Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions

released on Oct 05, 2017

"The game that launched the Mario & Luigi series returns looking better than ever before. In this renewed classic, Mario and Luigi journey to the Beanbean Kingdom with Bowser to restore Princess Peach’s voice. Control Mario and Luigi simultaneously, making use of their unique Bros. Moves to solve puzzles and emerge victorious in action-packed battles. Pay heed to the enemy’s patterns and time your reactions right to land satisfying counterblows. Included in this remake is the Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser mode, which tells the story of the game from the perspective of Bowser’s minions. Recruit characters to grow your own Minion army as you fight to locate your missing leader!"


Released on

Genres


More Info on IGDB


Reviews View More

Su versión original fue un spin off perfecto para la saga en un momento donde lo necesitaban. El título en general está plagado de buenas ideas que si bien se pierden con el paso de las horas, no deja de ser un título totalmente indispensable en la consola. Mi única crítica es que el remaster no le sienta bien, ya que el título original tiene un apartado artístico mucho más lindo en pixel art. Por lo demás, juéguenlo que lo van a disfrutar enormemente!

The last boss fight with the disease made me rage quit, and my mom heard me swearing. Anyways awesome game.

I really liked the original, and appreciated the updates that came with this 3DS remake; I don't mind the alleged "downgrades" that people often describe when talking about this version. Unfortunately, on account of no longer having my 3DS, I will not be returning to this game, and will have to stick to the Game Boy Advance original.

I've long held that the original GBA Superstar Saga is the undesputed champ and best game among the Mario & Luigi series. Bros moves were always better than Bros items, the dungeon design was good, boss fights were tough but not super duper spongy, and the power creep of your abilities was never too overwhelming. The approach of the 3DS remake is that if it ain't broke, fix everything that was. The addition of a ton of quality of life and accessibility features as well as the Bower's Minions mode makes this a definitive upgrade over the GBA original and easily the new best Mario & Luigi game. It took me around 30 hours to complete both the main game and the Minions mode, and I played the Japanese version.

The first most obvious change is the presentation, as what was a GBA game on a single screen is now a 3DS game across two screens, and it really shows. While it's clear this is modeled off of the engine that Paper Jam used, it's definitely been modified, because Paper Jam was nowhere near as damn beautiful as this game. The game has a really rock solid framerate and all of the art is beautiful. Not all of the remixed music tracks are total winners, but they're otherwise nearly all fine conversions if not outright upgrades. The extra buttons and screen of the 3DS allow for those excellent QoL features as well.

First off, an obvious addition taken from the other games is the introduction of a mini-map on the bottom screen just like all the other games have. You can even pin places of interest on the map (not unlike a Metroidvania game sometimes lets you do), and it makes getting around a lot easier. The other use of the touch screen is a selection screen for all your exploratory Bros moves like the high jump, spin jump, hammer moves, and hand moves. The old system where R and L switch between which Bro's power is active depending on their position is totally gone. In its place, you can either pick what you want from the touch screen, or cycle through the list with R and L, and the Bros will switch positions and powers accordingly, meaning you can explore far faster and don't need to remember which combos are which. The icing on the cake of that is that X is a dedicated simultaneous jump button for both Bros no matter what Bros moves they have selected. Now you can have a hand or hammer power selected for A or B AND still be able to walk around and explore normally. It's such a game changer and makes just getting around so much easier and convenient. And then for accessibility, the game also takes ideas whole-cloth from Paper Jam in the form of skippable tutorials, an R button hold speeding up cutscenes, an easy mode that makes you stronger and enemies weaker, the ability to hold X for a simple guard instead of an outright dodge during battles, the ability to practice Bros moves for free even mid-battle for no cost, and an in-game guidebook to reference any aspect of playing you don't remember at the time. The game plays so much more smoothly and swiftly that it's kinda incredible, and almost entirely removes any reservations I could've possibly had about recommending the original to anyone.

I can't comment on if or how any dialogue was changed from the original, as I'm familiar with the American GBA release, and this is the Japanese 3DS release (although I can confirm that Fawful's speech style is far more boring and nowhere near as unique in Japanese as it is in English). What I can comment on is the combat balancing, which has been drastically shifted to be more like Paper Jam and to a lesser extent Dream Team. The bosses in the original weren't nearly as spongy as Partners In Time's bosses were, but this cranks down their health a LOT. However, it also cranks down the Bros ability to tank hits as well, meaning there is a much higher emphasis on maximizing the damage you deal as well as successfully dodging enemy attacks. If you mess up dodges on normal mode too many times, you're gonna be looking at a world of hurt before long (it made the final boss way way harder than I remember it, that's for sure). This, combined with a change in exactly how Bros moves timings and visuals work, makes for an experience that is both familiar as well as challenging in a new way that makes this an easy recommendation for even people who really know the original well.

Finally, an addition that was added for the Japanese release of the original (which came out a fair bit after the American release, oddly enough) makes the game a bit easier as well in the form of Paper Mario-style healing blocks. There were only 3 or 4 in the Japanese original as a way to top up before particularly hard fights, but they're basically put before every major fight now. Just one more thing that makes the game flow easier and a bit more fun. You can also even save just about anywhere now via a menu option, and svae blocks in-game are largely a formality. Other than that, the game is largely the same save for some minor changes on item drop rarities (green beans are a lot rarer than they used to be, for example).

I'll finish this review off by talking about the Bowser's Minions mode, which I expected to be kinda throw-away, but ended up being one of my favorite parts of the game. Now, compared to later Mario-focused RPGs, Mario & Luigi 1 isn't nearly as focused on being funny. It's' certainly quirky, there's no doubt about that, but it definitely isn't as concerned with being outright silly or funny in the way a game like Paper Mario Color Splash is. The main Bros adventure retains that, but the Minions mode is dripping with that new sillier writing and I adored it. It's Goomba's adventure to gather together an army of Bowser's displaced minions to save their beloved king, and it kinda turns into a somewhat irreverent shonen anime in how it's written (at least in Japanese). Goomba has two main counterparts in the form of Shy Guy and Boo, and the dynamic they have between each other will likely be immediately familiar to anyone who has watched mainstream anime for any length of time. I really adored the story of the Minions mode, as it balances being silly for the sake of it with being genuinely sweet. It's a not at all unique story about growing up and needing to take on more responsibility when duty calls, but presented through Super Mario villains, it's done in a very charming style that nonetheless really clicked with me.

The mechanics of the Minions mode I also enjoyed, but they're something totally different from the main game. The Minions mode gameplay is almost like something out of a mobile game, as it don't even really use the two-screen that much. You put together a series of troops before going into a battle, and they automatically fight it out based on a priority of whomever is next in line that doesn't have someone targeting them yet. There's a rock-paper-scissors dynamic between three types of troops (ground, throwers, and flyers) and you build an army to fight how you think best for the types present in the army you're about to fight. The only interactions you do are timed A-button presses for when special moves are activated, and presses on the D-pad to activate captain abilities that can also be swapped out as you unlock them as your captains level up.

Units will level up as they're present for battles you win, but there isn't even a positioning element: grounds are first, then fliers, then throwers, then your captain. All you really need to do is take out the enemy captain to win, but it can be hard to focus on that outside of a couple captain abilities because the control is so limited. It can also definitely get frustrating at times, as you only know the units the enemy is using (usually), and not in what numbers or what roles, so they may have 4 throw types and 1 flier, but the ground army you made to wipe the floor with those throwers will be crap against a whole unit of flyers, or a particularly tough flyer captain will be able to take out 3 or 4 grounds because evasion against type advantage is so high. It's a very casual strategy experience and the difficulty curve can at times be annoying, but it was right up my alley and I enjoyed it a lot. The length is no paltry offering either. It took me probably 7 or 8 hours just in this mode between just how many levels there are and the occasional grinding I had to do for harder stages. Just know that it's nothing to really really sink your teeth into for deeper strategy game fans.

Finally, the game's amiibo support is largely found in the Minions mode (which makes sense, as the Koopa and Goomba amiibo were released specifically for this game). Anapan graciously donated to me a Goomba amiibo so I could test this out, so credit for my first-hand experience of this stuff goes to him ^w^. In the Bros mode, all amiibos get you (you can scan any Mario-series one) is first a fairly nice badge that can otherwise still be found elsewhere in the game, and after that just 3 beans of a random type. They also unlock your stamp album, which you only need one amiibo to unlock, but has most of its features after that tied to just playing the Minions mode. One amiibo type will get you that character's stamp, but there are 20 more stamps that are only tied to units you happen to have in your army. Have 3 Goombas over level 10? There's a stamp for that. Have all kinds of Magikoopa? There's a stamp for that. Each of those stamps will unlock a simple Minions mode mission, with no story attached, involving those characters. Additionally, having the Goomba, Koopa Troopa, or Boo amiibo scanned will get you a more powerful golden version of that character to use as a captain. It's all suuuuuper minor stuff, and not really worth the price of entry (not like some games lock away massive amounts of content via amiibos, for sure), but it's something fun to do if you have the amiibos to use with it already.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. I've played not that many games this year that haven't been repeats, but this has been a damn great one. Up there with Color Splash as a game I thought I'd enjoy but ended up absolutely loving. A definitive upgrade to the original in such a fashion that it feels more like Mario & Luigi 6 that just happens to have the dressings of a remake of Superstar Saga. In any case, easily the new best entry in the series, and a must-own for RPG fans on the 3DS.

I played this all the time in middle school with my Gameboy Micro in my desk instead of paying attention in math, but honestly I thought the remaster would play off my nostalgia but rather it felt off and the art style change felt uncanny valley.

I decided to replay this game recently just for fun, I hadn’t played it in a year, and while I enjoyed the original, I had my issues with it, which kinda tainted my thoughts on the remake overall,

But after recently replaying the remake, holy shit this remake might actually be one of my top 5 favorite games of all time. Like really, it’s THAT good