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Mario & Luigi: Dream Team review - sometimes a snooze
Mario's role-playing forays provide a welcome diversion from the franchise's saccharine, straightforward personality. As great as most Mario games are, the RPGs are appreciably different, almost irreverent in how they twist that fallback of plumber-saving-princess into something weird, wonderful, and witty. For all its strengths, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team falls a bit shorter than hoped on wit and wonder, but what I find most lamentable is its struggle to be weird, because it has such the opportunity to. Setting half the game in Luigi's psyche is inspired; there's much that can be done with Mario's second-fiddle sibling. Sadly, it's never capitalized on, at least not in the script. Instead, it's up to the amusing peripheral cast and vivid combat to sustain Dream Team, and happily they do, just about. %Gallery-191126%
Joyswag: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story prize pack [update]
Update: Contest is closed! Keep an eye on your email to see if you won! Thanks for playing!Don't let the horrible snapshot above (sorry!) fool you: This edition of Joyswag features quite the prize pack. One lucky reader will receive not only a copy of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, but also a pair of cute little plushie dolls and a backpack to hide them from whomever would be embarrassed to know you had such things. Leave a comment telling us what you think is inside of Bowser (our guess: cotton candy) You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) Limit 1 entry per person per day This entry period ends at 3:00PM ET on Thursday, October 1 At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story ($35 ARV), a plushie Mario ($20 ARV) and Bowser ($20 ARV), and one Bowser's Inside Story backpack ($20 ARV) For a list of complete rules, click here
Review: Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story doesn't put on airs about itself. Up until now, the series has been a collection of chuckle-filled titles, with light action and RPG elements designed to make the game accessible to just about everyone -- and this latest game is no different. It's plain and direct in what it wants to be, but it's set apart from its predecessors in a deepening of the core aspects of the series. %Gallery-33781%
Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! site opens with new video
With the February 11 release of Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!!, the sequel so exciting it provides its own exclamation points, rapidly approaching, Nintendo of Japan has launched a series of ads, which should look familiar if you've watched Nintendo ads of any kind in the last few years. They basically consist of a young woman in a well-appointed apartment, reacting with delight to the latest Nintendo game. In this case, a game about two plumbers having adventures inside a giant lizard monster's digestive system. And then that plumber-eating lizard getting into fights with ... rocket-powered castles?Along with these two ads, Nintendo released a nice, long trailer for Alphadream's latest RPG. To make a snap judgment, yay. It's colorful and well-animated, and seems to feature a wide variety of gameplay. Plus, playable Bowser. All three videos are after the break.%Gallery-33393%
Bowser gets starring role in Mario & Luigi 3
Mario & Luigi 3 won't just limit you to playing as the titular plumbers -- you'll also spend part of the game in control of arch-nemesis Bowser.Typically for the series, this turn of events comes about in wacky fashion, with Mario and Luigi finding themselves trapped inside Bowser (after he inhales them, à la Lord Jabu-Jabu), and able to affect the Koopa King's actions directly by the work they carry out within him. Excellently, Bowser (who is controlled with X and Y, as opposed to A and B) has a special attack that sees a small army of Goombas charge enemies.These delightful details featured in the latest Nintendo Power, along with a basic synopsis of the story. Apparently, Mario and Luigi are searching for a cure to a disease that has swept through the Mushroom Kingdom, causing its denizens to balloon in size -- which explains those obese Toads.Don't forget to check out the ten new screens we've added to our gallery, and make some time to coo at the stylish Japanese boxart!Source: Nintendo Power detailsSource: Screens%Gallery-33393%
Mario & Luigi & A Japanese Release Date
February is the month of love and romantic obsessions, and next February is also the month that Mario & Luigi 3 will ship in Japan. Coincidence? WE THINK NOT. AlphaDream's quirky RPG will launch there on February 11th, complete with morbidly obese Toads and (what we guess will be) the usual irreverent dialog.We're no clearer on a North American date, with "2009" still the closest official estimate we have, and that's barely an estimate but a statement of the bleeding obvious. So let's grasp a straw, shall we: previous Mario & Luigi titles came out in the States first, so maybe there's a sliiiiiiight chance that the same will happen in this case, and Nintendo will suddenly spring a January release on us? Sigh, a blogger can dream, right?%Gallery-33393%
E308: Hamtaro tries extra hard to scare off older gamers
You shouldn't be ashamed if you're an adult (or even just a non-elementary schooler) who's played a Hamtaro game. People who've tried Ham-Hams Unite for the Game Boy Color or the GBA's Ham-Ham Heartbreak know that the sickeningly cute series can translate into a fun adventure game. Even Ham-Ham Games, which strayed away from the adventure formula and landed itself in minigame territory, wasn't half bad. Hamtaro's handheld history was enough to make us consider picking up Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge once it released on the DS, but E3 swiftly changed our minds. Throwing up and spitting out everything that made Hamtaro bearable in the first place, the new game is not only a collection of minigames, but it features educational ones designed for young children. Basically, it looks like Brain Age for five-year-olds, with cute little hamsters taking the place of Dr. Kawashima.Don't fret, though, Hamtaro fans. There is another title based on the license that came out in Japan last year, which seems to return to the adventure-like goodness we know and love. Unfortunately, that's not the game releasing this summer, and that's not the game Natsume decided to show off at E3. Hopefully we'll see it get localized soon enough, so that we can forget Ham-Ham Challenge ever existed.%Gallery-27850%
Japanese Mario & Luigi commercial
"Mario and Luigi RPG TSOO!" Yes, it's a Japanese Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time commercial, rife with the Hot Mario Bros., adult faces super-imposed on babies and...what's this? In-game footage? In a TV commercial? For a game? Those Japanese people sure are kerrazy. [Via GamersReports]
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time Interview
Having just been released on the DS, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is looking to be an exceptionally enjoyable follow-up to the GBA's Superstar Saga. Apart from the great union between platforming and RPG elements, a common thread of quality between the two games has been the witty and self-referential writing. MTV (yes, that MTV) has posted up a rather interesting article and interview with the script writer for both titles, Nate Bihldorff. It details some of his influences, inspirations, his love for writing dialogue for villains and some truly amusing moments from the games. Several hours into the game, a character implores Mario to save Princess Peach. "You will save her, won't you?" he says. "I assure you she is not in another castle." Now that's funny. [via 4 Color Rebellion]
Metareview: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
Nintendo may have another hit on their hands for the Nintendo DS handheld. This time it's a sequel to the Game Boy Advance RPG, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Here's what the critics are saying: GamePro 80% - "Some may yearn for a more complicated gameplay, but for those who do not, Partners in Time is still as funny and enjoyable as its predecessor." GameDaily 100% - "This game is the cream of the portable gaming crop, and you'll be really hard-ressed not to be taken in by at least one of it's plentiful charms." IGN 90% - "Though it doesn't explore the Nintendo DS platform on a technical level, Partners in Time definitely approaches the handheld in extremely creative ways." Nintendo Power rounds out the ranking with a 90% ratio, and Game Informer gives the game an 82.5% score. Looks like DS owners have one more solid title until the much anticipated wi-fi powered Animal Crossing drops in early December.
