Art is a highly diverse and imaginative realm of human interactions with its surroundings. Art can be seen as a median in which the the mind and body of one could let itself loose and get lost in philosophic engagements, or simply relax. There are many forms of art such as, but not limited to, image creation (painting, charcoal, etc), sculpting, auditory art-forms, theater, and dance. However, one art form that gets neglected is the art of comedy.

Comedy is an unusual art-form because what may be funny may not necessarily be within the art of comedy. Specifically, crude humour is rather debatable as whether or not it is a form of art, or just crude. There is a very fine line that has to be embraced, as well, defining what is either childish, or what is genuinely comical. Nintendo regarded this debate, and answered
with its mascot at the forefront representative.

The Mario Brothers are doubtlessly Nintendo's flagship mascots, and one of the most successful franchises ever in video game history. Mario is often associated with the archetype "rescue the princess" scenario, and Nintendo attempts to keep this concept fresh with the passing years (whether they were successful or the adverse is heavily based upon the player's opinion). With the Game Boy Advance, one of the games that would visit store shelves would have been a Mario RPG strategy game:  Mario & Luigi - Superstar Saga. This Saga comes with the main game, and a bonus feature of having a graphical upgrade of the original Mario Brothers arcade game, which is quite functional. There is little to say about this bonus game, however, so how is the main attraction of this cartridge/emulation?

This is by no means the standard side-scrolling platformer where you stomp Goombas, although crushing these mushrooms are a part of the game. This game is a basic turn based strategy game where the player moves around the world much like many other RPG games, and many other RPG elements were thrown in a blender with Mario themes to create this. In the simplest terms, in this game the player would control the two brothers through a series of puzzles and battles across a 2.5D world. The game's mechanics are broken down into two aspects: the navigation/puzzles and the combat.

The navigation is performed by controlling the two brothers with the D-Pad and by pressing A and B to make the brothers perform certain
actions. One of the brothers will always follow the other one moving, if possible, and the one in front is the one whose actions are controlled by the A button and the one the D-Pad primarily controls, while the one in the rear would perform their primary action with the B button. Changing the primary actions are done by pressing the L or R buttons, which is fairly straightforward. However, one thing that is confusing about the control configuration is that to open the menu, the player would be required to press the select button, and to change which character is in front one would press the start button. There is no reason as to why those two command prompts could not have been reversed, as Nintendo doubtlessly got the capacity to have high production value, and proved it time after time. However, through the emulator this can be remedied by switching the select and start button from what would normally be arranged.

It is necessary to get used to these controls as many puzzles depends heavily on how well the player can control their two mustachio-clad plumbers (former construction workers). It is imperative that the player masters pressing the two action buttons in sequence or together as well, for many puzzles requires careful timing to complete. The puzzles themselves are usually straightforward in the objective and what is required, but there is still enough mental engagement required so the term puzzle is still applicable (sometimes anyways). Some players will find the puzzles too easy, some will likely find some puzzles infuriating, but the puzzles are largely related to the primary actions, so the difficulty depends on preference.

As far as interaction and other navigation elements alluding specifically to RPGs, this game would fit in the status quo: The player do go to various places and interact with characters, the game do allow some free roaming (more on that later in the story section) and there is character customization and stat customization. The player would get a few equipment choices, which affects their various stats that are absolutely essential, but as with other RPG games, buying the most expensive coveralls or badges will NOT guarantee the best results. Indeed, sometimes for someone's strategy a cheaper pair of coveralls may increase the stat they need increased more, or perhaps an item that the player comes across in their travels works well enough. The stats works like they do in most other games of the genre by directly affecting how powerful the brothers are in combat. These would increase with every level gained (plus the player could choose another stat of their choice to increase) and this is a key part of the strategy in the game: do you create two tanks, or focus heavily on speed?

This leads into combat. Earlier, it was mentioned that this is a standard turn based strategy game, but that is not 100% accurate. While the
game do run by a turn based system, where each character and each AI would take turns trying to destroy each other, there is a real time action element involved. Every time the AI attacks, the player is given a chance to dodge the attack and, if the timing is adequate, retaliate. This is a key element, and the game would be almost impossible unless the player power-levels until everything is maxed out. To dodge, the player would have to press either A (for Mario) or B (for Luigi) at the right moment. That brings up a minor technical nuisance in the combat: everything Mario does is controlled with the A button, and everything Luigi does is with the B button. Normally, the A button would do all select actions, and the B would go back, but not in this game. If Nintendo was trying to adapt the player for dodging, couldn't they have reverted to using the L and R buttons for dodging and Bro attacks? Bro attacks are another aspect of combat which is essentially a team effort between the two. The player would have to press the right button at the right time in order to continue with the attack, and the longer the player can go, the stronger it becomes. These are unlocked over time, and the more one is used, the more powerful it can grow, but one can not opt to use these attacks instead of the conventional solo attacks all the time as there is a bro power meter (which is like an mp or sp meter) and each attack drains the meter. There are other elements of combat, but most of these are rather ordinary and they're explained anyways early in the game.

Graphically, the game follows a largely cartoon style, which is likely to keep the game in line with the rest of the games under Mario's belt up to that point, and to make it appealing to younger players. Overall, it fits well and it is technically solid with virtually no glitches, if any. The only issue that one may have is that it may difficulty to gauge depth or distance at time, especially when underwater or trying to make very technical jumps, but it isn’t too much of an issue on the most part. On an audio level, it is also sound for the most part (no pun intended) with a heavily upbeat tune for most of the time, which can and can not be suitable for the occasion, depending on the location. The sound effects are often exaggerated, and the voice acting is rather comical, and some old familiar tunes from earlier Mario Brothers games are recognizable as remixes. Overall, it is solid and has a high build quality, but can grow extremely annoying if exposed to it for extended periods of time, so one may want to consider their own music.

The storyline is perhaps one of the most notable aspects of the game, as in contrast to many Mario Games, it actually goes further than skin deep. Without giving away spoilers, it do revolve around some familiar characters with some familiar objectives, but that is a tip of the iceberg. You’re given the basic story at the very beginning, but it is mandatory to watch the cut scene every single time one should start a new game, which may irk players during repeated playthroughs. One thing that is an excellent decision on the people writing the script was how they balanced Luigi and Mario as far as importance goes. To say this is a story straight from a Final Fantasy game or derived from the Legend of Dragoon would be an inaccurate statement, as it is shallow at times and does not explain a lot of things, leaving it to the player’s imagination. Like say the Legend of Dragoon it is largely linear: one could visit all their previously visited areas, but can’t advance much further, if at all, without completing specific objectives first. For instance, until a certain item is acquired, one can not visit a certain area but to get said item would require doing something else first. However, unlike The Legend of Dragoon, the story is in no way, shape, or form, a serious one: it is a very light hearted one in tone, and should not be taken seriously.

That is the absolute key aspect of whether someone may or may not enjoy this game: it is exceptionally comical, with various running gags and various minor details that makes it a grin-worthy time. Every single technical aspect of the game (graphics, animation, dialogue, etc) adds to make the game a rather light-hearted one, and one it is clear the developers were having fun making. For example, not to spoil too much of the humour but this one being immediately recognizable within the first five minutes, Nintendo spoofs its own lack of attention given to Luigi in previous games, and how Luigi always takes a backseat to his brother, and this is one of the first games he plays an almost equal role with his brother (despite the lack of recognition). That is just one bit of humour there, but there are a lot more that awaits the player, but the player has to be in a very specific mood in order to truly appreciate it, and excessive exposure to this game may make the player feel like they spent way too much time lingering at the sample counters in Willy Wonka Land, with every single little worker “assisting” them. However, the best cure for this is to leave the game for a few hours, go outside, and maybe play something like Bioshock, Dead Space or Silent Hill: go from one extreme to the other, then work back to Superstar Saga.

Now comes the thing that could make or break a game: replay value. Admittedly, if one only intends to run through the emulator, there is
little need for replay value as the game wouldn't’t cost anything more than a few posts worth of Vizzed at the most, or simply waiting a day for the daily Vizz, but for the sakes of people intending to buy...here it is. The replay value is generally low, unless the player opts to do a SIC run (Self Imposed Challenge) or genuinely wants to see what happens during the game again, however a lack of replay value shouldn't’t be much of a factor here.

To conclude, let it be said that this is a generally well built game with a sense of humour. If one should desire a, by large, well built strategy game that does not take itself too seriously, then this game is worth the time to look at, pick up the controls and play. However, if looking for a more serious strategy game, then look elsewhere for this game's jolly nature is fairly prevalent. Whether this is art depends on the player's perspective on comedy, but it may be worth looking at Mario and Luigi – Superstar Saga for some pure and simple fun.

Honestly this has to be one of my favorite games for the game boy advance nice review 

D_Man : thank you =) It helps that this game is one I physically own as well, and knows fairly well having spent a lot of time playing through. I find the better you know a game, the better one can cover it objectively.