Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
The first installment in the Mario & Luigi RPG series where the brothers travel to the Beanbean Kingdom to recover Princess Peach's stolen voice. Features timing-based combat, dual-character controls, and humorous dialogue.
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Story
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is largely set in the Beanbean Kingdom, a country neighboring the Mario series' usual setting of the Mushroom Kingdom , mainly populated by Beanish people and Hoohooligans, with many locations named after onamotapoeia representing laughter. The player characters are brothers Mario and Luigi , who travel to the Beanbean Kingdom to return the voice of Peach , the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, after it is stolen by the Beanish witch Cackletta and her henchman Fawful. Among other characters are Queen Bean and Prince Peasley of the Beanbean Kingdom, who assist Mario and Luigi; and the thief Popple, who crosses paths with them throughout the game. Cackletta and Fawful, disguised as ambassadors of the Beanbean Kingdom, visit Princess Peach's castle in the Mushroom Kingdom and steal her voice, replacing it with explosives that drop from her speech balloon when she talks.
Mario and Luigi are summoned to the castle, and briefly confront Bowser , who had intended to kidnap Peach, but decides against it due to her explosive speech. The three team up to retrieve Peach's voice, and fly to the Beanbean Kingdom on Bowser's new airship, the Koopa Cruiser. Mid-flight, Fawful attacks them, and Bowser becomes separated from Mario and Luigi after a crash landing on the Mushroom Kingdom side of the Beanbean Kingdom border and being launched from a cannon. After crossing the border and traveling through the Beanbean Kingdom by foot, Mario and Luigi meet Prince Peasley and save him from a spell cast by Cackletta.
The brothers are invited to the Beanbean Kingdom castle, where Cackletta – disguised as the royal advisor Lady Lima – tricks them into helping her steal the Beanstar, a mystical item that when awoken by a noble and beautiful voice will grant any wish. Upon freeing Queen Bean from being transformed into a savage beast by Cackletta, the brothers track Cackletta to Woohoo Hooniversity and find her exposing the Beanstar to the stolen voice, causing it to go berserk. Mario and Luigi battle Cackletta, fatally injuring her; Fawful uses his vacuum-equipped helmet to save her soul. Mario and Luigi locate the Beanstar again, which Popple is trying to steal together with an amnesiac Bowser as his sidekick; when it again is exposed to Peach's voice, it shoots into the sky and explodes, scattering across the kingdom.
Peach arrives by airport in the Beanbean Kingdom, and Mario and Luigi learn that Birdo had been used as a political decoy during Cackletta's visit; the Beanstar became enraged after hearing Birdo's voice. Fawful finds Bowser after he regains his memory, albeit weakened from the Beanstar's explosion, and places Cackletta's soul inside him; she takes control of the body, and takes the name Bowletta. She kidnaps Peach, and demands the Beanstar as ransom; Mario and Luigi collect the pieces, and meet with her in the frozen palace Joke's End to make the exchange. Bowletta refuses to return Peach, so Luigi disguises himself as Peach to be taken in her stead, and reclaims the Beanstar, returning it with Mario to Queen Bean after a final confrontation with Popple, who is later arrested and forced to do community service in Little Fungitown, a community of Mushroom Kingdom immigrants.
Bowletta uses Bowser's flying castle to attack the Beanbean Kingdom. Mario and Luigi navigate their way through the castle, expel Fawful, and battle Bowletta. After she vacuums them inside her stomach, they battle Cackletta's soul and exorcise her from Bowser's body, reducing her to nothing and returning Bowser to normal. Peasley blows up the flying castle while the brothers escape.
Mario, Luigi, and Peach receive Bowser as a parting gift before taking an airplane home to the Mushroom Kingdom, dropping Bowser off at his new castle mid-flight.
Gameplay Systems
The gameplay of Mario & Luigi differs from most other role-playing games due to its focus on controlling Mario and Luigi simultaneously. During overworld sections, the directional pad controls one of the brothers' movement with the other one following closely. The leading brother can be switched between Mario and Luigi with the Start button. The brothers' other actions are controlled individually with the A (front character) and B (rear character) buttons respectively.
The game begins with them being able to jump independently, and they gain access to hammers and a variety of other techniques as the game progresses. For example, Luigi's hammer can be used to squash Mario into a smaller size, allowing the latter to access small gaps, while placing Mario on Luigi's shoulders allows them to act like a propeller and hover across large gaps. Various enemies roam the overworld, and coming into contact with these enemies initiates a battle. Landing a hit on an enemy while on the overworld allows the player to deal pre-emptive damage or begin the fight with them stunned.
The opposite is also possible. Battles in Superstar Saga are turn-based. Mario and Luigi are controlled with the A and B buttons respectively, regardless of their placement in the overworld. They can attack normally by jumping on enemies (available from the start), by hitting them with their hammers or by using their hand powers (after these abilities are unlocked at successive points in the game's story).
Jump attacks allow the brothers to hit enemies from above, but will cause them to take damage if attempting to jump on spiked or flame-covered creatures. Hammer attacks can harm enemies on the ground, but will always miss against winged or floating ones. Finally, each brother has an elemental hand attack (fire for Mario and thunder for Luigi), with several enemies being either vulnerable or resistant to either element. Similar to previous Mario role-playing titles, such as Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario series, players can time button presses to make their attacks more effective, such as earning an extra jump attack or increasing the hammer's power.
Introduced in this series is the way in which Mario and Luigi can defend themselves during an enemy's attack. When an enemy attacks, the brothers can either jump or use their hammer which, when successfully timed, allows them to dodge their attacks and even deal counter damage (for example: if they jump on top of a charging Goomba). Throughout the game, players can unlock Bros. Attacks, which use Bros.
Points (BP) which requires players to cooperate between Mario and Luigi's actions to perform powerful combination attacks. Mario and Luigi have their own HP, and one of them will faint when their HP is reduced to zero, with the other brother carrying him when dodging, countering or fleeing from the battle, but Bros. Attacks are unusable until the unconscious brother is revived or some negative status effects are removed. Players can also use items such as mushrooms for healing, peppers for boosting stats and 1UP mushrooms for reviving fallen Bros.
Defeating enemies earns experience points which help the Bros. level up and increase their stats, with players given the option to further increase the stats of one attribute every time they level up. Players can further improve their stats by equipping new gear to the Bros. or making them wear badges that give them special attributes.
Like other Mario titles for the Game Boy Advance, Superstar Saga features the enhanced remake of the Mario Bros. arcade game, which was used in the four Super Mario Advance titles. The game also supports rumble functionality when used with the GameCube 's Game Boy Player accessory.
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About Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a classic video game released for the Game Boy Advance on January 1, 2003. This title has become a beloved entry in the retro gaming library.
This wiki entry provides comprehensive information about Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, including release details, gameplay information, and story synopsis. Whether you're looking to revisit a childhood favorite or discover classic games for the first time, Emulator Games Wiki has you covered.
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