What's Next for the Mario & Luigi series?

JBX9001

JBX9001

IT'S-A GO TIME, MO' FO'S!
So as some of you may have noticed, the 3DS is getting less and less games for it, with some franchises already making the move from that console to the Nintendo Switch (Pokemon for instance). The Mario & Luigi games have always been on handhelds, but I have the feeling pretty soon we'll be getting a new entry on the beloved new gaming platform pretty soon (or eventually, whichever). So I have a few questions to present here:


Will they remake Partners in Time at all? If yes, will it be put on the Switch, or be considered one of the last few AAA games on the 3DS?


Graphical upgrades will be a given, but will it look like the standard 3D Mario titles or still retain the visual style seen in official artwork?


Ever since PiT, the dual screen feature has been used quite extensively; since the Switch doesn't operate on two screens, how will this affect gameplay (probably not by much, but it'd still be something worth discussing)?


Feel free to bring up anything you'd LIKE to see in a new game for the Mario & Luigi series as well!
 
I don't want a Partners in Time remake if all they're going to do with it is simply regurgitate the game back at us, flaws intact like they did with Bowser's Minions and Bowser Jr.'s Journey. Even more so that the game has very fundamental flaws that Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story don't really have. For example, Partners in Time really needs to ditch its linear level structure and construct a better, seamless world like they do in Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story. Bros. Items are very spammable to the point of the Ulti-Free Badge outright breaking the game.

I'm glad Partners in Time doesn't use any hardware gimmicks for anything serious unlike Bowser's Inside Story or Dream Team though. More often than not, they're an inferior method of playing the game than simply using buttons to perform attacks. If those battles are less fun, less convenient, and less intuitive than simply pushing a button, don't use them.

I'd rather see the next M&L game (or remake) on the Switch than on the soon-to-be-dead system. Bowser Jr.'s Journey's abysmal Japanese sales is the writing on the wall for that system.
 
I see your point. Granted, I would expect a remake to fix the mistakes of the original version, but hey, even if this never happens, I can always just pull out the ol' DS cartridge and replay that.


I mean, on the field for navigation, stuff like gyroscopic or touch controls can be kinda neat (when done right). But yes, for battles, I much prefer all action commands be designated to the buttons and control pad (or control stick as may be the case in the future).
 
What I would like to see are the following:
- Have a central villain that is completely different. I don't necessarily mean use an original villain, but we could use a familiar face like Donkey Kong or even something obscure like Wart. Most important, Bowser should take a backseat as a final boss this time around. Seriously, every game in this series already has Bowser as a final boss in some form, even Bowser's Inside Story.
- Involve the other major characters in the Mario series, outside the usual Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser. Also including Toad and Yoshi since they appear with regularity. For example a Mario & Luigi game where Daisy plays a major part would be a superb thing in my book.

Thank you for reading.
 
I want to see Baby Mario and Baby Luigi. I don't care if they end up blowing up and then window cleaning in the end, I just want to see them for once.

Waluigi and Wario should really have a role in the series, and one of my ideas is that their shenanigans become teaching moments for Mario and Luigi, such as Waluigi screaming at Wario and kicking him like a football, Mario gets the idea to mold Luigi into a stone a football and then throw it into switches to get them free.
 
winstein said:
- Have a central villain that is completely different. I don't necessarily mean use an original villain, but we could use a familiar face like Donkey Kong or even something obscure like Wart. Most important, Bowser should take a backseat as a final boss this time around. Seriously, every game in this series already has Bowser as a final boss in some form, even Bowser's Inside Story.
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I barely count Shrowser as a final boss, since that battle doesn't even occur in the climax of the game, it's past that point. In fact, Shrowser's boss fight is pretty much pointless, they might as well just skip it altogether and nothing about the plot would change in the slightest.

The boss battle isn't even fun either.
 
I want more Fawful

I think a PIT remake is more likely to do that than a new game because of complications involving how one can walk back unscathed from one's head exploding into globs of purple goo. But in a game where he's both alive and not occupied being a central antagonist? Partners in Time + Fawful's Furious Future anyone (credit to Silver-64 who helped come up with the title)?

I also want more Antasma

of which a new game would be ideal for that. Sure he exploded too, but it could pass off way easier as the standard "i am defeated therefore peace out dudes" explosion, especially since the Koopalings and Kamek(s) used it in PJ. Same for Best Fitness Friends, they are good candidates for recurring villains as well.

Let's get Wario and Waluigi playable or at least rival-style bosses in the next game too. Bonus if Waluigi meets Dieter. I'd say I want another Paper Mario crossover that actually utilizes characters not found anywhere else but something tells me Miyamoto would rather retire the franchise than dare allow that so sadly it looks like I have to live with just the existing one that was such a tease

I had a dream (heh) that they did a remake on the Switch, but it was of Dream Team for some reason and it was incredibly cinematic with super high-quality expressive models and lots of flashy magical effects. While I definitely think PIT needs a remake above any other, I would LOVE if a Switch game used this type of direction for style and quality. Well as long as it doesn't ditch everything not from the main series in the process.
 
Baby Luigi said:
winstein said:
- Have a central villain that is completely different. I don't necessarily mean use an original villain, but we could use a familiar face like Donkey Kong or even something obscure like Wart. Most important, Bowser should take a backseat as a final boss this time around. Seriously, every game in this series already has Bowser as a final boss in some form, even Bowser's Inside Story.
Click to expand...

I barely count Shrowser as a final boss, since that battle doesn't even occur in the climax of the game, it's past that point. In fact, Shrowser's boss fight is pretty much pointless, they might as well just skip it altogether and nothing about the plot would change in the slightest.

The boss battle isn't even fun either.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is what annoys me the most about Partners in Time: they just had to put Bowser as a final "boss" in some form, as though it's mandated.

Thank you for reading.
 
winstein said:
What I would like to see are the following:
- Have a central villain that is completely different. I don't necessarily mean use an original villain, but we could use a familiar face like Donkey Kong or even something obscure like Wart. Most important, Bowser should take a backseat as a final boss this time around. Seriously, every game in this series already has Bowser as a final boss in some form, even Bowser's Inside Story.
- Involve the other major characters in the Mario series, outside the usual Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser. Also including Toad and Yoshi since they appear with regularity. For example a Mario & Luigi game where Daisy plays a major part would be a superb thing in my book.

Thank you for reading.
Click to expand...
Guess you're entitled to that opinion but I think Bowser works fine as a central villain. And if you're going to use an original character, just don't use Bowser. Often times, that villain just fills the role Bowser otherwise would've had, and more often than not, Bowser gets chewed up and spat out, kinda like what happens to recurring villains in self-insert fanfics. No thanks. But if you're going to do Donkey Kong as a central villain, I'd sooooo be behind that idea. Make it a Mario & Luigi vs. Donkey Kong game! Use Mini Mario armies to thrash the banana horde! I don't know, but that kind of Mario game sounds so much more fun than things like Super Mario Maker 2.

Can we finally kill Starlow by the way? She sucks. She's the one who needs to be chewed up and discarded, not Bowser.

As for art direction, I'd like to see either sprites or models, I don't have much of a preference, but sprites sound nice at this point since we already have hundreds of models of Marios now and HOW ELSE CAN WE MAKE SPRITE COMICS? PRE RENDERS?

winstein said:
Yes, this is what annoys me the most about Partners in Time: they just had to put Bowser as a final "boss" in some form, as though it's mandated.

Thank you for reading.
Click to expand...
Shrowser is contrived but I still think he felt more of some unexpected minigame.... also I hope we never have to suffer through that spaceship minigame from Partners in Time ever again.