Mario & Luigi: SuperStar Saga Review

By Brandon Sultana

July 3, 2015

Game Boy Advance (via Wii U Virtual Console)

 

I’ve recently discovered the magic that is the Mario & Luigi series. While I played the heck out of Partners in Time when I first got my DS (I’ve probably played that game all the way through at least 5 times), I didn’t experience the other 3 games in the series until the past year, where I played Dream Team, Bowser’s Inside Story, and now, Superstar Saga, the first game in the series. Playing the first game in the series last always has its worries, with it possibly being outclassed by the later games in the series. Yet SuperStar saga seems like a reverse, where it’s the sequels that are bogged down with issues. I figured that for my first proper review on this site, I’d talk about my thoughts on the game.

 

Presentation

The presentation in this game is honestly top notch. Visuals look great and the music is incredibly catchy. If you’ve played any game in the series you know what to expect here, and even in the first game, it comes in a very polished package. On top of that, it’s a joy to experience the plot and dialogue. While the story isn’t ground-breaking, there are a couple of interesting twists and turns. Additionally, the game really shines with it’s charm. Dialogue is incredibly funny and memorable, and there are tons of little Mario references that seasoned fans of the series like myself will pick up on. It’s not quite perfect, as there are times when the limited visuals make me struggle to differentiate wall from floor, as well as a couple of consistent visual and audio bugs, but none of them detract from the experience in the slightest.

 

Gameplay

The gameplay here is split up into two major parts. Battling and overworld exploration/puzzle solving. The battle portion involves Mario and Luigi fighting as a team against various opponents. They can use several independent moves, or team up for “Bros Attacks”. It plays like a standard RPG, except for the fact that all attacks you pull off need a corresponding, well-timed button press to be effective. Additionally, you can use button inputs to dodge opponent attacks if you time it well enough. It’s a very fun, unique gameplay style, that never gets tiresome. On top of all that, you can even choose which stats to give an extra boost upon each level up for each bro, allowing you to customize the stat distribution of your characters. The overworld exploration is also very fun, giving off a Zelda-ish vibe where you go around solving puzzles, entering dungeons, and receiving various moves to solve future puzzles and revisit old areas. The puzzles are often times very clever, and the game does a great job teaching the player how the mechanics of these puzzles work, making them rewarding. Despite all this praise, the overworld stumbles greatly in one regard, being controlled. With so many moves, and so few buttons to work with on the GBA, switching between them is a very clunky, and frustrating experience. By the time I had unlocked half of the available moves, I was already overwhelmed, and it only got worse from there. Thankfully, you are usually given plenty of time to solve puzzles, giving you the ability to fumble through the move commands without a worry. However there are times when you are required to do multiple moves in a short period of time, which is where the bad controls really come into play. But overall, the gameplay is very unique and rewarding, despite the control quirks. You probably won’t get used to the plethora of options, but it’s far from unmanageable.

 

Difficulty

The game is generally pretty easy in my opinion, then again I have tons of experience with the franchise. It’s by no means a pushover game, but I feel that so long as the player pays attention to the game’s mechanics and makes the right moves, you can beat the game with little to no grinding at all. Even without the experience that I have, I feel that it’s pretty forgiving, and is honestly a great place to jump in, as it’s not as complex as the other games in the series. However, it is highly worth mentioning that while the majority of the game is pretty easy and forgiving, the finale of the game is far from it. Not only does it throw some major BS at you that I won’t spoil except for stating that you start with low HP, but it’s also incredibly hard. I’m all for hard final bosses and difficulty in general, but it needs to stay in line with the game’s difficulty curve. The finale of this game takes a huge leap out of nowhere that had me struggle for quite a while. It doesn’t necessarily require extra grinding or anything, but prepare to restart multiple times, and even make a save state or two. Don’t worry, we won’t judge.

 

Length

SuperStar Saga is a relatively short game, that I managed to finish in around 16 hours. While it’s definitely shorter than later entries in the series, and most RPGs in general, it does wonderful things in this relatively short period of time. Once again, some of the less desirable staples the series is known for, such as tons of minigames, tutorials, and time wasting fetch quests feel toned back here. They still exist, but don’t appear nearly as often as they do in say, Dream Team, or even Bowser’s Inside Story. The game doesn’t really drag at all, and when you finish the game, I’d say you’ll feel pretty content with your overall journey. As someone who has played all games in the series, I’d say the length is perfect

 

Overall

SuperStar Sage is such an odd game in its series, in that it doesn’t show it’s age at all. In fact, the other games seem older than IT, as they ended up piling on alot of things that bogged down the experience. It’s much more stream-lined, which really ends up working in the game’s favor. Despite the bad overworld controls and unfair difficulty spike, SuperStar Saga is a great game, that I’d recommend to anyone. Whether you’ve played none of the series or all of it, this is a superb game that deserves a playthrough. It in my opinion outclasses the recent Dream Team, and even the acclaimed Bowser’s Inside Story, while edging about even with Partners in Time.

 

Rating: Excellent/10

+ Awesome Presentation

+ Incredibly fun gameplay

+  Excellent puzzles

+ Cuts back on tutorials, mini-games, and overall time-wasting

- Bad Overworld Controls

- Terrible finale difficulty