Hey guys n’ gals! We’re back with part two of our lite gaming review from the 3DS remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Last we chat; we ended up at Hoohoo Village coming from Stardust Fields after Bowser’s Koopa Cruiser exploded thanks to Fawful. Now the bros. are in this new village wondering where they need to go next to search for Peach’s voice’s whereabouts – and where to find Cackletta and Fawful. Let’s dive in to part two and see what happens, shall we?

Part 2 – From Hoohoo Village to Beanbean Castle (via Chucklehuck Woods)

Now that you’re in Hoohoo village, it’s time to do some exploring. If you’ve been battling a lot in Stardust Fields, chances are; you’ve got a lotta coins! Find the item shop on the bridge that’s right next to the waterfall and stock up on mushrooms and syrups (trust me, you’ll need them later), then take the bros. to the pathway under the bridge where the shop was and you’ll run into…Fawful?! Yeah, the lil’ nerd who blasted Bowser’s ship with you on it to pieces! He’ll turn to the bros. and rant on about food metaphors before dropping what looks to be a statue of ‘The Thinker’, and then flies off to meet up with Cackletta.

Now you’re probably thinking ‘This prick just dropped this thing and blocked our path! Now what do we do?’ So head back up to where the item shop was and go inside the house next to it. I honestly got lost when I first played this game back in 2003, so just poke around until you find the house I’m talking about.

Once you do, you’ll find two hammer-headed bros. Mario and Luigi tell them that they need hammers to break the statue that Fawful dropped on their path, but the material that the hammer-headed bros. need…they no longer have. Now it looks like you’re screwed, but wait…wasn’t there a bridge leading to a path that will take you to the summit of Hoohoo Mountain? Yes, there is! Luckily, you don’t have to go back and forth from the village to Stardust Fields waiting for the bridge to be fixed like you did back in 03’. It’s already ready by the time you walk out of the hammer-headed bros. home. Now it’s time to kick enemy butt n’ level up!

If you can grind all the way to level 8 or higher with the bros. the mid-level boss fight that takes place in the middle of the summit will be a breeze. Then just keep using the new skills you’ve learned from the Starshade Bros. until you reach the mountain’s summit. From there you’ll meet a pterodactyl named Blababladon (I can’t pronounce his name for crap) who gets upset because you kicked a Hoohoo Stone by his foot. As Mario and Luigi explain what happened and how they got here, the egg that Blaby was sitting on starts hatching. Out of it came some ugly-looking dinosaur, which shot a Hoohoo Stone at Blaby – sending him into the clouds far away. Now it’s time for your second REAL boss battle!

Unload all of the bros. special Bros. Attacks on Dragohoho and keep the damage to a minimum, or don’t take any at all. Like I said before; if Mario and Luigi are both at level 8 or higher this fight should be a breeze. After beating the dragon it’ll shoot another Hoohoo Stone into the air, which lands in the house of a certain hammer-headed duo. The dragon then transforms into a prince (without you having to kiss it), as the prince known as Prince Peasley thanks you for saving him. Blaby returns and joins in on the convo as Peasley gives you a special rose needed to get into Beanbean Castle. After Peasley does that anime pretty boy thing where he flips his hear and a sparking background appears, Blaby takes you back down to the village where you meet the hammer-headed bros. and get those hammers.

Once you’ve got them; head to where Fawful dropped ol’ Thinker, and smash it to bits. At this moment you’re hiking down the mountain while using the new hammers you’ve gotten, sadly there are no monsters to fight in this area, but that might actually be a good thing. The area past the cave is a ‘one-way’ only section, so you’ll have to take the bros. through the cave. You’ll find two mining carts with an old man and his dog, so if you remember the minigame from 2003, the rules are the same now as they were then. Win the minigame by collecting ten gems or more, then continue from the cave and you’ll come out to the Beanbean Outskirts. If you run into any spiked enemies, just use the hammer.

You then descend onto the Beanbean Castle grounds where the whole place got hit by war. Actually from one of the people; it got hit by Cackletta and Fawful. If you need to stock up, hit the item shop before hitting the castle. You’ll run into two guards who may or may not know who the Mario Bros. are, but flash Prince Peasley’s rose in front of them and they’ll let you in. Once you’re inside look for the Throne Room and there you’ll find the ambassador of the Beanbean Kingdom. She asks if the bros. are who they say they are, and to prove it, she drops them into the castle’s sewers to ‘fix’ the castle’s plumbing. At this moment both Mario and Luigi should have about 40 health and 25 bros. points or more, so make sure you kill all the monsters and level up like crazy, cuz’ another boss battle is one the horizon.

After you make it to the final room and fix the final pipe, you see the ambassador again with her assistant known as Lady Lima (as in Lima beans). The bros. tell her that she sent them down to fix the pipes, when in reality all they did was disable the security system that protects the Beanstar. Upon that revelation the bros. race back up to the castle, but Cackletta and Fawful already have the star in their possession. Mario and Luigi get ready to fight Cackletta, but instead you fight a possessed Bean Queen. In this fight you’d better aim for the arms cuz’ you won’t be able to deal any damage as long as she has her crown on her head; plus you’ll take damage if you jump on her too. After the fight Lady Lima tells you that the queen was possessed by a belch worm that Cackletta forced her to eat.

Now the only way to return her back to normal is to venture out and find Chuckola Cola, which can only be found in Chuckehuck Woods. Peasley shows up during the whole ordeal and you’re given a special item needed to enter into the Chuckola Museum. So the hunt is on to head to Chucklehuck Woods to find the special cola needed to end the Bean Queen’s suffering, and thus ends part two of our walkthrough review!

Until next post, stay safe and stay united! 🙂

What’s good anime fam! On our last post we said that we were thinking about doing a light experiment with video game walkthrough reviews. With that in mind we’ve managed to pick up a New Nintendo 3DS XL, along with a copy of the Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga remake featuring a new adventure game called Bowser’s Minions. Although we’re not hardcore gamers both of us have played a lot of great titles; some of which are now considered as national treasures, while others leave a lot to be desired. Superstar Saga DX on the other hand is an absolute classic re-imagined from its 2003 debut on the Game Boy Advance. It’s got better graphics, stronger enemies and bosses, and stays true to its original charm and charisma that made the original game so well loved.

If you happen to have a 3DS or the New 3DS (which are hard to come by because the rage is dead thanks to the Switch Lite being the new ‘it’ thing now), I recommend picking up a copy of this game! Now, it’s time for Part 1 of the walkthrough review…

Part 1 – From the Mushroom Kingdom to the Beanbean Kingdom

Peach’s Castle!

You’ve seen it in every Mario game since Mario 64, and it’s where and how every Mario adventure game starts and ends; at least in this spin-off from the original franchise. Princess Peach is greeted by the ambassador of the kingdom next door; the Beanbean Kingdom. Everything seems to be legit until Peach gets sprayed by a purple mist smokescreen, and then the ambassador reveals herself to be the powerful witch known as Cackletta; with the meaning and pun behind her name being re-enforced by her laugh. Her underling Fawful (which might mean ‘F’n awful’ depending on who you ask) uses some weird headgear device to ‘steal’ Peach’s voice. After doing so they take off as the sky resembles Cackletta; letting the gamer know that the adventure has begun.

Meanwhile at Mario and Luigi’s house one of the toads rushes inside and past Luigi doing laundry, to look for the older and well-known Mario bro. Upon finding him in his bath robe he runs out of the shower and into a wall. He mutters that Peach is in trouble and as if he heard the magic word(s) dashes from his house towards her castle. Upon arrival he finds the king of all koopas (who couldn’t have come at a worst time) making a scene while Peach is in distress.

Mario stops in his tracks, but Luigi runs right into Bowser who turns around and charges at Mario. In the original fight Mario had 10 health and 10 bros. points. In this fight Mario has 15 health, and 10 bros. points. Unlike the original where you only attack once with the Jump attack, you get to attack twice like you would in Bowser’s Inside Story; dealing 4 damage instead of 2. After dealing 12 damage the fight ends as Bowser says that now’s not the time to fight; which is ironic cuz’ HE’s the one who started it!

After a cinematic comedic moment where it appears Peach has blown up the castle with her “explosive language”, Mario is at the courtyard on a mission to retrieve Peaches voice by going to the Beanbean Kingdom and tracking down Cackletta. You’ll be doing a lot of favors for a few people before taking off so make sure you don’t forget to do them; cuz it’ll pay off later on. After a while Mario’s on his way to Bowser’s Koopa Cruiser with Luigi seeing him off…NOT! After Bowser gets upset that his minions didn’t show up on time, he spots Luigi and ask if he wants to join up with his minions. He tried to say “no” but the Koopa king ended up taking him anyway; in another hilarious cinematic sequence.

Its nightfall and you’re on Bowser’s flying ship, so after a little more dialogue you get to play as both Mario and Luigi; with Luigi having 17 health and 12 bros. points. If you’ve played the 2003 original game, then you probably already know how to control Mario and Luigi, but I’d still take advantage of speaking to a few of Bowser’s crew members only because you might get extra mushrooms for battle. Once you reach a certain part of the ship you’re going to need to get your picture taken before setting foot in the Beanbean Kingdom, so speak to the koopa behind the old-looking camera. Once you’ve done that keep going until you find a barrel, then smash that thing to trigger a response from another koopa crew member.

Although the bros tell the koopa that they’re looking for the deck, he wants to make sure they don’t slow Bowser down – and teaches them to fight as a pair. Like I’ve said before; if you’ve played the 03’ original, you’re good on this part. Throughout the room you’ll be smashing several goomba pairs in battle, and since both brothers have more than 10 health you should be fine. Once you reach the room before the deck another scene plays out where Luigi gets mistaken for cargo and taken to the deck.

At this point one of the koopa crew members tells Bowser that they’re approaching the border between the Mushroom and Beanbean kingdoms. With Luigi as the lookout; his eyes suddenly pop out of his head as an energy ball smashes the side of the ship, causing Mario and Bowser to look around. Suddenly they spotted the source of the attacks, as it came from exactly who they thought it was; Cackletta. She tells the bros and Bowser of her plan as she commands Fawful to deal with the trio; with the underling launching a blast at Bowser putting him out of commission (or at least out of the fight). Now it’s time for another boss battle!

Hopefully both Mario and Luigi are at level 2; having at least 20 health or more, and 15 bros. points or more. After smacking Fawful around for a couple turns, Bowser asks if you want to know how to dodge Fawful’s attacks. If you already know how (since you’ve played the 03’ version), you don’t have to do this. Just keep smacking him around some more until the fight ends. Once it does Fawful will split, but not before going ‘Rambo’ on the ship and scattering the bros, Bowser, and the rest of the crew across the border. Now the Mario bros. are in Stardust Fields on the mushroom side of the border, and with every border there’s border security. Luckily for the bros they know who they are due to their star power (no pun intended) and proceeded to ask them to prove that they’re truly the legendary jumpers they say they are. After winning the challenge a little fireworks anime plays on the wall; resembling the goal from the original Super Mario Bros. game.

Now that you’re across the border, you’ll be running to a few more enemies before finding the koopa king. Beat em’ down in battle and level up some more, and then you’ll find a large cannon with Bowser tail-up inside until Mario jumps on him to flip the cannon over. Before you’re able to get him out a big green cherub-looking monster named Tolstar drops in and recognizes Bowser and the bros. You are then told to give him 100 coins or he’ll tell the entire Beanbean kingdom how Bowser got stuck in the cannon. The bros give him the coins but realize the exchange rate is only between 5-10%; meaning the bros only gave Tolstar 10 beanbean coins. That means you got to find 100 beanbean coins or you can’t continue, so Tolstar opens another pathway leading deeper into Stardust Fields.

So this is all you have to do; fight more beanbean baddies, level up, gain new skills from the Starshade Bros. cuz’ trust me, you’ll need em’! After doing all of that and being around level 4 or higher (with both bros having between 30-39 health and 21-26 bros. points), you’ll meet back up with Tolstar and give him the 100 beanbean coins that he asked for. After doing that you’d think he’d be a man of his word, but c’mon! You knew right away that he was ‘that’ kind of guy! So Mario and Luigi end up battling him as a result of his lie.

If you wanna go all out (and you probably might want to against this guy cuz’ he deserves it) use bros. attack only. After giving him a good beating, Tolstar flops right in front of the cannon where Bowser is, but the battle made so much noise that one of the Starshade Bros. appears and lights the cannon that Bowser is stuck in. He tells Mario and Luigi to find Peach’s voice without him, and that it’s all up to them. After disappearing along with Tolstar, the bros continue on their journey. They now end up in Hoohoo Village where they’re confronted by three…um, solders who claim that they’ve done something to their prince. (Dude, we just got here and we’re already being detained?!)

Before things get any messier Tolstar appears with crutches and bandages from the beating the bros gave him earlier, and clears up everything. How about that? Guess there’s some good in him after all…

Well guys that will do it for Part 1 of my Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga DX review/walkthrough. I know I’ve stated that I’ll be covering the entire game in just five parts, but because of how long this game is, we’ll be doing it in 7 parts. Part 2 will cover everything from Hoohoo Village to Beanbean Castle, so stay tuned for that!

Until next post, stay safe and stay gold! 😉

For those who may not have heard the news, we just picked up a New Nintendo 3DS XL! Yeah, we know we’re late to the party, but while looking for new things and segments to try out, many of our fans have been wondering if we’re ever going to do any gaming reviews on the blog. Although we’re mostly an anime/manga blog, we haven’t shied away from the idea of incorporating lite gaming reviews. So in response to demand, we’re bringing you guys a special five-part, five-post gaming review/walkthrough of the remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions! It will kick off next Monday and end next Friday, so if you love the Mario Bros. you don’t wanna miss this! 😉