Garbage. This game is literally a crime.






I could've ended off here, but it now falls on me to do the explaining. Mario and Luigi was once a masterful Mario RPG subseries made by the late Alphadream that Nintendo used as an excuse to ruin Paper Mario, on the pretense that they already had a Mario RPG series, and wanted to do something different with Paper Mario, hence transforming Paper Mario into Paper Jam with Sticker Star. This resulted in a dangerous loop for both series ironically, where Paper Mario was mortified into a zombie looking even creepier than Doopliss, and Mario and Luigi was left on life support for a few years, before dying off thanks to this piece of garbage, Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam. A game that was supposed to marry both beloved subseries together, only stifled creative liberty by destroying everything that made Mario and Luigi great via jamming Paper Jam's solace and stupidity into the forefront. The rich storytelling of MandL was completely axed in favor of yet another Paper Jam story, where two Bowsers act in tandem to do evil things for the umpteenth time, intruding on a series whose first main antagonist wasn't even Bowser. Give the Koopa King a break, writers. He deserves better than this.

Despite the gameplay very much being Mario and Luigi, the tone and feeling is again severely corrupted. The gameplay is still fun and I would give this abomination a 5/10 just for having fantastic gameplay if it hadn't crushed Mario and Luigi with it. Paper Jam is the reason Alphadream went bankrupt, because this game was so unappealing and antithetical to a subseries whose creative status was untouched, so it had to be destroyed for the greater good according to Nintendo. This is why Paper Mario should've never been ruined, because its influence is what destroyed Mario and Luigi to begin with.

it's cool mario & luigi would pair up with paper mario but it feels like a missed opportunity since they don't really do a lot of interesting things with it, they could have brought a lot of interesting story aspects and characters from the paper mario series but the only thing they really do is mention how paper mario is paper compared to mario & luigi and the dumb paper mache battles. it feels like an even worse kick in the dick that all the areas in the game are all generic mario locations seen time and time again and the main villain is just bowser again compared to other mario & luigi AND paper mario games. they don't do anything interesting and it just feels like a missed opportunity. the combat is still the same so it's still fun but this game feels like a massive downgrade and it sucks this was the last non-remake in the mario & luigi franchise before alpha dreams unfortunate demise.

Hey, remember that time the Mario & Luigi series had a crossover with the Paper Mario series, except it was basically a Mario & Luigi game that didn't find a way to implement Paper Mario elements well into the gameplay, so they just added him as a third party member and gave him only one unique ability, that being that he can multiply himself to improve his defense and attacks, and then have sections of boss battle that can really pull out the hurt, but you can avoid these sections simply by keeping either Paper Mario or one of the brothers defeated because you need all three alive for them to activate, but if you get into these sections, you'll probably get one defeated anyway, and the developers were so far into not being allowed to create original characters and locations so they just took New Super Mario Bros. levels and turned them into an RPG world with sidequests that are neither good or bad, just average enough that they don't support or ruin the game in any way, and combined with everything else I mentioned above turns it into the most forgettable Mario RPG which is probably the reason why some of you don't remember it and has to answer this question with a "no"?

Please, I don't want to be the only one.

In my opinion, the most unfairly hated game in the series. It's a significant step up from Dream Team, has some of the most fun combat in the series (second to Bowser's Inside Story), and manages to make exploration mostly fun and enjoyable again.

I feel like the main criticism came from it's mistreatment of the Paper Mario IP, and how it's not utilised properly. And I agree! It's not what it could have been. But neither is Paper Mario. This was after Sticker Star gutted the series, and at the end of the day this was never going to save Paper Mario - it's still ultimately a Mario and Luigi game.

The addition of a third party member makes exploration and combat far more interesting, as well as opening the door to more interesting variants on Bros. Attacks with Trio Attacks. It can get a little overwhelming at times, but I find most combat encounters did a good job at balancing all 3 members and the red targeting circle helps a lot in preventing that confusion.

Paper Mario's extra floaty jump, as well as his Copy ability and how it changes the requirements of action commands and serves as a damage shield is a great way to keep him from being just another version of Mario and Luigi.

Papercraft Battles serve as an alright replacement to Giant Battles. Personally, I prefer Giant but I have to appreciate the attempt to do something else instead of the same thing for a third time.

I think by far the weakest aspect is the story. It's never been a big thing in these games, but in this one its essentially non existent. The structure is insane, for example bringing you to the castle for a tiny visit, then making you do a pitstop at an old area, and immediately bringing you back to a castle. The only notable characters outside the main ones are Bowser Jr. and Paper Bowser Jr. and even then they don't really do much outside a few funny moments and nice Bowser-Being-A-Dad scenes.

Although completely gutted of everything that made a Mario & Luigi game and a Paper Mario game, I think gameplay wise its still solid. The card stuff is a bit annoying and the koopaling fights are uninspired, but it hits the bare minimum. Trio Moves are still pretty dope though, I'm a big fan of that idea. This game is stupidly hard to recommend to anyone though. You like rpgs? Nothing here from you that can't be found in any other mario and luigi game. You like paper mario? This doesn't play like one of those games at all. You like Mario and Luigi? This completely lacks the soul, creativity, and level design that franchise was built upon. You only really get milage out of this game if you're, like, 10 or something.

obligatory “this crossover would’ve been peak 15 years ago” comment

ok now thats out of the way i think this game gets alooooot more hate than it should get, some of it justified and some of it isnt. yes the story could’ve been this 50 hour long epic where the bowsers becomes a super ultra god and talks about the idea of death or whatever but i think the one we had isnt that bad either. it basically does the “bowser kidnaps peach” thing but also gives up near the end and just becomes a story about getting a book back.

the gameplay is actually very fun, probably the best in the series, i think battle cards are far more interesting than badges because they’re instant and you dont have to spend 20 turns getting one you can waste in one attack. the bros attacks are either really broken or kinda pointless.


papercraft battles while not as cool as the giant battles from BiS or Dream Team are still fun on their own. none of the fights are actively frustrating as far as i remember.


overall i think this game was a great finale to the original mario and luigis and was a great sendoff to a great series.