Does the newest Mario & Luigi adventure write for players a fantastic adventure, or is it the fanfic that never should have been?

The Mario & Luigi series has been running strong for quite some time now. Beginning on the Game Boy Advance and spanning to the Nintendo 3DS, the now five-game-long series has been taking the Super Mario Brothers franchise and adding one part RPG and one part comedy in order to create an entirely different series for the brothers to star in, all while keeping the Super Mario feel intact. Though relatively young, the series has definitely made its mark through the over-the-top adventures it has sent Mario and Luigi on. From fighting  off invading aliens with their baby counterparts to collecting magical stone pillows in order to visit the Dream World, the Bros. have never had much in the form of relaxation when it comes to their adventures. With the crazy levels of each adventure off the charts, it’s always interesting seeing what new characters, places, and stories will pop up within each new installment of the Mario & Luigi series, and Nintendo has delivered quite spectacularly thus far. Despite their successful recipe, however, it seems as though the company decided to take a bit of a different turn with the 5th M&L installment, and thus Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam was born.

On top of things, players are now responsible for controlling three characters at a time. Although other games within the M&L franchise featured more than two characters (such as the Baby Bros or Bowser), players have never before been tasked with using more than two characters at once. While the idea is cool, it gets overwhelming pretty easily. Not only do players have to time dodges for three characters at once, but Paper Jam has also introduced Trio Attacks. Trio Attacks are a +1 version of the game series’ staple Bros Attacks, involving both Mario and Luigi to hit enemies hard. Bros Attacks generally require players to be pretty accurate with both timing and button inputs, and can be pretty difficult to pull off consistently, and Trio Attacks honestly only make things worse. Nothing’s more frustrating than losing a boss battle because you hit “Y” instead of “B” or the like. With that being said, the combat within the game is largely charming. Dodging enemy attacks and learning their patterns is always very satisfying and, although they may be frustrating at times, seeing that huge “EXCELLENT” after a perfectly-executed Bros or Trio Attack is always enough to make one smile.