Time travel is not alien to the world of videogames, let alone RPGs. Partners in Time though treats timeline shenanigans in a clever, weirdly somber and mature approach, considering the depressing and oppressive turn the game's story takes: it is now the Shrooms whom act as cruel and memorable villains in this story, having conquered the Toad Kingdom past.

Mario, Luigi, Mario Jr. & Luigi Jr. work well enough together as a team, but it's not as effective as in Super Star Saga: instead of using points to use combo attacks, they are now essentially items you can buy. Since money was never an issue in M&L games, you can see where the issue lies: the game's difficulty takes a nosedive each time a new combo item is introduced, making enemies' health bars just a matter of time, instead of strategic thinking. Platform sections and puzzles are fun enough, but despite having more bros, there's much less to do in terms of combo and exploration. I'll be blunt, the game takes a lot of steps forward in settings, story, characterization, with the four protagonists weirdly well characterized despite never speaking and Prof. E. Gadd stealing every scene he's featured in. The soundtracks also kind of rocks?

At the same time, it takes away a lot of ingenuity and platforming\puzzles from Super Star Saga, not taking real advantage of the dual screen if not for the occasional battle animation. It tries striking a balance between funny and emotional, which doesn't always land. To me it'll always be charming, but there's a lot of things to consider and wade through before getting to the "good stuff". Strong beginning, weak middle, padded ending but satisfactory experience don't make for a game I'd recommend easily.

In terms the average game journalist can understand, it's a A24-produced, genre-redefining, trope-subverting, 40 KB JPG atmospheric, dark and eerie, emotionally draining [...] game.

This game, along with the DS Lite it was bundled with, was pre-owned by the son of a family friend. Don't remember if I had started my first playthrough from the beginning or an existing save file, but I eventually deleted my progress and started over. Even then, I only managed to make it to the final area before abandoning the game.

In retrospect, as a child I didn't understand the importance of leveling up regularly or equipping the proper gear, which would explain the massive difficulty spike I experienced in the late game. Should I return to this game to finally finish it off, it will not be on the original hardware.

I guess this is the first Mario RPG I ever actually played, and despite not being my favorite, I still have fond memories of this one.

I love the concept for this one, Mario and Luigi meeting their past selves, and the scary alien invaders that threaten to kill everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom. This game does actually get pretty dark for Mario standards at times and I love that.

The reason I could actually stand this game and other Mario RPGs over other RPGs, is not just because it is Mario and I'd play anything with Mario on the title. No, it's the fact that the battles require you to be much more involved in the action and actually ask YOU to be the one that blocks or dodges the attacks, as well as perform your own attacks.

You have no idea how much I despise playing an RPG, being in a fight for 20 minutes, and then losing after all that struggle just because the game randomly decided to show me a text box that says that my last attack did not connect for whatever fucking reason! But the opponent's did and it was also a crit, so of course I fucking died.

In these games, if you want your attacks to connect you have to get good at timing, you can't just sit and watch, which to me is far more interesting. They also make each special attack a sort of minigame that you have to get right if you want to make the most amount of damage, which is a very Mario way to put a spin on a pre-existing formula and I love it.

Overall, a solid game and one of the better Mario & Luigi games out there. 10/10, princess Shroob is super fucking hard to beat got dayum!