collectorz.com » connect » game collector » Nintendo DS » Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time [Nintendo DS]

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005)

RPG

Developer	Alphadream
Publisher	Nintendo
Series	Super Mario

Buy Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time at Amazon.com

Description

When Princess Peach disappears into the past in Professor E. Gadd's time machine, MarioTM and Luigi travel back in time in hot pursuit, only to come face-to-face with baby versions of themselves, the princess and Bowser. Threatened by an evil race of aliens known only as the Shroobs, they must team up with their younger selves and travel back and forth through time to save the princess and her kingdom.

Explore the many regions, working with both sets of bros. to jump gaps, solve puzzles and battle enemies. As players explore, they will level-up the characters by using timed button presses to defeat enemies and gain experience points.

Players frequently will have to split up the pairs of bros. to solve puzzles, oftentimes exploring both screens on the DS. In battle, they'll use items and both sets of bros. to dodge enemy attacks and deal their own damage. As the game progresses, they'll learn more and more combination moves, like the Spin Jump, Hammer Dive and Ball Bros. The new Nintendo DS Rumble Pak fits into the secondary expansion slot that normally houses Game Boy® Advance games on the DS. Multiple actions in the game, such as explosions, lucky hits or attacks, trigger vibrations from the Rumble Pak.

In this sequel to Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the Mario bros. team up with their young selves on a quest of lunatic proportions. Control both sets of bros. to explore the very fabric of time and take on an evil alien entity known as the Shroobs.

Duke it out with crazy foes using the celebrated fast-action battle system unique to Mario & Luigi games. Dodge enemy attacks individually, then use items like the Trampoline and Cannonballer to team up all four bros. for super moves.

The second screen will quickly become the players' best friend as they use it to study the land, keep track of the pair of bros. not under their control and even maximize combo moves in battle.

Reviews on Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time [Nintendo DS]

Alwin on Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time [Nintendo DS], 19-07-2007

"Let me start by confessing that I never play RPGs, ever. I hate the turn based battles, I just can't stand them. But I love Mario games, so I had to try this.

And I was pleasantly suprised. Of course it's always fun to play a nice Mario game again, returning to the familiar characters, settings, sounds and the music of course. But apart from that, this is a fun game to play too. I like the strong story, going back and forth through time, finding the baby Mario and Luigi brothers and joining up with them, very cool. I found the space aliens a little out of place in a Mario story though.

The best part of the game begins when you join up with the baby brothers. The control method is very cleverly worked out, using A and B to jump with Mario and Luigi, X and Y to jump with the baby version. Most of the time, the babies are on the backs of the big guys though, only getting off to get to special places, switches, etc... Nothing I've seen before and it works well too.

But, and this is a big BUT: this games does have the dreaded turn-based battles. The first ones are quite easy to win and I was coping still. But later on the battles became harder and, more importantly, longer. And then they get boring and repetitive, even when you get to use special items. What annoyed me most is that the stupid battles keep tearing you away from the real game. Each time you begin to enjoy a level and its puzzles, you run into an enemy and there you go again: Mario hits an enemy, Luigi hits an enemy, enemy one tries to hit Mario, enemy two tries to hit Luigi, then start from the beginning, rinse and repeat. Booorrriinggg....

So as I expected, the battles killed this game for me. I didn't complete it.
Still this game gets a high score from me, as I am sure it's a great game. If you are into RPGs and Mario games, you will definitely love this one. It's just not for me, I guess. "