Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

 MARIO & LUIGI: SUPERSTAR SAGA

Now, let us begin the Mario series' other beloved RPG franchise, the Mario & Luigi handheld series. The series is a set of five games created by AlphaDream, before they sadly went under. The games were quirky oddball games with a unique sense of humor to them that centered on Mario and Luigi working together as a tag-team and had a whole set of moves that required them working together. In the first game, we follow them as they journey to the neighboring Beanbean Kingdom, which has come under siege by the wicked witch Cackletta and her strange little minion Fawful.

Mario and Luigi mainly work together in these games, their movesets being entirely built on one another, though they do have a few solo moves such as jumping, using their hammers, and throwing fire and lightning from their hands respectively. Their moves outside of battle change based on who is in front, with Mario standing on Luigi's head and performing a spin jump or Luigi jumping on top of Mario to spring off of him; or Mario smacking Luigi with a hammer to bury him in the ground, or Luigi doing the same to make Mario short; or Mario lighting Luigi on fire to make them move faster, or Luigi electrifying Mario to pull him backwards. In battle they have moves based on each of these. They also have a couple of secret moves, Swing Bros and Cyclone Bros, both of which involve them spinning together, the first with Mario hurling Luigi at their enemies, the other with them forming a tornado and attacking together. Strictly speaking, this all could work toward a moveset on its own, I just worry a little bit about having Mario and Luigi working as a tandem team on a stage with a regular Mario and Luigi hanging around. I imagine they'll have to be stylized to work. It's a good thing this series has such an iconic art style in its own right.

As for our ally characters, we have a few regulars, like Princess Peach who does her standard "Damsel-in-Distress" thing, although at one point she does gain literally explosive vocabulary thanks to a curse from Cackletta. Bowser also hangs around, sometimes as an ally, sometimes enemy, sometimes with memory loss, sometimes possessed by Cackletta (the game's a bit of an experience for him). During his regular battles, he can stomp, breathe fire, and throw hammers at you. The royal family of the Beanbean Kingdom include Queen Bean, who you fight as a possessed boss once as she creates shockwaves and spits beans at you; and her son Prince Peasley, who flies around on a pillow, slashes around with his lance, flicks his hair a lot, and gives you a rose as a token of thanks (typical dashing prince-y stuff). He also gets cursed to turn into a dragon at one point. There's also Lady Lima, the queen's advisor. Then there's Toadsworth and the other Toads, who act as NPCs. Yoshi and Birdo also appear, Yoshis as NPCs, and Birdo as a minor boss, throwing kisses at you, spitting eggs, throwing bombs, and sucking you in.

A handful of NPCs who should also be noted here are the Border Bros, the Starshade Bros, the Hammerhead Bros, Cork and Cask, and the Jellyfish Sisters, each of whom primarily exist specifically to teach Mario and Luigi a specific type of move as covered above. As they basically are that move and that move alone incarnate, there's not much need to consider them. (A couple of BEEFy brothers in a later game on the other hand . . .). Then there's Blablanadon, a giant pterodactyl who carries you places.

Cackletta and Fawful are our main villains here. Cackletta is a wicked witch scheming to take over the Beanbean Kingdom, and Fawful is her strange little minion with a strange speech pattern and a huge fan following. When you first fight Cackletta, she can cast lightning, transform herself to look like others, fly around in a flying chair, fire laser blasts, use curses to transform others, and create duplicates of herself that turn into bats when hit. After she is seemingly killed, her essence possesses Bowser, changing him into Bowletta. Fighting as Bowletta, she can breathe fireballs and a regular stream of fire, call down shooting stars, and suck you in. When you enter her body, you'll find and fight her essence, which will attack with her claws, balls of light, and laser eyes. Fawful on the other hand focuses more on his seemingly alien tech. He has a special hat that can fire bean gas, fly, fire blasts, and suck you up. In battle he can also shoot lightning from his antenna, tuck into a dome and shoot lasers from it, and spawn a circle of laser balls.

Among our bosses is the recurring thief Popple, a spiritual successor of sorts to Croco, an underhanded but ultimately cowardly thief who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong. He spends much of his time with a companion, relying on their muscle to get by while doing little himself. That said, in battle, he will ram into you, steal things from you, perform Bros. Attacks with his partner that often lead to himself getting hurt, and throwing items out of a money bag (similar to Croco). If his partner is defeated, he will run away. The Koopalings all appear as well and each battle you. Iggy will spin really fast, Morton will stomp, Lemmy will split himself into multiples and breathe fire, Ludwig will spin in his shell, Roy carries a time bomb, Wendy travels around between pipes and throws rings, and Larry plays ping pong with you, basically.

Other bosses include Tolstar, a greedy bully who charges you money and throws spike balls at you; Hoohooros, a statue that fires lasers; Dragohoho, Prince Peasley in a dragon form who spits projectiles; the Chuckolator, a being made of soda with a sword and shield that will send waves and bubbles of soda after you; a big Mom Piranha who will whip you with vines and spawn babies; Trunkle, a tree that will suck you in and split into multiples; Hermie III, a, shiny, hermit crab that decorates its shell and pinches you; and Jojora, an ice spirit and one of her four giant snowwoman friends who throw giant snowballs.

Standard returning enemies include: Koopas, Goombas, Fighter Flies, Bullet Bills, Dry Bones, Rexes, Spinies, Wigglers, Shy Guys with spears, Snifits, Viruses from Doctor Mario, mechanical Chomps, Bloopers, Piranha Plants, Lakitus, Cheep Cheeps, Boomerang and Hammer Bros (and Yo-yo, Chomp, and Limbo variants), Magikoopas, and Boos. Brand new enemies include: Beanies, basic enemies that can sometimes grow wings; Sharpeas, which are basically Spinies; Sworms, little worms sticking out of the dirt; Fuzzbushes that spit Fuzzies; Eekers, living beakers that fight with fire; Oho Jees, who freak out; Oucher Glasses, living hourglasses; Malibuts and Starkisses, who live in the ocean; Clumphs, big caveman things with clubs; and Glurps that vomit pink clouds.

The game mostly takes place within the Beanbean Kingdom. Before you get there, you do see Mario's House, Peach's Castle, Toad Town Square, and the Koopa Cruiser. After that you enter the Beanbean Borderlands, making up Stardust Fields, Hoohoo Village, and Hoohoo Mountain, before coming to Beanbean Castle and the town around it. After that you explore the various sections of the map, including Chucklehuck Woods with Chateau de Chucklehuck and the Chuckola Reserve, where they brew Chuckola cola. Then you visit Woohoo Hooniversity before falling to Oho Oasis in the Oho Ocean. (Yes, almost all of these places are different words for laughter). Then you get to Teehee Valley, Little Fungitown, Guffawha Ruins and the S.S. Chuckola in the desert, before freeing the ship into Gwarhar Lagoon. Then you enter the Winkle Realms and their Colosseum, and then finish in Joke's End and Bowser's Castle.

Items, besides things like hammers and your suitcase that you carry with you, tend to feature things like mushrooms and beans, restoring health and fight power respectively, and the famous Chuckola Cola of course.

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

Luigi: Mario Kart

Princess Peach: explosive vocabulary

Bowser: folded, breathe fire, grow giant, stomp, throw hammers

Bowser Jr.: Koopa Klown Kar

Kamek: spell, broomstick

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

Toad: a lot of basics, dig up coins

Toadsworth

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

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

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

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

Items:

Mushrooms

Flowers

Beans

Chuckola Cola

Various Incidental Items

Thanks for reading! Next up, we cover the forgotten middle child, it seems: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time!