Mario & Luigi | |
---|---|
Genre(s) | Role-playing |
Developer(s) | AlphaDream (2003–2018) Acquire (2024) |
Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
Platform(s) | |
First release | Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga November 17, 2003 |
Latest release | Mario & Luigi: Brothership November 7, 2024 |
Parent series | Mario Luigi |
Mario & Luigi is a series of role-playing video games published by Nintendo and originally developed by AlphaDream prior to their bankruptcy. The series is a spin-off from Nintendo's trademark Super Mario series and stars the titular characters Mario and Luigi. The games' stories typically follow the two exploring locales unique to the series on a quest to defeat an antagonist, most of the time original. It began in 2003 on the Game Boy Advance with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga , with the latest original installment being Mario & Luigi: Brothership , which released for the Nintendo Switch on November 7, 2024. [1] [2] Two titles in the series, Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story, were remade for the Nintendo 3DS with extra content, with the latter being the final game in the series developed by AlphaDream before they declared bankruptcy in 2019.
The gameplay of the Mario & Luigi series consists of mostly role-playing elements; however, the Mario & Luigi games do differ from most other RPGs in its focus on controlling Mario and Luigi simultaneously. During overworld sections, the player controls Mario's movement with Luigi following closely. Mario and Luigi's other actions are controlled individually with the A (Mario) and B (Luigi) buttons respectively in both the overworld and battle sections. These controls are also used to explore the overworld to solve puzzles and find collectibles using various special moves that often have Mario and Luigi working together. Like many other RPG series, the Mario & Luigi series contains a traditional turn-based battle system. It also uses Action Commands, similarly to the Paper Mario franchise. These actions consist of Mario's and Luigi's signature jumps, as well as hammer attacks. Unique to the series is the use of real-time commands while an enemy is attacking so that if the player uses successful timing, they can completely avoid an attack or even do damage to the enemy instead of getting hit. This mechanism encourages the player to learn enemy's attack patterns and proper timing. Some titles in the series feature additional characters alongside Mario and Luigi; these include Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in Partners in Time, Bowser in Bowser’s Inside Story, and Paper Mario in Paper Jam.
2003 | Superstar Saga (GBA) |
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2004 | |
2005 | Partners in Time (DS) |
2006 | |
2007 | |
2008 | |
2009 | Bowser's Inside Story (DS) |
2010 | |
2011 | |
2012 | |
2013 | Dream Team (3DS) |
2014 | |
2015 | Paper Jam (3DS) |
2016 | |
2017 | Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (3DS) |
2018 | Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (3DS) |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | |
2022 | |
2023 | |
2024 | Brothership (Switch) |
"Because I don't want to end up in a situation where my mind is too clouded by nostalgia for old games, and I can't focus on how to best explore new avenues and new ways of bringing fun and surprising experiences to people."
AlphaDream was founded in 2000 by former employees from Square including Chihiro Fujioka, director of Super Mario RPG , and Tetsuo Mizuno, Square's second president. [4] [5] [6] Square had previously developed Super Mario RPG, the first role-playing game (RPG) starring characters from the Mario series. After a number of smaller games, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was their first game to be released outside of Japan.
The Mario & Luigi series took inspiration from Super Mario RPG when it came to turn-based combat. Yoshihiko Maekawa, a producer at AlphaDream who also co-directed Super Mario RPG, noted how the latter was inspired by a children's toy in Japan where the player had to press buttons in time with music. From there he conceptualized turn-based mechanics that blended action with general RPG gameplay, where the player had to make timed button presses to be more successful. It was there the developers knew they were creating an RPG game that had a Mario feel. Transitioning to the Mario & Luigi series, AlphaDream revisited the timed button pressing combat system, making additions for the first game in the series, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Each game following, they experimented more with the buttons available, making further additions as the series progressed. [3]
When it came to characters in Mario franchise at the time, they were generally underdeveloped. Since Mario & Luigi is mainly based on a text-based story, AlphaDream approached Nintendo with the mindset of revamping characters such as Luigi. With Nintendo's approval and support, the characters and their depth were developed from scratch.
Nintendo revealed Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (then called Mario & Luigi 2) at E3 2005, where a playable demonstration of the game was available. The demos consisted of three levels, each accompanied with a tutorial to guide the player. [7] Each level had a different objective and represented the characters' abilities in the game, such as the use of the hammer. Between the game's unveiling at E3 and its release, Nintendo of America revealed details of the game relating to Partners in Time's plot and gameplay, [8] as well as the fact that it would be compatible with the "Rumble Pak" feature. [9] Partners in Time was first released in North America on November 28, 2005. [10] Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story was revealed to be in development in October 2008 in Japan at Nintendo's Tokyo Press Event. At the time, the game was called Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!!. [11] From there, it was announced in North America and Europe at the E3 2009 event and released in the fall of the same year.
With the introduction of three-dimensional graphics on the Nintendo 3DS, AlphaDream was given the opportunity to change their two-dimensional sprites to 3D ones with the updated hardware. However, Maekawa believed the company not only got very good at designing sprites due to limited graphical capability on prior consoles, but they also helped convey comical expressions, so they were kept. Instead, the backgrounds were fit to 3D. [12] Akira Otani, a producer of the series, considered the animation to be the main reasoning for the extensive development process of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team . He mentioned how it takes up to six people to design the animations for the characters alone. [13]
When it came to Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, the underlying goal was to put emphasis more on Luigi, as Maekawa considered to be lesser in-depth even after his reworking on his character. one of the first ideas for a gimmick suggested was having a large number of Luigis on-screen at one time. Due to advancing hardware, the processing power of such a task would work well. After the idea was determined, they began coming up with ideas where having multiple Luigis would make sense, and they stuck with the game taking place inside a dream. Due to the limitless concept of a dream world, coming up with level ideas was simple. [12]
According to the developers, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam was created not to make a crossover between the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series, but rather to introduce the gimmick of having a third character to control simultaneously. When discussing the third character to control the third set of buttons, it was brought up how two Marios would be an interesting concept. While developing the game—with supervision from Intelligent Systems, the developers of the Paper Mario series—they were keen not to sacrifice simplicity for extra content, one of the ultimate goals of the Mario & Luigi series. For example, when one of the prototypes of the game that involved rapid and sudden button presses was presented to Shigeru Miyamoto, he directly turned the concept down and asked for it to be simpler. [14]
After Paper Jam, AlphaDream began work on remakes of older games in the series. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions is a remake of the first game that includes an additional mode, Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser, which follows Captain Goomba and features a real-time strategy battle system. The main reason why Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey was released for the Nintendo 3DS and not the Nintendo Switch was for its use of dual screens, similar to that of the Nintendo DS. In addition, timing reasons led the developers to choose the 3DS as they could easily build upon prior assets instead of creating the title from scratch. Bowser Jr. was the focus of the side story because they wanted to build the parent-child narrative between him and Bowser. They also decided to remake Bowser's Inside Story and skip Partners in Time due to the former being the most successful game in the series. [15]
"The Mario & Luigi games were on a decline - a source once mentioned to me that this year's Bowser's Inside Story remake sold so badly that Nintendo axed other 3DS plans due to it."
From 2018 to 2019, AlphaDream began searching for people to hire, including graphic designers and production assistants with the intention of future games for the Nintendo Switch and smartphones. [17] [18] Their most recent Mario & Luigi game, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey, was selling poorly and is one of the worst-selling Mario games in Japan to date. [18] Other release plans for the handheld were cancelled because of the low sales, also marking the last Mario game on the console. By March 2018, Yahoo! Japan reported AlphaDream was £3.5 million in debt (US$4.3 million) due to development costs. The company filed for bankruptcy in October 2019. [16] Three months later in January 2020, Nintendo filed a trademark for the series in Argentina, [19] and while most assumed Nintendo was simply protecting their IP, it also led to speculation that the series would hopefully continue on a later date. [20] [21] [22]
In June 2024, the sixth installment in the series, Mario & Luigi: Brothership , was announced, set to release on November 7 on the Nintendo Switch. This is the first game not to be developed by the now-defunct AlphaDream. [23] Nintendo nevertheless noted that "some of the original developers" from the franchise are involved in the development of Brothership. [24] It was later revealed that Brothership was developed by Acquire; the information was found in the game's intellectual property notices. [25]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2023) |
Game | Year | Metacritic |
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Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga | 2003 | 90/100 [26] |
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time | 2005 | 86/100 [27] |
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story | 2009 | 90/100 [28] |
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team | 2013 | 81/100 [29] |
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam | 2015 | 76/100 [30] |
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions | 2017 | 81/100 [31] |
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey | 2018 | 84/100 [32] |
Mario & Luigi: Brothership | 2024 | 77/100 [33] |
All games in the series have received positive reception. According to the review aggregation website Metacritic, the first and third games in the series received "Universal acclaim", while all others received "Generally favorable reviews", with Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam holding the lowest rating.
Mario is a character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the Mario franchise, a recurring character in the Donkey Kong franchise, and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario is an Italian plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom with his younger twin brother, Luigi. Their adventures generally involve rescuing Princess Peach from the villain Bowser while using power-ups that give them different abilities. Mario's distinctive characteristics include his large nose and mustache, overalls, red cap, and high-pitched, exaggerated Italian accent.
Princess Peach is a character in Nintendo's Mario franchise. She was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original Super Mario Bros. game as Princess Toadstool. She is the princess regnant and head of state of the Mushroom Kingdom, where she resides in her castle along with Toads. Since her debut, she has appeared in the majority of Mario video games as the main female character and the romantic interest of Mario. She has been voiced by Samantha Kelly since 2007.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a 1996 role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was the final Mario game for the SNES. The game was directed by Chihiro Fujioka and Yoshihiko Maekawa, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and scored by Yoko Shimomura.
Paper Mario is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 home video game console. Paper Mario is the first game in the Paper Mario series. First released in Japan in 2000 and then internationally in 2001, Paper Mario was later re-released for Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console in July 2007, the Wii U Virtual Console in April 2015, and the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on December 10, 2021.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a 2003 role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2014, Nintendo Switch Online Service in 2023, and remade for the Nintendo 3DS as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions in 2017. The first game in the Mario & Luigi series, Superstar Saga follows Mario and Luigi as they travel to the Beanbean Kingdom in order to combat Cackletta and Fawful, who stole Princess Peach's voice for the purpose of harnessing the power of a special artifact called the Beanstar.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a 2004 role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The Thousand-Year Door is the second game in the Paper Mario series following Paper Mario, and is part of the larger Mario franchise. In the game, when Mario and Princess Peach get involved in the search for a mystic treasure that holds great fortune, Peach is kidnapped by an alien group called the X-Nauts; Mario sets out to find the treasure and save the princess.
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is a role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console in late 2005. It is the second game in the Mario & Luigi series, and is the prequel/sequel to the 2003 Game Boy Advance game Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The game was later re-released for the Wii U as a Virtual Console title in 2015, available for purchase from the Nintendo eShop.
AlphaDream Corporation, Ltd. was a Japanese video game development company founded in 2000 by Tetsuo Mizuno and Chihiro Fujioka in Tokyo, Japan. In partnership with Nintendo, it produced software for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch, including the Mario & Luigi series. The company's staff included former developers from Square, such as Yoshihiko Maekawa. On October 1, 2019, AlphaDream was shut down after filing for bankruptcy during the first stages of Mario & Luigi: Brothership's development.
Super Mario is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater Mario franchise. At least one Super Mario game has been released for every major Nintendo video game console. However, there have also been a number of Super Mario video games released on non-Nintendo gaming platforms. There are more than 20 games in the series.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a 2009 role-playing game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is the third game in the Mario & Luigi series, following Partners in Time (2005). It uses the interactive screens of the DS in some of its gameplay mechanics while also introducing several elements that would be used in the series' future gameplay.
Mario is a multimedia franchise created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for the Japanese video game company Nintendo, which produces and publishes its installments. Starring the titular Italian plumber Mario, it is primarily a video game franchise but has extended to other forms of media, including television series, comic books, a 1993 feature film, a 2023 animated film, and theme park attractions. The series' first installment was 1983's Mario Bros. even though Mario made his first appearance in 1981's arcade game Donkey Kong and had already been featured in several games of the Donkey Kong and Game & Watch series. The Mario games have been developed by a wide variety of developers. Mario games have been released almost exclusively for Nintendo's various video game consoles and handhelds, from the third generation onward.
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Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, known in Europe and Australia as Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros., is a 2013 role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The successor to Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009), is the fourth installment in the Mario & Luigi series, a part of the larger Mario franchise.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, known in Europe and Australia as Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros., is a 2015 role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS console. It is the fifth installment in the Mario & Luigi series, following Dream Team (2013), and serves as a crossover between the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series, the latter being a cross-genre series developed by Intelligent Systems.
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Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a 2024 role-playing video game developed by Acquire and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the sixth main installment in the Mario & Luigi series, following Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015). Following the appearance of a mysterious portal, Mario and Luigi, alongside other residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, find themselves transported to the world of Concordia, where they find themselves working to reunite the land after a dark force, Glohm, seeks to separate and isolate its inhabitants in solitude. In the game, players control the brothers to explore Concordia, solve puzzles and complete quests, while engaging enemies they encounter in turn-based combat.
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