Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga

So, I originally planned on doing this review... almost 2 months ago now. Then I got distracted, then I did that thing for October, then... I did other stuff that wasn't reviewing this game. So, now it's December, almost Christmas in fact, and so I've decided to do some reviews all about the jolly fat man in red.

...Mario, of course, not Santa. Don't worry, you aren't the first to confuse the two. But we'll get to that later. Anyway, for the next three weeks (well, two and a half), I'll be doing a series of reviews on the Mario & Luigi games, starting by finally reviewing Superstar Saga.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was released for the Game Boy Advance on November 17th, 2003. It was the third Mario RPG released, after Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario. In this game, Princess Peach has not been kidnapped, surprisingly enough. Instead, her voice has been stolen... somehow. There's magic involved, that's all you really need to know. So Mario must journey to the neighboring Beanbean Kingdom in order to save Peach's voice. And, due to a wacky misunderstanding, Luigi comes along too.

This game is fairly basic when it comes to gameplay. In battle, Mario uses the A button for his commands, while Luigi uses the B button. They can attack individually, with Jump, Hammer, and Hand commands (Hand being elemental attacks, Mario using fire, Luigi using Lightning), or they can spend BP (Bros. Points) in order to pull off Bros. Attacks, powerful combination moves that require the player to enter the proper button sequence to deal maximum damage. Outside of battle, each of the brothers uses either the A or B button for commands, though this time it depends on the order in which they are standing, with the front-most brother using A, and the rear brother using B. The order can be switched using START, so that both of the brothers can use their abilities to their fullest. I only really have two complaints in this area: One, that the battles are a little too easy, but that could just be because I've played this game too many times; and Two, that the SELECT button is used to open the menu and the START button is used to switch the brothers instead of vice-versa, but that's just me being nit-picky. Overall, the gameplay in this game is solid and enjoyable.

My favorite aspect of this game, by far, is the writing. The story's more-or-less standard, the princess('s voice) has been kidnapped, and it's up to Mario (and Luigi) to save her (voice). But it's the details in what Mario and Luigi encounter in the Beanbean kingdom that make the game so much fun. You run into Hammerheaded Hammer-Makers that give you (What else?) hammers, an old man who ferments cola by telling it (truly awful) jokes, and a giant hermit crab with a lisp dressed as a Christmas tree who mistakes Mario for Santa Claus.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a thing that happens. But probably the best of all these characters is the main villain's cronie, Fawful. He is... incredibly strange, referring to people as 'finkrats' and making strange references to sandwiches. I don't understand a word that comes out of his mouth, but it's always fun to run into him.

This was probably my first (non-Pokemon) RPG, and remains to this day one of my favorites. This game, and its two sequels, are some of the few games that I make a point of replaying every year or so. So in case you couldn't guess, I'm strongly recommending you get this game and play it. Even if you aren't normally a fan of Mario, this is a great game.