Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Character Sheet: The Koopalings (Revision)

 THE KOOPALINGS


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

This should be pretty short and sweet. The Koopalings appear only once in this run of games, as bosses in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (because they probably weren't allowed to use unique characters any more, but, hey, that's just a theory). They worked in teams, but mostly had a lot of their basic attacks that you normally see them using. For instance, they spin, stomp, create multiples of themselves, breath fire, spin in their shells, pop around through pipes, and throw rings. They also had a big old time bomb, but no matter.

Here is their moveset:

Standard B: Magic Ring

Side B: Bullet Bill Blaster

Up B: Bouncy Ball

Down B: Giant Hammer

Final Smash: Airships

Entrance: The whole Koopaling crew will descend in their giant Klown Kar, and the one selected by the player will hop off onto the stage.

Taunts: Varies depending on the Koopaling.

Next up: Let's cover the Koopa Troopas. I don't think they'll offer up much new.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Character Sheet: Bowser Jr. (Revision)

 BOWSER JR.


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

Today, let's cover Bowser's kid, Bowser Jr. The little tyke appears exactly twice in this run of games (certain remake expansions not withstanding), as one of the temporary members of your team in Origami King, and as a secondary villain, alongside his paper version in Paper Jam. Honestly, with these two games, the kid is the most likeable he's ever been.

There's not a whole lot to cover here. In Origami King, he only has a basic attack much like the rest of your "companions" in game. In Paper Jam though, he and his paper self antagonize you a few times, resulting in a couple battles. Across all of this, he flies around in his Klown Kar as usual, throws spike balls and bob-ombs, breathes fire, tickles you with a paintbrush (hmm, that's not a reference I've seen in a while), throws paper airplane, and utilizes a giant bomb.

Let's see how it all changes up!


Standard B: Cannonball

Side B: Bomb Throw
Can't use Mechakoopa either anymore. Hmm . . .

Up B: Eject

Down B: Transform

Final Smash: Mechabowser

Entrance: He could float down in the Klown Kar.

Taunts: His famous snicker has to be involved somehow. Maybe hopping out and painting in the air with his paintbrush. His tendency to put his hand over his eyes and look around. So on.

Next up: Let's cover his siblings and/or his dad's generals, the Koopalings!

Monday, September 28, 2020

Character Sheet: Dry Bowser (Revision)

DRY BOWSER


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

Not much to say here. Dry Bowser appears a couple of times in the Mario & Luigi series as an alternate for Bowser in the resident Battle Arena. As such, he mostly just fights like Bowser.

Here's his moveset:

Standard B: Fire Breath

Side B: Boulder
Bone ball, something like that.

Up B: Shell Spin

Down B: Slam Down

Final Smash: Giant Dry Bowser

Entrance: He'll rise from flames.

Taunts: Doing his more bony clinking roar, falling apart and coming back together, and so on.

Next up: Let's go over Bowser Jr.!

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Character Sheet: Bowser (Revision)

 BOWSER


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

Today, let's cover Bowser, who had a pretty sizeable role in pretty much every game here, acting as a secondary antagonist, ally, and even playable protagonist in Bowser's Inside Story. You fight him several times across the games, not least because the Mario & Luigi games felt the need to end on a Bowser battle whether or not he was the main villain of the game.

A lot of it is pretty basic Bowser stuff, like breathing fire, stomping, throwing hammers, spinning in his shell, causing shockwaves, punching, body slamming, charging, grabbing, throwing bombs, and flying around in his Koopa Klown Kar, but several other things are more specific to each game. In Origami King, he spends most of the game folded up into a square, but he still helps where he can. In his Bowser's Inside Story moveset, he can suck things in, roll around as a spike ball, and use his minions for various attacks. His final battle in each is a sort of super form, with Cackletta and Princess Shroob possessing him in the first two, the Dark Star mimicking him in the third, gaining a Dreamy Form in Dream Team, and wearing his paper counterpart as a suit of armor in Paper Jam.

Here's his moveset:

Standard B: Fire Breath
Can't do without it.

Side B: Boulder
Although rolling around in a ball like he did in Inside Story would be pretty cool.

Up B: Shell Spin

Down B: Slam Down
Standard shockwave thing. Still should have a shifter to Dry Bowser though for consistency.

Final Smash: Giant Bowser
Maybe we can shake it up and have some of these other giant forms show up now and then.

Entrance: Bowser will land in his Koopa Klown Kar.

Taunts: His evil laugh from Super Mario 64, many of his taunts from Odyssey and other games, holding up a captive something or other, the list goes on.

Next up: Let's cover Dry Bowser real quick!

Friday, September 25, 2020

Character Sheet: Toadette (Revision)

 TOADETTE


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

Today, let's cover Toadette. She appears precisely once in this run of games, in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, as a supporting character and builder of the Papercrafts. That said, I remain thoroughly convinced she took over the role originally intended for Kylie Koopa, as most of her behavior and mannerisms in the game are far more reminiscent of Kylie's and seem a bit out of character for Toadette herself. However, one thing we do have to talk about is the fact that Captain Toad has gained enough through Professor Toad to warrant his own moveset, and Toadette will make the jump from being Toad's echo to Captain Toad's. So . . . consider this the debut of Captain Toad's moveset, I guess.

Here's her moveset:


Standard B: Flashbulb

This one is based on hers and Captain Toad's helmets ability to stun and kill Boos using the flashlight on top. Toadette will put on her helmet and it will glow brightly, doing damage to those in the vicinity


Side B: Pickaxe

This is based on the Pickaxe item appearing in the game, a powerful weapon that acts similarly to the hammer in Smash. They will pull it out and swing it up and down while moving forward for a short period.


Up B: Fan

This is based on the fans that appear in Treasure Tracker and elsewhere that require you to blow into the mike and blow them upward. A fan will appear below their feet and send them flying upward.


Down B: Dig Up

This one is based on Professor Toad's in combat ability. Since they also follow the explorer theme, it fits well for them to inherit it. Both will dig into the ground with a shovel. Captain Toad will unearth coins that will hit anyone nearby, but Toadette will have the chance to dig up a Peach Crown, thus allowing her to transform into Peachette.


Final Smash: Papercraft

This will not be Captain Toad's final smash. A group of Toads will bring in one of the Papercrafts she built throughout the game and carry it around, using it to smack its hammer and throw fireballs around the stage.


Entrance: Stepping out of a cave with the Toad Brigade theme playing


Taunts: Waving and winking, tucking her hands together under her chin the way she does, maybe she could even inherit Kylie's big thumbs up thing.


Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover the big bad bruiser, Bowser himself.

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Character Sheet: Toad (Revision)

TOAD


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

Not much to say on Toads this time around. They mostly just act as the NPCs inhabiting the games with not much more to offer outside of being affected by the villain of the week, like getting inflated to ginormous proportions by Fawful in Bowser's Inside Story. A few individuals stand out, like Toadbert or Professor Toad, but not much to say really. The most interesting thing going on here is the bit of a shake-up I'm doing in regards to the Toad characters on the roster. Basically, Professor Toad helped me nail down a unique concept for Captain Toad, meaning he will have his own slot. And as Toadette is well known now for her particular participation in Treasure Tracker, she could easily make the jump to being either one's echo. And if she is Captain Toad's echo, well, there's a certain other prominent Toad that has been left out thus far, and I think it's high time to rectify that.

Here's his moveset:

Standard B: Pick Up and Throw
I have returned to Toad's moveset prior to Treasure Tracker, thus removing any influence Captain Toad had on the moveset.

Side B: Ice Flower OR Boomerang Flower

Up B: Propeller Hat

Down B: Treasure Chest
Could possibly turn him into Captain Toad.

Final Smash: Mega Mushroom

Entrance: He arrives aboard the Toad Brigade's ship.

Taunts: "Thank you, Mario, but our Princess is in another castle." That whistle bit at the beginning of the Toad Brigade's leitmotif. "Alright."

Next up: Let's cover his sister?, Toadette!

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Character Sheet: Princess Peach (Revision)

 PRINCESS PEACH


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

Today, let's cover Princess Peach. Although she appears in all games covered here, she really doesn't have much to go on. Most of the games, she spends half her time held captive by the respective enemy, and the other half of the time just kinda hanging around in the hub area. She gets cursed a couple times, gaining literally explosive vocabulary and growing a mushroom face at one point, but its pretty basic for her this time.

Here is her moveset:

Standard B: Group Hug
It's a good thing I got rid of that Toad counter move altogether considering certain coming developments. (Spoilers)

Side B: Sleepy Time

Up B: Parasol

Down B: Parasol Shield

Final Smash: Psych Bomb

Entrance: She floats down from the sky on her parasol.

Taunts: Her kiss of Mario at the end of many games could be one, a lot of her small movements throughout her cutscenes perhaps, some of her victory screens maybe.

Next up: It's time for Toad!

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Character Sheet: Professor E. Gadd (Revision)

 PROFESSOR E. GADD


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

Today, let's quickly go over Professor Elvin Gadd once again. Luigi's mentor in the Luigi's Mansion games, he has a few select appearances outside of those games, one of the most prominent being his role in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, where he basically kicks off the plot by inventing the time machine that allows the brothers to go into the past and meet their baby selves, as well as a younger version of the professor himself. There's not much to say here, just the time machine, as well as a giant water machine inspired by one heck of a time paradox.

Here is the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Suction

Side B: Flashbulb

Up B: Balloon OR Backfire

Down B: Gooigi

Final Smash: Super Suction
You could consider his water machine here too if you really wanted to.

Entrance: He will transport himself through his own machine.

Taunts: His famous chuckle, adjusting the settings on his poltergust, playing with Polterpup, so on.

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover the princess herself, Princess Peach!

Monday, September 21, 2020

Character Sheet: Luigi (Revision)

 LUIGI


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario 
2. Luigi 
3. Professor E. Gadd 
4. Princess Peach 
5. Toad 
6. Toadette 
7. Bowser 
8. Dry Bowser 
9. Bowser Jr. 
10. Koopalings 
11. Koopa Troopa 
12. Dry Bones 
13. Goomba 
14. Piranha Plant 
15. Boo 
16. Cheep Cheep 
17. Blooper 
18. Bob-Omb 
19. Lakitu 
20. Monty Mole 
21. Spike 
22. Hammer Bro 
23. Chargin' Chuck 
24. Wiggler 
25. Chain Chomp 
26. Birdo 
27. Petey Piranha 
28. King Boo 
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi 
31. Baby Mario 
32. Baby Bowser 
33. Kamek 
34. Shy Guy

This one is more or less just to cover the bases too, as Luigi's role in Origami King is minimal at best, and anything he does in the Mario & Luigi games will be part of the "Mario & Luigi" character slot, and in his case at least, Dreambert's.

Here is his moveset:

Standard B: Ice Flower

Side B: Boomerang

Up B: Super Jump

Down B: Item Box

Final Smash: POW Block

Entrance: Enters through a Warp Pipe

Taunts: A lot of the taunts he uses during these games, such as after he grabs the flag.

Next up: Let's cover Professor E. Gadd.

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Character Sheet: Mario (Revision)

MARIO


This will largely be our last run of revisions, for the Mario series at least. Now that the RPGs are over, pretty much every game left is either something we've already covered for the most part (Remakes, etc.), or run on a core game mechanic not unique to any one character (the Sports games). So, once these are done, I will do character sheets for new characters added and just a general sum up for everyone else. With all that said, let's get into it:

1. Mario
2. Luigi
3. Professor E. Gadd
4. Princess Peach
5. Toad
6. Toadette
7. Bowser
8. Dry Bowser
9. Bowser Jr.
10. Koopalings
11. Koopa Troopa
12. Dry Bones
13. Goomba
14. Piranha Plant
15. Boo
16. Cheep Cheep
17. Blooper
18. Bob-Omb
19. Lakitu
20. Monty Mole
21. Spike
22. Hammer Bro
23. Chargin' Chuck
24. Wiggler
25. Chain Chomp
26. Birdo
27. Petey Piranha
28. King Boo
29. Paper Mario
30. Yoshi
31. Baby Mario
32. Baby Bowser
33. Kamek
34. Shy Guy

Today, let's go over Mario. This is mostly a "Covering my bases" entry today, as pretty much every move Mario uses in this run of games will fall under either Paper Mario or the aforementioned "Mario & Luigi" character slot with the characters stylized after the artstyle of the games. So not much to cover here, I guess. On to the next one.

Here's his moveset:

Standard B: Fireball

Side B: Cape

Up B: Super Jump Punch

Down B: Item Box

Final Smash: Mario Finale

Entrance: Pops up from a warp pipe.

Taunts: Still okay with his various Smash taunts as most of them are reflected in game.

Next up, let's go over Luigi again!

Friday, September 18, 2020

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

 MARIO & LUIGI: PAPER JAM


So, there's this thing going around lately, this interview with the director of Origami King, where he strongly implies that sometime following the release of Super Paper Mario, the Paper Mario development team were not allowed to make original characters any more and had to stick pretty much entirely to the core Mario cast and enemies, which we can very clearly see the effects of in all three games following in the series. Even in Origami King, where the writing and characters were strong, it's rather telling that one of the most interesting characters was only really named "Bob-Omb." Considering all this would have been roughly post-Dream Team, I think it's fair to say that had its effects on the Mario & Luigi series as well. (Though, to AlphaDream's credit, at least they still made a good game of it regardless).

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam acts as a crossover of sorts between the Mario & Luigi series and the Paper Mario series, with the plot involving Luigi accidentally opening a magic book and releasing paper versions of all the characters in the Mushroom Kingdom, leading the brothers to team up with Mario's paper self in order to put all the pages back together and return the paper characters to their own world.

The game's main playable characters are Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario all working together as a threesome. Together, they can run, jump, dash, and whack with their hammers. Paper Mario can also flutter jump, stack up several copies of himself, and turn into a paper airplane. Working together outside of battle, they can perform a number of trio moves, such as smacking all three hammers together to make a powerful shockwave, drill into the ground, fly across pits with Paper Mario in his airplane form, and form a rope to reach out and grab stuff. In battle, Mario can kick around a red shell, fire off on a rocket, throw a bunch of bombs, swing around a cannonball, and run along a trail of Toads. Luigi can use a fire flower, use a shell to drill into enemies, use the dropchopper, blow up a balloon, and grow giant to whack with a hammer. All three together have a set of moves including turning the enemies to stickers and lobbing tennis balls at them?, turning the enemy into a kite?, dropping from a high distance and hitting all the enemies on the way down, throw shurikens at the enemy, and launching a meteor at them.


I should also mention the Papercraft battles, a new form of minigame I suppose, wherein Toadette (clearly possessed by the spirit of Kylie Koopa in her mannerisms) puts together giant blocky versions of the characters to do battle with giant blocky versions of enemy characters, while our heroes ride on top. It's fun . . . I guess. The heroes' Papercrafts include a basic one for Mario, a hammer-wielding Luigi, one for Peach with a floaty parasol, an egg-throwing Yoshi, and a fireball-throwing Fire Mario. Their opponents respectively include a basic Goomba, a Kamek that shields, teleports, and casts spells, a Bowser Jr. that throws shells, drops bombs, and uses a punching glove, a King Boo that tends to float, and a fire-breathing Bowser.

Our heroes are once again joined by Starlow, once again in a mostly exposition role and once again being a dick to Luigi. We also have both Peach and Paper Peach, a number of Toads and Paper Toads, Toadette on Papercraft construction, and a few Yoshis here and there. Next, we have Nabbit, doing mostly as Nabbit does, but maybe just maybe inheriting the spirit of Popple (honestly, I would bet money that Kylie and Popple were originally intended to fill the roles of Toadette and Nabbit before all the crap went down). He will steal things, run away, toss spike balls to block pursuers' paths, burrow, create duplicates, hop on clouds, throw out coins and enemies, spin and throw his bag, sneak up on people, sleep, give healing items to the heroes, steal one of the brother's hammers and use it, and kick around a Buzzy Beetle shell. Well, thank you, Nabbit for providing for yourself such a nice and easy moveset. Good bunny.


Our villains include both regular and paper forms of our standard Mario enemies, including Bowser, Kamek, and Bowser Jr. Regular Bowser will breathe fire, ride around in his Klown Kar, throw bombs, jump around and stomp. Paper Bowser also breathes fire and has a Klown Kar, but can also form a suit of armor around Bowser for the big special Bowser battle at the end. (At least they are the main villain this time). Additionally, Dry Bowser appears in the game's battle ring and will breathe fire, throw bones, and throw his own head at you.

Bowser Jr. and his paper form have a genuinely kinda sweet friendship in this game, and both will ride around in Klown Kars and breathe fire. Additionally, Paper Bowser Jr. can turn into a paper airplane and regular Jr. sets up a giant bomb. The Kameks will both fly around on brooms, summon up new paper terrain with Magic, create force fields, teleport, cast spells, create portals, and summon magic barriers. All seven Koopalings appear in this game, although act in separate groups for most of it. Roy and Wendy (the pink team) will throw giant boulders and cannonballs and throw rings. Ludwig and Larry (the blue team) will both spin in their shells, throw giant bombs, and cast spells. And Lemmy, Iggy, and Morton (the . . . um, yellow, green, and brown team, I guess), will do their regular thing of riding around on balls, using Chain Chomps, and throwing cannonballs.

Our bosses outside of these include a few Mario favorites. They include a regular and paper version of Petey Piranha, who will bite, fly, stomp, burrow underground, spew out sludge, suck in, and cause shockwaves; King Boo, who will spit out spirit fire, shapeshift, suck things in, split into multiples, and disappear; King Bob-Omb, who throws Bob-Ombs, grabs you, and fires cannons (hey, buddy, just in time for a certain Mario Kart game to make me reconsider you as more than just part of the regular Bob-Omb moveset. Good for you!); a rampaging Wiggler who stomps, charges, rolls around on a ball, spits seeds, and grows wings; and a pair of giant Pokeys who will roll up into a wheel, lie down on the ground and roll like a bar, fling their body parts, and rise from the ground.

Our recurring enemies (mostly all regular Mario enemies) come in both paper and regular varieties. They include: Goombas, Scaredy Rats, Koopas, Biddybuds, Spinies, Sandmaarghs, Shy Guys, Bob-Ombs, Chargin' Chucks, Hammer Bros., Cheep Cheeps, Urchins, Monty Moles, Ninji (who multiply, hide behind fake walls, spin down from the ceiling, throw themselves as shurikens, and basically use substitution jutsu (man, we are getting everybody in today, aren't we?)), Piranha Plants, Buzzy Beetles, Bullies, Spikes, Pokeys, Fire Bros., Ant Troopers, Swoops, Boomerang Bros., Dry Bones, Boos, Broozers, Chain Chomps, and Mechakoopas (who breathe fire and give off electricity).


Our stages this time include Princess Peach's Castle of course, a pretty standard grassland called Sunbeam Plains, the desert Doop Doop Dunes, a beach area called Twinsy Tropics, a forest called Gloomy Woods, an icy mountain named Mount Brrr, and Bowser's Castle, later becoming Neo Bowser's Castle. Pretty basic, all things considered. But let's be honest here. The real stage to include for this game is the Papercraft Battles, with the various papercrafts acting as our platforms.

The items are pretty much standard at this point, though we do now have some paper items like Blocks to give Paper Mario more copies to stack up and Battle Cards. You know, like from Color Splash.

So, here's what we've got so far:


Characters:

Paper Mario: run, jump, hammer, flowers, confetti bag, 1000-fold arms, pull, punch, boot car, flutter jump, copies, paper airplane, Trio Hammer, Trio Drill, Trio Glider, Trio Grab, Trio Racquet, Trio Kite, Trio Whirligig, Trio Shuriken, Trio Meteor, Papercrafts

Mario & Luigi: jump, hammer, fire and lightning, spin jump, high jump, mini Mario, Luigi dunk, dash, tickle, Swing Bros, Cyclone Bros, Bros. Ball, throw babies, spring helmet, yoo who cannon, super bouncer, mighty meteor, spin pipe, snack basket, magic window, falling star, kick shell, fill up with water, side drill, bomb rally, jet-board, dropchopper, starsling, star rocket, Zeekeeper egg, Trio Hammer, Trio Drill, Trio Glider, Trio Grab, cannonball, Toad trail, drill shell, balloon blast, grow giant, Trio Racquet, Trio Kite, Trio Whirligig, Trio Shuriken, Trio Meteor, Papercrafts.

Luigi: Mario Kart

Baby Mario & Baby Luigi: drill into ground, fill up with water, flatten, float, hammers, jump, ride shell

Dreamy Luigi OR Dreambert: Luiginoids, stack, cone, ball, ground pound, spring jump, spin, spin jump swing around as a weapon, hookshot, become giant, dream portal, pillow form, float, dream bunny, seadrings, Zeekeeper

Starlow: fly, star power, pick at Luigi's face

Princess Peach: explosive vocabulary, Baby Peach

Bowser: folded, breathe fire, grow giant, stomp, throw hammers, spit poison, spin in shell, shockwaves, punch, suck things in, pull and push, body slam, roll around as a spike ball, Goomba, Shy Guy, Koopa, Bob-Omb, and Magikoopa squad attacks, charge, grab, Dreamy Bowser, duplicates, create minions, Klown Kar, throw bombs, suit of armor

Dry Bowser: breathe fire, throw bones, throw head

Baby Bowser: fire, hammer, Koopa Klown Kar

Bowser Jr.: Koopa Klown Kar, spike ball, Bob-Omb, breathe fire, paintbrush tickle, giant bomb, paper airplane

Kamek: spell, broomstick, multiples, summon enemies, paper terrain, force fields, teleport, create portals, magic barriers

Koopalings: throw boulders, throw cannonballs, rings, spin in shells, giant bombs, cast spells, ride on balls, Chain Chomps.

Birdo: blow kiss

Olivia: all origami based moves, Vellumental transformation

King Olly: fold, Vellumental, grow giant, paper airplanes, hammer fists, sword arms

Prince Peasley: floating pillow, rose, hair, slash with rapier, turn into dragon (other bean-related stuff, easily best gimmick rep)

Popple: steal, dash, failed Bros. Attacks, throw items from bag, run away

Cackletta: lightning, transform, flying chair, lasers, curses, bat duplicates, possess, fireballs, shooting stars, suck you in, essence.

Fawful: flying hat, bean gas, laser blasts, suck up, antenna lightning, dome, laser ring, blorb mushroom, vacuum mushroom, flying machine, energy beam laser, giant hand, rockets, Dark Star, walls, float, shooting stars, energy balls, wormholes, fog, self-destruct, Fawfulcopters, Fawfulized minions, Fawful Mountain, Peach's Castle.

Princess Shroob/Elder Princess Shroob: hover throne, flying saucers, Shroobs, shield, fire lasers, beam from above, electric orbs, spider legs, teleport, ride flying saucers, stomp, charge, throw meteors, grow bigger, spew poison clouds, swing tentacles, possess Bowser.

Midbus: punch, roll up into a ball, belly flop, swing around a heavy ball, puff out his stomach, Blizzard form, snowballs, creating snowmen, climb up walls and divebomb, roll into snowball.

Dark Star: punch, fire breath, spiky shell, Dark Bowser, suck in, create fog, throw lightning, create minions, fire lasers, bounce around, dark hurricane, cage of darkness, giant rock

Antasma: claws, cloud, pillow form, swarm of bats, Dreamy Marios, fire and smoke, chasms, screech, dreambeats, power up, create duplicates, throw energy balls, circle of spikes, spidery minions, dark shield

Toad: a lot of basics, dig up coins, blorbs, carry papercrafts, stack up

Toadette: build Papercrafts.

Toadsworth: Bros. Ball, Spin Jump

E. Gadd: Stuffwell, time machine, water pump machine (time paradox)

Broque Monsieur: make blocks, Blitties, Broggy, Grobot, drilldigger, drill, fix

Massif Bros: punching rocks, charging, stomping, bouncing around, stacking up, throwing blocks, and healing, Mario & Luigi's moves

Nabbit: steal things, run away, toss spike balls to block pursuers' paths, burrow, create duplicates, hop on clouds, throw out coins and enemies, spin and throw his bag, sneak up on people, sleep, give healing items to the heroes, steal one of the brother's hammers and use it, kick around a Buzzy Beetle shell

Koopalings: spin, stomp, multiples, breathe fire, shell spin, time bomb, pipes, rings, ping pong

Petey Piranha: eating, burrowing, stomping, flying, divebombing, bite, spew sludge, suck in, shockwaves

King Boo: spirit fire, shapeshift, suck in, multiples, disappear

King Bob-Omb: throw bombs, grab and throw, cannons, kick bomb

Durmite/Wisdurm: charge, suck things up, eat enemies, spit webs, swing around on web, grow bigger,  heart-shaped crystal, magic wand, shoot stars, shrink you, remove blocks.

Shroobs: flying around in their flying saucers, shooting laser guns, firing a massive laser blast, calling in saucers to shoot lasers, swim around in sand, throw spike balls and fish, swing giant hammers, summon flames, throw Shroob-ombs, throw meteors, and send others into battle, throw fireballs and lightning, spin to throw a mace, trap you in crystals, spit up saucers, and throw lollipops

Koopa Troopa

Goombas

Shy Guys: spears, laser Snifits

Hammer Bro, Boomerang, Yo-yo, Chain Chomp, and Limbo versions

Spike

Dry Bones

Buzzy Beetle: laser beam

Monty Mole

Cheep Cheep

Thwomp: move, multiples, volcano, cough up rock

Chain Chomp

Ninji: multiply, hide behind fake walls, spin down from the ceiling, throw themselves as shurikens, substitution

Pokey: roll up, roll like a bar, fling body parts, rise

Boo

Piranha Plant

Mechakoopa: breathe fire, electrify

Blooper

Chargin' Chuck

Wiggler: stomp, charge, roll on ball, grow wings, spit seeds

Virus

Lakitu

Magikoopa


Bosses:

Earth Vellumental

Water Vellumental

Fire Vellumental

Ice Vellumental

Colored Pencils

Rubber Band

Hole Punch

Tape

Scissors

Stapler

Gooper Blooper

Handaconda

Tolstar

Hoohooros

Dragohoho

Chuckolator

Trunkle

Hermie III

Jojora

Yoob

Sunnycide

Sea Pipe Statue

Scutlet

Kretin

Chakron

Bowser's Castle

Tower of Yikk

Fawful Express and Fawful Mountain

Super Peach's Castle of Fury

Grobot

Torkscrew

Mammoshka

Pi'illodium

Robo-Drilldigger

Mount Pajamaja

Earthwake

Zeekeeper


Stages:

Peach's Castle

Overlook Mountain

Shogun Studios

Scorching Sandpaper Desert

The Great Sea

Shangri-Spa

Bowser's Castle

Hotfoot Crater

King Olly's Origami Castle

Beanbean Kingdom

Koopa Cruiser

Hoohoo Mountain

Beanbean Castle

Chucklehuck Woods

Woohoo Hooniversity

Oho Ocean

Teehee Valley

Winkle Realms

Joke's End

Hollijolli Village

Toadwood Forest

Yoshi's Island

Gritzy Desert

Thwomp Volcano

Shroob Mothership

Star Shrine

Dimble Wood

Plack Beach

Bumpsy Plain

Blubble Lake

Bowser's Insides

Pi'illo Castle

Mushrise Park

Dozing Sands

Wakeport

Mount Pajamaja

Driftwood Beach

Somnom Woods

Neo Bowser's Castle

Dreamy versions of each

Dream's Deep

Sunbeam Plains

Doop Doop Dunes

Twinsy Tropics

Gloomy Woods

Mount Brrr

Papercraft Battle


Items:

Mushrooms

Flowers

Beans

Chuckola Cola

Peppers

Yoshi's Cookies

Star Cures

Dream Stone

Dream Egg

Copy Block

Battle Cards

Various Incidental Items


Thanks for reading! Now, let us begin our character sheets!

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

 MARIO & LUIGI: DREAM TEAM


Today, we cover the fourth game in the Mario & Luigi, and sadly the first game without Fawful (he will be missed). It's still fun, so what can I say? Dream Team follows Mario and Luigi and their friends to the far off Pi'illo Island, where an ancient civilization of . . . um, pillow people were placed under a curse by an evil nightmarish demon.

Our main playable characters in this game are Mario and Luigi in a tag team once again. That is, outside of the dream world. Inside the dream world, which you enter through Luigi sleeping, Mario is paired up with Dreamy Luigi, a dream version of Luigi who can perform a number of abilities based on what he's dreaming about. The regular brothers can do a lot of their basics, like jumping and whacking with hammers, using fire flowers, burrowing underground and getting squashed, rolling into a ball, and spin jumping. They also gain the ability to drill sideways when spin jumping. In battle, they get a bunch of special moves again, like 3D Red and Green Shells, a cannon that launches them, a series of bombs, a jet-board, a helicopter hat, a slingshot to launch Luigi, a star rocket, and an egg to unleash a giant rainbow bird to attack.


Dreamy Luigi is a difficult one. He has a lot of unique moves, some that would apply well to a moveset, some that would apply better to a stage as they are more environmental effects. The environmental effects include flinging with a tree branch mustache, sneezing to create wind, spinning a drill, speed you up, switch between cold and hot temperatures, switch around gravity, possess a pinwheel to create wind, and remove gravity (I would honestly kill for a stage based on this game). His more battle-worthy mechanics are built around the Luiginoids, a bunch of Luigi clones who come together into different shapes, specifically a stack, a cone, and a ball. The stack can both ground pound and spring jump, the cone can spin and perform a spin jump like in the real world, and the ball can be swung around as a weapon and used like a hookshot. He can also become a giant for giant monster battles. If it weren't for the fact that Dreamy Luigi bears no distinct visual difference from the stylized Luigi of the game, I would totally include him. That said, at least we have a character who can justifiably use all the moves listed above.

Mario and Luigi are accompanied on their journey this time by two main companions. Starlow returns, having for some reason picked up a mean-spirited attitude toward Luigi, insulting him at every opportunity. While this does not do good things for her character, it at least gives some gameplay relevance, as her picking at Luigi's sleeping face causes most of the Dreamy Luigi environmental effects. More importantly though, we are joined by Prince Dreambert, prince of the ancient civilization and wielder of the most wholesome laugh you've ever heard. Being the prince of dreams, he can of course represent most the game's dream effects, including everything Dreamy Luigi-related, so that solves that problem. He also has a pillow form and can open portals to the dream world.


Other allies in the game include Princess Peach and Toadsworth, several Pi'illos like Eldream and the Bedsmith, the scientist Dr. Snoozemore, a dream bunny who can drill into the depths of the dream world, Seadring creatures that bounce, and a whole host of Monsieur Broque's species, include Broque and Broggy themselves, a handyman named Boss Brickle, and a construction foreman named Britta who supplies them with a machine called the drilldigger, all of this effectively and surprisingly confirming them a spot in the roster. Popple and Kylie Koopa both make a surprising return, probably to make up for the lack of recurring Fawful, with Popple being mostly up to his old cowardly thieving tricks, and Kylie collects pictures from you. Finally, we have the Massif Bros., a pair of BEEFy brothers who act as your tour guides up a mountain and effectively acting as a conglomerate of the pairs from the first game who taught you how to do certain moves. This effectively notches all of those onto their pallet, alongside your battles with them and their crew when you first meet them, with moves such as punching rocks, charging, stomping, bouncing around, stacking up, throwing blocks, and healing. (What's with all the oddballs getting . . . oh, right, Mario & Luigi series. That's why you love them).

Next up is our villains. Bowser and his minions Bowser Jr., Kamek, and the three that backstabbed him in the last game (awfully willing to forgive of Bowser, I guess), are all here, but they have formed an alliance with the being who cast the curse on Pi'illo Island, Antasma. Antasma fights mostly with his claws, can turn into a cloud and pillow form, split into a swarm of bats, create Dreamy Marios to attack Luigi in his dreams, shoot fire and smoke, create chasms, screech loudly, use dreambeats to make others fall asleep, power up, create duplicates, throw energy balls, create a circle of spikes around him, summon spidery minions, and cast a dark shield.


Bowser does a lot of the basics, stomping, breathing fire, rolling into a ball form, punching, sucking in, growing gigantic, charging, grabbing, body slamming, and spinning in his shell. Basically, the last game's Bowser. He also has a Dreamy version that acts as the final boss (because we have to end on a Bowser battle). In this form, he also breathes fire, can create duplicates of himself, slam with his fist, charge, create minions, make shockwaves, pull, and throw. Bowser Jr. floats around in his Koopa Klown Kar, as is the standard, and can throw spike balls and Bob-Ombs, breathes fire, and tickles with a paintbrush. Kamek does his standard flying around on a broom, casting spells, splitting into duplicates, and summoning enemies.

Our bosses include: Grobot, a malfunctioning robot that shoots water at you; Torkscrew, a burrowing drill creature that spins through the air and spits out mines; Mammoshka, a mammoth nesting doll that charges at you, throws snowballs and boulders, and sucks you in;and the Pi'illodium, an ancient statue that can act as a hammer, spawn smaller versions of itself to attack you, shoot lasers, fire missiles, and self-destruct. In Luigi's giant form, he fights a giant robot form of the drilldigger; Mount Pajamaja, a living volcano; Earthwake, basically a city come to life; and Zeekeeper, a rainbow bird that fires a wakebeam.


Returning enemies include Fly Guys, Goombas, Lakitus, Spinies, Piranha Plants, Viruses, Bandits, Wigglers, Beanies, Flibbees, Beehosses, Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., Mechakoopas, Shy Guys, Chain Chomps, and Dry Bones. The rest are basically new, both real world and dream enemies. Real world enemies include Grombas, basically Goombas; Bloatulas, spider enemies; spiky Thorbs; sleepy Capnaps; sand-swimming Flounderflages; Sandoons made of sand; living cactuses called Caccacs; Hermite Crabs; rock-balancing Monolifts; living dumbbells called Grumbells; fire-breathing pterodactyls called Pi'illodactyls; clams called Durapurls; laser-shooting statues called Eyepi'illos; and flaming Antasmaton guards. In the dream world, we have fire-spitting Storches; dragonfly-like Propellions; bomb-throwing Lob-Ombs; living drills called Skipdrills; living coconuts called Cocoknights; living clocks called Ticksquawks; weight-throwing statues called Chizzles; icy and lava-made Iceads and Magmads; an urn that looks like a Blooper; a dark item block; a living trash can called Krubbish; poisonous flowers called Spritzblooms; egg-dropping birds called Pelicrumps; and magical servants of Antasma called Antasmans.

As for our locations, we start at Peach's Castle, but quickly move to Pi'illo Island and its central Pi'illo Castle, the castle grounds Mushrise Park, a desert called Dozing Sands, a city called Wakeport, a volcano called Mount Pajamaja, the beach Driftwood Beach, a forest called Somnom Woods, and a transformed Neo Bowser's Castle. Each of these have a Dreamy form, and last but not least we have the acid trip of a level called Dream's Deep, a deeper subconscious level of the dream world.

Items are very similar to the previous games, but we do have a few plot relevant items like the shattered Dream Stone and the Dream Egg that the Zeekeeper emerges from.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Paper Mario: run, jump, hammer, flowers, confetti bag, 1000-fold arms, pull, punch, boot car

Mario & Luigi: jump, hammer, fire and lightning, spin jump, high jump, mini Mario, Luigi dunk, dash, tickle, Swing Bros, Cyclone Bros, Bros. Ball, throw babies, spring helmet, yoo who cannon, super bouncer, mighty meteor, spin pipe, snack basket, magic window, falling star, kick shell, fill up with water, side drill, bomb rally, jet-board, dropchopper, starsling, star rocket, Zeekeeper egg.

Luigi: Mario Kart

Baby Mario & Baby Luigi: drill into ground, fill up with water, flatten, float, hammers, jump, ride shell

Dreamy Luigi OR Dreambert: Luiginoids, stack, cone, ball, ground pound, spring jump, spin, spin jump swing around as a weapon, hookshot, become giant, dream portal, pillow form, float, dream bunny, seadrings, Zeekeeper

Starlow: fly, star power, pick at Luigi's face

Princess Peach: explosive vocabulary, Baby Peach

Bowser: folded, breathe fire, grow giant, stomp, throw hammers, spit poison, spin in shell, shockwaves, punch, suck things in, pull and push, body slam, roll around as a spike ball, Goomba, Shy Guy, Koopa, Bob-Omb, and Magikoopa squad attacks, charge, grab, Dreamy Bowser, duplicates, create minions.

Baby Bowser: fire, hammer, Koopa Klown Kar

Bowser Jr.: Koopa Klown Kar, spike ball, Bob-Omb, breathe fire, paintbrush tickle

Kamek: spell, broomstick, multiples, summon enemies

Birdo: blow kiss

Olivia: all origami based moves, Vellumental transformation

King Olly: fold, Vellumental, grow giant, paper airplanes, hammer fists, sword arms

Prince Peasley: floating pillow, rose, hair, slash with rapier, turn into dragon (other bean-related stuff, easily best gimmick rep)

Popple: steal, dash, failed Bros. Attacks, throw items from bag, run away

Cackletta: lightning, transform, flying chair, lasers, curses, bat duplicates, possess, fireballs, shooting stars, suck you in, essence.

Fawful: flying hat, bean gas, laser blasts, suck up, antenna lightning, dome, laser ring, blorb mushroom, vacuum mushroom, flying machine, energy beam laser, giant hand, rockets, Dark Star, walls, float, shooting stars, energy balls, wormholes, fog, self-destruct, Fawfulcopters, Fawfulized minions, Fawful Mountain, Peach's Castle.

Princess Shroob/Elder Princess Shroob: hover throne, flying saucers, Shroobs, shield, fire lasers, beam from above, electric orbs, spider legs, teleport, ride flying saucers, stomp, charge, throw meteors, grow bigger, spew poison clouds, swing tentacles, possess Bowser.

Midbus: punch, roll up into a ball, belly flop, swing around a heavy ball, puff out his stomach, Blizzard form, snowballs, creating snowmen, climb up walls and divebomb, roll into snowball.

Dark Star: punch, fire breath, spiky shell, Dark Bowser, suck in, create fog, throw lightning, create minions, fire lasers, bounce around, dark hurricane, cage of darkness, giant rock

Antasma: claws, cloud, pillow form, swarm of bats, Dreamy Marios, fire and smoke, chasms, screech, dreambeats, power up, create duplicates, throw energy balls, circle of spikes, spidery minions, dark shield

Toad: a lot of basics, dig up coins, blorbs

Toadsworth: Bros. Ball, Spin Jump

E. Gadd: Stuffwell, time machine, water pump machine (time paradox)

Broque Monsieur: make blocks, Blitties, Broggy, Grobot, drilldigger, drill, fix

Massif Bros: punching rocks, charging, stomping, bouncing around, stacking up, throwing blocks, and healing, Mario & Luigi's moves

Koopalings: spin, stomp, multiples, breathe fire, shell spin, time bomb, pipes, rings, ping pong

Petey Piranha: eating, burrowing, stomping, flying, divebombing

Durmite/Wisdurm: charge, suck things up, eat enemies, spit webs, swing around on web, grow bigger,  heart-shaped crystal, magic wand, shoot stars, shrink you, remove blocks.

Shroobs: flying around in their flying saucers, shooting laser guns, firing a massive laser blast, calling in saucers to shoot lasers, swim around in sand, throw spike balls and fish, swing giant hammers, summon flames, throw Shroob-ombs, throw meteors, and send others into battle, throw fireballs and lightning, spin to throw a mace, trap you in crystals, spit up saucers, and throw lollipops

Koopa Troopa

Goombas

Shy Guys: spears, laser Snifits

Hammer Bro, Boomerang, Yo-yo, Chain Chomp, and Limbo versions

Spike

Dry Bones

Buzzy Beetle: laser beam

Monty Mole

Cheep Cheep

Thwomp: move, multiples, volcano, cough up rock

Chain Chomp

Ninji

Pokey

Boo

Piranha Plant

Mechakoopa

Blooper

Chargin' Chuck

Wiggler: stomp

Virus

Lakitu

Magikoopa


Bosses:

Earth Vellumental

Water Vellumental

Fire Vellumental

Ice Vellumental

Colored Pencils

Rubber Band

Hole Punch

Tape

Scissors

Stapler

Gooper Blooper

Handaconda

Tolstar

Hoohooros

Dragohoho

Chuckolator

Trunkle

Hermie III

Jojora

Yoob

Sunnycide

Sea Pipe Statue

Scutlet

Kretin

Chakron

Bowser's Castle

Tower of Yikk

Fawful Express and Fawful Mountain

Super Peach's Castle of Fury

Grobot

Torkscrew

Mammoshka

Pi'illodium

Robo-Drilldigger

Mount Pajamaja

Earthwake

Zeekeeper


Stages:

Peach's Castle

Overlook Mountain

Shogun Studios

Scorching Sandpaper Desert

The Great Sea

Shangri-Spa

Bowser's Castle

Hotfoot Crater

King Olly's Origami Castle

Beanbean Kingdom

Koopa Cruiser

Hoohoo Mountain

Beanbean Castle

Chucklehuck Woods

Woohoo Hooniversity

Oho Ocean

Teehee Valley

Winkle Realms

Joke's End

Hollijolli Village

Toadwood Forest

Yoshi's Island

Gritzy Desert

Thwomp Volcano

Shroob Mothership

Star Shrine

Dimble Wood

Plack Beach

Bumpsy Plain

Blubble Lake

Bowser's Insides

Pi'illo Castle

Mushrise Park

Dozing Sands

Wakeport

Mount Pajamaja

Driftwood Beach

Somnom Woods

Neo Bowser's Castle

Dreamy versions of each

Dream's Deep


Items:

Mushrooms

Flowers

Beans

Chuckola Cola

Peppers

Yoshi's Cookies

Star Cures

Dream Stone

Dream Egg

Various Incidental Items


Thanks for reading! Next up, we cover the crossover you've all been waiting for, Paper Jam!

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

 MARIO & LUIGI: BOWSER'S INSIDE STORY


Today, it's time to cover the third game in the Mario & Luigi series and the grand finale of the "Fawful trilogy" as it were. Bowser's Inside Story follows Mario and Luigi as they end up inside of Bowser's stomach after Fawful spreads a virus throughout the Mushroom Kingdom to inflate Toad's to balloon proportions and feeds Bowser a mushroom that causes him to suck the brothers inside. The brothers then have to work within Bowser's body to lead him to take on Fawful and save both his kingdom and their own.

Our main playable characters this time around are Mario and Luigi working together as a tag team once again, and Bowser on his own separate missions. Mario and Luigi perform a lot of their basics, like jumping, swinging around hammers, kicking shells, and throwing fireballs. The spin jump returns, allowing them to spin on top of each other once again to cover short distances through the air, as well as Mario filling up on water to spit it out and the two drilling into the ground. They also have a few combo moves to use in battle this time around, including a helmet that allows them to spring off of each other, a barrel cannon that fires them as a ball at enemies, a giant bouncy ball, a meteor they smack with their hammers, a pipe that spins to shoot them, filling Luigi up with snacks to throw him, a magic window they teleport through, and a falling star.


Bowser has a number of abilities of his own throughout the game. In normal gameplay, he can punch, breath fire, suck things in, pull and push heavy items, body slam, and roll around as a spike ball. In battle, he has a few special moves mostly based on his minions. These include lighting a bunch of Goombas on fire to drop them on enemies, having a bunch of Shy Guys fling him at the enemy using a slingshot, spinning into other Koopas to send them at enemies, slide a string of Bob-Ombs into an enemy to explode, and call in a team of Magikoopas to cast spells at enemies. He can also grow giant to take part in gigantic monster battles. Most of his attacks there are giant punches and breathing fire and stuff.

We have a handful of supporting characters to talk about, like Starlow, a little star spirit character who acts as your exposition character a la Kersti and Huey. She doesn't really do much besides give you advice and lend you star power, but she does lift the brothers to safety at one point. She's mostly fine. She hasn't become needlessly antagonistic toward Luigi for some reason yet. More on that later. Princess Peach also appears throughout the game, as well as Toadsworth, Kamek, and a number of Toads. There's also Broque Monsieur and Broque Madame, a pair of yellow-block-beings who speak with annoyingly hard-to-read French accents. Broque Madame mostly just lets Bowser massage her (long story), while Broque Monsieur builds and sells you blocks that give Bowser new abilities. He also has a giant block dog named Broggy who can also help Bowser in battle. I suppose I should also mention the cowardly backstabbers Private Goomp, Sergeant Guy, and Corporal Paraplonk of Bowser's army.


Fawful is our main villain for most of the game, alongside his new minion Midbus, although both get a bit overshadowed at the end by the sentient Dark Star, who becomes the game's main boss. For Fawful, obviously we start the game with his blorb and vacuum mushrooms to antagonize the Mushroom Kingdom with. He flies around on a flying machine most of the time, using technology like an energy beam laser, a giant hand he uses to grab Peach, and rockets. He also makes use of the Dark Star to summon walls to block your way, float, throw shooting stars and energy balls, create wormholes, and summon fog. He also self-destructs in the end.

Midbus is a big beefy bruiser of a pig who mostly acts as a physical matchup to Bowser. He will punch like Bowser, roll up into a ball, belly flop, swing around a heavy ball, puff out his stomach, and that's before his Blizzard form. Once he upgrades, he gains ice powers like throwing snowballs, creating snowmen to fight for him, climb up walls and divebomb you, and roll into a giant snowball. As for the Dark Star itself, once it gains some self-awareness, he starts by copying much of Bowser's abilities, like his punch, fire breath, and spiky shell, eventually growing into a full Dark Bowser form (because we always have to end on a Bowser fight). As Dark Bowser, he can suck in, create fog, throw lightning, create minions to fight for him, fire lasers, bounce around the stage, summon a dark hurricane, create a cage of darkness, and throw a giant rock.


We have a handful of bosses to throw your way, such as the Sea Pipe Statue that shoots Bloopers at you, the parasite Scutlet who blocks a part of Bowser's body and attacks by sticking out its tongue, a group of cells called Kretin that combine and shoot electricity at you, a sage named Chakron who stands perfectly still, and a trash machine called Junker who sucks you in and throws garbage at you. Giant Bowser faces off against a few himself including his own flying castle, a derpy-looking Tower of Yikk that also pretty much just flies, a train and mountain controlled by Fawful that fires missiles at you, and Super Peach's Castle of Fury, an upgraded form of Peach's castle that shoots you will lasers, fires cannons at you, uses spikes and shields, and creates black holes. Last but not least, I want to talk about Durmite, or Whisdurm, a fairy creature that was turned into a worm that Bowser ate, I guess. She appears a lot, and I was a bit on the fence about her. Let's see. She will charge at you, suck things up through a stray, eat enemies, spit webs, swing around on the web, grow bigger, create a heart-shaped crystal with a magic wand to slam onto you, shoot stars at you, and shrink you. I mean, I guess I included characters like Francis and Jonathan Jones, and she's in their camp mostly, so . . . I don't know. I'll come back to her.

Returning enemies in the game include Monty Moles, Wigglers, Shy Guys with leaves and pirate ships and stuff, Spinies, Bob-Ombs, Piranha Plants, Cheep Cheeps, Bloopers, Chain Chomps and other enemies Fawful-ized to have his weird eyes and smile. Other enemies outside the body include fat, candy-carrying Goombas called Chuboombas, Pokeys made out of teeth called Toothies, Drillbit Crabs, penguins called Pendrils, haunted trees called Treevils, treasure chests called Trashures, living socks called Sockops, seed-spitting flowers called Flifits, steam-powered Goombas called Choombas, flying Mario noses called Noozes, Fawfulized ants, living beehives called Beehosses, Fawfulized creatures called Crawfuls that slide on banana peels, imprisoned Goombas called Jailgoons, and big Fawful mechs.


Inside of Bowser's body are a whole host of new enemies. These include: Goombules, basically Goombas; Spike Blops, basically Spinies; Bubble Bloopers, basically Bloopers; Protobatters who smack balls of plasm at you with clubs; Tenderlings, walking chunks of meat; Calorites, cells with flaming heads; Napses who multiply; Piranha Plorps, basically poisonous Piranha Plants; Stonks, cloud things that spit puffs of gas; and memory versions of Mario and Luigi with basic oversimplified versions of some of their most stereotypical features like breaking blocks, throwing hammers, and Luigi being scared of ghosts.

Areas in the game are pretty much split between different sections of Bowser's body and locations outside. The outside world includes Toad Town and Peach's Castle, the Dimble Wood forest, Cavi Cape and Plack Beach (a beach area with a weird tooth theme), Bowser's Castle, Bumpsy Plain (a grassland), and Blubble Lake and the Tower of Yikk. The inside areas of Bowser's body are more or less just the various parts of his body, maybe with some funny names here and there. Some are full on levels. Others are just locations you go back to occasionally to accomplish something specific (like going to his groin in order to make him giant? (I guess that's literal big dick energy for you, I don't know)). Among these are his stomach, funny bone, arm, place where his fire breath comes from, his gut, nerve cluster, his rump, his flab, his leg, nose, joints, memory banks, lumbar, chest, and airway. Other than making me really question Bowser's biology, if a stage were to be made out of any of these, I would probably make a general Bowser's Insides level based on the whole of it (honestly, the most likely stage if a stage were ever based on this game)

Items are pretty much as you expect, with beans and mushrooms and stuff, and Star Cures to heal the Blorb virus, and blocks supplied by Broque Monsieur.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Paper Mario: run, jump, hammer, flowers, confetti bag, 1000-fold arms, pull, punch, boot car

Mario & Luigi: jump, hammer, fire and lightning, spin jump, high jump, mini Mario, Luigi dunk, dash, tickle, Swing Bros, Cyclone Bros, Bros. Ball, throw babies, spring helmet, yoo who cannon, super bouncer, mighty meteor, spin pipe, snack basket, magic window, falling star, kick shell, fill up with water

Luigi: Mario Kart

Baby Mario & Baby Luigi: drill into ground, fill up with water, flatten, float, hammers, jump, ride shell

Starlow: fly, star power

Princess Peach: explosive vocabulary, Baby Peach

Bowser: folded, breathe fire, grow giant, stomp, throw hammers, spit poison, spin in shell, shockwaves, punch, suck things in, pull and push, body slam, roll around as a spike ball, Goomba, Shy Guy, Koopa, Bob-Omb, and Magikoopa squad attacks

Baby Bowser: fire, hammer, Koopa Klown Kar

Bowser Jr.: Koopa Klown Kar

Kamek: spell, broomstick, multiples, summon enemies

Birdo: blow kiss

Olivia: all origami based moves, Vellumental transformation

King Olly: fold, Vellumental, grow giant, paper airplanes, hammer fists, sword arms

Prince Peasley: floating pillow, rose, hair, slash with rapier, turn into dragon (other bean-related stuff, easily best gimmick rep)

Popple: steal, dash, failed Bros. Attacks, throw items from bag, run away

Cackletta: lightning, transform, flying chair, lasers, curses, bat duplicates, possess, fireballs, shooting stars, suck you in, essence.

Fawful: flying hat, bean gas, laser blasts, suck up, antenna lightning, dome, laser ring, blorb mushroom, vacuum mushroom, flying machine, energy beam laser, giant hand, rockets, Dark Star, walls, float, shooting stars, energy balls, wormholes, fog, self-destruct, Fawfulcopters, Fawfulized minions, Fawful Mountain, Peach's Castle.

Princess Shroob/Elder Princess Shroob: hover throne, flying saucers, Shroobs, shield, fire lasers, beam from above, electric orbs, spider legs, teleport, ride flying saucers, stomp, charge, throw meteors, grow bigger, spew poison clouds, swing tentacles, possess Bowser.

Midbus: punch, roll up into a ball, belly flop, swing around a heavy ball, puff out his stomach, Blizzard form, snowballs, creating snowmen, climb up walls and divebomb, roll into snowball.

Dark Star: punch, fire breath, spiky shell, Dark Bowser, suck in, create fog, throw lightning, create minions, fire lasers, bounce around, dark hurricane, cage of darkness, giant rock

Toad: a lot of basics, dig up coins, blorbs

Toadsworth: Bros. Ball, Spin Jump

E. Gadd: Stuffwell, time machine, water pump machine (time paradox)

Broque Monsieur: make blocks, Blitties, Broggy

Koopalings: spin, stomp, multiples, breathe fire, shell spin, time bomb, pipes, rings, ping pong

Petey Piranha: eating, burrowing, stomping, flying, divebombing

Durmite/Wisdurm: charge, suck things up, eat enemies, spit webs, swing around on web, grow bigger,  heart-shaped crystal, magic wand, shoot stars, shrink you, remove blocks.

Shroobs: flying around in their flying saucers, shooting laser guns, firing a massive laser blast, calling in saucers to shoot lasers, swim around in sand, throw spike balls and fish, swing giant hammers, summon flames, throw Shroob-ombs, throw meteors, and send others into battle, throw fireballs and lightning, spin to throw a mace, trap you in crystals, spit up saucers, and throw lollipops

Koopa Troopa

Goombas

Shy Guys: spears, laser Snifits

Hammer Bro, Boomerang, Yo-yo, Chain Chomp, and Limbo versions

Spike

Dry Bones

Buzzy Beetle: laser beam

Monty Mole

Cheep Cheep

Thwomp: move, multiples, volcano, cough up rock

Chain Chomp

Ninji

Pokey

Boo

Piranha Plant

Mechakoopa

Blooper

Chargin' Chuck

Wiggler: stomp

Virus

Lakitu

Magikoopa


Bosses:

Earth Vellumental

Water Vellumental

Fire Vellumental

Ice Vellumental

Colored Pencils

Rubber Band

Hole Punch

Tape

Scissors

Stapler

Gooper Blooper

Handaconda

Tolstar

Hoohooros

Dragohoho

Chuckolator

Trunkle

Hermie III

Jojora

Yoob

Sunnycide

Sea Pipe Statue

Scutlet

Kretin

Chakron

Bowser's Castle

Tower of Yikk

Fawful Express and Fawful Mountain

Super Peach's Castle of Fury


Stages:

Peach's Castle

Overlook Mountain

Shogun Studios

Scorching Sandpaper Desert

The Great Sea

Shangri-Spa

Bowser's Castle

Hotfoot Crater

King Olly's Origami Castle

Beanbean Kingdom

Koopa Cruiser

Hoohoo Mountain

Beanbean Castle

Chucklehuck Woods

Woohoo Hooniversity

Oho Ocean

Teehee Valley

Winkle Realms

Joke's End

Hollijolli Village

Toadwood Forest

Yoshi's Island

Gritzy Desert

Thwomp Volcano

Shroob Mothership

Star Shrine

Dimble Wood

Plack Beach

Bumpsy Plain

Blubble Lake

Bowser's Insides


Items:

Mushrooms

Flowers

Beans

Chuckola Cola

Peppers

Yoshi's Cookies

Star Cures

Various Incidental Items


Thanks for reading! Next up, we cover the first game post-Fawful, Dream Team!

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

 MARIO & LUIGI: PARTNERS IN TIME


Today, we cover the sequel to Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. You know, the one that got skipped by the remakes for some reason. The game features a Mario and Luigi tag team once again, this time working in tandem with not only each other but with their baby selves as they get entangled in a complex time-travel plot involving evil alien invaders called the Shroobs.

Mario and Luigi can do a lot of their basics, like jumping and using hammers, and together they can perform their spin jump like in their previous game, and can roll up together into a ball and move through tight spots Samus-style. The babies can do a lot of that too, carrying hammers of their own, but they have their own special moves like spinning to drill into the ground (also similar to the last game), and Baby Mario can drink up water that he can then spit like a projectile. As a foursome, they also have a few moves going on, like carrying the babies piggyback then throwing them up to reach higher places, rolling over them to make them flat as pancakes, or spin jumping into them to make them float through the air. (Oh sure, but if I do all this to real babies . . . {insert standard joke here}). They can also use items in battle like fire flowers and green shells.


We have a handful of recurring characters running around, like both a baby and adult version of Princess Peach, filling the role we've come to expect from Peach by this point. We also have an old and young version of Toadsworth and Professor E. Gadd. The Toadsworths mostly inadvertently teach you new techniques you can use while trying to entertain Baby Peach, while E. Gadd supplies both the time machine that causes the plot and your living suitcase named Stuffwell. We also have a number of Toads, like the scientist Toadbert, Yoshis, and a pushy Koopa reporter named Kylie Koopa.

Bowser and his own baby form also appear here, and of course you have a couple of fights with them. Bowser stomps, spits poison, breathes fire, spins in his shell, and causes shockwaves. Baby Bowser breathes fire as well, uses a hammer and his Koopa Klown Kar, and has his own version of the Koopa Cruiser. The baby form is accompanied by Kamek throughout the game, doing his normal thing of flying on brooms, casting spells, splitting into multiples, and summoning enemies to battle. Fawful, having survived the end of Superstar Saga, has a very brief cameo running a shop and ranting about his FURY!!!


Our main villains are the Shroobs, an alien race attacking Earth in the past. They are led by Princess Shroob, although their leader turns out to be her elder sister, Elder Princess Shroob, although this doesn't really add much to the story outside of being a surprise twist ending where you have to fight a bigger version of the character. Princess Shroob flies around in a hover throne, directs both flying saucers and Shroob soldiers themselves, shields herself, fires lasers, call down a beam from above, shoot electric orbs at you, sprout spider legs from her throne, and teleport. Her sister also shoots lasers, rides the flying saucers, stomps, charges, throws meteors at you, grow even bigger, spew a poisonous cloud, and swing tentacles at you. At the end of the game, her essence possesses Bowser, because you can't end a game not on a Bowser battle, I guess.

The Shroobs themselves have quite a bit of variety. Regular Shroobs pull off a variety of moves, such as flying around in their flying saucers, shooting laser guns, firing a massive laser blast, calling in saucers to shoot lasers, swim around in sand, throw spike balls and fish, swing giant hammers, summon flames, throw Shroob-ombs, throw meteors, and send others into battle. They even have scientist versions who use remotes to control saucers and eat mushrooms and other health items. There are also a couple of mini-boss versions called the Shrooboids who throw fireballs and lightning, spin to throw a mace, trap you in crystals, spit up saucers, and throw lollipops.


Other bosses include the giant dinosaur Yoob, who likes to eat Yoshis with his long tongue; Sunnycide, a shroob egg thing that throws eggs, stomps, and sucks in; Petey Piranha, our boy, eating, burrowing, stomping, flying, and divebombing like it's nobody's business; and Mrs. Thwomp, a large round Thwomp who stomps . . . around, spits up rocks (huh), and splits herself into multiples. She even has arms she can use . . . wait a minute. No way. Let's see, spit up rocks, the big up and down thing, Thwimps, slamming forward like a Whomp, arms, a basis for regular movement . . . no way. No f**king way. Um, I guess we'll be talking about this more in depth later. I'm not smiling. You're smiling.

So, um, besides Thwomps being an unexpected but welcome surprise, let's go over the other enemies, shall we? Regular returning characters, we have Goombas, Boos, Shy Guys, Piranha Plants, Hammer Bros, Wiggler (who spouts a poison cloud), Pidgits, Dry Bones, Bullies, Pokeys, Bob-Ombs, Tanoombas, Thwacks, and Rexes. New enemies include Koopeleons who turn invisible; Spiny Shroopas who leap; Coconutters who carry around spears; Egyptian Snifits called Snifaros; robotic Shroobs called Shroids; Love Bubbles; Skeleton Pokeys; shadowy hands that hold up signs depicting other enemies; literal Piranha Planets (big orbs of pipes with Piranha's sticking out of them and one of my favorite enemy designs ever); and Snoozorbs, big rolling balls who sleep a lot.


As for our stages, we have Peach's Castle, a Christmas-themed Toad village called Hollijolli Village, Bowser's Castle and the Koopa Cruiser, Toadwood Forest, Yoshi's Island, Gritzy Desert and the Koopaseum, a literal volcano made of Thwomps (FINAAAL SMAAAASH!), the Shroob Mothership and a Shroobified version of Peach's Castle, and Star Hill leading to the Star Shrine.

Items in the game are very similar to the previous game, with beans, mushrooms, peppers, and so on.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Paper Mario: run, jump, hammer, flowers, confetti bag, 1000-fold arms, pull, punch, boot car

Mario & Luigi: jump, hammer, fire and lightning, spin jump, high jump, mini Mario, Luigi dunk, dash, tickle, Swing Bros, Cyclone Bros, Bros. Ball, throw babies

Luigi: Mario Kart

Baby Mario & Baby Luigi: drill into ground, fill up with water, flatten, float, hammers, jump, ride shell

Princess Peach: explosive vocabulary, Baby Peach

Bowser: folded, breathe fire, grow giant, stomp, throw hammers, spit poison, spin in shell, shockwaves

Baby Bowser: fire, hammer, Koopa Klown Kar

Bowser Jr.: Koopa Klown Kar

Kamek: spell, broomstick, multiples, summon enemies

Birdo: blow kiss

Olivia: all origami based moves, Vellumental transformation

King Olly: fold, Vellumental, grow giant, paper airplanes, hammer fists, sword arms

Prince Peasley: floating pillow, rose, hair, slash with rapier, turn into dragon (other bean-related stuff, easily best gimmick rep)

Popple: steal, dash, failed Bros. Attacks, throw items from bag, run away

Cackletta: lightning, transform, flying chair, lasers, curses, bat duplicates, possess, fireballs, shooting stars, suck you in, essence.

Fawful: flying hat, bean gas, laser blasts, suck up, antenna lightning, dome, laser ring

Princess Shroob/Elder Princess Shroob: hover throne, flying saucers, Shroobs, shield, fire lasers, beam from above, electric orbs, spider legs, teleport, ride flying saucers, stomp, charge, throw meteors, grow bigger, spew poison clouds, swing tentacles, possess Bowser.

Toad: a lot of basics, dig up coins

Toadsworth: Bros. Ball, Spin Jump

E. Gadd: Stuffwell, time machine, water pump machine (time paradox)

Koopalings: spin, stomp, multiples, breathe fire, shell spin, time bomb, pipes, rings, ping pong

Petey Piranha: eating, burrowing, stomping, flying, divebombing

Shroobs: flying around in their flying saucers, shooting laser guns, firing a massive laser blast, calling in saucers to shoot lasers, swim around in sand, throw spike balls and fish, swing giant hammers, summon flames, throw Shroob-ombs, throw meteors, and send others into battle, throw fireballs and lightning, spin to throw a mace, trap you in crystals, spit up saucers, and throw lollipops

Koopa Troopa

Goombas

Shy Guys: spears, laser Snifits

Hammer Bro, Boomerang, Yo-yo, Chain Chomp, and Limbo versions

Spike

Dry Bones

Buzzy Beetle: laser beam

Monty Mole

Cheep Cheep

Thwomp: move, multiples, volcano, cough up rock

Chain Chomp

Ninji

Pokey

Boo

Piranha Plant

Mechakoopa

Blooper

Chargin' Chuck

Wiggler: stomp

Virus

Lakitu

Magikoopa


Bosses:

Earth Vellumental

Water Vellumental

Fire Vellumental

Ice Vellumental

Colored Pencils

Rubber Band

Hole Punch

Tape

Scissors

Stapler

Gooper Blooper

Handaconda

Tolstar

Hoohooros

Dragohoho

Chuckolator

Trunkle

Hermie III

Jojora

Yoob

Sunnycide


Stages:

Peach's Castle

Overlook Mountain

Shogun Studios

Scorching Sandpaper Desert

The Great Sea

Shangri-Spa

Bowser's Castle

Hotfoot Crater

King Olly's Origami Castle

Beanbean Kingdom

Koopa Cruiser

Hoohoo Mountain

Beanbean Castle

Chucklehuck Woods

Woohoo Hooniversity

Oho Ocean

Teehee Valley

Winkle Realms

Joke's End

Hollijolli Village

Toadwood Forest

Yoshi's Island

Gritzy Desert

Thwomp Volcano

Shroob Mothership

Star Shrine


Items:

Mushrooms

Flowers

Beans

Chuckola Cola

Peppers

Yoshi's Cookies

Various Incidental Items


Thanks for reading! Next up, we dive deep into the big bad bruiser himself in Bowser's Inside Story!