The entire Mario & Luigi series, ranked
For the most part, the Mario & Luigi series fell dormant after the release of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. Sure, we got remakes of Superstar Saga and eventually Bowser’s Inside Story on Nintendo 3DS – but for the longest time, there were no new entries at all. Then AlphaDream closed its doors after the somewhat expected failure of the Bowser’s Inside Story remake, which seemingly sealed the deal on the fate of this franchise. To everyone’s surprise, however, Mario & Luigi: Brothership was revealed at this year’s summer Nintendo Direct, and it’s developed by Acquire, the team behind Octopath Traveler. And with this new game on the horizon, we figure it’s as good a time as any to take a look at the rest of the Mario & Luigi series and how each of them holds up today.
Of course, it’s important to note that this is a subjective list. The Mario & Luigi series is pretty consistent, so none of its games are flat-out bad – quite the opposite, in fact. Just because a game is at the lowest spot on the list doesn’t mean it’s irredeemable or not worth your time! And if you have your own opinions on which Mario & Luigi games are the best or the worst, you’re welcome to leave them in the comments below. Without further ado, here’s our definitive Mario & Luigi series ranking:
8. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
If you’ve played Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, then its placement on this list should come as little surprise to you. On its own, it isn’t a bad game. But if you compare it to other games in the series and start thinking about what it could have been rather than what it is, things start to fall apart. On paper, the idea of mixing up Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario is a great idea – you could have the brothers explore both worlds, introduce a new villain, bring back old villains from both games to fight together… instead, it’s just two Bowsers kidnapping two Peaches and fighting two Marios. There’s not much depth to the story at all, and most of the supporting characters are simply Toads, just like in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. In fact, Starlow is the only character original to the Mario & Luigi series who actually appears in Paper Jam. Not a bad game by any means, but definitely uninspired – right down to the world design, which feels like it’s right out of New Super Mario Bros. Wii (and not in a good way).
7. Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey
There’s a lot wrong with Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey other than its incredibly long title. It released on Nintendo 3DS in early 2019, a year where the Switch was going in full swing. Players wanted to see Mario & Luigi on Switch, not on an eight-year old handheld. You could also already play the original Bowser’s Inside Story on 3DS by popping in a DS cartridge, and the game wasn’t rare or expensive by any means – and that game was already good enough. Bowser’s Inside Story was a full-priced remake that nobody asked for, and as you might expect, it sold less than 100,000 copies in Japan (we don’t have any sales data for other regions) and was a complete flop. The lack of sales from this game was what ultimately shut AlphaDream down, but in hindsight, releasing a remake of a fairly recent game on an outdated console (where you could already play the original game in question) probably wasn’t going to be the best idea. The remake itself is still a good game, but it’s lacking when compared to the original. Whereas the DS entry had its own unique art style, the remake has the exact same art style as Dream Team, Paper Jam, and the Superstar Saga remake, which removes a lot of its unique charm. The game also runs at half the frame rate, and Bowser looks kind of strange in the new art style. Overall, this definitely wasn’t a good move for the franchise.
6. Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions
This was the first of the 3DS remakes, and it’s arguably the better of the two. In fact, we think Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is really the only questionable entry on this list – not great, but not terrible either. From here on out, the games we’re listing all range from pretty good to really good. The Superstar Saga remake’s graphics are in the same style as Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and the game adds a bunch of quality-of-life features that make the experience a bit more even. As an add-on game, Bowser’s Minions drew criticism for being fairly shallow and inconsequential, but Superstar Saga itself still holds up well. That said, it’s not a complete replacement for the original Game Boy Advance game, which is much more accessible since it’s available on Nintendo Switch Online.
5. Mario & Luigi: Brothership
The first-ever Mario & Luigi game from Acquire is a fantastic effort, but it’s also an incredibly difficult game to accurately review. What catches your eye first about this game is its unique, expressive art style. It’s got vibrant colors and excellent animations for all of the characters, and serves as one of Brothership’s key highlights. The characterization of the Mario Bros. and Bowser is on point as always, with quirky and charming Luigi Logic scenes that can turn the tide of boss battles in your favor. Then you’ve got the world of Concordia, whose character designs do somewhat clash with your typical Mario staples. But the world is unique and stands out with its universal theme of power plugs and interconnectedness.
The primary complaint with Mario & Luigi: Brothership is its length. Whereas most other Mario RPGs are somewhere around 20 hours, our 100 percent playthrough (which consisted of main story content and side content, no grinding) wound up at around 50 hours. The game’s story, while not bad, is incredibly drawn out and full of padding. Not to mention you often go several hours between obtaining new attacks and Bros. Moves, which makes your arsenal feel relatively limited compared to other Mario and Luigi games. The performance also suffers on Nintendo Switch; it often fails to maintain 30 frames per second. This gets in the way of timing-based minigames, as the poor performance can actually throw off your timing and cause you to fail the minigame. The performance issues reach a peak towards the end of the game, in which the game really struggles to hit a consistent 30 frames per second.
Overall, Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a solid first game from its new developer. It’s home to some interesting ideas, unique characters and locations, and one of the best final bosses the series has ever seen. But it’s all incredibly drawn out, and not everyone will have the time or motivation to see this adventure through to its end. Couple this with a few odd design choices like selecting Luigi’s moves with A but executing them with B, and you’ve got a decent entry in the series, but one that perhaps could’ve streamlined itself a little better.
4. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team was the first game in the series released for the Nintendo 3DS. It doesn’t quite reach the same heights as its predecessor, but it’s still a worthy entry – if you can get past the tutorials, that is. Indeed, most players’ biggest complaint with Dream Team is its copious number of tutorials. Otherwise, it’s a fairly standard entry in the Mario & Luigi series – its soundtrack is as strong as ever, and the game introduces a fair bit of new characters plus the return of Starlow from Bowser’s Inside Story. At this point, she’s either a fan favorite or a favorite within Nintendo, because she’s appeared in every game since! Dream Team also marks the beginning of the “3DS Mario RPG art style”, which went on to be used in the Superstar Saga remake, the Bowser’s Inside Story remake, and the next new entry in the series, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
3. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
This is one of the more underrated games in the series. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time was the first Mario RPG on the Nintendo DS, and it’s also one of the best. For some reason, Nintendo almost consistently forgets about or overlooks this game. It was released on Virtual Console for Wii U, but AlphaDream completely skipped over Partners in Time for a remake. It’s a shame, too, because Partners in Time – while it is a great game – falls just the tiniest bit short of Bowser’s Inside Story. Still, this game has tons of unique characters, a surprisingly dark storyline (for being a Mario game), and solid music that is now characteristic of the Mario & Luigi series. We don’t think Nintendo will do many more Mario & Luigi remakes for a while, but if they do, we’d like to see Partners in Time done first!
2. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
For being the first entry in the series (and on the Game Boy Advance, no less), Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a fantastic experience all in all. It solidified the base of the Mario & Luigi series for years to come, and introduced tons of beloved characters including Cackletta, Fawful, Popple, and more. It was also only the third RPG the Mario series ever had. And in classic Mario RPG fashion, Superstar Saga’s story was much more involved than your average Mario game. It was full of humor, shenanigans, and surprises throughout, and it’s a game that still holds up to this very day. In fact, you can play it on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack right now, complete with save states and rewind! Superstar Saga is a timeless classic, and while its graphics and sound design might feel just a little bit dated, it’s still an RPG well worth your time in the modern day.
1. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
If you’re a fan of the series, then you’ve no doubt played Bowser’s Inside Story. And you probably agree with this take, too! To this day, Bowser’s Inside Story is the closest thing we have to a real “Bowser game” where he serves as the protagonist. His characterization is arguably better in this game than any other, and the ability to switch between Bowser and the Mario Bros. adds lots of variation to gameplay and deepens your exploration of the Mushroom Kingdom. This game is quirky, fun, and memorable, and it introduces a slew of new characters to interact with. It’s also home to Fawful, who is arguably the most beloved villain of the Mario and Luigi series. Bowser’s Inside Story has a unique art style, varied and interesting areas, and great music, too. As we mentioned earlier, its remake on Nintendo 3DS was entirely unnecessary. You could play the original game on 3DS already, and it was good enough as-is! Our only real complaint about Bowser’s Inside Story is that sometimes the giant battles feel a little finicky – the microphone doesn’t always accurately pick up the fire breath, for instance, which makes certain giant bosses tougher than others. Still, Bowser’s Inside Story sets a high bar for the series, and we’d be shocked if anything ever beats it out in the future.
What’s your opinion of the Mario & Luigi series? Do you agree with our placements, or do you think we got one of them dead wrong? Whichever the case, feel free to drop your own personal series ranking in the comments down below. If you’re interested in checking out Mario & Luigi: Brothership, you can view the official store page for it right here.
