A game I remember playing but never finishing as a kid - boy is it clear now why that was. Extremely charming and for most of the run time it's a fun Mario romp with a solid JRPG skeleton but when you hit a boss fight it reveals a streak of masochism. Boss fights are incredibly long and frustrating, with attack patterns lasting long past the "you have mastered this mechanic" range and into "dodge this attack with an incredibly small timing window 45 times in a row" territory. JRPG battles being a long slog is one thing, but the action component required for dodging attacks and attacking enemies is actually a physical drain - the final boss battle took me over an hour and left my hands and wrist in physical discomfort (note - you can definitely take breaks - you should in fact!). I don't know if I was chronically under leveled - it's definitely possible! But it was a real pain point in a game I otherwise had a pretty good time with.

The game is full of charm and nintendo polish - animations, puzzle mechanics, sound effects, and music are perfectly tuned and extremely satisfying. I can't say it was perfect or capital g Great, but it's definitely worth taking a look at to see what it's all about.

If there's one word I'd use to describe Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, it'd be charming. This game is so damn charming man. Taking a Mario RPG and imbuing it with a wacky comedic edge is a dream come true honestly, and it results in probably the funniest Mario game ever made. Not only that, but the battle system is fantastic too. I seriously don't remember it being this fun, but I had the biggest stupidest grin on my face as I was tearing through enemies like tissue with the bros. I've gone back and forth on whether I prefer the Paper Mario or the Mario & Luigi series, but if this glorious game is anything to go by, I am in for some bombastic fun with the bros

when people say they like the M&L RPGs, what they usually mean is that they like bowser's inside story - cause most of the other ones aren't that remarkable (sorry dream team, ily). superstar saga's aesthetic value is what kept me invested - the game's got a good sense of humor, and the spritework makes me miss looking at flipnote studio when i was 9 years old. advance attacks are also pretty satisfying to pull off, once you know what you're doing.
other than that though, it's not too interesting. bros attacks are way less plentiful and flashy compared to other games, the game was overall too easy (other than cackletta soul and that fucking crab, along with some bullshit attacks you're expected to defend against), and playing this on a regular GBA with no backlight didn't feel great. it's decently fun, it's got value, but it's not something i'm ever gonna come back to.

I love this Game(franchise), dude how come Mario RPGs are so engaging and fun and literally rival top tier rpgs?
The mixture of humour and turn based system with a twist - such an amazing feast for the player. Bean Kingdom is an fantastic new locale and the amount of original characters you got is mesmerising. I can heavily recommend this one also played the 3ds remake which is a good remake with quality of life features and a slightly better pacing?(perhaps) this is a classic nevertheless and I come back for more annually.

É um jogo que eu sinceramente acho questionável o quão bom as pessoas falam, não me levem a mal, é um jogo bom, mas ele sofre de muitos erros que eu muito raramente vejo as pessoas comentando. As dungeons são um tanto quanto chatas, no começo elas até são divertidas e os puzzles são interessantes, mas com o passar do tempo fica cada vez menos divertido e os inimigos cada vez mais fortes, só que a força deles não segue o balanceamento do jogo, do nada eles ficam forte pra cacete. Os mini games sofrem do mesmo, no começo é legal mas com o passar do tempo fica uma merda, as vezes por um erro bobo tu tem que fazer toda merda de novo até passar, e Jesus os mini games da dungeon final são um inferno, não vejo alguém que realmente consegue se divertir com eles. No geral a última dungeon é bem chata, ela é uma junção dos mini games merdas com os inimigos chatos, e ainda por cima uns chefes insuportáveis. E por falar em chefe, MEU DEUS COMO O CACKLETTA É UM LIXO, ele é um boss absurdamente forte, com ataques extremamente punitivos e que tem curtas janelas de esquiva, não basta isso ele tem um HP imbecil de alto e sempre que tu morre nele volta da primeira fase, o desgraçado ainda pode usar alguns debuffs. De resto esse jogo também não tem nada muito exemplar, o combate é legalzinho, o humor é bem sem graça e olha que eu dou risada com quase qualquer merda e o worldmap é uma bosta, é um saco as vezes atravessar metade do mapa pq os fast travel dessa versão são quase inexistentes. No final é um bom jogo mas que não é nada além disso, só bom, a continuação, Partners in time melhora em muito bastante coisa. Tier B, 7/10