Shying away from the Paper Mario side, Nintendo have taken us back to the pure RPG side for the Year of Luigi and while we at VGU really enjoyed Paper Mario Sticker Star, we also all agreed this is a good thing. The Mario RPG series of games have always been considered to be a set of very solid and enjoyable RPG’s and I am happy to inform you that Mario RPG 4 (Dream Team Bros.) is not going to be an exception.

The overall story is that Mario and friends are called to Pi’illo Island for a holiday and while there they discover that Mario can enter the dream world via Luigi’s dreams. This sets them off on a journey to enter the dream worlds and save all the petrified Pi’illo’s, but while doing this Peach is kidnapped by a shadow, sucking her into the dream world. This was so unexpected even Bowser hears about it and sets off to save and then re-capture Peach for himself. I won’t spoil any more but trust me; there are some twists on the Bowser-Kidnaps-Peach storyline which you will have to see for yourself.

Sweet Dreams WeeGee!

What makes the story great is the light-hearted application of what is going on but everything has a serious and important undertone, while you may be chuckling at the slapstick and silly jokes you will always know what you have to do and how important it is to the quest.

Silly looking yes but hella powerful.

The gameplay is split into two areas, the real world and the dream world. In the real world Mario and Luigi have to travel around Pi’illo Island on their adventure while battling foes together in the classic RPG turn based battle system style. The combat is always a challenge as the player is forced to learn and remain active during fights because they need to know how enemies attack so they can dodge/counter correctly while also deciding how to best deliver the coup-de-grace. Unlike Sticker Star though, you will earn items, equipment and EXP as well as coins for defeating enemies. This allows you to see your progression clearly as you can nudge which stats you want to increase more each time you level up as well as netting you bonuses when you hit specific levels.

The gameplay in the dream world is slightly different, while the in real world, the bros can travel in any direction they like, in dreams the gameplay becomes side scrolling only. This is a nice touch as it not only nods to Mario games in general, it makes the dream world feel and act differently which is what you would expect a dream world to be like. The battle system is also the same except this time just Mario fights with a Dreamy version of Luigi “buffing” him. Mario can still jump on/hammer enemies but the effect is very different and much more powerful as now he has the power of many Dreamy Luigi’s helping him. The special attacks in the place are also different but are exclusive to the dream world only.

This is one of my favourite moves in the game!

The last big change is the Giant fights. At certain points in the dream world, Luigi can transform into a giant version of himself and fight off large opponents in colossal turn-based battles while the player has to hold the 3DS like you would a book. These fights are really impressive and definitely stand out from the rest of the game (for more reasons than you might think).
Everything else is what you would expect it to be from a title from Nintendo, the music is so catchy and spot on you will unwittingly find yourself humming a few of the tunes, the 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds look so perfect and never get old to look at and the humour is just wonderful for players of all ages (perhaps kids may like them a bit more but what would you expect from a Mario title?).

So we have an already pretty fantastic RPG, but you know what really sells it? It’s the games overall charm. While playing, as I mentioned before, you will reach a time were the Mario has to dive to the deepest part of Luigi’s dreams. While there, the world becomes very surreal and is full of Luigi symbolism. As Mario explores the area, text detailing Luigi’s deepest thoughts appear on the screen. What was just amazing to see was the love Luigi has for Mario, the text muses about how much Luigi cares for Mario, expresses wishes not to leave him behind and, most heart wrenchingly, whether or not Luigi can help Mario.

Then, Mario is attacked by a Giant mechanical creature and Luigi starts to fear the worst, but, after all the other Luigi’s in the dream world band together becoming a part of Dreamy Luigi shouting things like, “We can do it!” and “We gotta help Bro!”, he becomes a giant and fights off the enemy thus protecting Mario. This was just a delight to see, it really hammers home the characters relationship and makes Luigi come across as not a scaredy cat sidekick, but as a loveable brother who will do the best he can to help get the job done. And that is a surprising amount of deep messages for a Mario title.

“I gotta help my bro!”

Final thoughts

I went into Mario and Luigi Dream Team Bros expecting it to be a pretty awesome RPG and it not only exceed these expectations it outright smashed them. After around 35 hours of playing the game still was fun to play, the music was still catchy and most importantly, it was still fun. If you are new to RPG’s and want a nice simple title to ease you into more hard-core ones in the market then pick this up right now. If you are a returning fan of the series then let me assure you, Mario and Luigi Dream Team Bros. stands up in the series as one of the best. Get it now, I promise you will not regret it.