Mario & Luigi is the second branch of Mario RPGs stemming from the plumber's first RPG adventure on the SNES. Seeing the success of that first game, Nintendo got Fire Emblem developers Intelligent Systems to create the sequel that became Paper Mario.
In that time, former Square president Tetsuo Mizuno had left the company and founded a new development studio that would come to be known as AlphaDream. He took many former Square employees with him into this new studio, including none other than Super Mario RPG director Yoshihiko Maekawa. The studio would end up successfully pitching a new idea for a Mario RPG to Nintendo, and the rest is history.
It's no surprise then that Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga really captures the zany spirit of Super Mario RPG. This is truly one of the most hilarious titles in the Mario franchise, with some of the most over-the-top situations the hero has ever been in. A new lovely visual style with really expressive spritework makes it feel even more like a Saturday morning cartoon. Yoko Shimomura also returns to handle the soundtrack, and it shows.
But the true twist here is that this time around, Mario is sharing the spotlight with that other Mario brother... Ummmm who was it, Louie? Geegee? Anyway, you control both brothers simultaneously at all times, both in the overworld and in battle. Much like with Paper Mario, AlphaDream has added adventure game elements while retaining its core turn-based JRPG mechanics. It's slightly less successful at this, because controlling two characters simultaneously can be as clunky and annoying as it sounds. At its lowest, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga can frustrate with needless platforming challenges that don't compliment the game's strengths at all.
That said, the vast majority of Superstar Saga is simply lovely. The Beanbean Kingdom is a pretty compact game world that feels almost Zelda-like with how far you can dig into it to find secrets with each new ability you get. This element makes backtracking sections in the latter portions of the game feel pretty fun, and exploration in general is one of the game's strongest points. Exploring can net you everything from items and coins to new abilities and shortcuts that can be locked behind mini-games and platforming challenges.
Combat is where this game truly shines. Much like its predecessors, this is a turn-based JRPG that emphasises timed inputs to dodge enemies and empower your attacks. Superstar Saga features some truly incredible enemy encounter design, and you are rewarded at every turn by learning the timing and visual cues of the kaleidoscopic array of unique enemy attacks. This variety also makes Mario & Luigi a much more pleasantly challenging experience than the comparatively easy Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario. You are really forced to utilize and master all of the mechanics that are offered.
I loved Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga when it first released, and it holds up extremely well today. I purchased an Anbernic RG35XXSP specifically to replay this, and playing it this way was a lovely and nostalgic experience. I know some people have had mixed experiences with the device, but I have nothing but positives for it after switching out the clunky default OS.
AlphaDream filed for bankruptcy and subsequently shut down in 2019. This has put a bit of a question mark on the upcoming Mario & Luigi: Brothership. We don't know what studio is developing the game, and so far Nintendo has only stated that some of the original developers are involved, but who that could be is not clear (Plenty of ex-AlphaDream developers ended up joining several other Nintendo-related studios, so this isn't a lot of information to go on!). Superstar Saga showed that some of the developers who created Super Mario RPG at Square could reorganize outside of that company to cook up a wonderful new title. Time will tell if that is a trick that can be pulled off a second time.
