from mushrooms to beans
Written: Sep 21 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: it's a great whacky RPG
Cons: but it can be frustrating.
The Bottom Line: Bye-Bye
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| tommy_lop's Full Review: Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for Game Boy Advance |
I got Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga about a year ago shortly after buying Mario Golf. Since I was to busy playing Mario Golf at the time I shelved it in till just last week when I decided to pop it into by GB player and give it a go. While M&L SSS is a great game unlike past Mario RPG’s this one is for a bit more advance player.
Story.
I like Adam Sesslers opinion that the people making this game had to be high on mushrooms in order to come up with a few ideas in the story. If you thought Paper Mario and Super Mario RPG were wacky there tame compared to the story of M&L SSS.
When the ambassador from the bean bean kingdom turns out to be the evil witch Cackeleta she manages in stealing Princess Peaches annoying blond air head voice and replacing it with something a lot worse, a voice with high explosive. The Mario’s hear about this and race over to find Bowser there. He’s mad because if the Princess stays like this he can’t kidnap her any more because she will destroy his castle. So they decide on a truce, he’ll give Mario a ride to the bean bean kingdom and help him destroy Cackeleta. Luigi goes to see Mario off but gets so excited in saying good bye that Bowser thinks he wants to come and scoops him up aboard his cruiser.
Oh well Mario will need Luigi’s help in the bean bean kingdom anyways cause it seems like poor Bowser is getting into one bad situation after another, getting shot out of a cannon, loosing his memory and becoming a thief, and being controlled by Cackeleta and growing boobs (don’t ask).
While your in the bean bean kingdom there are a lot of new enemies and surroundings to explore but don’t think this is like Mario Sunshine where Nintendo pretty much forgot about Mario’s old platforming days. There are plenty of old faces from previous games. Professor E. Gadd runs a coffee shop, the viruses from Dr. Mario will have to be vaccinated and the 7 koopalings from SMB 3 and SMW make appearances as mini bosses during the last stage.
Graphics.
The graphics are pretty good and there wonderfully cartoony way that befits the comic story line. The colors are really bright and easy to look at, as for the animation all the characters are animated smoothly. Each setting looks different from Ho Ho Mountain to the Tee hee desert. In short the graphics are good to look at.
Sound.
Music wise the sound track offers up new background music for the different areas of the bean bean kingdom. Each sounding different but still with the same Mario cheerfulness that we come to expect. The original theme makes an appearance in fungi town, a town filled with immigrating toads from the Mushroom Kingdom. And the cave theme appears in many of the tunnels you have to go through. You also have the VA’s from the console games making short quotes whenever something is happening. Mario and Luigi will say there trademark Mama Mia when they die and a few other lines. Whenever series dialogue does happen between the two you hear gibberish and see it pantomimed.
Gameplay.
Ok the gameplay as it’s up’s and downs, a few up’s more then downs but there are a few things to be aware especially if your new to RPG’s. Ok Mario and Luigi journey around has a team you move both of them at the same time. In order to jump up ledges you have to have one jump after another. As you journey they will learn new tricks to travel around. For example early on Mario will learn the spin jump which will let them jump further then usual, and Luigi will learn the high jump which will let them jump higher then usual. Other goofy tricks like being able to shrink Mario by having Luigi smash him with a hammer, or breaking through barriers by having Mario catch Luigi butt on fire (again don’t ask).
There are lots of side quests and puzzles that will have to be solved using these and other powers that the Mario’s will pick up along the way. Of course while there are plenty of new stuff the same Mario platform jumping from one ledge to another is a big part of the game. And they even threw in a few 2d parts, in one part I liked Mario has to run across a bridge past a card board Bowser and hit an axe to complete, nice touch.
When the Mario touch an enemy battle begins. The 3 solo abilities that can be picked up are jump which is good for high enemies and non thorn enemies, hammer which is good for ground enemies especially the ones with spikes, and hand which either throws a fire ball or thunder bolt at an enemy.
They also have co-op attacks which the two will join forces in one big attack. Each co-op attack only takes one turn but it takes bro points in order to do. There are also 3 different levels to them to. Level one which does the least amount of damage but it as slow motion and button icons so you can get the timing of the button presses down right. To level 3 where there is no slow motion nor is there any button icons to help you but you’ll do greater damage and it will take less bro points to do.
Since timing has always been important in avoiding attacks in the Mario RPG, and the importance of good timing has been doubled hear. Depending on the icon Mario and Luigi can press A or B to jump over enemy attacks, and if they time it just right counter them. Or if there is a hammer icon they can hold it down and release it at the rime time to either avoid or counter an attack. And this is important because some bosses can do major damage with there attacks if you don’t avoid them properly.
Like most RPG’s once battle is done you get money, exp, and an occasional item. With money you can go into town and buy armor and badges from the town shop. Equipping items in this game is also a bit different because a lot of armor also as a special ability which either up grades or down grades an ability. For example one armor may give you flimsy defense but automatically restores HP per turn. Another armor boosts both power and def but gives you the heavy weight side effect which makes jumping over enemy attacks harder. You have to decide what armor is right for each situation. Badges also give you special ability’s as well and deciding which brother to equip them to will also be vital.
Now what are the downsides to the game, despite it being cute, whacky, and cartoony this isn’t a kids game. Its challenge level is way up there and it can be frustrating. Like I said before if you don’t have good timing some of the bosses can whack the heck out of you, and it doesn’t help when some of them can hit you 3 or 4 times per turn before your able to react.
Also there are no inns or recover blocks in this game and there are only 2 ways to fully recover Mario and Luigi energy. First is to fight and defeat a boss will recover there energy and the 2nd way is to get a game over and select start from the center hub of the game called Bean Bean Town and track back to where you were. This is majorily annoying and kind of stupid considering how Paper Mario always at inn blocks in the middle of the dungeon to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
Final Recommendation.
Despite a few frustrating battle and the annoyance of no innes to recover power Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga is a good game for more experience RPG players. There are is a lot of wackiness and plenty of fun to be had so if you’re a fan of the Mario RPG series then you should check out this game.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tommy_lop
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Member: tommy
Reviews written: 959
Trusted by: 119 members
About Me:
Ran over a grandma, punched a kid, and still diden't get a PS3. (just kidding.)
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