"Time heals all wounds."

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was one of the most surprisingly delightful games for the Game Boy Advance. Its unique battle style was superb, it delivered on every standard set by previous Mario RPG titles, and its quirky humor was an entertaining diversion from the standard serious atmosphere of the majority of role-playing games. Just two years later, a sequel was created, with all the quirky bells and whistles of the first, plus more. And somehow, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time manages to be more bizarre than all of Superstar Saga's cracked-up plot ideas put together. The DS's installment manages to retain the wackiness of the original, while sacrificing bits of humor in exchange for some improved gaming mechanics.

Professor E. Gadd has completed developing his time travel device. In an experiment to take it for a test drive, he invites Princess Peach and her servants to take a trip back in time. Predictably, something screwy occurs during their departure, and the time capsule returns without the Princess. As Mario and Luigi travel back in time in some sort of nonsensical paradox, they discover that an alien race known as the Shroobs (purple mutant Toads) have been wreaking havoc on the Mushroom Kingdom's past. A savage species, the Shroobs tote around a fleet of giant mother ships, oversized death rays, and a lust for conquest headed by their leader, Princess Shroob. As the duo meets up with their former selves in baby form, they create a team of four to recover the pieces of the capsule's power source – the Cobalt Star.

Peach's Castle poses as the game's main hub, and time holes scattered about the castle serve as gateways to the other regions in the adventure. On the overworld, the single pair of Mario and Luigi retains the majority of their abilities from the previous title, namely bouncing off each other's heads to reach higher ledges and spinning in a totem to cross larger gaps. A few new techniques have also been added to their arsenal, such as the Ball Bros. which turns the duo into one giant sphere which can flatten obstacles and roll at high velocities. Of course, the major addition comes with the assistance of the Baby Mario Bros. While the majority of the time they will appear to pose as dead weight by loafing around on the shoulders of their adult counterparts, certain points will require the babies to split up and enter chambers that would be otherwise inaccessible by the big guys. Mallet-bashing is also now baby-exclusive, often involving pounding each other into the ground, condoning toddler violence without the least of shame.

As before, battles are activated when one of your party members comes in contact with an enemy. They can even get an extra shot in if they time the overworld hit correctly. When one of the Bros. attacks, he will attack simultaneously with his baby counterpart. Precision timing will toss your younger self into the arena for extra damage, with a double jump or a whack with their hammers. However, the major change comes in the form of Bros. Items, which have replaced Bros. Attacks. Carrying these specialized items around with you at all times can help you make quick work of the more pestering enemies. For instance, a Red Shell will target multiple enemies at a time. Each adult plumber will take turns kicking the Shell toward the enemy side, executed by pressing a certain button as the cycle progressively moves faster and faster. Weapons like these are not only useful for targeting multiple foes per turn, but dealing excessively high points of damage. That said, certain rather run-of-the-mill Bros. Items even seem overpowered, such as a Copy Flower which can go on for eternity as long as you consistently time your buttons correctly every nanosecond. More challenged gamers may want to keep these items in reserve and fight through more traditional methods.

Fortunately, these weapons do not completely detract from the game's challenge. The bosses, for instance, are not necessarily as difficult to defeat as they are to figure out how to defeat. Most area guardians have some twist to their defenses, and are either immune or susceptible to a certain element of attack. Since the game enables you to dodge attacks, pattern memorization becomes key. You will need to pay close attention to which plumber an enemy is going to attack, generally symbolized by color or the direction they move in. Unlike in the previous installment, however, pressing the buttons for both plumbers at the same time to be safe will not work in most cases. Many enemies aim for both Bros. in a single attack, one after another. In addition, quite a few attacks will take advantage of the upper screen, extending both their range and mobility. With an entire skyline to cautiously eye on the battlefield's upper screen, the fights can gets relatively chaotic. While the game hardly ever uses the second screen for its touch feature, it does a fantastic job of incorporating it into expanding the gameplay.

Unlike the previous titles, the humor in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is much more visual than written in text. Much of it revolves around Luigi being abused and having the living crap beat out of him needlessly. His cowardice and misfortune is even present in his baby self, who turns out to be an even more obnoxious whiner than Baby Mario. Some of the more subtle humor involves E. Gadd's talking suitcase which travels along with your party and provides you with often-useless advice. Written humor is not absent, however, as the game features such comedy goldmines as the L33t-speaking Hammer Bros. (who have become an obnoxious online fad) and an enraged Thwomp housewife who goes bonkers on her husband and the Mario Bros. And for all you Superstar Saga fans, you need not worry. HE is back. I will say no more on the issue.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time will last the average gamer around 20 hours to complete, give or take a few hours. However, rushing through this adventure is one huge mistake than far too many a gamer have committed. While the lack of random battles means that you can generally pick who to fight and avoid, it is strongly recommended that you raise your experience as often as possible. Lack of experience will cause one to greatly struggle against many of the game's bosses, particularly the ones toward the end of the game, which are incredibly intense in comparison to the more minor area guardians. The game's replay value is relatively high, although there isn't much incentive to go back to areas previously visited on a completed file.

At first glance, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time looks graphically identical to its predecessor, but if you take a more detailed observation, you'll find that the sprites and backgrounds are far more saturated, holding about twice as many colors as they did in Superstar Saga. So some people complain that it does not take full advantage of the DS's graphical capabilities, do they? Face it, folks. Rendered models on the system look ugly. If they can't make it look crisp, keep it in the 2-D format, I say. The audio is a little less than impressive, however. As always, however, Charles Martinet's voice samples for the plumbers are delightful.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is a delightful title that will appease fans of the original. Once scarce and far-between, the world of Mario RPG titles is beginning to flourish. It makes excellent use of the system's second screen, using it to expand its environment rather than shove a gimmick down the consumer's throat. The cast pretty much consists of your standard Mario array, with a few twists on classic enemies here and there. Although the game was initially lost between the hype of Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World, now is the perfect time to get high on a Super Mushroom and prepare for a wild acid trip through time.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/07, Updated 11/26/07

Game Release: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (US, 11/28/05)