With the arrival of the DS, it would seem that Alphadream saw that there were twice as many screens and twice as many face buttons as the GBA and had the dawning realization of “oh my god! We need twice as many Mario bros!” And honestly? They were right. Okay, well, obviously future games would do just fine cutting back to the original duo, but what I’m trying to say is that the introduction of Baby Mario and Baby Luigi make for a simple but effective innovation to the previously established Mario and Luigi formula.
Starting with combat, the basic attack and dodging mechanics of Superstar Saga remain an engaging system, and the introduction of two more face buttons to roll your fingers over delivers some new possibilities for Bros. Attacks—or rather, Bros. Items. The switch from BP to an item based approach doesn’t ultimately have much consequence—you’ll be spamming them the same way regardless—though I imagine it was done so you wouldn’t have to worry about keeping track of BP totals for a whopping four characters. Moments in which the two duos split up lead to more simplified combat without being nearly as monotonous as Superstar Saga’s solo combat, and the mechanic of the weaker babies replacing the older bros when they’re defeated makes for an interesting idea that unfortunately doesn’t crop up much considering that the game isn’t super difficult and you’re likely to revive the fallen bro immediately anyway. All in all, Partners in Time expands on the ideas of its predecessor in largely satisfying ways. It’s just that once you place combat in the larger context of the game as a whole, it starts to feel less enjoyable.
Okay, let me explain. Rather than adventuring across one great contiguous kingdom, Partners in Time relies on Peach’s Castle as a hub world of sorts, from which you’ll jump into Time Holes to travel to other areas to explore. Everything’s just so disconnected from each other that instead of feeling like you’re exploring a cohesive world, it feels like you’re running through a series of levels. Walk linearly through every room on the map only to reach the warp pipe at the end and groan when you realize that there’s a whole new screen to go through. Areas are filled to the brim with so many enemies that I frankly just don’t want to fight—I understand logically that the flow of combat is no different than Superstar Saga, but something about it is so much more draining in Partners in Time. My theory is that in comparison with the snappy Bros. Attacks of yesteryear, Bros. Items take much longer to pull off on average, so even if you’re repeating them just as much, Bros. Items start to feel repetitive quicker. That, plus the enemies could stand to change a little more frequently.
This feeling of dullness in gameplay is accentuated by a feeling of dullness in the game’s world at large. Okay, that feels a little harsh, but I’m not sure how else to phrase it. The time gimmick has a lot of potential, but since you never visit anywhere in the present, that potential is squandered. It also doesn’t make sense how the characters in the present wouldn’t know what happened in the past—unless the Shroobs time travelled as well. On the topic of the Shroobs, they stand as unique villains and they lend a darker atmosphere to the game compared to other Mario RPGs that really stands out, but if I’m being blunt, I just don’t find them to be super engaging. Partners in Time suffers from a lack of characters—the Shroobs never talk (in any way you can understand, that is, with like one exception), E. Gadd and the Toadsworths are more or less only seen during pit stops at the castle, and the occasional guest appearances of Baby Bowser or Kylie Koopa are appreciated but can only do so much. It’s a well-written game, don’t get me wrong. The Mario and Luigi series excels at both written and visual comedy, and Partners in Time is no exception. But whereas in Superstar Saga, I was constantly meeting colorful new characters and running into charming recurring ones, Partners in Time feels so much more desolate. It is hard to feel motivated to keep pushing on through the game when I’m simply not interested in the world or the people in it.
Partners in Time serves as a strange sequel in which all the gameplay mechanics are innovated upon positively, but the experience as a whole ends up feeling worse because of the overarching structure of the game. If the mechanics present in Partners in Time were placed into a game with more interesting world and level design, it would be a great successor to Superstar Saga! But as it stands, it’s a game that grows dull quickly.