What is your favorite Mario and Luigi game?

[nicklesimba]

Whoo! First post!

Many people love and rejoice Super Mario RPG for revolutionizing the world of role-playing games. Others prefer the Paper Mario series for its beautiful aesthetics and fun partner system. But not many people know about one of the finest handheld RPGs of the decade - the Mario and Luigi series. When I mention those games to a friend, it's either "eh, it's not Paper Mario" or "what's that?" and that concerns me quite a bit, so I wanted to talk about what makes these games so great, and which of the four I like best.

So first of all, if you know nothing about this series, it's (obviously) a role-playing game starring Mario and Luigi that consists of combining the fast pace of a rhythm mini-game, the intensity of a jrpg (okay maybe not as intense), and the quirky characters of the Mario universe. Gameplay consists of - well, it's better to see it in action (don't worry, no spoilers).

Awesome, right?

And if you have played the games, you know just how good they are. The dialogue is always witty, the plot is always enjoyable, and the battles are oh-so satisfying.

So anyway, here's my take on the series from worst to greatest!

4. Dream Team
Call me old fashioned, but I like a game that doesn't hold my hand the entire way through. Dream Team is my least favorite game in the series, and is an INSULT to the series. Okay, I take it back. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team may be my least favorite, but it's still tons of fun. It handled the change to 3d by changing the backgrounds to 3d environments but kept the characters as sprites, giving it a vaguely Super Mario RPG feel. The puzzles added some new gimmicks that would have been really fun...if not for the constant tutorials. And the battle system was fine-tuned to near perfection, which kept my interest whenever I started to feel bored. With a few side-quests and a hard mode for post-game fun, this game was still truly a worthy game in the Mario and Luigi series.

3. Partners in Time
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time is the second game in what was once thought to be a collection of three (before Dream Team's unexpected announcement). And to me, it felt like PiT was the awkward middle child of the series. It shifted the focus from exploration to linear levels with a focus on battling over puzzling and collecting. Everything about this game stands out from all the other games, but not all of the change was unwelcome to me. With the addition of Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, the battles were far more complicated, making full use of the x and y buttons on the ds. This made everything from the most basic puzzles to the most simple battles a hell of a lot more difficult, and never unfairly so.

2. Superstar Saga
This game. Wow. Although it was the most simple and limited game in the series (being on a gameboy advance), it managed to be the most complex and imaginative. Maybe it's just nostalgia speaking, but exploring the world outside of the Mushroom Kingdom for the first time was just amazing. Each location was fresh and each enemy was new. The game told you where to go, but didn't make you go. Want to ignore your quest and go side-questing? Sure, knock yourself out, because there's plenty of stuff to do. Want references to Luigi's Mansion? Here, have a few! Want hilarious dialogue and a story that doesn't take itself too seriously? You're in the right place. If it wasn't for the simplistic battle system, this game would be my number one.

1. Bowser's Inside Story
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a shining example of what a Mario and Luigi game should be. BIS not only emulated the magic of the first game, but allowed us to play as Bowser. Bowser! I don't know about you, but Bowser is hands down my favorite character in the Mario-verse. He's a egotistic jerk that still managed to have me laughing through the whole game. And let's not forget the bad-assery of the first giant Bowser battle. Luigi battles don't have squat on that. But beyond that, BIS gave us further insight about the Mushroom Kingdom. Sure, the Bean Kingdom and Pi'llo Island were cool, but the Mushroom Kingdom was just awesome. Seeing Bowser's minions praise him relentlessly and the toads retreat when Bowser entered Toad Town? Priceless. And with Bowser becoming an anti-hero of sorts, the game left Fawful, perhaps one of gamings most hilariously epic villains go on a rampage. There was just a lot of replayability in this one, and the atmosphere was just perfect.

As you can see, I have a lot of love for this series, and if you've played a Mario and Luigi game, you should too! If you haven't, what are you doing with your life?!? Go pick up a copy now! I mean it!

...was this post too long? I dunno. ;P
But yeah, reply with your favorite title in the series, and why. Happy gaming!

 

[sodajet]

I've never actually played any of those games, although some of them seem interesting (Bowser's Inside Story). I've really only played Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros 1/2 but those only featured the brothers as playable characters and didn't really have a story or anything for both of them. Super Mario 64 had some different powerups and abilities for Luigi though, if that counts.

 

[Mikaya]

I've played SuperStar Saga (also the first) and Bowser's inside Story. I enjoyed Bowser's inside story the most, it was weird traveling inside the body of Mario's nemesis. What a weird but wonderful story/idea.

RPG action + Mario is an awesome combo, I must say. <3

 

[423]

My favorite Mario and Luigi game is Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. I'd say this game is the best out of the series because it has the most creative concept, plus the game is downright fantastic! I'd definitely play it again sometime!

 

[nicklesimba]

Hmm..was expecting more Superstar Saga lovers. XD

 

[Icemario]

I've played all of them thoroughly and love each and every single game dearly so I don't really want to rank all of them like the OP did.

Superstar Saga was a wacky experience and my first M&L game so I have good memories with it. The Bros. Moves were fun to use and experiment with, and the creativity behind the entire game was powerful. Additionally, I loved the hand actions and hope they appear in some form in future games. The music was great and the game challenged me towards the end.

Partners in Time was full of hilarity with the comical inclusion of the babies beside the older bros. The Bros. Items was something I was eh about, but something I lived with. This was a darker game, but not so dark to the point I couldn't bear with it when I got around to really playing it. The gameplay felt improved and I liked the concept behind the playable characters, so overall I deeply enjoyed this as well.

Bowser's Inside Story had Bowser playable, which while cool I didn't find it as amazing as most people found that inclusion, and the same goes for Fawful's (though it's still nice). At times the atmosphere was excellent, the music was great, the story was good and the gameplay was alright, but besides that there was frustrating minigames, painful side-content, a horrible giant battle gimmick that killed off any replay value for me, bland Special Moves that never thought too out of the box, and a pretty slow start to the game. I don't like this game as much as most people do, but it's still a great game to me.

Dream Team was easily my favourite of the series, and I honestly don't see why almost everyone gets their panties in a bunch over tutorials that you can easily mash through appearing throughout the game; it makes sense considering it's always introducing new Dream World gimmicks throughout the game. And the slow start this game has is honestly better than Bowser's Inside Story considering it doesn't get out of it and starts becoming somewhat fun until after Plack Beach, from how I see it. Plus the start of Dream Team keeps you on your toes because the game is harder (another thing I like) than the other games. The music and gameplay are amazing, the plot is good but could be better, I love the graphical change this game experienced, the Bros. Attacks were significantly improved; the variety of commands was excellent and splitting them between the Bros. keeps them both useful and different from each other besides stats, which was definitely a very clever move.

I really liked the Dream World and what they did with it, and the NPCs (not major characters) in this game were pretty hilarious at times and the side content was pretty good but I would've liked more of it. The minigames weren't nearly as frustrating and were actually fun, the giant battles were executed far better in this game and while the gyro controls can freak out on the odd occasion, it usually fixes itself very quickly. The inclusion of an in-game Jukebox and a Hard Mode is merely icing on the cake, and the Battle Ring didn't require insane amounts of time grinding just to be able to beat. The atmosphere wasn't as strong as Bowser's Inside Story, but it was a strong as the other two games and that's perfectly fine IMO.

And if you read that, you deserve absolutely nothing from me because I didn't ask you to.

 

[nicklesimba]

Plus the start of Dream Team keeps you on your toes because the game is harder (another thing I like) than the other games.

Did you find the battles in PiT more or less difficult than Dream Team?

 

[Artisan]

Well I've only played the first two in the series and it was interesting how much they've changed. Superstar Saga was great because the Bros. move looked cool and although the battles were easy that didn't mean they weren't fun (however I wish there were more of 'em). SS also had neat minigames and a lot of cameos in the cafe part of the game (Samus and Olimar/Pikmin were in the beta and would've showed up there). PiT had you use items instead of Bros. Attacks which I was fine with and the bosses were certainly harder (for some reason it was even more fun) however at the end of the game when I faced

Spoiler

Princess Shroob (not the Elder one)

the almost final boss I had a lot more trouble with it than I had with the whole rest of the game combined. Perhaps it was because I was younger when I played it. The babies were a nice addition which added to the original exploration factor and getting new abilities as you progress as well as a main part of the plot. Perhaps I need to play PiT again before I can rate it up against SS however.

 

[Icemario]

@Artisan, I'm pretty sure that was because in the North American version, the final boss had loads of HP so the fight dragged on and ate your resources.

Did you find the battles in PiT more or less difficult than Dream Team?

Less difficult, I'd say. It was probably the second-hardest in terms of difficulty, followed by Superstar Saga and then Bowser's Inside Story.

 

[zekiebouy]

Bowsers inside story is the best one I've played! Mario and Luigi dream team looks really good too though... Don't know if I'll go as far as buying it but I guess I'll wait and see ;P super Mario 3D land wasn't terrible either! Other than that I really haven't played much more.. Except the old ones which I simply adore! ;P LONG LIVE SUPER MARIO 3!

 

[Moon Rain]

I remember playing Partners in Time when I was 7, and when I finally defeated Princess Shroob, she called her octupus sister, and I thought that she was almost impossible to defeat. Every day after school I'd continue battling her, but I got defeated. I started a new game a year later and I still couldn't defeat her, and finally, when I was 9 I think I managed to kill her Victory was mineeeee it was so frustrating for me at that time that I just couldn't defeat her, but I felt so great when I saw the credits . My favourite is Bowser's Inside story though, such an unique game, and playing inside Bowser's body as Mario and Luigi was totally awesome, so was playing as Bowser! Also, great music and really funny, especially Fawful

 

[3391]

My favorite was Partnes in time, it was tricky at times, had a good story line, and the babies were in it! (totally not my favorite part )
I also liked how the babies would affect the battle and the choices of items/powers you could use.

 

[Ashkil]

Superstar Saga. The original just oozed of charm which I felt the later games lacked. Plus the game was somehow just more fun to play on pure mechanics wise. The story also was quite a bit funnier.

 

[EstebanTill2]

I liked mario and luigi Bowser's inside story, but to tell you the truth, I loved Dream team. I think one of the coolest features of this game was the possibility of travelling between two worlds, I mean, playing in two different worlds and how the real world affected the dream world.

 

[Ichimaru]

The only one I have played is Mario and Luigi Dream Team for the Nintendo 3ds the demo.The partnership was good and how they help each other out through problems and so on as well as when they were fighting bosses in he games their moves came together and made hammers and all of that out of luigi.

 

[3dslikegame]

My favorite game is Mario and Luigi:
Mario and Luigi dream team bros.
You have to walk in a 3D world.
You need to have adventures and you can make super cute crazy things with Luigi.
This is truly an adventure you can not miss.
Really recommended to buy.

 

[Knight Rain]

Bowsers inside story was really good. Dream team was good as well but not as much as browsers inside story

 

[9070]

I've only played Bowser's Inside Story and Dream Team, but out of the two I enjoyed Bowser's Inside Story much more. Going in and out of Bowser was fun.

Dream Team is great in it's own right but BIS is goat.

 

[Mrmariobros222]

Whoo! First post!

Many people love and rejoice Super Mario RPG for revolutionizing the world of role-playing games. Others prefer the Paper Mario series for its beautiful aesthetics and fun partner system. But not many people know about one of the finest handheld RPGs of the decade - the Mario and Luigi series. When I mention those games to a friend, it's either "eh, it's not Paper Mario" or "what's that?" and that concerns me quite a bit, so I wanted to talk about what makes these games so great, and which of the four I like best.

So first of all, if you know nothing about this series, it's (obviously) a role-playing game starring Mario and Luigi that consists of combining the fast pace of a rhythm mini-game, the intensity of a jrpg (okay maybe not as intense), and the quirky characters of the Mario universe. Gameplay consists of - well, it's better to see it in action (don't worry, no spoilers).

Awesome, right?

And if you have played the games, you know just how good they are. The dialogue is always witty, the plot is always enjoyable, and the battles are oh-so satisfying.

So anyway, here's my take on the series from worst to greatest!

4. Dream Team
Call me old fashioned, but I like a game that doesn't hold my hand the entire way through. Dream Team is my least favorite game in the series, and is an INSULT to the series. Okay, I take it back. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team may be my least favorite, but it's still tons of fun. It handled the change to 3d by changing the backgrounds to 3d environments but kept the characters as sprites, giving it a vaguely Super Mario RPG feel. The puzzles added some new gimmicks that would have been really fun...if not for the constant tutorials. And the battle system was fine-tuned to near perfection, which kept my interest whenever I started to feel bored. With a few side-quests and a hard mode for post-game fun, this game was still truly a worthy game in the Mario and Luigi series.

3. Partners in Time
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time is the second game in what was once thought to be a collection of three (before Dream Team's unexpected announcement). And to me, it felt like PiT was the awkward middle child of the series. It shifted the focus from exploration to linear levels with a focus on battling over puzzling and collecting. Everything about this game stands out from all the other games, but not all of the change was unwelcome to me. With the addition of Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, the battles were far more complicated, making full use of the x and y buttons on the ds. This made everything from the most basic puzzles to the most simple battles a hell of a lot more difficult, and never unfairly so.

2. Superstar Saga
This game. Wow. Although it was the most simple and limited game in the series (being on a gameboy advance), it managed to be the most complex and imaginative. Maybe it's just nostalgia speaking, but exploring the world outside of the Mushroom Kingdom for the first time was just amazing. Each location was fresh and each enemy was new. The game told you where to go, but didn't make you go. Want to ignore your quest and go side-questing? Sure, knock yourself out, because there's plenty of stuff to do. Want references to Luigi's Mansion? Here, have a few! Want hilarious dialogue and a story that doesn't take itself too seriously? You're in the right place. If it wasn't for the simplistic battle system, this game would be my number one.

1. Bowser's Inside Story
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a shining example of what a Mario and Luigi game should be. BIS not only emulated the magic of the first game, but allowed us to play as Bowser. Bowser! I don't know about you, but Bowser is hands down my favorite character in the Mario-verse. He's a egotistic jerk that still managed to have me laughing through the whole game. And let's not forget the bad-assery of the first giant Bowser battle. Luigi battles don't have squat on that. But beyond that, BIS gave us further insight about the Mushroom Kingdom. Sure, the Bean Kingdom and Pi'llo Island were cool, but the Mushroom Kingdom was just awesome. Seeing Bowser's minions praise him relentlessly and the toads retreat when Bowser entered Toad Town? Priceless. And with Bowser becoming an anti-hero of sorts, the game left Fawful, perhaps one of gamings most hilariously epic villains go on a rampage. There was just a lot of replayability in this one, and the atmosphere was just perfect.

As you can see, I have a lot of love for this series, and if you've played a Mario and Luigi game, you should too! If you haven't, what are you doing with your life?!? Go pick up a copy now! I mean it!

...was this post too long? I dunno. ;P
But yeah, reply with your favorite title in the series, and why. Happy gaming!

Super Star saga is my #1 favorite Mario and Luigi RPG game,is the first time luigi goes with mario and some crazy attacks with him with the bros. attack and the story is really good, an evil guy takes princess peach's voice (which is not the real peach) and decided to use her voice to take over bean bean kingdom's bean star and now Mario and Luigi must find the culprit of the mess and to save the bean bean kingdom from the enemies named cackleta and her assistant, fawful.

 

[Furnix]

My favourite is probably Mario and Luigi Partners in Time. It was cool but also dark. With shroobs invading the mushroom kingdom, time travel and younger versions of mario, luigi, and Bowser. I remember me and my friends spending hours on that frustrating minigame before the final boss. I hated that so much! After that we easily defeated the final boss. We were like 7.