Welcome to the 75th issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This is a weekly (yeah yeah there was a three month break) feature where I share my favourite games..it used to be we but you know, I guess you folk are shy. Some may be well known, others I feel have been ignored but all are fantastic and deserve at least a play.
Unlike many people, I didn't enjoy Squaresoft's Super Mario RPG...it was "meh" to me, however I did love the crap out of Paper Mario which has become Nintendo's home console Mario RPG title (though recently there was an entry on the 3DS), for handheld gamers we had AlphaDream's excellent Mario & Luigi series which has become well known for it's humour and fantastic combat system.[prebreak]continue reading...[/prebreak]
The first title debuted on the GBA worldwide in November 2003 and was the very first Mario RPG to hit a handheld console as well as becoming a smash hit with critics and gamers alike. The main development was handheld by Nintendo's 2nd party developer AlphaDream (whom previously have only worked on Tomato Adventure and Koto Battle) with the mini games being handled by Vanpool (the two fine Tingle RPG titles, Magician's Quest and Dillion'ds Rolling Western).
The gameplay is quite different to other RPG titles in that platforming was quite a key element, with Mario & Luigi both having to interact with each other to perform many moves to get to hard to reach places, interact with objects and sceneary as well as complete various puzzles. As well as that like in other games of the genre you must converse with other characters in the World to progress. The battle system was somewhat unique, while it was turn-based you had much more control during you turn which made combat much more fun' Timing your moves is very crucial to suceeding to inflict more damage onto your opponents as well as being able to dodge the enemies attack. There are also combo moves to learn and pull off as well. All in all this made battles far less monotonous than other games. What also helped (and hinder) battles was the ability to either attack or get attacked by enemies on the world map, getting hit by something could cause dizziness when you come to battle and make you gain more hits by your opponent, however get a successful strike in first and when you get to battle that will inflict damage onto the enemy as well as put them out for a turn.
While the gameplay was fantastic the story and dialogue kept you playing too. Written by Hiroyuki Kubota, it was often very funny and gave us great characters such as Bowletta, Cackletta & Fawful. The story goes like this; A Beanbean Abassador and her assistant comes to Mushroom Kingdom to offer Peach a gift...however this ambassador turns out to be the villainess Cackaletta & Fawful and this is just a ploy for them to steal Peach's voice and replace it with an some kinda of explosive volcabulary magic...thing when she speaks. Then after a bit Bowser comes along to do his usual "kidnap-Peach-me-do" routine and after a losing battle against the Mario Bros, learns of what has happened to Peach and decides to help the Mario Bros as he is afraid that Peach's explosive voice could destroy his castle. While on Koopa Cruiser, it gets attacked by Cackaletta & Fawful and it ends up crashing down to the Stardust Fields with Mario & Luigi ending up in Beanbean Borderlands where they then embark on their adventure to retrieve the Princess's voice.
Graphically it is very pleasing and very 16 bit. The sprites were very well animated, bright and colourful and the world you navigated around fitted with the Mario theme. The sound was fantastic, you'll hear the usual sound effects that you would expect from a Mario title. The music was composed by Yoko Shinomura who was famous for her scores for Street Fighter II, Final Fight, Kingdom Hearts and many other Squaresoft titles and it fits amongst some of her best work too. It fitted in the Mario universe and is very catchy and you'll find yourself humming the tunes.
This game is often cited as one of the greatest handheld RPG titles and also is highly recommended to those who may not be too fond of the genre. It has spawned three sequels; Partners in Time for the DS which involved Baby Mario Bros but wasn't as much fun due to those two being added to the game and kinda making gameplay less fun but it was a solid and funny title. Then came the classic Bowser's Inside Story also for the DS, where you got to control Bowser as well as the Mario Bros, again is was hilarious and ranks as one of the finest DS games. The fourth game, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team was released to strong reviews on the 3DS a couple of weeks ago in PAL territories and on the 11th August elsewhere and offers a different graphic style with the focus squarely on Luigi. but if you haven't played Superstar Saga...FOR CHUFF SAKE GET TO IT!!!
If you enjoyed this week's edition of GBAtemp Recommends! please leave a comment in the thread. This helps us monitor feedback and ensures we keep posting these articles in the future.
Platform Gameboy Advance
Released November 2003
Developer AlphaDream &Vanpool
Publisher Nintendo
Director Yoshihiko Maekawa
Genre Turn-based RPG
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