When Nintendo appear a Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga remake for the 3DS, I wasn't sure I needed information technology. The beautiful 2D art, laugh-out-loud dialogue, and blend of action- and turn-based RPG gameplay of the Game Male child Advance original notwithstanding feels every bit as vibrant and engaging today as it did when it came out 15 years agone. Just after playing through Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, I'm admittedly convinced that information technology is the definitive style to feel one of Nintendo's all-time RPGs.

The premise is the same: The evil witch Cackletta and her talkative minion Fawful have devised a scheme to conquer both the Mushroom Kingdom and the neighboring Beanbean Kingdom, starting with turning Princess Peach's vox into an explosive force. Bowser, angry that he tin can't housebreak Peach in this state, teams up with Mario and an (unwilling) Luigi to give chase in an airship, merely for the brothers to crash-land in strange territory. Mario and Luigi must brave the strange lands of Beanbean to cease Cackletta's program. And while that'due south going on, Bowser'due south armies are on their own quest to figure out just where the heck he vanished to.

While the core game remains the same, the already swell visuals go a gorgeous update on 3DS. The art has been completely redone, from the core sprites of Mario and Luigi to the tiniest of background details, and the consequence is some of the most beautiful and vibrant 2D art around. Various character animations have also been touched upwardly and expanded upon, giving the brothers and their foes a lot of extra personality through their movements. (Sit down back and watch some of the duo'southward idle animations during combat when y'all have a spare moment-- – it'due south a existent treat.) The music has besides been revised and expanded, with longer melodies and higher-quality instrumentation adding an boosted spring to the step of the bouncy, energetic tunes from ace composer Yoko Shimomura. The merely thwarting in the audiovisual section is the complete lack of a 3D selection. We've seen how good other "2D- art- in- 3D" games look on the 3DS, and given that the game has its fair share of perspective and platform puzzles, it would have been both a big assistance and a great visual enhancement.

No Caption Provided

Gallery

Gallery image 1 Gallery image 2 Gallery image 3 Gallery image 4 Gallery image 5 Gallery image 6 Gallery image 7 Gallery image 8 Gallery image 9 Gallery image 10

The silly story of Superstar Saga is brought to life through dialogue and events that evoke the whimsical, humorous nature of the Mario universe. Characters like the elegant Prince of the Beanbean Kingdom and the wicked Cackletta take memorable quirks that make their personas stand out. Even some of the more small side NPCs, like the Chuckola Bros, take a notable amount of care and attention put into their speech. That still shows through later on all these years--though the near memorable character, Fawful, doesn't have quite the bear on he one time did, coming off an era where nonsensical JRPG translations were common.

The cadre gameplay remains primarily the same every bit the original game, with a few enhancements. You explore various environments from an overhead view, using special skills to navigate and solve puzzles when necessary. When you encounter an enemy, you enter a boxing sequence that blends turn-based commands with timing-based push presses to both bargain extra damage to enemies and evade or counter their attacks. Some subtle improvements from afterward games in the Mario and Luigi serial have been added, as well: The pair tin at present perform an emergency guard during gainsay by pressing the X button, reducing damage from enemy attacks if yous're non confident in your evasion skills. You tin can also retry dominate fights on an easier difficulty if y'all get a game over. Story scenes can exist sped up by holding downward the R button, making some of the dialogue-heavy scenes zip by faster if you lot've seen them earlier (or if you lot're a speed reader). These additions help streamline the experience, but mostly, if y'all remember the events of the original Superstar Saga, y'all're going through the same motions in the remake.

Nigh the brand-new content is in a sub-game that opens a little over an hour into the main story. Called "Minion Quest," this is a separate adventure with no bearing on the chief story that follows a gallant Goomba who wants to find and rescue his Lord Bowser. To accomplish this, he needs to find other minions from Bowser's army, convince them to band together, and fight confronting Fawful's brainwashed hordes.

Instead of a traditional RPG, Minion Quest plays like a simplified existent-time strategy game: Y'all gather a pocket-size ground forces of troops from characters you lot've recruited and send them to battle against other armies. It feels pretty hands-off. Most of what you do is but picket characters bop each other and press buttons when prompted, since you tin can't really control your army the style yous would in a proper RTS (for example, you can't tell troops to fall back and baby-sit your commander if enemies suspension through your lines of defense force). Information technology tin can as well become very frustrating and grindy--some quests practically demand you employ a specific grapheme type to counter a specific opponent, requiring you to either replay previous quests until y'all either randomly recruit plenty of that character or become your levels high enough that it doesn't thing. And sometimes fifty-fifty when yous do bring a counter to the enemy's forces, y'all tin can lose for reasons that experience completely arcane. Every bit beautiful and charming every bit the cutscenes depicting the power struggle among Bowser'due south army are, several of the fights in Minion Quest tin really examination your patience and willingness to keep.

Fifty-fifty though Minion Quest falters, it's still an optional outing that doesn't detract from what's fundamentally an excellent adventure. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga has anile astonishingly well, and the diverse improvements offered in this remake only serve to make an already great game fifty-fifty ameliorate. Whether you're a series veteran or visiting the Beanbean Kingdom for the very first time, there's no better style to experience this classic RPG.

Heidi Kemps on Google+