Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Game Boy Advance)

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You'll eventually find three attacks to choose from, and they are an armed attack, a hammer-based attack, and a hand-ability attack. The attacks cost a set number of "bros. points" and require a series of timed button inputs to be successfully performed. The attacks come in three power levels. The first two power levels slow the action down a bit and offer onscreen prompts as to when to push buttons. The third, and highest, power level offers no button cues and moves at normal speed, thus making the attacks much more challenging to pull off. As you'd expect, the higher the power level, the more damage is done by the attack. As an added bonus, the attacks can be powered up to an advanced level which further increases the damage they do once you successfully perform them enough times. The item option lets you use items in your inventory, during a turn, to beef up the brothers' health or to beef up the bros. points gauges. The run option lets you escape from a fight by mashing buttons until the brothers are offscreen. The catch is that, as they try to escape, they'll lose coins until they're off the battlefield. Despite the rather dense gameplay described above, control in the game is tight and responsive.

Defeating enemies rewards you with items, coins, and experience that let Mario and Luigi level up. Leveling-up increases the brothers' stats in various areas. While most of the stats, like hit points, bros. points, power, defense, and speed are self-explanatory, the mysterious "stache" attribute bears some explanation. It seems that the higher the brothers' stache ratings, the more lustrous their moustaches look. Sporting a set of pimping moustaches offers quite a few benefits in the game. During combat, Mario and Luigi are more likely to perform critical lucky strikes, which inflict significantly more damage to opponents. When visiting towns, luscious staches dazzle shopkeepers, who will offer significant discounts on their wares. It's a lighthearted addition to the standard action RPG fare that will find you buying new overalls for the duo and equipping them with badges that boost their various abilities. You can also expect to find subquests, like having to collect assorted beans that you can exchange at the local Starbean's coffee shop for unique items. Additionally, a variety of minigames have been included to complement the meaty main quest--a journey that should keep you busy for well over 20 hours. The game also includes the same multiplayer Super Mario Bros. that's appeared in previous GBA Mario games, which, at this point, has more than overstayed its welcome.

The game's graphics have a subtle charm, thanks to large, detailed character sprites and environments. The cast of characters, which features a good mix of new faces and a plethora of cameos from familiar faces in the Mario universe, are all well designed. Animation is top-notch, with an impressive number of subtle touches thrown in to give the colorful cast a healthy dose of personality. As far as the environments go, the Beanbean Kingdom presents an impressive number of locales to explore, and they offer the kind of variety you'd expect in a Mario game. You'll tromp through forests, caves, underwater areas, deserts, and the like on your journey to save the Princess. The areas feature unique, detailed looks that are rich with personality. The environments also feature a surprising amount of animation that complements their cleanly detailed looks. For example, you'll see running water splashing around a waterfall, or you'll see the ebb and flow of a tide on the beach. One of the most impressive things about the environments are the subtle visual cues that hint at objects buried underground or hint at other points of interest. The visual polish extends to the color and animated menus that offer close-ups of the brothers as you check their stats. There's one notable blemish on the impressive package, and it's, namely, the slightly awkward viewing angle that can occasionally make hitting switches or making jumps a little difficult. It's a minor annoyance at best, though.

The audio is an impressive mix of original music peppered with many familiar themes from the series, from the standard Mario game sound effects, and from a generous helping of voice samples. The game's music offers a catchy selection of varied original tunes that help give the Beanbean Kingdom its own unique feel. The original music also includes new tracks that stay true to the spirit of some of the catchiest tunes. The new music is supplemented by many of the familiar themes heard in previous Mario games. You'll notice a fair amount of looping in some of the audio tracks, but, thanks to the catchy tunes, you won't be driven insane. The sound effects make liberal use of the time-honored sounds heard in most of the modern Mario games and add a few more to the canon of audio. The voice in the game is a pleasant surprise, given how plentiful it is. Mario and Luigi are quite chatty throughout the game, as they make exclamations and utter gibberish as they interact with other characters and with each other. The other main characters utter their fair share of voice as well, which certainly helps lend them quite a bit of personality. These individual parts end up combining into an impressive whole that's one of the richest sound offerings on the Game Boy Advance this year.

In the end, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga is an impressive new entry in the Mario franchise that is not to be missed. Strong visuals, a goofy story, rich gameplay, and a lengthy quest all combine to make one of the best experiences on the Game Boy Advance this year. It's also one that has some merits when played on the GameCube as well, thanks to the game's support of rumble when used with the Game Boy Player. The only beef to be had is with the lack of any kind of multiplayer support, but that's a minor point. As the first entry in what may well be a Game Boy Advance series, Mario and Luigi delivers in every way.

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