You Built a Time Machine... Out of a Mario Game?

In late 2003, gamers were treated to the quirky and exceptionally fun Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance. It combined the platforming and action of a Mario game with an RPG, then liberally coated it with some of the funniest dialogue and characters. The result was one of the best games of 2003.

The story of Mario and Luigi is definitely not the greatest RPG tale ever told. It involves the alien race of the Shroobs and their attempts to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, both in the past and the present. To fight the menace Mario and Luigi team up with their young selves and travel back and forth through time.

The characters in this title are stereotypical and lackluster than those of the previous title. Luigi is constantly afraid and the babies cry over just about everything, while Mario stands there trying to console them all. The villains speak only in symbols, making them a boring menace and there is little explanation as to why they want to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom.

Sadly, there are only two bright spots in the character list: the sentient piece of luggage who helps you, and the brief return of Fawful, the funniest character Nintendo has ever created. After the thoroughly amusing and creative characters of Superstar Saga, Partners in Time’s cast falls flatter than a squished Goomba.

The most grievous problem with this game is what made Superstar Saga great: the humor. Superstar Saga had jokes that ranged from political satire using Mario characters to truly bizarre moments (Fawful’s constant rambling diatribes), to the occasional physical comedy. It was a game that could be embraced by any player. Partners in Time eschews the broad-based humor of its predecessor and instead embraces constant jokes about being hit by hammers or Luigi getting scared of something. The only moment that I chuckled about was encountering the l33t-speaking Hammer Brothers. In contrast, Superstar Saga offered up laughs every hour. When you make a sequel to a game known for its humor, a developer should strive to make it as funny, if not funnier, than the original. Partners in Time did not do this.

The graphics, while having cleaner sprites than its GBA predecessor, are not impressive and demonstrate few, if any, improvements in the past two years. The dual-screens of the DS are rarely used for anything except for when the characters go their own ways to solve puzzles and to make enemies able to fly higher in battle. The sound is also unexceptional. The Mario themes are nice, but there was not a large variety in music, effects, and character voices.

Another problem that made me want to throw my DS was the control. In battles the characters use their jumping and hammering abilities to attack and defend themselves. Unfortunately the timing required to avoid attacks is far more precise than that of Superstar Saga, resulting in many cheap hits when you’re learning an enemies’ attacks. On top of that, when abilities are learned that involve all four brothers, the control is not intuitive enough to use them effectively. I spent more than 20 hours playing this title and was not comfortable with the controls even after the credits rolled. In a game that relies so much on action, controls such as these are unacceptable.

All in all Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time is a huge disappointment. I had the highest hopes for the game and it let me down in all areas. Admittedly it was bound to be difficult to make a title as good as Superstar Saga, but this game did not even come close to the greatness of Superstar Saga. I still hope that there will be another title in the Mario and Luigi series, but after my experience with Partners in Time it had better be as good as Superstar Saga. To paraphrase Fawful, this game made me have fury.

Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Control: 6/10
Gameplay: 6.5/10
Overall: 6.75/10