Story

A Goodwill Ambassador came bearing a gift for Princess Peach. The gift was from the evil Cackletta and it stole Princess Peach\'s voice and replaced it with bombs. Mario and Luigi must fight together in this RPG to get her voice back.

How do I fight?

There are many skills and abilities you?ll acquire throughout the game. You will start off with your basic hammer and jump attacks. Later on you?ll acquire fire and lightning skills. The most powerful attacks of all are the brother attacks where Mario and Luigi attack an enemy together. This involves the right buttons being pressed at the right times. There are various levels of the attack where level one does the attack in slow motion and tells you when to push the button. The higher up levels don?t assist as much but are way more powerful! In order to do a brother attack you have to have enough BP, if you are low drink some syrup.

How do I power up?

There are various attributes in this game. They go up with every level you raise and there is an option to randomly increase one attribute per level. The attributes are:

• HP- Hit points/health
• BP- Brother Points
• Attack- how powerful your attacks are.
• Defense- how strong your defense is.
• Speed- how fast your character is. With high speed, your characters should be able to attack first
• Statche- Your Luck stat. The higher it is, the better chances you have of getting critical hits. Stores give you discounts if your Stache level is high.

Be sure to visit the stores in towns. You can stock up on mushrooms to replenish health, syrup for BP, herbs to cure poison, and nuts that allow you to heal both brothers at once. There are also stores that carry badges to boost up some stats and overalls that can increase your defense and other attributes. Each brother can equip one badge and one pair of pants.

What kind of enemies are there?

Since this is a Mario game you have some classic Mario enemies like koopas, ba-bombs, spinies, and of course Bowser. Surprisingly Bowser serves is an ally for while. How dare someone else kidnap Princess Peach! There are also many new enemies and bosses as well. Pay attention in battle since many enemies give a clue as to which brother they plan on attacking.

Game Play

This has got to be my favorite Mario RPG I have played. It has a great balance of RPG elements and character development as well and some classic Super Mario jumps and jumping puzzles. Although I?m not a fan of time attack puzzles the ones in this game are not that bad. ;) If you use a game boy player for the game cube, this game supports the rumble feature.

Graphics

The graphics are pretty good for a game boy game. The maps and characters have good detail and the enemies all have their unique looks. The character emotion in this game is great. Mario and Luigi drop to the floor and give up if people don?t listen to them or if they don?t let them explain the situation. You can tell when Luigi gets scared as he shakes and holds down his hat to cover his eyes.

Sound

The sound in this game is actually pretty good considering it?s a game boy advance game. There are mini voice clips for Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. There are some classic Super Mario tunes that make an appearance as well. The background music is pretty good and there?s a good chance it will get stuck in your head.

Appropriateness

Other than the typical jumping and hammering enemies this game is pretty clean. There is a funny scene where Princess Peach is asking for Mario and Luigi?s help and Luigi refuses until Mario smacks him with his hammer. Needless to say they wind up helping her. There are some ghosts (boos) and some magician Koopas but no magic is used by Mario and Luigi.

Final Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I clocked in more than 30 hours playing it. If you happen to stumble across it I recommend picking it up if you like RPG games. It?s pretty clean other than some sibling rivalry. ;)

Final Score

Game Play 19/20
Graphics 8/10
Sound 9/10
Controls 5/5
Stability 5/5 Appropriateness
Violence 8/10
Occult/Supernatural 8.5/10
Language 10/10
Sexual Content 10/10
Cultural/Moral/Ethical 10/10

Total Score 92%