Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is a role-playing game from AlphaDream, following the brothers and their baby selves across two timelines during a Shroob invasion. The complete campaign was finished across four sessions, from the Mushroom Kingdom’s fall to the final confrontation.
The writing and characters are the standout, with the bickering elder and younger Toadsworth, the Whiskers reporter and a Fawful cameo filling the world with personality. The music is persistently catchy, with most areas accompanied by a tune that lingers.
The combat improves on the predecessor, with every attack carrying a regular and a baby variant and the piggyback jump flipping the babies onto enemies. The dual-timeline hook opens traversal options, with the baby spin and the flattening baby cakes used throughout.
The bosses compensate for a generous item economy with enormous health pools, making the double Bowser fight a cool set-piece. The dungeon design impresses, with the Thwomp Volcano’s mini-game arcade and the Star Shrine’s block trial standing out.
The bros items experiment earns a mixed reaction, with the removal of bros points simplifying management but the attacks blurring together. Items are so cheap and abundant that boss fights can be spammed, leaving the system prone to abuse.
The tutorial opening is the biggest complaint, with the first hour weighed down by excessive prompts. The status effects are brutal, the hammer hitbox is tiny and the areas are one-and-done, with little reason to return.
Overall, the writing, the catchy music and the set-piece dungeons make this a very fun journey. The tutorial-heavy opening and the brutal status effects are the caveats.