Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. review

Two princesses, two super villains, two (three) heroes.

3DS tested version.

Presented for the first time during the Nintendo Digital Event held on the occasion ofE3 2015, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. aims at the idea of ​​merging the world of two gods Giochi di Ruolo that have seen the most famous plumber in the world since time immemorial: Mario & Luigi born on Gameboy Advance and Paper Mario, born on Nintendo 64.

The mix of ideas and mechanics proposed by Nintendo is immediately exciting and convincing, so much so as to immediately allow fans of the Japanese giant to shout a miracle, to the resumption of a series of video games from the classic oriental mold now in decline with each subsequent chapter of the series.

Originally planned for the spring of 2016, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. is now scheduled for 4 December 2015 exclusively on Nintendo 3DS, only a few days separate us from the imminent launch of the title and it is our task to anticipate immediately what the new work from Nintendo has to offer.

An old, new world

The story of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. begins immediately with Toad e Luigi intent on cleaning the old attic of the Castle of Peach; Mario's cowardly brother, however, is afraid of mice and literally jumps into the air when one of them takes him by surprise from behind. Unlucky as usual Luigi accidentally bumps into a bookcase, dropping an old book that begins to spit out monsters, scenarios and characters from a paper world, the world of Mario di Carta.

A few moments pass from the events to the arrival of the catastrophe: monsters from the paper world, in fact, are led by no less than Paper Bowser who, although reluctant at first, will ally with the Three-dimensional Bowser in order to succeed in kidnap once and for all both princesses Peach. Yes, even Princess Peach from Paper is catapulted into the three-dimensional world and immediately becomes a victim of the evil monster's evil.

Our goal is very simple and intuitive: save both princesses and allow our paper friends to return to their world. Easy to say, difficult, then, to do.

A ton of new ideas

Yes, because Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. is anything but something already seen; taking up the now tested mechanics proposed by the titles of the original series of RPGs, Nintendo has decided to amplify its potential by allowing players access to a vast roster of new skills to be used inside and outside the battles, giving life, in some cases, to real games, guaranteeing not only a high level of fun, but an almost non-existent sense of monotony.

Every battle will never be the same, unless we choose it by our will. The Brothers attacks and the brand new Trio attacks will represent the special moves of our heroes and can be used at the cost of Skill Points (AP), which can then be recovered thanks to the Syrups that can be used in the battles. These same skills, as previously stated, will require the input of the players in order to be completed correctly; whether it's kicking a shell at enemies, throwing fireballs or flying a kite, none of the proposed skills will turn out to be repetitive or not very funny, on the contrary, instead, it will be able to entertain despite repeated uses during the course of the whole adventure.

Remaining on the subject of battles, it is also our duty to talk about the brand new Cards clash, which can be used thanks to the Star Points - in turn obtainable by successfully completing attacks during the battles - and can be equipped before the battles themselves thanks to the creation of a real deck of Cards and can be purchased at the Sales Centers managed by the Toads . These cards can be used during the turn of one of our characters and will not affect the end of the turn itself, guaranteeing But several bonuses ranging from inflicting damage on our enemies to enhancing our offensive or defensive capabilities.

Regarding this functionality, it will also be possible to use amiibo to create Custom encounter cards with higher bonuses than the normal cards for sale. Each amiibo character will be linked to the type of card it will create and the type of bonus it can offer. Bowser, for example, will generate cards capable of dealing damage while Yoshi cards that can grant bonuses to our stats or heal us.

Also during the exploration we will be accompanied by Mario di Carta, which for the first time in the series will allow us to interact with the proposed scenarios in a way never seen before. Its two-dimensionality, in fact, will allow it to easily pass through small cracks or narrow places, allowing us to reach new hidden places often filled with rich treasures. Furthermore, the skills of the two brothers will be amplified by the possibility of Mario di Carta to take on different new forms, allowing much more powerful attacks with the hammer, now able to destroy giant blocks of stone, and to reach objects and more distant places by creating something similar to a sort of ladder or extendable bridge, as well as many new other skills that will then be up to you to discover.

The possibilities offered by the titleIn short, they have never been so large, and they are not even finished! News within the series are in fact the fights between the Modelloni, which are nothing more than giant paper of the characters belonging to the world of Super Mario. The combat system in these fights changes to something like real-time combat. Moved thanks to a group of Toad that holds our model, it will be our duty to shoot down and jump on the head of the opposing Model, destroying it in the case of normal enemies or bringing its vital bar to 0 in the case of the Boss-Model.

For the insatiable, then, the title offers dozens and dozens of side quests and objectives that you can complete to be able to boast of having finished the game 100%. Furthermore, the aforementioned objectives will allow you to earn a special in-game currency, which can then be used to buy special pieces of equipment at the Toad shops.

Charming, brilliant, alive!

These are the first three adjectives that came to our mind when thinking about the technical sector of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros., from the graphics to the sound sector, the new Nintendo title is an explosion of joy, ideas, news and surprises. Even the two-dimensional characters of the Paper World are perfectly rendered within the three-dimensional game world of the title, which sports well-defined textures and polygonal patterns that blend perfectly with the game system offered by the title.

The whole soundtrack is incredible and unforgettable of the title that for each landscape will be able to offer us an immersive and exciting sound mix of emotions, able to perfectly represent each of the situations that we will face.