Mario & Luigi (also called Mario & Luigi RPG in Japan) is a series of role-playing games. Nintendo publishes the games. The first games were made by AlphaDream before the company went bankrupt, and the most recent game was created by Acquire. The series is a side story from Nintendo's popular Super Mario games and features Mario and Luigi as the main characters. The stories usually follow Mario and Luigi on a mission to save Princess Peach and stop a villain. The series started in 2003 with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga on the Game Boy Advance. The latest game, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2024. Two games, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, were re-released for the Nintendo 3DS with added content. The second of these two games was the last one made by AlphaDream before the company went bankrupt in 2019. All games in the series received positive reviews from critics, with Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and its remake receiving award nominations.

Gameplay

The Mario & Luigi series includes typical role-playing game elements, but it differs mainly by allowing players to control Mario and Luigi at the same time. During exploration, called the overworld, the player moves Mario, and Luigi follows closely. In both the overworld and battle sections, players use the A button to control Mario and the B button to control Luigi. These controls help solve puzzles and find collectibles by using special moves that often require Mario and Luigi to work together.

The series uses a traditional turn-based battle system, similar to the Paper Mario games. Players can strengthen attacks by timing button presses with the animation of the attack, such as Mario and Luigi’s jumps or hammer strikes. A unique feature of the series is the ability to use real-time commands while an enemy attacks. Good timing lets players avoid attacks or even damage enemies instead of being hit, which is different from typical turn-based combat. Some games in the series include other playable characters, such as Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Bowser in Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, and Paper Mario in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.

Games

• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. The game follows Mario and Luigi as they search for Cackletta, who took Princess Peach’s voice. It introduced a gameplay style that later games would build upon, including controlling multiple characters at once, solving puzzles, and avoiding enemy attacks during turn-based battles by timing moves correctly.

• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time was the first Nintendo DS game, released in 2005. The game added Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, allowing players to control four characters at once, with the option to split them into pairs. Set in the Mushroom Kingdom, the story includes time-travel, as Mario and Luigi must rescue Princess Peach after she is sent back in time by alien creatures called Shroobs.

• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story was released for the Nintendo DS in 2009. The villain Fawful causes Bowser to swallow several characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, including Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach. The game alternates between two-dimensional gameplay inside Bowser’s body and three-dimensional sections where players control Bowser directly.

• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team was the first Nintendo 3DS game, released in 2013. The game switches between the real world (on Pi’illo Island) and the dream world. Mario teams up with Dreamy Luigi to rescue Princess Peach. In the dream world, players use the touch screen to tug on Luigi’s mustache while he sleeps, allowing them to control elements like palm trees and time.

• Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam was released in 2015 for the Nintendo 3DS. Princess Peach and Paper Princess Peach are captured by Bowser and Paper Bowser. Paper Mario joins Mario and Luigi to save them. Players control all three characters at once, using special battle moves called Trio combos and earning boosts through battle cards. Some puzzles in the game are solved through mini-games.

• Mario & Luigi: Brothership was released in 2024 for the Nintendo Switch. The game follows Mario and Luigi as they sail a moving island to reconnect the islands of Concordia. It introduces new mechanics, such as Luigi Logic, where Luigi can act on his own during gameplay, and Battle Plugs, which give temporary combat boosts but require recharging after use.

• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions is a Nintendo 3DS remake of Superstar Saga, released in 2017. It includes a new side mode called Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser, where players build a group of troops to fight enemies. The troops have different strengths and weaknesses, similar to the rock-paper-scissors game.

• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey is a Nintendo 3DS remake of Bowser's Inside Story, released in 2018. It adds a new side mode called Bowser Jr.'s Journey, which plays similarly to Minion Quest but includes additional special moves.

Development

AlphaDream was founded in January 2000 by former employees of Square, including Chihiro Fujioka, who directed Super Mario RPG, and Tetsuo Mizuno, Square's second president. Square previously created Super Mario RPG, the first role-playing game (RPG) featuring characters from the Mario series. After developing smaller games, AlphaDream released Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga outside of Japan on November 17, 2003. This was their first game available internationally.

The Mario & Luigi series used turn-based combat inspired by Super Mario RPG, which AlphaDream producer Yoshihiko Maekawa co-directed. In an interview, Maekawa explained that Super Mario RPG was influenced by a children's toy in Japan where players pressed buttons in time with music. This idea led to a system where players could press buttons at the right time to improve their attacks. For Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, AlphaDream improved this system by allowing players to dodge enemy attacks entirely.

At the time, characters in the Mario franchise were not well developed in terms of personality. Since Mario & Luigi uses a text-based story and features many characters, AlphaDream wanted to create new character designs. With Nintendo's approval, they reworked characters like Luigi, aiming to keep their original charm while adding depth.

Nintendo announced Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (originally called Mario & Luigi 2) at E3 2005, where players could try a demo with three levels and tutorials. Each level showed different abilities, such as using a hammer. Before its release, Nintendo shared details about the game’s story, gameplay, and compatibility with the "Rumble Pak" feature. The game was released in North America on November 28, 2005. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story was revealed in October 2008 in Japan under the name Mario & Luigi 3. Its release for North America and Europe was announced at E3 2009, and it launched on September 15, 2009.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team was released on June 30, 2013. With the Nintendo 3DS’s 3D graphics, AlphaDream updated the game’s world to 3D while keeping character sprites in 2D to preserve expressive animations. Producer Akira Otani noted that creating animations was a major part of the development process, requiring up to six people to design character movements alone.

For Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, the goal was to give Luigi more depth, as Maekawa felt he had not been fully explored even after earlier character changes. One idea was having many Luigis on screen at once, which became possible with better hardware. The team decided to set the game in a dream world, allowing creative level and attack ideas. A prototype attack involving Luigis forming a volcano was tested but removed because it was too hard to control.

During development of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (released January 22, 2016), production was managed by Intelligent Systems, the team behind the Paper Mario series. The game aimed to combine Mario & Luigi with Paper Mario and introduce a third character to control. The team wanted to keep the game simple despite added features. When a prototype with fast button presses was shown to Shigeru Miyamoto, he asked for simpler controls.

After Paper Jam, AlphaDream released remakes of older games. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions was released on October 5, 2017. Another remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, came out on January 11, 2019. The team chose not to release it on the Nintendo Switch, preferring the dual-screen design of the original games. Bowser Jr. was the focus of the side story to explore the relationship between him and Bowser. AlphaDream skipped remaking Partners in Time because Bowser's Inside Story was the most successful game in the series and had positive reception for its antagonist, Fawful.

From 2018 to 2019, AlphaDream sought to hire new staff for future games on the Nintendo Switch and smartphones. However, the remake of Bowser's Inside Story sold poorly in Japan and was one of the worst-selling Mario games. Low sales led to the cancellation of other 3DS projects, marking the last Mario game on that console. By March 2018, Yahoo! Japan reported AlphaDream owed £3.5 million (US$4.3 million) in debt, leading to bankruptcy in October 2019. In January 2020, Nintendo filed a trademark for the series in Argentina, sparking speculation that the series might continue in the future.

In June 2024, the sixth game in the series, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, was announced and released on November 7, 2024, for the Nintendo Switch. This is the first game not developed by AlphaDream, though some original developers were involved. The game was created by Acquire, as noted in its intellectual property credits. The art style shifted to full 3D, with producer Akira Otani mentioning that a HD-2D style similar to Octopath Traveler was considered but not used.

Reception

All games in the series have been well-received by critics. According to the review website Metacritic, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story received "universal acclaim," while all other games received "generally favorable reviews." Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam had the lowest rating among the series.

Both GameSpot and Eurogamer called Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga "one of the best GBA games of the year." GameSpot highlighted the game's unique mechanics and gameplay ideas, while Eurogamer praised its "simple and clever design."

The DS sequel, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, was also well-received. GamesRadar+ celebrated its funny dialogue and story, though Nintendo World Report noted that the balance of the game's special items, called Bros. items, was not ideal. The next DS entry, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, was critically acclaimed. Giant Bomb said the game kept the series' core formula but added small, unique changes. Game Informer noted that the touch screen and microphone features felt natural and well-designed.

After the release of the 3DS title Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, IGN praised some aspects of the game but questioned the way it introduced many ideas that were later ignored, leading to an "uneven experience." Nintendo Life acknowledged the effort put into the game but warned it might be too much for some players, recommending it mainly to "dedicated fans." Digitally Downloaded said Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam was still fun and varied but lacked a strong opening story. IGN also noted that the game's environments and story felt unoriginal. GamesRadar+ believed adding Paper Mario as a character helped keep the game fresh for experienced players.

Critics gave high marks to the remakes Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, though not as highly as the original versions. Polygon called the first remake "a game that deserves to be enjoyed by a new generation," but criticized the Bowser's Minions bonus content for being repetitive and boring. Destructoid said the second remake kept the original's strengths but found Bowser Jr.'s Journey not worth playing for longtime fans.

Reviews for Mario & Luigi: Brothership were mostly positive, though some critics disliked its pacing. Gamereactor said the game had strong moments but risked being abandoned due to unbalanced gameplay and uninteresting side quests. Twinfinite enjoyed the game's variety of settings and new boss battles. Shacknews praised its "unforgettable story" and "lovable characters." By February 4, 2025, the game had sold 1.84 million copies.

The Mario RPG games directly influenced the 2025 title Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s enemy parrying mechanic, according to Sandfall Interactive creative director Guillaume Broche. This likely refers to Mario & Luigi, as it was the only Mario RPG at the time to allow players to control enemies during their turn in combat.