Man I never expected the first of the series to be this good! Story is great, and honestly pretty funny (which is something of a rarity for me when it comes to games). Music (apart from Joke's End) is very good too. The Bros Moves are AMAZING in this game. They kind of let you try stuff out on your own by increasing the difficulty of the moves instantly if you want to, and figuring out how to use them is so satisfying. The advancements in the moves is such a great idea and I am honestly a little disappointed they removed this in later instances.
You know, this game definitely had more soul than Dream Team and Paper Jam, that's for sure. The first three games will always hold a special place in my heart. And now I can say that I played all of them :)
You know, this game definitely had more soul than Dream Team and Paper Jam, that's for sure. The first three games will always hold a special place in my heart. And now I can say that I played all of them :)
The original title to kick off the Mario & Luigi series. Developed by AlphaDream for the GBA, this first installment in the series had a lot of bases to cover considering it was starting a whole new series. The idea is still pretty weird to me, despite there now being five games under the name. Mario in a turn based RPG? Don't know how, but it worked WAY better than I could've ever imagined.
This is one of the only Mario games with a story that's more than just "go rescue the princess." It mainly takes place in a neighboring kingdom to the Mushroom Kingdom, the Beanbean Kingdom. The two main antagonists, Cackletta and Fawful, steal Princess Peach's voice to awaken an ancient relic called the Beanstar. Once awoken, it will grant the user one wish of their desire. This is obviously bad, so Mario and Luigi must go and stop them. This main plot point interestingly ends well before the actual game ends. Mario and Luigi recover the Beanstar and protect Peach from any harm, so now, all is well. That doesn't last long, as Cackletta and Fawful unleash an assault on the entire kingdom using Bowser's castle, which can now fly. The game ends with a long gauntlet in the castle, which I'll get to later.
I didn't really have any expectations because I didn't really expect a Mario game to have a story like this, but it's very welcome. It's nothing outstanding, but what makes it immensely enjoyable is the colorful cast of characters. Although some characters don't get nearly as much screen time as they should, each character is still enjoyable enough with their amount of screen time given.
For starters, a villain that isn't Bowser is always welcome. Both Cackletta and Fawful are incredibly entertaining, Fawful especially taking the cake here. The way he talks and his mannerisms are something like I've never from any other video game character. Aside from them, there are many characters that either get a lot of screen time at one specific point of the game, or get bits of screen time throughout. The one exception being my personal favorite of the game, Popple. This little guy shows up a handful of times, and each time is a pure treat just because of how animated he is. There are some other cool characters that show up, just not nearly as much as the ones aforementioned, and thus, aren't as memorable. Prince Peasley and Queen Bean are fun, and every duo that shows the bros how to use a new move is enjoyable. On top of that, they're all hysterical. The writing throughout the entire game is incredibly charming and offers some of the funniest dialogue I've seen in a video game. A great cast of characters, but it's a shame that a bunch of them don't show up much.
In case you couldn't tell, this game has lots of charm. Every line of dialogue, every animation, every song is filled with this unexplainable amount of care to create a new world with these classic characters. Mario and Luigi dance when it's their turn in battle. They DANCE, that alone makes this game an 8/10. The sprite work still holds up today if only because of the charm present, the character designs and locations are that good.
The pacing is near perfection. The game always leads you to where you need to go with some puzzles along the way, usually topping it all off with a boss fight. The puzzles don't feel out of place and they utilize the overworld mechanics really well. Not too many enemy placements means that it isn't an issue to run into each of them for the EXP. The Mario & Luigi series is very forgiving when it comes to levelling up, so there's never a need to go back and grind unless you ran away from every fight for some reason. I usually walk into any enemy I see because there aren't too many of them and the battles are over quickly.
Although I haven't played many other RPGs, the Mario & Luigi series has some of the best RPG gameplay I've seen. Once you engage in battle, you can choose to use a solo attack, bros attack, item, or run away. Solo attacks involve one of the bros attacking one enemy by jumping on them, smashing them with their hammer, or blasting them with fire/thunder. These attacks require a well timed button press to increase strength. Bros attacks use BP (Bros Points) to perform, and utilize both Mario and Luigi. Each of them have 4 of their own unique attacks, which all require specific button presses at specific points to increase the damage potential. Each bros attack also has an advanced version which you can unlock by performing a certain bros attack enough times. When the enemy attacks, Mario and Luigi either get ready to jump or pull out their hammers depending on the situation, requiring more well timed button presses to evade attacks.
I think that this gameplay is much more effective than any other RPG that I know of. Even the Paper Mario series doesn't have this kind of gameplay. In most RPGs, you simply command your character to attack and then watch them get attacked. Sometimes the focus is different, like Fire Emblem, where it's more about troop placement on the battlefield. However, most I've seen simply stick to this "attack, get attacked" formula, and I don't like it at all. This change of gameplay in Mario and Luigi is a breath of fresh air. Something as miniscule as well timed button presses makes all the difference between this and other RPGs. Being able to control Mario and Luigi, on offense and defense, and have it affect how much damage you deal and take gives a better sense of control to the player. In other RPGs, there is little sense of control because you just tell your characters what to do. You don't actually do the attack yourself, and there's nothing you can do to prevent damage from the enemy. The Mario & Luigi series refines the RPG formula to allow the player a greater sense of control, making this the best gameplay in any RPG series.
This includes the gameplay outside of the battle. Traversing the overworld, you control Mario and Luigi, walking back to back. You can switch between which one is in front which will affect what moves you can perform. These are incorporated in puzzles, which aren't very stand out moments, but aren't bad by any means. I would say this aspect also makes it stronger than other RPGs, which don't have as much of a focus on the different ways you can get around the overworld. You'll need to switch between Mario and Luigi and their current action for all the different overworld moves, which can get confusing, but you unlock the moves in a gradual way so you have plenty of time to get used to each move. There are some collectibles, mainly the beans that you find by drilling underground, which are optional. Getting a certain amount in any given main area gives you a stats boost when you trade them in. They're fun to find and there's plenty of them, so you'll get at least some along your way.
I praised the pacing earlier for being near perfection, and that's because it's perfect almost the entire way through. However, that one point where it isn't good, it really isn't good. The ending gauntlet in Bowser's castle, before fighting the final boss, drags on for quite a while. The puzzles present inside are alright, but after each main room is a boss fight with one of the Koopalings. They don't have varying attacks or anything, which makes the fights seem repetitive. It's bearable, and does a good job at testing everything you've learned thus far with the puzzles, but it could do with a shorter length and/or less boss fights.
One other small criticism is this weird escort mission involving Peach. You're supposed to help her get to a village safely through a valley of bandits. She walks along a set course while you complete fast platforming puzzles to get the gate to the next area open before she gets there. I like the idea, but it leaves literally no room for error. If Peach walks off screen even for half a second, she gets kidnapped and you have to rescue her underground, and then start that area over. If she runs into an enemy, she gets kidnapped, same thing. You have to clear out the enemies before they can get to Peach while also keeping her on screen and completing the platforming puzzles. It's a neat idea, but the difficulty is harder than some boss fights.
One thing I don't have to criticize at all is the soundtrack. Being the first title in the series, Superstar Saga also established an amazing soundtrack that each later installment would follow, and even surpass. But let's not undermine the OST just because later games have a better one, there are some killer tracks present here. Popple's battle theme fits his character well when you fight him, and so does Cackletta's battle theme. Before later titles established a pattern with their boss themes, this game has an incredibly intense and dire boss battle theme, it makes me a bit uncomfortable at times. And, of course, the standard battle theme is amazing. Easily the most recognizable and iconic part of the game. Other tracks, while not standout, work well in the game and add to the world.
Everything great in this title built the framework for the best RPG series out there. The story is strangely intriguing for a Mario title, and the characters that make it up are incredibly fun. The gameplay helps this stand above every other RPG franchise, as it's interesting, engaging, and constantly adding more to keep you interested. The overworld is fun to traverse as the story progresses and apart from the final area, none of the different locations overstay their welcome. There are some minor inconveniences along your journey, but none of them are significant enough to ruin the overall experience. I couldn't have asked for a better title to kickstart this amazing series.
This is one of the only Mario games with a story that's more than just "go rescue the princess." It mainly takes place in a neighboring kingdom to the Mushroom Kingdom, the Beanbean Kingdom. The two main antagonists, Cackletta and Fawful, steal Princess Peach's voice to awaken an ancient relic called the Beanstar. Once awoken, it will grant the user one wish of their desire. This is obviously bad, so Mario and Luigi must go and stop them. This main plot point interestingly ends well before the actual game ends. Mario and Luigi recover the Beanstar and protect Peach from any harm, so now, all is well. That doesn't last long, as Cackletta and Fawful unleash an assault on the entire kingdom using Bowser's castle, which can now fly. The game ends with a long gauntlet in the castle, which I'll get to later.
I didn't really have any expectations because I didn't really expect a Mario game to have a story like this, but it's very welcome. It's nothing outstanding, but what makes it immensely enjoyable is the colorful cast of characters. Although some characters don't get nearly as much screen time as they should, each character is still enjoyable enough with their amount of screen time given.
For starters, a villain that isn't Bowser is always welcome. Both Cackletta and Fawful are incredibly entertaining, Fawful especially taking the cake here. The way he talks and his mannerisms are something like I've never from any other video game character. Aside from them, there are many characters that either get a lot of screen time at one specific point of the game, or get bits of screen time throughout. The one exception being my personal favorite of the game, Popple. This little guy shows up a handful of times, and each time is a pure treat just because of how animated he is. There are some other cool characters that show up, just not nearly as much as the ones aforementioned, and thus, aren't as memorable. Prince Peasley and Queen Bean are fun, and every duo that shows the bros how to use a new move is enjoyable. On top of that, they're all hysterical. The writing throughout the entire game is incredibly charming and offers some of the funniest dialogue I've seen in a video game. A great cast of characters, but it's a shame that a bunch of them don't show up much.
In case you couldn't tell, this game has lots of charm. Every line of dialogue, every animation, every song is filled with this unexplainable amount of care to create a new world with these classic characters. Mario and Luigi dance when it's their turn in battle. They DANCE, that alone makes this game an 8/10. The sprite work still holds up today if only because of the charm present, the character designs and locations are that good.
The pacing is near perfection. The game always leads you to where you need to go with some puzzles along the way, usually topping it all off with a boss fight. The puzzles don't feel out of place and they utilize the overworld mechanics really well. Not too many enemy placements means that it isn't an issue to run into each of them for the EXP. The Mario & Luigi series is very forgiving when it comes to levelling up, so there's never a need to go back and grind unless you ran away from every fight for some reason. I usually walk into any enemy I see because there aren't too many of them and the battles are over quickly.
Although I haven't played many other RPGs, the Mario & Luigi series has some of the best RPG gameplay I've seen. Once you engage in battle, you can choose to use a solo attack, bros attack, item, or run away. Solo attacks involve one of the bros attacking one enemy by jumping on them, smashing them with their hammer, or blasting them with fire/thunder. These attacks require a well timed button press to increase strength. Bros attacks use BP (Bros Points) to perform, and utilize both Mario and Luigi. Each of them have 4 of their own unique attacks, which all require specific button presses at specific points to increase the damage potential. Each bros attack also has an advanced version which you can unlock by performing a certain bros attack enough times. When the enemy attacks, Mario and Luigi either get ready to jump or pull out their hammers depending on the situation, requiring more well timed button presses to evade attacks.
I think that this gameplay is much more effective than any other RPG that I know of. Even the Paper Mario series doesn't have this kind of gameplay. In most RPGs, you simply command your character to attack and then watch them get attacked. Sometimes the focus is different, like Fire Emblem, where it's more about troop placement on the battlefield. However, most I've seen simply stick to this "attack, get attacked" formula, and I don't like it at all. This change of gameplay in Mario and Luigi is a breath of fresh air. Something as miniscule as well timed button presses makes all the difference between this and other RPGs. Being able to control Mario and Luigi, on offense and defense, and have it affect how much damage you deal and take gives a better sense of control to the player. In other RPGs, there is little sense of control because you just tell your characters what to do. You don't actually do the attack yourself, and there's nothing you can do to prevent damage from the enemy. The Mario & Luigi series refines the RPG formula to allow the player a greater sense of control, making this the best gameplay in any RPG series.
This includes the gameplay outside of the battle. Traversing the overworld, you control Mario and Luigi, walking back to back. You can switch between which one is in front which will affect what moves you can perform. These are incorporated in puzzles, which aren't very stand out moments, but aren't bad by any means. I would say this aspect also makes it stronger than other RPGs, which don't have as much of a focus on the different ways you can get around the overworld. You'll need to switch between Mario and Luigi and their current action for all the different overworld moves, which can get confusing, but you unlock the moves in a gradual way so you have plenty of time to get used to each move. There are some collectibles, mainly the beans that you find by drilling underground, which are optional. Getting a certain amount in any given main area gives you a stats boost when you trade them in. They're fun to find and there's plenty of them, so you'll get at least some along your way.
I praised the pacing earlier for being near perfection, and that's because it's perfect almost the entire way through. However, that one point where it isn't good, it really isn't good. The ending gauntlet in Bowser's castle, before fighting the final boss, drags on for quite a while. The puzzles present inside are alright, but after each main room is a boss fight with one of the Koopalings. They don't have varying attacks or anything, which makes the fights seem repetitive. It's bearable, and does a good job at testing everything you've learned thus far with the puzzles, but it could do with a shorter length and/or less boss fights.
One other small criticism is this weird escort mission involving Peach. You're supposed to help her get to a village safely through a valley of bandits. She walks along a set course while you complete fast platforming puzzles to get the gate to the next area open before she gets there. I like the idea, but it leaves literally no room for error. If Peach walks off screen even for half a second, she gets kidnapped and you have to rescue her underground, and then start that area over. If she runs into an enemy, she gets kidnapped, same thing. You have to clear out the enemies before they can get to Peach while also keeping her on screen and completing the platforming puzzles. It's a neat idea, but the difficulty is harder than some boss fights.
One thing I don't have to criticize at all is the soundtrack. Being the first title in the series, Superstar Saga also established an amazing soundtrack that each later installment would follow, and even surpass. But let's not undermine the OST just because later games have a better one, there are some killer tracks present here. Popple's battle theme fits his character well when you fight him, and so does Cackletta's battle theme. Before later titles established a pattern with their boss themes, this game has an incredibly intense and dire boss battle theme, it makes me a bit uncomfortable at times. And, of course, the standard battle theme is amazing. Easily the most recognizable and iconic part of the game. Other tracks, while not standout, work well in the game and add to the world.
Everything great in this title built the framework for the best RPG series out there. The story is strangely intriguing for a Mario title, and the characters that make it up are incredibly fun. The gameplay helps this stand above every other RPG franchise, as it's interesting, engaging, and constantly adding more to keep you interested. The overworld is fun to traverse as the story progresses and apart from the final area, none of the different locations overstay their welcome. There are some minor inconveniences along your journey, but none of them are significant enough to ruin the overall experience. I couldn't have asked for a better title to kickstart this amazing series.
BEAN
Free my man Bowser, he ain't do NUFFIN
Free my man Bowser, he ain't do NUFFIN
I’ll always be thankful for this series considering super Mario bros Z exists because of it
ME ENCANTA
The quintessential Mario RPG, featuring Luigi's iconic Striped Socks!
(Note: I'm just getting home from a long trip, so I'm writing this in the wee hours of the morning. Therefore, this isn't going to be an in depth review, and I apologize)
I think this is the perfect game to introduce people to RPG's.
For one, it's fairly easy (except for that final boss), if you get the Star B items and distribute stat points well. Even so, it's not a pushover. So it challenges just enough.
It has a surprisingly large overworld for a GBA game, but it isn't overwhelming. It's full of zaniness that bypasses and even at times parodies the RPG conventions. The story doesn't take itself extremely seriously, and you can tell from the onset. However, that's actually what makes the game stand out.
There are a large number of sidequests, and the graphics are charming, with great spritework that makes it feel like a DS game.
The battle system is really unique. Sure, it takes cues from its predecessors SMRPG and Paper Mario, but it adds its own twists. For example, in order to be able to dodge enemy attacks well, you have to read their cues. Some enemies will look left or right before attacking, some will have a red or green signal, which tells you which Bro the attack is going to.
It's a really interesting system. It adds kind of an active element to the turn-based RPG system. Instead of just waiting for your turn passively, it felt like you were really participating in the battles.
Recommending for just about anyone to try this one.
I think this is the perfect game to introduce people to RPG's.
For one, it's fairly easy (except for that final boss), if you get the Star B items and distribute stat points well. Even so, it's not a pushover. So it challenges just enough.
It has a surprisingly large overworld for a GBA game, but it isn't overwhelming. It's full of zaniness that bypasses and even at times parodies the RPG conventions. The story doesn't take itself extremely seriously, and you can tell from the onset. However, that's actually what makes the game stand out.
There are a large number of sidequests, and the graphics are charming, with great spritework that makes it feel like a DS game.
The battle system is really unique. Sure, it takes cues from its predecessors SMRPG and Paper Mario, but it adds its own twists. For example, in order to be able to dodge enemy attacks well, you have to read their cues. Some enemies will look left or right before attacking, some will have a red or green signal, which tells you which Bro the attack is going to.
It's a really interesting system. It adds kind of an active element to the turn-based RPG system. Instead of just waiting for your turn passively, it felt like you were really participating in the battles.
Recommending for just about anyone to try this one.
Adorable GBA visuals with classic humor and super fun battles, and it's also made by the same people who made Tomato Adventure and the Hamtaro series, I love this game so much :)
Only flaws are that it's maybe a little bit too long and there's some difficulty spikes that feel out of place.
However this is a solid title. I love how interactive it is both in combat and the overworld. I love it's presentation and humour. I love it's uniqueness and that it doesn't rely on traditional Mario ideas and instead goes for a unique world to separate the game.
However this is a solid title. I love how interactive it is both in combat and the overworld. I love it's presentation and humour. I love it's uniqueness and that it doesn't rely on traditional Mario ideas and instead goes for a unique world to separate the game.
lot more beans than i was expecting in this game
This review contains spoilers
I did not grow up with the Mario & Luigi series. Actually, it feels as if the series was adjacent to my early development years as a gamer, but I had yet to play any of them prior to this review. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the first game in the series, was receiving tons of critical acclaim the same year I was thoroughly exposed to the world of gaming, so I was well aware of its impact. My best friend growing up heralded Superstar Saga as the “quintessential Mario experience,” or at least that’s the same sentiment expressed more eloquently than as the seven/eight-year-old he was at the time. Being an ecstatic enthusiast of the Paper Mario games as a child naturally should’ve correlated to an interest in playing the Mario & Luigi games but somehow, the opportunity slipped through the cracks. Why was I relatively indifferent to Mario & Luigi? It’s not as if I selectively chose to only play the Paper Mario games as an act of silly reverence, as many fans even tend to umbrella both series as the collective of Mario RPG spinoffs. I suppose my surprising indifference to Mario & Luigi was due to the fact that the games were exclusively on handheld hardware. My optimal way of playing a video game was to sit in front of the television with a controller and bask in its comparatively more enveloping glow, and that’s still the case to this day as an adult. I owned a Game Boy Advance growing up (the SP model to be precise) and mainly used it as a Pokemon machine because Pokemon Silver was the only game I had for the Game Boy Color. Whether it was due to some undiagnosed trauma (or autism) that impeded me from playing Superstar Saga at its prime, I’m happy to report that I’ve made up for lost time. I had high expectations for Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga after what is now decades of hype, and the game has delivered on them splendidly.
Still, I can’t help but compare Mario & Luigi to Paper Mario. Both series are spiritual successors to Super Mario RPG on the SNES, sharing the same JRPG genetic code that separates it from the mainline series of platformers. Also, each Mario RPG, regardless of the specific series, uses the narrative-intensive genre as a vehicle to expand the world and characters of the Mario universe. The direction to achieve this sense of amplification tends to verge into the subversive territory. The first Paper Mario game was only slightly off-beat, as it told the traditional Mario story of Mario saving a kidnapped Peach from Bowser once again with more dialogue, exposition, and other patches of irregular elements that the developers couldn’t possibly squeeze into a mainline Mario game. The Paper Mario series would become more irreverent as the series progressed, but Mario & Luigi came out of the gate swinging a toolkit of monkey wrenches at Super Mario’s foundation. To increase their allegiance to the Mushroom Kingdom, the neighboring BeanBean Kingdom sends esteemed ambassadors to Peach’s Castle to offer her a generous token. However, that generous gesture is actually a cloud of noxious smoke, as the meeting has been intercepted by the devious BeanBean witch Cackletta, disguised with her right-hand crony Fawful. One would expect the gas to knock Peach out so these fiends can easily carry her off to whatever vessel they arrived in and fly off with her in their captivity, but that would be too orthodox for a Mario conflict premise. Instead, the booby trap kidnaps Peach’s voice, rendering her deprived manner of speech to take the form of jagged characters that drop out of the text bubble and literally explode like bombs. Bowser, in his regular routine of capturing Peach, finds her unstable communication to be a hefty inconvenience, so he joins the Mario Bros. on their quest to retrieve the voice and return it to its rightful owner. From the beginning of their valiant adventure, Fawful attacks them on an airship, and the fallout of his ambush leaves Bowser separated from Mario and Luigi. So much for that solid truce between Mario and his usual arch-nemesis. Still, the fact that this cooperative pact was made at all is rather extraordinary. Cackletta’s goal in using Peach’s voice is to activate the “Beanstar,” a mythical artifact in the BeanBean Kingdom that is said to grant the wishes of someone pure, hence why Peach’s voice is needed. One might point out that the Beanstar is the same as the Star Rod from Paper Mario, but this kind of magical with an all-powerful allure has been used as a standard Macguffin for a number of Nintendo’s IPs (the Star Rod from Kirby, the Triforce, etc.). As I’ve said before regarding Paper Mario’s pension for slight irreverence, the low bar that the mainline series sets make the smallest sort of deviation a fresh change of pace. In Superstar Saga, the rule book for a Mario story almost gets tossed out of the window entirely, which is a wonderful sign of things to come to keep one’s interest piqued. Also, the start of the adventure is spurred by the player as Toad rushes to Mario and Luigi’s house to warn them that the princess is in danger, and Toad gets an unsavory glimpse at Mario’s Italian sausage while he’s in the shower. C’mon, any Mario game where the player can control Toad, the most notable NPC in gaming, for a brief period has got to have some wild tricks up its sleeves.
Up until the Gamecube era, setting a Mario title outside the confines of the Mushroom Kingdom was considered a revolutionary prospect. Super Mario Sunshine marked the first mainline Mario game that dared to plant Mario past the parameters of Peach’s royal country, but the vacation premise sort of implied that this setting was merely a temporary digression. Paper Mario would revel in placing Mario in settings beyond the realm of franchise normalcy, but his first outing as a quirky, two-dimensional arts and crafts project kept him secured in the Mushroom Kingdom’s domain in order to use the JRPG format to expand on the typical Mario story. In the case of the BeanBean Kingdom where the brothers find themselves in Superstar Saga, it’s difficult to say whether or not this protein-rich province is all that different from their normal stomping grounds. BeanBean Kingdom shares many parallels to the fungal neighbors of an unknown directional point of reference. The land where the musical fruit roams has a topographical eclecticism that seems to rival the Mushroom Kingdom’s imperialistic endeavors. BeanBean’s land elevations range from the waterfall-filled apexes of Hoo-Hoo Mountain, the wildly ungroomed wilderness of Chucklehuck Woods, to the sandy shores of the beaches located around the kingdom’s eastern coastline.
While the BeanBean Kingdom can compete with the Mushroom Kingdom’s varied array of destination spots, BeanBean Kingdom decided to take a divergent route for its infrastructure. Nowhere on BeanBean’s map is there a hub for our heroes to relax and briefly wind down in, taking off their leather boots to scrape the blood and guts of every Goomba and Koopa Troopa they’ve stomped on. BeanBean’s capital located in the center of the realm is the hotspot for purchasing items and overalls that are somehow stocked abundantly for both Mario and Luigi’s convenience. BeanBean’s capital even features a cafe where Mario and Luigi can make a smattering of exotic coffee blends made from the various beans littered beneath the grounds of the kingdom, and these earthy concoctions are tested by the eccentric scientist E. Gadd from Luigi’s Mansion back when Nintendo attempted to keep this character relevant. Alas, the capital does not exude the same atmosphere of a hub like Toad Town, the coziest of hubs located outside the grounds of Peach’s Castle in Paper Mario. Firstly, Mario and Luigi only become acquainted with the capital area after fully exploring two other areas. Secondly, the fact that the capital looks as bombed out as the aftermath of intercontinental Europe following WWII does not make the player feel safe and sound. In fact, the state of BeanBean’s capital becomes more shell-shocked as the game progresses. Lastly, the brothers do not return here after every mini-climactic point on their quest like Mario did upon returning from Toad Town’s branching pathways. It took me longer to realize this than I’m willing to admit, but the developers were not trying to replicate Toad Town on a handheld device. Rather, BeanBean Kingdom shares a striking resemblance to Hyrule, specifically the rendition of Zelda’s kingdom from A Link to the Past. BeanBean’s capital is located at the core of the nation like Zelda’s castle estate, signifying that it’s comparable to a nucleus in both stature and its literal position. The field area outside of the castle’s perimeter can be construed as an “overworld” due to its relatively neutral terrain with a plethora of secrets to be found that will net the brothers some upgrades and goodies if they search diligently. All the while, the areas of interest like dungeon-esque HooHoo University and the Yoshi Theater, whose patrons are all the colorful, gluttonous dinosaurs, never feel as if they are removed from the rest of the map. Returning from an area outside the grassy BeanBean plain doesn’t emit a wash of sentimentalism like it usually does with the less coalesced districts that stem from Toad Town. Zelda’s world design influence works wonders for Superstar Saga because it's a top-down game, an inherent commonality with A Link to the Past as opposed to any other Mario RPG. Overall, the design decisions are fluid and aid in differentiating Superstar Saga from the other Mario RPG series.
I suppose another reason why Superstar Saga’s world feels more topsy-turvy is that its pacing is so erratic. Comparing Superstar Saga to Paper Mario at this point makes me sound like a broken record, but the way both Mario RPGs structure their narratives is the prime contrasting factor between these two franchises. Paper Mario organizes its narratives by dividing its subsections into chapters that focus on a singular area with its own sub-narrative that comes back around to the overarching plot after solving the conflict of the subplot and obtaining the game’s primary MacGuffin. Superstar Saga, on the other hand, will have the brothers running ragged with how jumbled their quest trajectory is. Fortunately, the location of the objective is clearly displayed on the game’s map in the pause menu with a soaring red flag marker. Thank the lord for this because I’d be totally lost without it. Once they reach the objective point, which usually leads to traversing around an area outside of the BeanBean overworld, the path from point A to B is fairly clear. All the brothers have to contend with along their way is a series of puzzles that impede their progress. Before then, Mario and Luigi will zigzag around BeanBean’s overworld like a couple flies hovering around a dead body.
Though I prefer the more episodic story structure seen in Paper Mario, I think the more spontaneously assigned objectives in Superstar Saga greatly complement the game’s humor. Paper Mario may have its chuckle-worthy moments, but Superstar Saga revels in wackiness. I’ve often compared Mario to silent screen legend Charlie Chaplin, and their famous mustaches are only a mere fraction of that comparison. Both Nintendo’s mascot and the tramp share a certain blue-collar charm to them, a loveable scamp portraying someone of a low common denominator status that is more than the sum of their parts (ie. a chubby plumber and a homeless man respectively). That, and tumbling down a series of platforms in Super Mario 64 and Sunshine is vaguely reminiscent of the slapstick comedy that Chaplin helped popularize in film, which in the Mario context is as funny as it is frustrating. Superstar Saga’s inherent RPG mechanics negate the possibility of dooming Mario with slipping into oblivion, so the Chaplin-esque influence stems from his other comedic attributes. Charles Martinet’s voice he provides for Mario (and less notably Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi as well) is one of the most recognizable voice roles in gaming. Still, it’s not like the recording studios at Nintendo have ever challenged Martinet with any Mario monologue similar to channeling Daniel Day-Lewis. Mario is a simple character that works perfectly with catchphrases, yelping, and vaguely Italian gibberish. However, all of the instances where all of these vocalizations are uttered mostly coincide with specific controls like jumping and being hit. In Superstar Saga, Mario's (and Luigi’s) utterances carry them through the events of the game as they react to the dialogue from the other characters as the most physically expressive they’ve ever been, fully encapsulating that silent comedy influence they’ve always had. The brothers are always gaping their mouths in shock in times of peril, clumsily running into walls, and looking dazed after being impacted with something blunt. Who says pixels can’t render emotions as well as 3D can?
Mario and Luigi aren’t the only Mushroom Kingdom mainstays joining them on their quest through the BeanBean Kingdom. Bowser and Peach are requisite for any Mario adventure in some capacity, and the way that they are integrated into Superstar Saga is indicative of the game’s level of subversiveness. Using the game’s introduction as evidence, Bowser is no longer held up in his palace waiting for Mario to beat him into submission. From the smidge of dialogue Bowser spouts, this game’s depiction of the Koopa King is the lovably buffoonish one we know from Paper Mario. However, Bowser mostly spends his time in Superstar Saga being the brunt of physical abuse and emasculation. After his airship crashes, his unfortunate luck leads him to fall into a cannon that conveniently fits his bulky, hard-shelled frame as he gets blasted to no man’s land. Upon seeing him again, Bowser is donning a blue mask as the neutered bitch sidekick of a BeanBean thief named Popple (his Luigi, if you will). While the introduction will have the player believe that Peach’s voice is a captured surrogate for her body, the game presents a twist to the player that reveals Peach is entirely unharmed. Supposedly, Peach’s guards knew of Cackletta’s duplicity beforehand, so they swapped her with a fake Peach to thwart their plans. This fraud is revealed to be Birdo, the Mushroom Kingdom’s favorite flirty, bow-wearing bisexual who is rarely integrated into any mainline Mario titles. Peach is actually available in some sections of the game, even if a big chunk of her screen time involves escorting her through the desert in the most infuriating part of the game. Bowser’s bastard Koopalings returns after a decade-long hiatus, and the brothers fight each of them individually. If dusting off older characters and putting them in the limelight again is a part of Superstar Saga’s subversiveness, it’s a welcome change of pace from the mainline series.
Of course, the fact that Superstar Saga is set in an unexplored kingdom means that there is a whole new cast of characters to get acquainted with, and they’re all delightful. Among the slew of green, Toad-like NPCs around the BeanBean Kingdom are the monarchs that they serve, and they’ll be cooperating with Mario to stop Cackletta from potentially taking over the world with the Beanstar’s power. We are introduced to BeanBean’s queen as a hostile boss battle, but this is only due to a parasite that the brothers then have to eradicate from her stomach with the digestive powers of a special kind of Chuckola Cola. After that, the Rubenesque ruler and her assistant aid Mario in directing him on the right path. Her son, Prince Peasley, decides to butt into the brothers' business on the field, waving his poncey blonde hair with a cocky smirk expected of someone who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Even in a game where Mario and Luigi are constantly fumbling over each other, Peasley is still the comic relief. Superstar Saga’s recurring villains are especially exemplary because they exude so much personality. Cackletta is aptly named because her defining feature is that witchy laugh of hers, usually at the expense of Mario and Luigi’s or something/someone else good and moral. However, I find her diabolical nature to be a bit cliche in the supreme antagonist role she fulfills. The true highlight villain in Superstar Saga is Fawful, Cackletta’s right-hand man in her evil operations. He doesn’t subvert too much from the henchman trope seen across all media, but this beady little bean has one quirk that makes everyone adore him. Whenever Fawful speaks, his speech is rife with so many grammatical errors and malapropisms that it's reminiscent of the dialogue from Zero Wing. How lines like “I HAVE FURY,” “at last, my entrance, with drama!” and his insult “fink-rat” haven’t been immortalized in the pop culture lexicon unlike “all your base are belong to us” is a mystery. Every warped line uttered by Fawful is pure gold.
But really, the best aspect of Superstar Saga’s lively character roster is the inclusion of Luigi. Luigi has always served a secondary role to Mario since his inception but somewhere along the line, Nintendo started to completely blow him to the wayside. Luigi hadn’t made as much as a cameo for the first two 3D mainline Mario titles, skipping two whole generations that would’ve been vital to his character. Luigi is only Mario’s housemate in Paper Mario, an NPC who stays home airing his grievances that he wasn't invited out to play. No wonder everyone thought Luigi’s Mansion was trifling material as Luigi’s first proper 3D introduction. Mario had gone solo, forgetting completely that his roots stemmed from sharing his billing with his brother. I jest at Luigi’s expense from time to time, but his frank omission from Mario’s mainline adventures on the N64 and GCN makes me sympathetic to him. Fortunately, for those Luigi fans who felt slighted at his absence, Superstar Saga makes certain that Mario doesn’t bogart the spotlight to the point where Luigi is shadowed in complete darkness. On top of actually having a consistent presence in the game, Superstar Saga marks a considerable point of evolution for Luigi. While Luigi was playable in Super Mario Bros. 1-3 and World, his design boiled down to “Green Mario” thanks to the primitive graphics. Seeing him side-by-side with his brother here shows a great distinction between them, as Luigi is clearly taller, slimmer, and has a thinner mustache. I also believe that this is the first time when Martinet gives Luigi a distinct vocal inflection, which is more nasal and pitched lower than Mario’s voice. More importantly than anything physical, Superstar Saga continues the timid persona Luidi exuded in Luigi’s Mansion as his prime characteristic. Mario is now the straight man to Luigi’s blubbering and pitiable demeanor, the Costello to his Abbot. It’s a strong dynamic between the two that has never been so pronounced in any previous Mario game. The game also seems to be aware of how prevalent ignoring Luigi is in the Mario universe, with characters not knowing his name and the fact that Luigi was originally going to stay behind as always in the beginning. All of us Luigi fans forgive you (for now), Nintendo.
Mario and Luigi’s discernable traits in terms of their personality and design is all fine and good, but the essential factor in this dynamic that defines the Mario & Luigi series is how they act on the field. Mario and Luigi are magnetized to each other throughout the game, switching between who is leading in front with the press of a button. When traversing through BeanBean’s overworld or one of its attractions, each brother has a distinctive set of skills that complement each other on a relatively equal pairing. Luigi leaps onto Mario’s back to propel both of them above high reaches, while Mario positions himself on Luigi’s shoulders like a totem pole to whirl across platforms for a brief period. Hammers, a Mario weapon that only seems to be compulsory for his RPG excursions, are given to both brothers to smash large, intrusive rocks on the field. The more interesting part is the brothers using the hammers on each other, with Luigi flattening Mario like a pancake to eke through small crevices and Mario returning the favor to Luigi by bonking him beneath the ground to creep under gates and such. Mario can also drink a copious amount of water to the point where he becomes engorged like Spongebob, and Luigi expunges all the excess water weight by making Mario spit it out with his hammer. An island oasis society off the coast teaches Luigi the power of electricity and Mario the power of fire without the usual flower attached to power orbs and light candles. Like with the hammers, the brothers can use their respective elemental powers on each other, with Luigi sticking Mario to him with static and Mario literally lighting a fire under Luigi’s ass. The brothers also use their field dynamic in a series of mini-games that range in both fun and challenge, with the most demanding being the barrel one conducted by what appears to be the skeletal remains of Donkey Kong (who can somehow talk). Luigi never feels secondary to Mario at any point.
The dynamic between Mario and Luigi also translates onto the battlefield. Superstar Saga’s initial approach to the battles borrows from Earthbound, with enemies on the field that can get an advantage over the player if they run at them from behind, or a counter advantage if Mario or Luigi attacks them first. Once a fight is engaged, Mario and Luigi run parallel to the enemy, with Mario always situated in the top left corner and Luigi at the bottom left. The brother’s selection of attacks mirrors that of Paper Mario’s, as a wheel presents the options to jump on an enemy or use the hammer to attack, with a timed pressing of their designated button to deal more damage. Badge points are still present, but here they take the form of “Bros. Attacks” that involve using both brothers in unison for an especially powerful maneuver. Executing one of these takes practice as the button timing requires steep precision. Speaking of steep precision, the true marvel of the RPG combat in the Mario & Luigi series is the defense mechanic. In every RPG, there is an inherent rule that the player will take some amount of damage from the opposing side, as little as it sometimes might be. In Superstar Saga, every attack from the opposition can be avoided by jumping over them and their projectiles or countered with the hammer. As revolutionary as this might seem, Mario and Luigi’s abilities to circumvent any hazards do not make Superstar Saga facile. Extreme practice and familiarity with enemies are needed to fully utilize this feature, and that is what makes the combat in Superstar Saga so invigorating. A JRPG that fosters a high-skill ceiling that doesn’t require grinding? The next thing you’ll tell me is that the US is going to elect the first openly gay president next year. Paper Mario made the typical RPG combat more fun and interactive, but Superstar Saga rockets that idea into the stratosphere. Unfortunately, constantly mitigating damage with dodging allows some boss battles to overstay their welcome at times.
Even if the player has the reflexes of a drunk sloth, the game doesn’t punish the player too harshly in combat. The difficulty curve in Superstar Saga is incredibly consistent, and the only time it wasn’t was upon encountering the goomba-tanooki crossbreeds in the field away from the objective. I’d like to say this is because the game is impeccably balanced, but I’m afraid this isn’t the case. Besides the frequent bombings on their capital, the BeanBean Kingdom is doing just fine and dandy considering their profusion of resources. Healing items such as mushrooms, nuts, syrups, and status-ailing herbs are so commonplace that my inventory was stocked in multiples of hundreds at some point. Failing to hop over an enemy’s attack in battle ultimately didn’t matter because I could always take a turn to heal and have the other brother work on the offensive. Even at a point where my items were thinning, BeanBean’s evidently booming economy allowed me to replenish all the items I expunged during battle without breaking the bank. I can’t criticize a Mario game too harshly for being too easy considering the overall accessible appeal of the franchise. Still, with the defense mechanics at hand, I wish the player could raise the stakes of error during battle.
Near the end, I guess my wish for Superstar Saga to become more challenging came true, even if it was unexpected. Upon seeing an unconscious Bowser, the spirit of a defeated Cackletta possesses Bowser and forms an unholy fusion of the two villains called Bowletta. Superstar Saga capitalized on what Bowser would look like with tits far before Bowsette but without ANY of the sex appeal. Somehow, fusing with Bowser’s body gives Cackletta control over Bowser’s castle, which is floating over BeanBean with Peach in captivity (of fucking course). Like most other Mario games, Bowser’s castle is the climactic end to the plumber's adventure. In Superstar Saga’s case, Bowser’s fiery domain also presents a difficulty spike as sharp as the ones on Bowser’s backside. Enemy attacks become heavily unpredictable to the point where avoiding them can be based entirely on luck alone, and the steroid versions of the Hammer Bros. hit like a tank with Magikoopas healing their already stocky health pools. I had not died up until this point in the game, and now I was carrying a defeated Mario or Luigi on the back of the conscious brother who was hanging on by a thread. Facing Cackletta in Bowser’s throne room was the most taxing boss fight in the game by a stark hundred miles. Her first form is a quick bout of damage output that will end quickly but once she dupes the brothers with a bomb and vacuums them into her stomach, the real final fight against her soul begins. I implore everyone reading this to time their fight against this giant phantom because I guarantee it will take more than fifteen minutes to defeat. Her attacks become fairly predictable through constant use, but the long process of revealing her weak point just for her to heal and obscure it from view approximately seven or more times makes for an endurance test guaranteed to make the player exhausted. I understand that the climax of any game should offer its pinnacle challenge, but the game pushes the player into the deep end after they’ve been doggy paddling in the shallow end all this time.
After playing Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the first time in the two decades I’ve observed it from a distance, my slight curiosity has blossomed into pure admiration. By using Paper Mario and a healthy dose of the top-down Zelda games as its inspiration, Superstar Saga crafts another exceptional Mario RPG that is as subversive as the other contemporary Mario subseries. Still, I still prefer Paper Mario, and that’s probably nostalgia blinding my perceptions. Now, I don’t know if I can earnestly compare the two because Superstar Saga deviates heavily enough to warrant completely different comparisons, almost like Superstar Saga isn’t just handheld Paper Mario after all. Superstar Saga is a wackier JRPG depiction of a Mario quest with the most engaging fight mechanics I've played in a JRPG. It's unfortunate that its genius level of innovation eventually blew up on the player in the end. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a whole different beast in itself, and that's what makes it so refreshing. Luigi finally gets his time to shine.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com
Still, I can’t help but compare Mario & Luigi to Paper Mario. Both series are spiritual successors to Super Mario RPG on the SNES, sharing the same JRPG genetic code that separates it from the mainline series of platformers. Also, each Mario RPG, regardless of the specific series, uses the narrative-intensive genre as a vehicle to expand the world and characters of the Mario universe. The direction to achieve this sense of amplification tends to verge into the subversive territory. The first Paper Mario game was only slightly off-beat, as it told the traditional Mario story of Mario saving a kidnapped Peach from Bowser once again with more dialogue, exposition, and other patches of irregular elements that the developers couldn’t possibly squeeze into a mainline Mario game. The Paper Mario series would become more irreverent as the series progressed, but Mario & Luigi came out of the gate swinging a toolkit of monkey wrenches at Super Mario’s foundation. To increase their allegiance to the Mushroom Kingdom, the neighboring BeanBean Kingdom sends esteemed ambassadors to Peach’s Castle to offer her a generous token. However, that generous gesture is actually a cloud of noxious smoke, as the meeting has been intercepted by the devious BeanBean witch Cackletta, disguised with her right-hand crony Fawful. One would expect the gas to knock Peach out so these fiends can easily carry her off to whatever vessel they arrived in and fly off with her in their captivity, but that would be too orthodox for a Mario conflict premise. Instead, the booby trap kidnaps Peach’s voice, rendering her deprived manner of speech to take the form of jagged characters that drop out of the text bubble and literally explode like bombs. Bowser, in his regular routine of capturing Peach, finds her unstable communication to be a hefty inconvenience, so he joins the Mario Bros. on their quest to retrieve the voice and return it to its rightful owner. From the beginning of their valiant adventure, Fawful attacks them on an airship, and the fallout of his ambush leaves Bowser separated from Mario and Luigi. So much for that solid truce between Mario and his usual arch-nemesis. Still, the fact that this cooperative pact was made at all is rather extraordinary. Cackletta’s goal in using Peach’s voice is to activate the “Beanstar,” a mythical artifact in the BeanBean Kingdom that is said to grant the wishes of someone pure, hence why Peach’s voice is needed. One might point out that the Beanstar is the same as the Star Rod from Paper Mario, but this kind of magical with an all-powerful allure has been used as a standard Macguffin for a number of Nintendo’s IPs (the Star Rod from Kirby, the Triforce, etc.). As I’ve said before regarding Paper Mario’s pension for slight irreverence, the low bar that the mainline series sets make the smallest sort of deviation a fresh change of pace. In Superstar Saga, the rule book for a Mario story almost gets tossed out of the window entirely, which is a wonderful sign of things to come to keep one’s interest piqued. Also, the start of the adventure is spurred by the player as Toad rushes to Mario and Luigi’s house to warn them that the princess is in danger, and Toad gets an unsavory glimpse at Mario’s Italian sausage while he’s in the shower. C’mon, any Mario game where the player can control Toad, the most notable NPC in gaming, for a brief period has got to have some wild tricks up its sleeves.
Up until the Gamecube era, setting a Mario title outside the confines of the Mushroom Kingdom was considered a revolutionary prospect. Super Mario Sunshine marked the first mainline Mario game that dared to plant Mario past the parameters of Peach’s royal country, but the vacation premise sort of implied that this setting was merely a temporary digression. Paper Mario would revel in placing Mario in settings beyond the realm of franchise normalcy, but his first outing as a quirky, two-dimensional arts and crafts project kept him secured in the Mushroom Kingdom’s domain in order to use the JRPG format to expand on the typical Mario story. In the case of the BeanBean Kingdom where the brothers find themselves in Superstar Saga, it’s difficult to say whether or not this protein-rich province is all that different from their normal stomping grounds. BeanBean Kingdom shares many parallels to the fungal neighbors of an unknown directional point of reference. The land where the musical fruit roams has a topographical eclecticism that seems to rival the Mushroom Kingdom’s imperialistic endeavors. BeanBean’s land elevations range from the waterfall-filled apexes of Hoo-Hoo Mountain, the wildly ungroomed wilderness of Chucklehuck Woods, to the sandy shores of the beaches located around the kingdom’s eastern coastline.
While the BeanBean Kingdom can compete with the Mushroom Kingdom’s varied array of destination spots, BeanBean Kingdom decided to take a divergent route for its infrastructure. Nowhere on BeanBean’s map is there a hub for our heroes to relax and briefly wind down in, taking off their leather boots to scrape the blood and guts of every Goomba and Koopa Troopa they’ve stomped on. BeanBean’s capital located in the center of the realm is the hotspot for purchasing items and overalls that are somehow stocked abundantly for both Mario and Luigi’s convenience. BeanBean’s capital even features a cafe where Mario and Luigi can make a smattering of exotic coffee blends made from the various beans littered beneath the grounds of the kingdom, and these earthy concoctions are tested by the eccentric scientist E. Gadd from Luigi’s Mansion back when Nintendo attempted to keep this character relevant. Alas, the capital does not exude the same atmosphere of a hub like Toad Town, the coziest of hubs located outside the grounds of Peach’s Castle in Paper Mario. Firstly, Mario and Luigi only become acquainted with the capital area after fully exploring two other areas. Secondly, the fact that the capital looks as bombed out as the aftermath of intercontinental Europe following WWII does not make the player feel safe and sound. In fact, the state of BeanBean’s capital becomes more shell-shocked as the game progresses. Lastly, the brothers do not return here after every mini-climactic point on their quest like Mario did upon returning from Toad Town’s branching pathways. It took me longer to realize this than I’m willing to admit, but the developers were not trying to replicate Toad Town on a handheld device. Rather, BeanBean Kingdom shares a striking resemblance to Hyrule, specifically the rendition of Zelda’s kingdom from A Link to the Past. BeanBean’s capital is located at the core of the nation like Zelda’s castle estate, signifying that it’s comparable to a nucleus in both stature and its literal position. The field area outside of the castle’s perimeter can be construed as an “overworld” due to its relatively neutral terrain with a plethora of secrets to be found that will net the brothers some upgrades and goodies if they search diligently. All the while, the areas of interest like dungeon-esque HooHoo University and the Yoshi Theater, whose patrons are all the colorful, gluttonous dinosaurs, never feel as if they are removed from the rest of the map. Returning from an area outside the grassy BeanBean plain doesn’t emit a wash of sentimentalism like it usually does with the less coalesced districts that stem from Toad Town. Zelda’s world design influence works wonders for Superstar Saga because it's a top-down game, an inherent commonality with A Link to the Past as opposed to any other Mario RPG. Overall, the design decisions are fluid and aid in differentiating Superstar Saga from the other Mario RPG series.
I suppose another reason why Superstar Saga’s world feels more topsy-turvy is that its pacing is so erratic. Comparing Superstar Saga to Paper Mario at this point makes me sound like a broken record, but the way both Mario RPGs structure their narratives is the prime contrasting factor between these two franchises. Paper Mario organizes its narratives by dividing its subsections into chapters that focus on a singular area with its own sub-narrative that comes back around to the overarching plot after solving the conflict of the subplot and obtaining the game’s primary MacGuffin. Superstar Saga, on the other hand, will have the brothers running ragged with how jumbled their quest trajectory is. Fortunately, the location of the objective is clearly displayed on the game’s map in the pause menu with a soaring red flag marker. Thank the lord for this because I’d be totally lost without it. Once they reach the objective point, which usually leads to traversing around an area outside of the BeanBean overworld, the path from point A to B is fairly clear. All the brothers have to contend with along their way is a series of puzzles that impede their progress. Before then, Mario and Luigi will zigzag around BeanBean’s overworld like a couple flies hovering around a dead body.
Though I prefer the more episodic story structure seen in Paper Mario, I think the more spontaneously assigned objectives in Superstar Saga greatly complement the game’s humor. Paper Mario may have its chuckle-worthy moments, but Superstar Saga revels in wackiness. I’ve often compared Mario to silent screen legend Charlie Chaplin, and their famous mustaches are only a mere fraction of that comparison. Both Nintendo’s mascot and the tramp share a certain blue-collar charm to them, a loveable scamp portraying someone of a low common denominator status that is more than the sum of their parts (ie. a chubby plumber and a homeless man respectively). That, and tumbling down a series of platforms in Super Mario 64 and Sunshine is vaguely reminiscent of the slapstick comedy that Chaplin helped popularize in film, which in the Mario context is as funny as it is frustrating. Superstar Saga’s inherent RPG mechanics negate the possibility of dooming Mario with slipping into oblivion, so the Chaplin-esque influence stems from his other comedic attributes. Charles Martinet’s voice he provides for Mario (and less notably Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi as well) is one of the most recognizable voice roles in gaming. Still, it’s not like the recording studios at Nintendo have ever challenged Martinet with any Mario monologue similar to channeling Daniel Day-Lewis. Mario is a simple character that works perfectly with catchphrases, yelping, and vaguely Italian gibberish. However, all of the instances where all of these vocalizations are uttered mostly coincide with specific controls like jumping and being hit. In Superstar Saga, Mario's (and Luigi’s) utterances carry them through the events of the game as they react to the dialogue from the other characters as the most physically expressive they’ve ever been, fully encapsulating that silent comedy influence they’ve always had. The brothers are always gaping their mouths in shock in times of peril, clumsily running into walls, and looking dazed after being impacted with something blunt. Who says pixels can’t render emotions as well as 3D can?
Mario and Luigi aren’t the only Mushroom Kingdom mainstays joining them on their quest through the BeanBean Kingdom. Bowser and Peach are requisite for any Mario adventure in some capacity, and the way that they are integrated into Superstar Saga is indicative of the game’s level of subversiveness. Using the game’s introduction as evidence, Bowser is no longer held up in his palace waiting for Mario to beat him into submission. From the smidge of dialogue Bowser spouts, this game’s depiction of the Koopa King is the lovably buffoonish one we know from Paper Mario. However, Bowser mostly spends his time in Superstar Saga being the brunt of physical abuse and emasculation. After his airship crashes, his unfortunate luck leads him to fall into a cannon that conveniently fits his bulky, hard-shelled frame as he gets blasted to no man’s land. Upon seeing him again, Bowser is donning a blue mask as the neutered bitch sidekick of a BeanBean thief named Popple (his Luigi, if you will). While the introduction will have the player believe that Peach’s voice is a captured surrogate for her body, the game presents a twist to the player that reveals Peach is entirely unharmed. Supposedly, Peach’s guards knew of Cackletta’s duplicity beforehand, so they swapped her with a fake Peach to thwart their plans. This fraud is revealed to be Birdo, the Mushroom Kingdom’s favorite flirty, bow-wearing bisexual who is rarely integrated into any mainline Mario titles. Peach is actually available in some sections of the game, even if a big chunk of her screen time involves escorting her through the desert in the most infuriating part of the game. Bowser’s bastard Koopalings returns after a decade-long hiatus, and the brothers fight each of them individually. If dusting off older characters and putting them in the limelight again is a part of Superstar Saga’s subversiveness, it’s a welcome change of pace from the mainline series.
Of course, the fact that Superstar Saga is set in an unexplored kingdom means that there is a whole new cast of characters to get acquainted with, and they’re all delightful. Among the slew of green, Toad-like NPCs around the BeanBean Kingdom are the monarchs that they serve, and they’ll be cooperating with Mario to stop Cackletta from potentially taking over the world with the Beanstar’s power. We are introduced to BeanBean’s queen as a hostile boss battle, but this is only due to a parasite that the brothers then have to eradicate from her stomach with the digestive powers of a special kind of Chuckola Cola. After that, the Rubenesque ruler and her assistant aid Mario in directing him on the right path. Her son, Prince Peasley, decides to butt into the brothers' business on the field, waving his poncey blonde hair with a cocky smirk expected of someone who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Even in a game where Mario and Luigi are constantly fumbling over each other, Peasley is still the comic relief. Superstar Saga’s recurring villains are especially exemplary because they exude so much personality. Cackletta is aptly named because her defining feature is that witchy laugh of hers, usually at the expense of Mario and Luigi’s or something/someone else good and moral. However, I find her diabolical nature to be a bit cliche in the supreme antagonist role she fulfills. The true highlight villain in Superstar Saga is Fawful, Cackletta’s right-hand man in her evil operations. He doesn’t subvert too much from the henchman trope seen across all media, but this beady little bean has one quirk that makes everyone adore him. Whenever Fawful speaks, his speech is rife with so many grammatical errors and malapropisms that it's reminiscent of the dialogue from Zero Wing. How lines like “I HAVE FURY,” “at last, my entrance, with drama!” and his insult “fink-rat” haven’t been immortalized in the pop culture lexicon unlike “all your base are belong to us” is a mystery. Every warped line uttered by Fawful is pure gold.
But really, the best aspect of Superstar Saga’s lively character roster is the inclusion of Luigi. Luigi has always served a secondary role to Mario since his inception but somewhere along the line, Nintendo started to completely blow him to the wayside. Luigi hadn’t made as much as a cameo for the first two 3D mainline Mario titles, skipping two whole generations that would’ve been vital to his character. Luigi is only Mario’s housemate in Paper Mario, an NPC who stays home airing his grievances that he wasn't invited out to play. No wonder everyone thought Luigi’s Mansion was trifling material as Luigi’s first proper 3D introduction. Mario had gone solo, forgetting completely that his roots stemmed from sharing his billing with his brother. I jest at Luigi’s expense from time to time, but his frank omission from Mario’s mainline adventures on the N64 and GCN makes me sympathetic to him. Fortunately, for those Luigi fans who felt slighted at his absence, Superstar Saga makes certain that Mario doesn’t bogart the spotlight to the point where Luigi is shadowed in complete darkness. On top of actually having a consistent presence in the game, Superstar Saga marks a considerable point of evolution for Luigi. While Luigi was playable in Super Mario Bros. 1-3 and World, his design boiled down to “Green Mario” thanks to the primitive graphics. Seeing him side-by-side with his brother here shows a great distinction between them, as Luigi is clearly taller, slimmer, and has a thinner mustache. I also believe that this is the first time when Martinet gives Luigi a distinct vocal inflection, which is more nasal and pitched lower than Mario’s voice. More importantly than anything physical, Superstar Saga continues the timid persona Luidi exuded in Luigi’s Mansion as his prime characteristic. Mario is now the straight man to Luigi’s blubbering and pitiable demeanor, the Costello to his Abbot. It’s a strong dynamic between the two that has never been so pronounced in any previous Mario game. The game also seems to be aware of how prevalent ignoring Luigi is in the Mario universe, with characters not knowing his name and the fact that Luigi was originally going to stay behind as always in the beginning. All of us Luigi fans forgive you (for now), Nintendo.
Mario and Luigi’s discernable traits in terms of their personality and design is all fine and good, but the essential factor in this dynamic that defines the Mario & Luigi series is how they act on the field. Mario and Luigi are magnetized to each other throughout the game, switching between who is leading in front with the press of a button. When traversing through BeanBean’s overworld or one of its attractions, each brother has a distinctive set of skills that complement each other on a relatively equal pairing. Luigi leaps onto Mario’s back to propel both of them above high reaches, while Mario positions himself on Luigi’s shoulders like a totem pole to whirl across platforms for a brief period. Hammers, a Mario weapon that only seems to be compulsory for his RPG excursions, are given to both brothers to smash large, intrusive rocks on the field. The more interesting part is the brothers using the hammers on each other, with Luigi flattening Mario like a pancake to eke through small crevices and Mario returning the favor to Luigi by bonking him beneath the ground to creep under gates and such. Mario can also drink a copious amount of water to the point where he becomes engorged like Spongebob, and Luigi expunges all the excess water weight by making Mario spit it out with his hammer. An island oasis society off the coast teaches Luigi the power of electricity and Mario the power of fire without the usual flower attached to power orbs and light candles. Like with the hammers, the brothers can use their respective elemental powers on each other, with Luigi sticking Mario to him with static and Mario literally lighting a fire under Luigi’s ass. The brothers also use their field dynamic in a series of mini-games that range in both fun and challenge, with the most demanding being the barrel one conducted by what appears to be the skeletal remains of Donkey Kong (who can somehow talk). Luigi never feels secondary to Mario at any point.
The dynamic between Mario and Luigi also translates onto the battlefield. Superstar Saga’s initial approach to the battles borrows from Earthbound, with enemies on the field that can get an advantage over the player if they run at them from behind, or a counter advantage if Mario or Luigi attacks them first. Once a fight is engaged, Mario and Luigi run parallel to the enemy, with Mario always situated in the top left corner and Luigi at the bottom left. The brother’s selection of attacks mirrors that of Paper Mario’s, as a wheel presents the options to jump on an enemy or use the hammer to attack, with a timed pressing of their designated button to deal more damage. Badge points are still present, but here they take the form of “Bros. Attacks” that involve using both brothers in unison for an especially powerful maneuver. Executing one of these takes practice as the button timing requires steep precision. Speaking of steep precision, the true marvel of the RPG combat in the Mario & Luigi series is the defense mechanic. In every RPG, there is an inherent rule that the player will take some amount of damage from the opposing side, as little as it sometimes might be. In Superstar Saga, every attack from the opposition can be avoided by jumping over them and their projectiles or countered with the hammer. As revolutionary as this might seem, Mario and Luigi’s abilities to circumvent any hazards do not make Superstar Saga facile. Extreme practice and familiarity with enemies are needed to fully utilize this feature, and that is what makes the combat in Superstar Saga so invigorating. A JRPG that fosters a high-skill ceiling that doesn’t require grinding? The next thing you’ll tell me is that the US is going to elect the first openly gay president next year. Paper Mario made the typical RPG combat more fun and interactive, but Superstar Saga rockets that idea into the stratosphere. Unfortunately, constantly mitigating damage with dodging allows some boss battles to overstay their welcome at times.
Even if the player has the reflexes of a drunk sloth, the game doesn’t punish the player too harshly in combat. The difficulty curve in Superstar Saga is incredibly consistent, and the only time it wasn’t was upon encountering the goomba-tanooki crossbreeds in the field away from the objective. I’d like to say this is because the game is impeccably balanced, but I’m afraid this isn’t the case. Besides the frequent bombings on their capital, the BeanBean Kingdom is doing just fine and dandy considering their profusion of resources. Healing items such as mushrooms, nuts, syrups, and status-ailing herbs are so commonplace that my inventory was stocked in multiples of hundreds at some point. Failing to hop over an enemy’s attack in battle ultimately didn’t matter because I could always take a turn to heal and have the other brother work on the offensive. Even at a point where my items were thinning, BeanBean’s evidently booming economy allowed me to replenish all the items I expunged during battle without breaking the bank. I can’t criticize a Mario game too harshly for being too easy considering the overall accessible appeal of the franchise. Still, with the defense mechanics at hand, I wish the player could raise the stakes of error during battle.
Near the end, I guess my wish for Superstar Saga to become more challenging came true, even if it was unexpected. Upon seeing an unconscious Bowser, the spirit of a defeated Cackletta possesses Bowser and forms an unholy fusion of the two villains called Bowletta. Superstar Saga capitalized on what Bowser would look like with tits far before Bowsette but without ANY of the sex appeal. Somehow, fusing with Bowser’s body gives Cackletta control over Bowser’s castle, which is floating over BeanBean with Peach in captivity (of fucking course). Like most other Mario games, Bowser’s castle is the climactic end to the plumber's adventure. In Superstar Saga’s case, Bowser’s fiery domain also presents a difficulty spike as sharp as the ones on Bowser’s backside. Enemy attacks become heavily unpredictable to the point where avoiding them can be based entirely on luck alone, and the steroid versions of the Hammer Bros. hit like a tank with Magikoopas healing their already stocky health pools. I had not died up until this point in the game, and now I was carrying a defeated Mario or Luigi on the back of the conscious brother who was hanging on by a thread. Facing Cackletta in Bowser’s throne room was the most taxing boss fight in the game by a stark hundred miles. Her first form is a quick bout of damage output that will end quickly but once she dupes the brothers with a bomb and vacuums them into her stomach, the real final fight against her soul begins. I implore everyone reading this to time their fight against this giant phantom because I guarantee it will take more than fifteen minutes to defeat. Her attacks become fairly predictable through constant use, but the long process of revealing her weak point just for her to heal and obscure it from view approximately seven or more times makes for an endurance test guaranteed to make the player exhausted. I understand that the climax of any game should offer its pinnacle challenge, but the game pushes the player into the deep end after they’ve been doggy paddling in the shallow end all this time.
After playing Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the first time in the two decades I’ve observed it from a distance, my slight curiosity has blossomed into pure admiration. By using Paper Mario and a healthy dose of the top-down Zelda games as its inspiration, Superstar Saga crafts another exceptional Mario RPG that is as subversive as the other contemporary Mario subseries. Still, I still prefer Paper Mario, and that’s probably nostalgia blinding my perceptions. Now, I don’t know if I can earnestly compare the two because Superstar Saga deviates heavily enough to warrant completely different comparisons, almost like Superstar Saga isn’t just handheld Paper Mario after all. Superstar Saga is a wackier JRPG depiction of a Mario quest with the most engaging fight mechanics I've played in a JRPG. It's unfortunate that its genius level of innovation eventually blew up on the player in the end. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a whole different beast in itself, and that's what makes it so refreshing. Luigi finally gets his time to shine.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com
This is only my second Mario RPG, but I can already tell I'll love this whole series, since they are so damn comfy.
Two things already stand out to me: they compensate the simplified battle mechanics with an overworld that is far more involved and interactive than the average of the genre. I really liked using all the overworld abilities to traverse through the dungeons (the final one in particular was a joy), even if I do share the common criticism of sometimes cumbersome controls.
And the other thing is, it's absolutely impossible to have an engaging/"serious" plot in the Mario universe, and I'm so glad they don't even try (Sega, take notes). Instead, they crank the charm up to eleven and double down on the humor, and I end up playing the game with a goofy smile nearly the whole time.
I mostly don't enjoy the occasional mandatory minigame though. It's not the minigame themselves that bother me, it's the fact that some of them have a time limit. That barrel minigame was fairly miserable to me, why a time limit?
The bosses were a highlight to me however, they managed to make every fight feel unique, and that actually is also true for the standard enemies - since they have a huge pool of characters to use from this franchise, the sheer variety of common enemies is staggering, and I thought using stuff like the Dr. Mario viruses and making them all die instantly if you match their colors was incredibly clever.
Then we have the final boss, what the fuck happened there. His HP is gigantic and he's crazy punishing. The weak point isn't exposed through most of the fight, so you spend 80% of the battle killing his "non-vital" body parts over and over, all while they attack with some tricky as fuck attacks. You died? Go back to the 1st phase of the fight, asshole.
Hell, when the 2nd phase begins, the Bros. have 1 (ONE) HP left, and you're up against a boss you don't know, with attacks you've never seen, making it effectively a beginner's trap. The spinning arms thing was the bane of my existence for example.
Bizarre difficulty spike and the occasional padding aside, I really enjoyed this one, and am really looking forward to the other Mario RPGs. I think I have like five games to look forward to, hooray!
Two things already stand out to me: they compensate the simplified battle mechanics with an overworld that is far more involved and interactive than the average of the genre. I really liked using all the overworld abilities to traverse through the dungeons (the final one in particular was a joy), even if I do share the common criticism of sometimes cumbersome controls.
And the other thing is, it's absolutely impossible to have an engaging/"serious" plot in the Mario universe, and I'm so glad they don't even try (Sega, take notes). Instead, they crank the charm up to eleven and double down on the humor, and I end up playing the game with a goofy smile nearly the whole time.
I mostly don't enjoy the occasional mandatory minigame though. It's not the minigame themselves that bother me, it's the fact that some of them have a time limit. That barrel minigame was fairly miserable to me, why a time limit?
The bosses were a highlight to me however, they managed to make every fight feel unique, and that actually is also true for the standard enemies - since they have a huge pool of characters to use from this franchise, the sheer variety of common enemies is staggering, and I thought using stuff like the Dr. Mario viruses and making them all die instantly if you match their colors was incredibly clever.
Then we have the final boss, what the fuck happened there. His HP is gigantic and he's crazy punishing. The weak point isn't exposed through most of the fight, so you spend 80% of the battle killing his "non-vital" body parts over and over, all while they attack with some tricky as fuck attacks. You died? Go back to the 1st phase of the fight, asshole.
Hell, when the 2nd phase begins, the Bros. have 1 (ONE) HP left, and you're up against a boss you don't know, with attacks you've never seen, making it effectively a beginner's trap. The spinning arms thing was the bane of my existence for example.
Bizarre difficulty spike and the occasional padding aside, I really enjoyed this one, and am really looking forward to the other Mario RPGs. I think I have like five games to look forward to, hooray!
I can see why many people love this game. Its combat is easy to grasp and very fast-paced, the writing is really good and made me laugh out-loud in a few moments and the overall adventure is not really long compared to other turn-based RPGs.
I'm still not the biggest fan of those types of RPGs, but besides the final boss taking too long for its own, I had a good time with this title!
I'm still not the biggest fan of those types of RPGs, but besides the final boss taking too long for its own, I had a good time with this title!
Peak.
bing bing wahoo brothers go to an adventure just to find one of their most charming games ever
Me gusta mucho cuando en un RPG hay que hacer algo más que simplemente seleccionar el ataque y cuando se hacen cosas fuera de batalla. Es un juego muy divertido, con un humor bastante simpático.
Ta mejor el remake
Luigi is gay.
Luigi is GAY
Dieses RPG ist das perfekte Spiel für Leute die RPGs hassen. Mag zwar Zusammen durch die Zeit lieber, aber diese ganzen Brüder-Attacken, die Brüder-Aktionen auf der Overworld und diese brandneue Welt sind soo schön. Das gesamte Bohnenland, diese Anspielungen auf Witze und Humor passen perfekt in diese originelle lebhafte Welt. Apropos Humor und Witze: Alpha-Dreams Writing und Dialoge sind echt unschlagbar. Vor allem das "knusprige" Sound-Design auf dem Gameboy Advance trägt sehr zu diesem Mario & Luigi Humor bei den wir heute kennen (oder vermissen). Finde nur dass das ganze L+R Gewechsel auf der Overworld schnell nervig werden kann und mich stört ein wenig dass einige Soundtracks und Assets sehr oft reused werden. Und obwohl es so gut ist, ist es immernoch sehr simpel. Vor allem wenn man es mit den späteren Einträgen in der Reihe vergleicht.
The best way to describe Superstar Saga is charming. It's not a particularly long or difficult game. It's not a particularly hard game. It's not a particularly complicated game, but it is charming. The Beanbean Kingdom is weird enough to be interesting, while not so weird that you ever really need to question anything. The gameplay is simple and both enemy attacks and bros. attacks are kind of simple when compared to the later M&L games, but timing your button presses to attack and dodge is fun enough to keep the combat enjoyable. The handful of minigames scattered throughout also help to break things up, even if a few of them like the minecart segment or the puzzle game on the S.S. Chuckola kind of suck.
Second GOTM finished for July 2023. Immensely charming Mario RPG that suffers from one of the most annoying endgame sequences and final boss fights I can remember. The writing is mostly funny, the animations outside of some of the enemies in the final dungeon are fantastic, the overworld and puzzle aspects were fun, and the music and sound design is great. Ending on a slogging 45-minute+ boss fight in a game that's about timing windows leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth, though.
15 horas de sexo homosexual e interracial entre Luigi y el Príncipe Judía
Pretty great with lots of fun puzzles, memorable characters and music (outside Joke's End that wasn't funny it was just droning. Essential Mario game.
A wonderful start to a fantastic, charming RPG series.
Dieses Spiel ist soo gut!! Die große Stärke ist hier auch wieder das Kampfsystem und der Humor vom Spiel.
Superstar Saga is easily the most underrated Mario game by a country mile. This game is nothing short of stellar, and thanks to its timeless art style holds up perfectly to this day. If you're a fan of Mario, RPGs, Mario RPGs, or fun, you need to check this game out as soon as possible.
once my "favorite game of all time" but upon replaying, i found it far too easy. still had a hell of a time and it was the reason i finally upgraded my NSO membership
Road to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door— Part 2
Y’know, maybe turn-based RPGs ain’t so bad. At the very least, they ain’t bad when Mario is involved.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga sacrifices some of the heart and atmosphere of Paper Mario when adapted to the GBA. The plot is a nonstop barrage of jokes, one-liners, and slapstick that rarely ever takes itself seriously. Thankfully, it all works due to how consistently silly and hilarious the entire adventure is, to the point that it comes off as an affectionate parody of traditional RPGs.
The characters are amazing. This game really solidified Mario and Luigi as characters: Luigi is the lovable coward who’s basically used as chew toy by everyone around him, and Mario is the supportive, more straight-faced (yet still goofy and cheerful) big bro who looks after him. The two have such an adorable dynamic with each other; they share numerous bro hugs throughout the game and whenever one of them falls during battle, the other will run over, put him on their shoulders, and keep fighting. Awwwww.
Aside from Luigi, the game’s main sources of comedy are the trio of Cackletta, Fawful, and Prince Peasley. Cackletta and especially Fawful are both excellent villains with over-the-top personalities that perfectly contrast each other; Cackletta, despite being more serious and powerful, is also pretty damn gullible, while Fawful, despite his ridiculous speech patterns and obvious psychosis, is MUCH smarter than he appears. Prince Peasley has a comparatively smaller role, but his rampant egotism is always funny and charming, thanks to the fact that he’s still friendly and helpful to the Mario Bros. in spite of his overconfidence.
I loved the overworld. The Beanbean Kingdom is structured almost exactly like a Zelda game, which is obviously high praise from me. You use whatever new abilities you’re given to navigate Mario and Luigi across new terrain, find dungeons, and solve puzzles, some of which have genuinely clever solutions. On the topic of dungeons and puzzles, the penultimate one, Joke’s End, is reminiscent of Zelda dungeons in all the right ways. It’s confusing, long, and oh-so-challenging. I love it. The music kinda grates on me, though…
I won’t talk about the combat too much, since I don’t know a lot about RPGs. All I’ll say is that it’s fun and fluid, but not as deep as Paper Mario’s.
Overall, Superstar Saga is an impefect, yet fast-paced and awesome start for a handheld RPG series.
Y’know, maybe turn-based RPGs ain’t so bad. At the very least, they ain’t bad when Mario is involved.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga sacrifices some of the heart and atmosphere of Paper Mario when adapted to the GBA. The plot is a nonstop barrage of jokes, one-liners, and slapstick that rarely ever takes itself seriously. Thankfully, it all works due to how consistently silly and hilarious the entire adventure is, to the point that it comes off as an affectionate parody of traditional RPGs.
The characters are amazing. This game really solidified Mario and Luigi as characters: Luigi is the lovable coward who’s basically used as chew toy by everyone around him, and Mario is the supportive, more straight-faced (yet still goofy and cheerful) big bro who looks after him. The two have such an adorable dynamic with each other; they share numerous bro hugs throughout the game and whenever one of them falls during battle, the other will run over, put him on their shoulders, and keep fighting. Awwwww.
Aside from Luigi, the game’s main sources of comedy are the trio of Cackletta, Fawful, and Prince Peasley. Cackletta and especially Fawful are both excellent villains with over-the-top personalities that perfectly contrast each other; Cackletta, despite being more serious and powerful, is also pretty damn gullible, while Fawful, despite his ridiculous speech patterns and obvious psychosis, is MUCH smarter than he appears. Prince Peasley has a comparatively smaller role, but his rampant egotism is always funny and charming, thanks to the fact that he’s still friendly and helpful to the Mario Bros. in spite of his overconfidence.
I loved the overworld. The Beanbean Kingdom is structured almost exactly like a Zelda game, which is obviously high praise from me. You use whatever new abilities you’re given to navigate Mario and Luigi across new terrain, find dungeons, and solve puzzles, some of which have genuinely clever solutions. On the topic of dungeons and puzzles, the penultimate one, Joke’s End, is reminiscent of Zelda dungeons in all the right ways. It’s confusing, long, and oh-so-challenging. I love it. The music kinda grates on me, though…
I won’t talk about the combat too much, since I don’t know a lot about RPGs. All I’ll say is that it’s fun and fluid, but not as deep as Paper Mario’s.
Overall, Superstar Saga is an impefect, yet fast-paced and awesome start for a handheld RPG series.
[Replay] (Played on Switch) I've been wanting to replay Super Star Saga for like 8 or so months now. It's been years since I've played any of the Mario and Luigi games at this point and kinda want to work through them all again. I was faced with the choice of either getting the remake on 3DS, or just playing the GBA cart at my parents house on my gamecube. I eventually got around to jusy picking up the gba cart, deciding that I will play the remake a little later down the road. As soon as I got it, Nintendo anounced the NSO GBA expansion, so I just played on there. The game holds up as what always felt to me as a child as this MASSIVE adventure on the GBA. All my old memories of this game always made me think the game was huge as a kid, partially thanks to how the world was structured. It is a really good trick on how they make you feel like the world is really big, where in reality, its probably smaller than the map of like Pokemon Emerald. It's clever dungeon placement that makes the world come to life. The combat is great (not as great as Paper Mario imo though, cause the game gets really stingy on timing of hits towards the end.) The game has a steep challange curve once you get to bowsers castle though, it feels like if you cant adabt quick to the timing of enemy attacks, your just gonna die in 2 hits. Paper Mario is more lenient in that front, where its more of a standered RPG that lets you take hits. The artwork and music are fantastic, the music is classic Yoko Shimomura from a mile away. This game really makes me want to try Tomato Adventure one day.