Two games. One set the fire high, while one plunged into the pit of disgrace and fails by the standards of all RPGs. One is for Gameboy Advance, one is for DS. These games are Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. These games, alike, yet so different. So alike, but the differences are what distinguishes them from each other, and makes one stand out in front of the other. I will be grading each of these games on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best.
Story:
Superstar Saga: 9
Great story, one of the best I've seen. The ambassador from the Beanbean Kingdom comes to give Princess Peach a gift. But it's not really the ambassador; it's these two diabolical characters by the names of Fawful and Cackletta. They steal Peach’s voice and replace it with explosive vocabulary. They then try to use Peach’s voice to awaken the Beanstar, and use it to grant Cackletta’s desires and rule the world. It's by far a great storyline, especially the twist, which is that Bowser sides with Mario and Luigi! That's right, instead of fighting Bowser, he's actually on your side. I loved this part, and thought that the overall storyline was cleverly outlined. The one error that prevented me from giving the story a 10 is the fact that Luigi didn't even want to go, and he was portrayed as a coward in the beginning.
Partners in Time: 4
Horrible, I couldn't even follow along
with what the storyline was. It was way too confusing, with too many parts
that didn't make any sense or have any relationship with the plot at all.
So, the deal is basically that back in the past, a group of alien mushrooms
know as the Shroobs attempt to takeover the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and
Luigi reunite with their former selves and now you pretty much have 4 Mario
Bros. This makes no sense to me, why all of a sudden do they just appear
in the past if it's already happened? And then there is the whole E. Gadd’s
time machine and the time holes that make the whole story an overall meltdown
of hard to follow and off-track charades that help ruin the poor story
even more.
Controls:
Superstar Saga: 10
Outstanding job done by Nintendo on the controls. There are not too many controls, and all of them are pretty simple. At first I thought that it would be hard using A for Mario and B for Luigi, but it is pretty simple and I got the hang of it almost immediately. I never had to stop and look at the little control book due to the fact that the controls were anything but confusing.
Partners in Time: 4
As before, this game’s controls fail
miserably compared to the ones of Superstar Saga. I never mastered the
controls until I was almost at the end of the game. Not only is there A
and B to control the Bros, but there is also X and Y for the Babies. There
are also way too many complicated field moves. I just don’t see why you
couldn’t stick with A and B, and use select to switch from Mario and Luigi
to Baby Mario and Baby Luigi. In my opinion, the controls fail.
Graphics:
Superstar Saga: 6
Nothing too horrible, yet nothing off
the chart either. The graphics are adequate, and aren’t really exquisite
graphics with vivid details. They vague but not horrible, just an average
ranking in this category. The graphics of the characters aren’t really
good; in fact, this is the main dud here. There wasn’t much detail put
into the characters’ appearance.
Partners in Time: 6
Pretty much, nothing has been upgraded
from the last one. The only graphics that changed was probably... nothing,
actually. They’re pretty much identical to those of Superstar Saga. I was
more disappointed in this game’s graphics just because after seeing how
plain Superstar Saga was I expected Nintendo to upgrade these graphics
significantly.
Music:
Superstar Saga: 10
Unbelievably great music. Out of all the Mario games, I think this one has the best music. Every song was catchy and remained in my head the rest of the day. The battle theme was amazing and was perfectly orchestrated to fit the mood of a fight. The boss music was epic and fit the theme of the battle perfectly. And the field music was the best, as it fit the areas perfectly. Oho Oasis has some of the best music I've heard in a Mario game; it is very catchy and fitting for a tropical paradise. Chucklehuck Woods was a very good tune and had really great rhythm. Teehee Valley was perfect. It sounded like a war battlefield, and as you protected Peach, the music put you in a great mood despite the few hundreds of times you'd lose Peach. Wonderful job, Nintendo, the best yet.
Partners in Time: 8
Not as great as Superstar Sagas, but
still pretty good. However, my major complaint was the battle fights. The
battle music wasn’t nearly as good as Superstar Saga’s was, and was pretty
mediocre and disgusting. The field music was still very good. Thwomp Mountain
was very good, and my favorite melody in the entire game. The boss music
was about as good as Superstar Saga’s was, only it sounded a bit less epic.
Characters:
Superstar Saga: 10
This was truly terrific. Superstar Saga, for the most part, used brand new characters, with the exception of Mario and Luigi. There is only a part of the game in which you see Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Birdo, and a few more characters that have been seen already. The game introduces you to great new characters such as Prince Peasley, Cackletta, Fawful, Popple, and Lady Lima, just to tip the iceberg. The creativity of the everyday civilians as bean people seemed lame at first, but has a unique feel to it. Overall, the new group of characters was truly a work of Nintendo at its finest.
Partners in Time: 8
Again, it was a great job by Nintendo,
but just a notch below Superstar Sagas. There was a great variety
of new characters such as Swiggler, Princess Shroob, Mrs. Thwomp, and Kylie
Koopa, to name a few. The Shroob people were creative too, using Mushroom
Kingdom crosses to form characters such as Shroobsworth, Shroob Rex, and
Shroob-omb. However, unlike Superstar Saga, there are far too many characters
that have been in previous games. Toadsworth and E. Gadd are main characters
in the game, and what bothers me is that Petey Piranha makes an appearance
as a boss working for the Shroobs. It makes no sense that Petey would find
the Shroobs, who live on another planet, and work for them.
Battles:
Superstar Saga: 9
These battles were very good. The bosses and enemies had just the right amount of HP, not too much and not too little. The attacks weren’t too unreal, too strong, or too hard to dodge; the fights seemed perfect. The attacks could get a bit hard to time, but for the most part, everything seemed pretty good.
Partners in Time: 3
Disgusting, absolutely horrible. The
enemies have way too much HP, and it takes forever to beat them. The enemies
also have way too much attack power. The attacks are most of the time very
hard to dodge. Overall, nothing good to say at all about this section.
Puzzles:
Superstar Saga: 10
Absolutely amazing. The puzzles were lots of fun to solve. They required a great deal of thinking, and when solved a rewarding feeling comes across you. The puzzles were lots of fun to work out, as to solve some you had to use field work, win battles, and use techniques learned to solve these puzzles. The puzzles also showed a great deal of creativity, from going through a maze of barrels where you cannot see your character, to finding ways to get across paths.
Partners in Time: 10
This is the high point in the game.
The puzzles were just as great as Superstar Saga’s. This is pretty much
exactly like Superstar Saga, so there isn’t a point in repeating all this.
Length:
Superstar Saga: 6
Pretty decent length. For an RPG, it can seem a little long, but not too bad. Besides, with the enjoyment you get from this game, the length will seem way shorter than it actually is. Some of the game's length is pretty much off story, so it doesn’t have a perfect length. The whole Teehee Valley trip seemed a little off-story, as well as the Oho Oasis part. Overall, the length wasn't too long.
Partners in Time: 3
This seemed too long. It was just continuous
and seemed way too long. Several parts of the game were irrelevant to the
plot. I felt several parts to the story were completely off-story,
such as the basement part of the desert area was unnecessary and was extremely
boring.
Fun Factor!:
Superstar Saga: 10
This game will be so fun; you won't want to stop playing! This game was the most fun RPG I've ever played. Although this game was tough at times, it was still fun to solve the puzzles; battles were fun, and there was never a dull moment in the game. This game is a very enjoyable one. The fun never ends in this game.
Partners in Time: 4
This game was very, very boring. The
incredible length will make this game seem so boring. The main objectives
are not fun at all, the dialect is flat, jokes are lame, and overall there
are not really any fun parts to this game. I think giving this game anything
but a 1 for Fun Factor is generous.
Overall:
Superstar Saga: 80/90
This game will be one of the best you ever play. No matter how you break the game down, there are very few flaws in this game. I highly recommend this game to any Mario fan who is looking for a fun game to enjoy. Don't hesitate, go out and buy it now, once you get it you won't want to stop playing until you beat this game.
Partners in Time: 50/90
By all means, I advise you not to buy this. This game was the biggest waste of money ever. You will hate this game to death when bought. However, if you're one of those die-hard, must play every Mario game, fans then rent it, don't buy. If you even think about buying this game after reading this Review you should be labeled a fool.
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