Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a video game in the Mario series for the Game Boy Advance released in 2003. It is one of the current six Mario role playing games. Mario and Luigi who go on an adventure to save Princess Peach from the clutches of the evil Cackletta and her evil assistant Fawful. This game takes place in the Beanbean Kingdom, a neighboring kingdom visited frequently by the members of the Mushroom Kingdom.

The cartridge also included a port of Mario Bros., like the Super Mario Advance series. It was able to link up to the Super Mario Advance games for multiplayer.

This game is released in April on the Virtual Console along with Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island for the Wii U.

Story
The game begins at Peach's Castle where the Royal Beanbean ambassador (which was actually Fawful and Cackletta in disguise) were going to visit. Once there they stole Peach's voice, they replaced it with an explosive voice. Later Bowser came to the castle, and so a Toad ran to Mario's house while Luigi was drying clothes. Eventually he found him in the bathroom but quickly ran out in embarrassment. Then Mario wearing a bathrobe came out, jumped on Toad's head a couple of times and found out that something had happened to the Princess. After defeating Bowser, the Mario, Luigi, and Bowser are clued in on the catastrophe, along with the "princess" making an explosive explanation. Bowser then decides to help Mario out by letting him travel along in his Koopa Cruiser, and, thinking Luigi was signing up to be one of his (Bowser) minions, takes him (Luigi) up inside the Cruiser as well.

A while after the ship crosses the Beanbean/Mushroom Border, they are attacked by Fawful and Cackeletta who destroy the Cruiser, scattering the minions, the Bros, and Bowser. Mario and Luigi run into the Hammer Bros., and after a game of "Border Jump," they enter the Stardust Fields. They soon find Bowser, who's trapped in a cannon. They then meet Tolstar, the apparent king of the fields, who agrees to release Bowser for all of Mario's coins. Mario agrees, but after finding out that Mario held Mushrooom Kingdom coins, he had the Bros. find one hundred Beanbean coins. In the meantime the Bros met the Starshade Bros. who taught them how to use two Bros. Attacks (the High Jump and Spin Jump) and Bros. Attacks (the Splash Bros. and the Bounce Bros.) the After doing so, he then refused to help Bowser out of the cannon and fought Mario and Luigi in battle, and was quickly dispatched. Seargent Starshade fired Bowser out of the cannon at him afterwards, sending them both flying.

The Bros. soon encounter a tunnel, which takes them to Hoohoo Village. The brothers quickly encounter several Beanbean Guards looking for Prince Peasley. The brothers are accused of being the kidnapper, but a bandaged Tolstar states that they are the real Mario bros. They then let the brothers pass and continue their search, stating that the perpetrator spoke of "fink-rats and mustard". The Mario brothers discover that Blablanadon, who gives people rides up to the summit of Hoohoo Mountain, has gone missing as well. They also see several people working on a bridge to the path to the summit. They try taking the lower path down to Beanbean Castle, but encounter Fawful who defeats a guard and blocks their path with a giant rock. They then head back and enter a house next to the bridge being repaired. It contains the Hammerhead Bros. who are trying to create a hammer. However, the rock they used wasn't strong enough. They said they could make a hammer if they were provided a Hoohoo Block. At this time repairs on the bridge finished, so the brothers could climb to the top. About halfway up, they met Hoohoorus who made them complete a challenge and defeat it battle before they could proceed. At the top, they met Blablanadon resting on an egg. He initially mistook them for thieves, after kicking a Hoohoo Block. The egg then hatched, revealing the Dragohoho. It roared, knocking the Hoohoo Block into a waterfall. It then fell into the Hammerhead Bros. house. The Dragohoho then attacked Blablanadon, and then the Mario bros. They defeated it, and it turned back into Prince Peasley.

Prince Peasley, grateful, hands over his rose to Mario and Luigi so that they can enter Beanbean Castle. He then flies off leaving Mario and Luigi to head back down to the Hammerhead Bros. house. The Hammerhead Bros. then create a couple of Hammers for Mario and Luigi so that they can clear the way down to Beanbean Castle. After fighting though enemies and enjoying a mine cart ride, Mario and Luigi arrive at Beanbean Castle Town where they find the town nearly destroyed. Mario and Luigi head for Beanbean Castle where they are stopped by a guard. Fortunately, the Mario Bros. present Peasley Rose which the guard allows them to enter the Castle.

Battle Mechanics
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga uses a style of battle mechanics that are similar to those in Paper Mario, however, with some more stats and perks. Each character has something similar to a speed stat. The one with the highest strikes first. Each character also has Attack, Defense, and one more stat called "Stache". Simply put, Stache is basically Mario or Luigi's luck of hitting a "Lucky" attack, which multiplies damage by two.

Trivia

 * This is the first RPG in the Mario series to have Luigi playable and just Mario and Luigi being the only playable allies.
 * This game goes back to earning experience points to level up rather than Star Points.
 * After a long hiatus, the Koopalings return in this game (last being Yoshi's Safari).
 * Oddly, when Mario and Luigi use the Fire Dash ability (when Mario uses Firebrand on Luigi) and they crash into a big Koopa, the sound of the Mario Bros. running is still heard. However, this is a minor glitch and can be easily fixed just by leaving the current screen.
 * In the game, Toad is the first playable character (though he is only played for a short time to get Mario).
 * Unlike most Mario role-playing games, Mario and Luigi get their hammers a bit late in the game.
 * This is the only Mario & Luigi game where Mario and Luigi don't have a talking partner by their side assisting them at certain points. In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the talking partner is Stuffwell; in Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the talking partner is Starlow, and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, the talking partners are Starlow and Prince Dreambert.
 * This is the third time in a Mario game where the entire story turns out to be something different taking place. Meaning, in this game, the entire game was a movie being viewed by the Yoshi's at the Yoshi Theater. The first was Super Mario Bros. 2 where the entire game turns out to be Mario's dream and the second time was in Paper Mario where the entire plot was a story told by Mario to Luigi.

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