The saga of two video game superstars continues on the GBA

Mario ‘ Luigi: Superstar Saga

Developed by AlphaDream

Published by…

Mario ‘ Luigi: Superstar Saga

Developed by AlphaDream

Published by Nintendo

Game Boy Advance

Once upon a time, Nintendo and Squaresoft got together and had a baby. They named him “Super Mario RPG,” and were delighted when their little ankle-biter became one of the best role-playing games in the history of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. He surpassed his brethren in almost every respect, from a well-conceived and often witty plot to an advanced battle system to graphics that made his fans drool sweet saliva from happiness.

However, all was not well in the household, as his parents broke up over an argument about whether the new console should be cartridge- or CD-based. Squaresoft continued producing excellent Role Playing Games, securing itself as one of the heavy-hitters in Sony’s third-party lineup. Meanwhile, Nintendo was left trying to compensate for the loss. Several years later, “Paper Mario” tried to one-up – no pun intended – his older brother, only to fall into obscurity as the Nintendo 64 reached its final days.

This bittersweet tale of love and loss has been mended to a point, as Square Enix has returned to publishing games for Nintendo consoles, but little do they realize the wrath of a jilted lover…

“Mario ‘ Luigi: Superstar Saga” was born last year, and already has risen to the upper echelons of the Game Boy Advance library. Borrowing heavily from Paper Mario and Super Mario RPG, it blends past Mario games with handpicked, full-bodied RPG elements to craft a succulent blend of gaming happiness that fans are sure to enjoy.

I’m not going to go too far into the plot, mostly because I was laughing too hard while playing to remember most of it. That being said, the graphics and music are beautifully presented and are on par with the latest, greatest games of the 16-bit era. This may present cases of sibling rivalry.

One of the most fascinating elements of this game is the control scheme, which puts you in charge of both Mario and Luigi – and all of their fireball-throwing, mallet-pounding, enemy-stomping antics – at the same time. Further, the battle system, in an interesting deviation from most RPGs, allows players to dodge almost every attack flung at them. This requires excellent timing, along with a few minutes of simple trial and error. However, it will help the player out immensely in the long run.

Is “Mario ‘ Luigi: Superstar Saga” the best RPG on the GBA? Most likely. Is it better than Super Mario RPG? Quite possibly. Too many things have changed for the comparison to be made easily, so I’ll leave it to you, fair readers, to decide for yourself. If it should sway you, allow me to note that “M’L: SS” also features the classic, arcade Mario Bros. as an added bonus. I doubt that it will, but I doubt that this fine title needs any more help.