Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • It's not the best, it's not the most popular...but I'm not sure there's a regular series on Nintendo's

  • roster quite as charming as Mario and Luigi. Sure, it's only been around for about a decade,

  • but in that time, it's grown into something pretty special. I mean, it's funny. And not,

  • like, video game funny. It's genuinely, laugh-out-loud funny.

  • It's a series that lets you in on the joke.

  • It's a series that embraces creativity, in a less and less creative industry.

  • And...it's a series that might be even better on the Nintendo 3DS.

  • Dream Team is only the fourth game in the Mario and Luigi series, but of course...it's

  • hardly a new idea. The series may be a newcomer by Nintendo standards, but it traces its roots

  • all the way back to 1996...and one of the best 16-bit games ever made. When you played

  • Super Mario RPG, you knew it was something great. And that legendary blueprint serves

  • as the foundation for the Mario and Luigi games.

  • Only the structure on top it? That gets a little wacky.

  • One of the defining elements of the Mario and Luigi series is that...each game has its

  • own creative gimmick. So it always starts with Mario RPG, right? But then, the brothers

  • might be, partners in time or...swallowed by Bowser. And this time? Well, Luigi likes

  • to sleep. Like, a lot. So Mario's gonna have to save the day, right? As usual?

  • Wrong.

  • Turns out Luigi's REM cycles are way more powerful than a Starman.

  • Dream Team is built around a pretty typical Nintendo conventionthe idea of two separate

  • but related worlds. In this case, one is a dream world. The citizens of Pi'illo Island

  • have been trapped inside these nightmare stones and cast away in the dream world. Only problem

  • is, they're also the only ones who can access the dream world, thanks to their abnormally

  • strong sleep patterns. No one else can open the gate.

  • Then again, no one sleeps harder than Luigi.

  • So that one idea sets up everything in Dream Team. Its premise, its hook...but it also

  • sets up this great characterization of Luigi. And that's what Dream Team does best. It gives

  • these two characters...character, and a brotherly dynamic. They call for each other, they strategize

  • in fake Italian...

  • They freaking hug, you guys.

  • You know, there's just something incredibly endearing about Dream Team...and even relatable.

  • Mario is always the guy, but this time, he steps aside. And he seems to do so happily.

  • I mean, you may control Mario, but...this is really a game about Luigi. And how sometimes,

  • heroes can come in the most unlikely forms imaginable.

  • So obviously, Dream Team's personality and incredible writing are highlights, but the

  • gameplay's just as good. Dream Team takes Nintendo hybrid platformer/RPG design to a

  • whole new level. So this time, it's not just turn-based battles and 3D over worlds. The

  • dream worlds are in 2D, and they're actually the most creative levels in the game. Dream

  • Team just throws cool ideas at you, one after another.

  • Like reusing the old Mario 64 title screen for something really clever.

  • Turn-based RPGs aren't for everyone. But this is a turn-based RPG for everyone. Its a genre

  • that can often be convoluted and daunting, but this one's intuitive and welcoming. Not

  • to mention thoroughly creative. And you know, it gives these legendary characters something

  • even some of their most legendary games didn't...a personality.

  • For that and more, Mario and Luigi continues to be a dream.

It's not the best, it's not the most popular...but I'm not sure there's a regular series on Nintendo's

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it