Format: Advance
Genre: RPG
Developer: AlphaDream Corporation, Ltd.
Publisher: Nintendo

Mario & Luigi - Superstar Saga is one of the more popular RPGs on the gameboy advance. As the name suggests it's a first party inhouse nintendo game developed by the core nintendo staff, which obviously meant it was up to standards as far as mario gameplay goes. The game itself handles extremely well and it's clearly the epitome of a well done and well designed RPG/platformer. The story of the game is more or less, the classic princess shenanigans and mario & LUIGI get to save the day. This story takes place in BeanBean kingdom, which isn't often mentioned, ever, in the mario universe. It's basically the mexico of the mushroom kingdom. Despite this game being completely packed to the brim with liberal agendas, satanic symbolism, and failures at grammar, it provides a significant enjoyment in the battle system. This game features timed hits, fairly catchy pop-music themes, and invented something called "bros. moves" which are similiar to "dual techs" from chrono trigger. The key takeaway is that these "bros. moves" also have timed hits on them as well, making battles more flexible and fun. Once you use a bros. move enough, you can also unlock it's "Advanced" form which changes up the timing of the button inputs and completely changes the move as well. Most of the action in the game is done with a combination of buttons to change up mario and luigi's actions in order to advance in the game. For example, mario might have to hammer luigi into the ground to sneak under a gate... or luigi might have to jump on mario's head to get on a higher platform. Most of the music in the game is pretty good except for at least 3 of the songs which will drive crazy after enough time.... those being the "sad theme" which plays many times in the game, the "beach theme" which has a heartbeat bass.. and the "joke's end" theme... which is inarguably the worst song in the game. The plot is nonsensical half the time, but it does it's job. If I was basing this game on it's plot, it would probably get maybe a 4 or 5.. but the majority of this game's enjoyment comes from it's gameplay. The mini-games were midcard.

Hot Tips: Swing Bros Technique can steal items. Cobalt necktie Doubles stache(cheaper prices). Shroom Force significantly increases damage of multihits. Border Jump for easy hee beans. Practice Timed Hits.

All in All, I think this game easily qualifies for its rating. The majority of the game is great fun but there were a few spots and hiccups. Most notably some of the music, tight timing on some button inputs, parts of the story being cringey, and the final boss starting you with 1 hp. That's dirty Nintendo.

[Shroom Force]