’d hear in a Mario title.

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga is a very fun game although it is far from perfect. It suffers from the fact that it is a Mario game and that it does have big shoes to fill but the other argument is that if it didn’t have Mario as the main character, few people would play it. On it’s own merits, the game is generally fun and the good far outweigh the bad. If you love RPGs, you should enjoy this although you may find the first 75% of the game way too easy. Even if you hate RPG games, you should give this one a shot because it really takes the RPG genre and shake it up a bit and make it a bit more accessible to the casual gamer. It’s not a game to rush out and get but if you find it at a used game store for cheap, it’s a definite purchase.

☆☆☆