Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions

Mechanics

The game is an unusual arcade RPG featuring the turn-based combat. Players get to control two characters – Mario and Luigi. When exploring the in-game locations, one controls only one character, which is followed by the other one, however, when performing actions such as jumping, a player has to press buttons for each character separately. The gameplay resembles classic platform games. Together, Mario brothers traverse the locations, jump over chasms, and exhibit unique abilities that can be used when solving simple puzzles – for example, Luigi can hit Mario with his hammer to make him smaller and allow him to crawl into previously inaccessible places.

Combat differs significantly from the exploration – a player cannot move his characters at his pleasure; however, one can dodge enemy’s blows, jump over the incoming shots, and perform other moves by choosing from the available commands. The main protagonists can thus jump on enemies’ heads, strike them with the aforementioned hammer, and perform together special attacks.

Game modes

Apart from the story campaign, the 3DS release of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions features a mode that was unavailable in the original release, namely the Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser. It presents the adventures of Mario brother from the perspective of other characters – Captain Goomba, ShyGuy, Boo, and others.

Technical aspects

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions is a remake in the true sense of the word. The developers held on to the visuals’ style, however, they have improved the character models and made sure to implement better lighting effects. All this makes for a quite decent experience.