I’ve gotten more worthwhile hours out of this game than any other, it isn’t even close. It’s hard to pinpoint why it does so much for me but I think the main appeals are the freedom to create, the multiplayer, and the atmosphere. The game can be molded into so many different forms.

Whether you just wanna build some cool shit with no risks, play some minigames with your friends, or have a tense playthrough where one death means you’re out is up to you. It provides you with so many outlets to create granted you have the time to execute them in a world that can be peaceful, mysterious, or unsettling depending on the time of day and where you are.

Not a lot of people seem to like this remake but I think that outside of some scuffed sprites it’s strictly better. The framerate is buttery smooth and the backgrounds are downright gorgeous. It’s one of the best looking games on the 3DS and it looks better than most Switch games do to be frank.

Disregarding the remaster’s changes and improvements though Superstar Saga is a wonderful game. The pacing is just perfect and the combat intertwines with overworld exploration and movement in such a genius way. Gaining new abilities is super exciting, way more fun than in most games. Not only does it let you get to new places in the overworld but it also means you’ll get a new attack to try out in battle and an upgraded version later on that doesn’t invalidate the original move.

Combat is very simple but incredibly satisfying, the bros attacks are really fun to pull off and never feel like they’re breaking the pace. You have a lot of options at your disposal too, and it feels nice to take advantage of enemy weaknesses as you gain new ways to attack.

The game’s characters and story are super charming but I think it’s best to just go in without spoiling any of that, it’s never really the emphasis of the game anyways.

I used to resent the game because of all the praise it got compared to later Mario and Luigi games. I do still think the later games deserve way more credit than they receive but this game is so beloved for a reason, it’s impressive just how well this game got it right on the first go.

Really high highs but even lower lows. This game should be way better than it actually is, so much love was clearly put into it but it shoots itself in the foot so many times that it’s practically crippled.

The boss fights, music, and visuals are the highlights. All of them work well and are still memorable over a year later. The writing doesn’t do it for me but it doesn’t make me wanna blow my head off like the two previous games. Exploration is pretty fun at times, at other times it’s a slog.

The combat and story are both a huge mess. There’s two types of enemy combat in the game but they’re both deep as a puddle, rarely offering up something that actually puts a unique spin on the base combat or catches you off guard. The story pretends to be more than it is with a lot of moments that feel really forced. The story is at its best when it isn’t trying really hard to force a feeling out of you or replicate why the narratives in previous games worked without understanding why they worked. There’s a handful of super charming characters and when it’s just them interacting with one another without taking itself too seriously it works really well.

These devs are really talented and I wish they’d either return to the old formula or just do their own thing entirely without any limitations, they’ve done both in the past and it was way more enjoyable than this awkward middle ground.

Despite its issues I have a ton of respect for this game, it attempts to bring the best things from both of the games preceding it while adding some new stuff on top. It’s not perfect but the fact that they actively listened and responded to most feedback kinda feels like a miracle for a Nintendo game.

It brings back the idea of portrait ghosts from the first game and while they aren’t quite the same, they’re really special in their own way and come with a lot of personality. Their fights are also quite fun too with one on each floor. Most of the time they feel more like extended flashy puzzles than fights which is a perfect match to the game’s strengths.

Dark Moon’s additions come in the form of the game’s toolset and variety in settings. This game feels much more cohesive due to the dropped mission structure but sections of the game are still split into separate floors outside of the first handful.

There was clearly a ton of time and love put into this game, there’s so many cool little details and secrets to dig for through levels and it’s by far my favorite part of the game. Every single level no matter how big or small is densely packed with cleverly hidden collectibles and money to find and it’s always fun to find it all. The toolset you’re given let’s the developers hide stuff in a lot of clever ways and it leads to a lot of fun “aha!” moments as you’re exploring.

There’s so many visual gags and awesome details no matter which floor you’re on, just walking through them and taking in the atmosphere of each one is a joy and the way Luigi and other characters animate during gameplay and cutscenes brings it all together so perfectly. It feels like a living breathing world more than either of the games did before it.

For as awesome as the exploration and attention to detail in this game is, the combat feels super underdeveloped in comparison. Before I rip into the combat I should note that it’s deemphasized compared to the first two games, with enemy encounters taking up less time and boss ghosts utilizing puzzle solving skills over what little depth there is to fighting. With that said, there’s only three main enemy types which is bad in and of itself since you’ll be fighting them the entire game but what kills the combat more than anything else is the slam mechanic. The entire system feels like it was reworked from the ground up just to implement this move and while there is some novelty to it at first, you’ll quickly realize it trivializes combat by stunning enemies over and over allowing you to infinitely chain them. No matter what cute little tools the ghosts are given to try and counter your moveset, the slam is too powerful to ever put you in a situation where you could actually come close to dying or even challenge you a bit. It’s honestly bad enough to destroy the appeal of this game’s combat all on its own and it’s a modern Paper Mario tier battle system suicide.

The first two games were far more thought out in this respect. The first game’s intense tug of war chain is always challenging and satisfying to pull off and Dark Moon’s charge mechanic really encourages you to play risky and combo as many ghosts at once with a flashlight stun. They’re both appealing in their own way and reward you for challenging chains, I really hope the developers recognize this flaw and rework the combat into something more enjoyable next time around.

Outside of the combat I’m not a fan of the backtracking and the ending sequence feels rushed (the score ranking based on your money is also way worse than before which is a shame when the exploration is so fun) but those issues feel pretty minor in comparison.

I’ve been hard on the game here but I wanna emphasize that this is a quality game that’s absolutely worth your time if you like digging through every nook and cranny for cool secrets and collectibles or expressively animated games with beautifully stylized visuals. There’s a lot of really cool details I didn’t even get into like how certain themed floors in the game are still incorporated into the hotel setting despite being really crazy ideas, it’s hilarious seeing how they actually made some of these ideas work within the building. Before I spoil too much I’ll just say Next Level Games did a great job here and I think they’re super close to perfecting this formula. Just polish up that combat, cut the filler, fix the scoring system, and you’ve got an incredible game.

This is one of very few games where the visuals and background noise enhance the game so hard that they’re practically carrying the experience. The world is stunningly beautiful, it’s full of colors that pop, beautiful foliage flowing through the wind, and all sorts of serene vistas to climb around and hang out in. It was enjoyable to just walk around and observe the scenery, something that’s usually really hard to achieve in a game for me.

Outside of that the game’s got some really big issues but it does have some fixes to the stock standard open world formula that I’ve grown more and more tired of over time.

For one, traveling to a location of interest through various background elements instead of a waypoint telling you where to go does a lot more for me than I expected going in. The way you’re being nudged in a direction is still pretty artificial but I vastly prefer it over a waypoint or a map filled with tons of filler garbage I don’t want anything to do with.

Another idea I appreciate are some of the goofy tasks you’re given for the game’s various points of interest. They’re still pretty repetitive and leave a lot to be desired but writing a haiku or taking a leisurely stroll through an ancient shrine is a nice break from the blood-soaked encampments and feels a bit more fresh than other open world side objectives.

The combat is a little shallow but it’s still satisfying enough. It really needed some more enemy types to keep you on your toes or more wacky tools to mess around with, open world games usually struggle with enemy types but it would’ve went a long way if there were more tools to manipulate and confuse enemies with.

The story didn’t do much for me and honestly felt really phoned in at points but there were a few fairly entertaining chunks here and there.

By the game’s third act the game’s flaws really begin to weigh down on the experience (mainly just the regular open world shtick, boring ass enemy encampments and extremely repetitive missions) but thankfully it’s the shortest act by far.