Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

Screenshots

Notes

This is the second Mario & Luigi game, sequel to Superstar Saga on the GBA.

I enjoyed this a lot less than the first one. I think it might be the worst one in comparison to SS and Bowser's Inside Story (coming up later on the DS).

The babies are the big new gimmick, using X and Y to control them, but they don't really land. Splitting the party is kind of cool but not mind blowing. A lot of what you actually end up doing, like the special moves, is derivative of SS but made more awkward by needing to split up the party to do them.

Compared to SS, almost every aspect of the game has been simplified. No more MP for Bros attacks, now they are items you find. This makes resource management much simpler as you just save most of them for boss fights and then unleash effectively unlimited big hits. Only one type of bean to find. No connect overworld, instead a series of stages with no incentive to explore or backtrack.

The game feels really.. slow in general. Dungeons go on for about 2-3x as long as I wanted them to with the same 2-3 enemies throughout and the same puzzle mechanics. Many regular enemies have attacks that go on for ages, bogging down random encounters which should be short and punchy. Many bros item attacks take a really long time to execute, especially if you want maximum damage. The game as a whole just really dragged for me.

That's a bunch of complaining, the game is still really good in a lot of ways but just doesn't live up to the potential of the series.