Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Episode 690: Mario & Luigi (Patreon)

Published:
2025-05-12 07:00:02
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Downloads

Content

Two Mario RPG brands launched at the dawn of the 21st century, and while Paper Mario had the more immediate gimmick, Mario & Luigi devoted itself to standard RPG mechanics dressed up in Mushroom Kingdom finery. Though the series burned bright in its early years, the back half saw a decline with undercooked sequels, unpopular remakes, and the seeming death of Mario & Luigi—the brand, not the characters. And now that it's back once again, we must ask ourselves: is Mario & Luigi worth celebrating? This week on Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Mike Drucker (author of Good Game, No Rematch), and Stuart Gipp as the crew times out their button presses to deliver you a perfect podcast.

Files

Comments

Patrick McClafferty

So I have conflicted feelings on the Mario & Luigi games. Loved the original back in 03 since it scratched the Mario RPG itch after 7 years. Sadly Partners in Time did not replicate the feeling (think i got to the last dungeon and gave up). I did like what I played of Bowser's Inside Story but never finished (I lucked into a copy of the 3DS version that I will finish some time). The 3DS era is a blindspot til the remake of SSS (Also lucked into a clearance of Dream Team but haven't tried it). Having a good time with SSS 3DS got my hopes up for something with Brothership only for me to absolutely despise it. I explained it thoroughly in the Discord at the time but to keep it brief: it was 20 hours of a decent game that extended to a terrible 50+ game. Too much repetition, awful minigames and doing the bro attacks worst than PiT somehow...Hopefully if there is ever more, it's more like any of the older ones than that piece of shit.

Grant Baxter

I don't know why, but I for some reason I enjoyed the character Popple so much as a kid (maybe the boss music?) that I would beat his boss fight, not save, and then keep replaying it again to the point I could beat the boss fight with my GBA or DS upside down. I still use his phrase, "I'll be takin' that, see?" to this day basically as my version of "yoink!" Maybe one day someone will get the reference.

Astrogamer

The thing with AlphaDream's bankruptcy was more that they were poorly run in the pivot to HD game development. Paper Jam and the remakes were more funding moves while they tried developing an HD game that stalled as they never got a publisher. A few of the veterans left years ahead of Paper Jam which was significant as AlphaDream was tiny.

James Krusling

I finally played Superstar Saga when it came to Switch Online and I absolutely loved the sheer silliness of it, you guys were dead on it about that game being more of a true successor to RPG (a game I love and yes I also loved the remake) than even Paper Mario! It was also nice to play an RPG that wasn’t 100 hours (even though I’m the same person who played Persona 5 twice and spent that amount of time on FF VII Remake!). I also now know which games to avoid much like how there are certain Paper Marios I never need to touch! Sidenote to an already too long comment: I also really enjoyed Origami King but I did not appreciate the final boss just changing all the battle mechanics at the last minute, I mostly enjoyed it but that was very very annoying 🤣

PurpleComet

I'm glad you guys called out Shimomura's soundtrack because her work on this series is wall-to-wall bangers. I can tolerate some tedium and repetition if the music is catchy. I enjoy the series more than most. Superstar Saga is a classic (obviously), Bowser's Inside Story is really fun and clever, I liked Dream Team despite it being twice as long as necessary, and I had a great time with Paper Jam. I can't remember much of Partners in Time for whatever reason. However they really faceplanted with Brothership. I put in about 25 hours before I threw in the towel. There's too much talking, the new characters are bland and uninteresting, it took like 10 hours before it let me use Bros attacks, and the level design is dull. The soundtrack is decent but can't measure up to Shimomura's work. I do like how expressive and well animated Mario and Luigi are, but the other characters are pretty stiff, especially when comparing them to the plumbers.

Shrunken Shrine

I grew up thinking Superstar Saga was the only non-Pokemon RPG I liked. Adding a little action to the turn-based combat made every round like a rhythm game. I had a reader review published in a gaming mag where I gave it 97%. Was child me correct? Of course I was. I'm really not sure why it was remade. The new artstyle is less readable in combat, the music less crunchy (subjective), the sidegame unyieldingly dull, and the end result being part of Alphadream's bankruptcy. It's impossible to ruin SS, but why even try to remake something still so easily playable 20 years on?

Sebastiano Gerace

Mario and Luigi doing stereotypical accents is not racist because Italians aren’t real.

PurpleComet

I bought the remakes digitally before the eShop closed but regret it because, on top of costing the full $40, these games reuse assets from Dream Team and Paper Jam. In the end the four 3DS M&L have the same look and feel. Plus the originals hold up perfectly fine, it's like remaking Super Mario World or Super Mario Galaxy.

Brian Silvers

Brothership’s twin failings are the glacial pacing and that the game is three times as long as it should be. Carving the fat would have helped the game immensely, as there genuinely is some great stuff in there. The climax is maybe the best in any of the rpg Marios.