September 29, 2013 by

Mario & Luigi Dream Team

The Mario & Luigi series makes its debut on the 3DS for the first time and delivers a long but enchanting adventure. With plenty of humorous moments, a delightful art style and satisfying battle system, Dream Team will quench anyone's thirst for a charming RPG to play on the go.

by Travis Sokolowski


Spending fifty hours playing an RPG on the 3DS was something I never anticipated on doing. Using up such a large amount of time is usually restricted to console gaming for me, but that was until I played Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. The length of Mario and Luigi's latest adventure allows you take in most of the main content but it also creates the game's biggest downfall in the process.

Running around as the famous duo is just as fun and entertaining as it has been in the past, but whether or not you can withstand that for hours on end all depends on your level of patience. Is getting lost in a goofy tale with Mario and his friends what you've been craving for? Then this is the game for you. If not, then Dream Team might come off as a tad pompous.

The story starts with Princess Peach receiving an invitation to the sunny Pi'illo Island, bringing along the Mario Brothers, Starlow, and Toadsworth with her. Shortly after arriving, the group finds out that Pi'illo Island was once the home to an ancient race known as the Pi'illo folk. Mario and the others also learn that Luigi has the ability to fall asleep as soon as his head hits a comfortable surface.

After knocking Luigi out of his slumber, the brothers come into contact with Prince Dreambert, one of the many Pi'illo folks spread across the island. Dreambert warns everyone that the evil nightmare creature Antasma has returned after being defeated by the Pi'illo folk years ago, and it's up to Mario and Luigi to put a stop to his reign of terror and despair.

Much like past entries in the Mario & Luigi series, Dream Team's narrative will have you chuckling all the way through thanks to the witty sense of humor and likeable personalities. Mario and Luigi speak in fake Italian accents but the rest of the characters express their thoughts through normal text dialogue. The banter between the cast never grows old and it's always sharp.

All of the characters are brought to life with a beautiful art style that really makes them pop off the screen (no 3D effect required). The environments and enemies look gorgeous and it's hard not fall in love with the pure innocent look of the game. Visually speaking, Dream Team is one of the 3DS' most unique offerings to be released thus far.

When you're not reading the amusing dialogue or admiring the graphics, you'll be exploring Pi'illo Island and all of its surrounding areas. Controlling Mario and Luigi remains the same as it did in the earlier titles, with the A button making Mario jump and the B button doing the same for Luigi. The camera is positioned above the two heroes and it can give you a good sense of an area's size.

Coming into contact with an enemy will initiate a combat sequence that involves the same mechanics that have been seen in the past. Timing is essential in order to deal out the largest amount of damage to your foes and it helps keep the battles from feeling stale as they play out. Hitting the jump button just as you're about to land on a foe's head is still extremely satisfying.

If a certain group of enemies is too powerful, you can choose to flee from the battle or use a Bros. Attack on them. The Bros. Attacks use up BP but can eliminate large groups of foes if they're preformed correctly. Upon activating one of them, you'll then have to hit the A and B buttons in the proper sequence to make Mario and Luigi strike with the highest amount of force.

At the end of each battle you'll receive a select amount of EXP depending on what types of enemies you fought. Earning enough EXP will cause Mario and Luigi to level up and improve their various stats such as Health, Speed, Defense, and many others. You can also choose to enhance one stat by a few points if you time your button press well on a spinning slot.

The better your timing is, the stronger the attack will be.


Once you reach a certain level as Mario or Luigi they'll earn themselves a brand new rank. Both of them start with the Mushroom rank but will work their way towards the Shell, Flower, Star, and Rainbow ranks as they level up. Earning a new rank will give you the chance to pick a permanent enhancement for the individual bros. but you'll have to choose wisely.

Pi'illo Island might have some problems with nasty creates running around, but so does the Dream World. Thanks to Luigi's impressive sleeping skills, Mario can enter the Dream World through a portal that appears over Luigi's head as he sleeps on a Pi'illo folk while they're in their pillow form. Unlike the rest of the game, the Dream World is navigated on a 2D plain.

Mario will be joined by a recreation of Luigi known as Dreamy Luigi while in the Dream World, and he can help you navigate with the use of Luiginary Works. This means that Dreamy Luigi takes control of an aspect of the environment and manipulates it so he can help Mario explore the terrain. The Luiginary Works make great use of the 3DS' touch screen and are surprisingly well varied.

Seeing as how the real Luigi isn't in the Dream World, Bros. Attacks are replaced with Luiginary Attacks. Dreamy Luigi will explode into smaller versions of himself called Luiginoids and combined them together for Mario to attack enemies with. From an unstoppable rolling ball to an oversized hammer, the Luiginary Attacks are always pleasing to watch.

The boss encounters play out as standard battles while in the land of reality, but the ones in the Dream World are entirely different stories. Dreamy Luigi will grow enormous and force you to turn the 3DS on its side before starting the brawl. All of these boss fights will keep you on your toes and they're a blast to take part in, and thankfully there are multiple ones.

Platforming is a much larger part of Dream Team than any of the other Mario & Luigi games that came before it. Both the real and Dream Worlds contain sections that will have you jumping from platform to platform just like a classic Mario title. The platforming mechanics are tight and responsive but they don't offer much of a challenge over the course of the game.

The full map of the world is huge to say the least. There are multiple landmark regions to explore and Warp Pipes that will take you beneath the land. Being thorough reaps great rewards such as finding extra coins, valuable equipment, Attack Pieces, and Pi'illo folk to rescue. Discovering all of the games secrets will take a great deal of time to do, but the benefits are worth it.

There's a lot of ground to cover on Pi'illo Island.

There's a lot of ground to cover on Pi'illo Island.

Coins are used to purchase items and equipment for use during battle and there are plenty to be found. Equipment can improve Mario and Luigi's stats but they can also create negative effects that could potentially harm the two plumbers. Studying how the different types of equipment can alter Mario and Luigi's stats is vital to maxing out their performance during the multitude of brawls.

The most valuable items available for purchase are Badges, which can change the tide of any battle when used at the proper time. Mario and Luigi can purchase individual Badges for them to then combine into one, giving them a special ability once they build up a mandatory energy meter. The effects range from simple healing benefits to damaging enemies and they're all worth experimenting with.

Everything within Dream Team holds a high mark of quality, but the game's main problem is its overall length. On one hand, it's nice to have a full-fledged RPG on the 3DS but the game overstays its welcome on the other. I loved interacting with the world surrounding the two lovable heroes but playing through a seemingly endless amount of fetch quests on a handheld is no easy task.

Sure, having a huge adventure in your pocket at all times is great for those who want that core experience but the it might come off as daunting for others. All of the elements that compose the game are executed nicely but I can't shake the feeling that Nintendo overcompensated this time around. What might work on a console doesn't necessarily translate perfectly to handhelds.

It also doesn't help that a tutorial is activated nearly every time you unlock a new ability or encounter a puzzle in the game. Dreambert and Starlow will never stop pestering you about how to preform new moves and it can get irritating very quickly. I understand that Nintendo is trying to appeal to a mass audience, but that doesn't mean that everyone is new to gaming.

Dream Team might be a little too long for its own good but I still recommend playing through it. The story has enough charming moments to keep a smile on any gamer's face and the battle system is consistently engaging. It's the core gameplay that makes the game rise above the bloated narrative it has, and I never found myself bored with any of the enemy or boss confrontations.

The 3DS has built up a strong library of games with plenty of excellent titles to choose from, with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team being one of them. Seeing Mario and Luigi cooperate like two close brothers is will leave you in a pleasant mood by the conclusion. You might end up spending a bit more time on Pi'illo Island than you would have liked to but it's a vacation spot worth visiting.


Score: 8.4 out of 10 - "Great"

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