I won't rank them just yet because I haven't finished all of them. But I will say, I personally have no idea why Partners in Time is consistently listed so low on so many of these rankings. I think it's a fantastic game, and I say this as someone with zero nostalgia for it. I played it for the first time last year and loved it, I'd rank it right up there with Bowser's Inside Story.
The gameplay is fast and fun, just like all the other good M&L games. I love how the babies add extra depth to the bros attacks. You can get extra hits in with X/Y but it gets riskier the longer the attacks go on for, and it's fun to see how much you can get away with.
And speaking of the babies I really enjoyed their presence in this game. I'm not normally a fan of them but in they have a lot of great interactions with the older bros that added a lot of charm to the game.
I loved how the story had a lot more edge to it, compared to Superstar Saga. The first few areas (HolliJolli Village, Toadwood Forest, and Vim Factory) are some of the strangest and depressing places in any Mario game. Overall the game felt much darker than the other M&L games (you wouldn't think the one about babies would be the darkest but yeah).
It doesn't have the greatest OST in the series, but some songs really stand out. Gritzy Desert is by far the best desert theme in any game.
I put off playing PIT for years cause I always heard how it was mediocre and a black sheep or whatever. But when I finally gave it a chance I just loved it. My favorite M&L game has always been Bowser's Inside Story and I've never felt like any of the other games have quite lived up to that. Superstar Saga came close, but didn't quite reach there for me. But when I played PIT for the first time it captivated me in the same way BIS did. I fucking love this game.
And honestly I don't agree with any of the complaints I've heard about it. The big point of contention is that bros attacks are now limited items, but honestly? I didn't have an issue with this system. I actually enjoyed it in a way. It added a resource management system to the game that felt fresh. And having limited attacks meant that I couldn't just spam my strongest attack over and over like I do in BIS. I had to change my strategy to save on bros items and that made the combat more engaging for me. I'm not saying it was the best system or that they should return to it. But for the one game it was in, honestly? I didn't mind it. I don't get why it's such a huge issue.
People complain that the game is linear, and I will concede that is true. The game is kind of structured like Mario 64, where Peach's Castle is the hub and you jump into portals to enter worlds. But this didn't bother me too much, because the levels themselves are still well designed.
I've heard complaints that it "doesn't use the dual screens enough" and I don't think this is true at all. Most of the puzzles are of the babies and bros separated on both screens, switching back and forth to do things to progress. Plus many of the bros attacks use both screens.
It's been pointed out that the game only used the touch screen once. Yeah it's true you only use it one time to clean shit stains off a piece of paper, but I don't think that's a big deal. If anything, it's a strength. I mean Bowser's Inside Story had a lot of gimmicky bullshit it did with the touch screen and mic, so Partners In Time not having any of that is actually good in my eyes.
I know the difficulty is a big point of contention. The NA release is much harder than the other versions and many people don't like that. But honestly, as someone who's been playing these games since childhood, I really appreciated the challenge. There was no point where I felt like the game was unfair. It was consistently challenging the whole way through and I really liked that. Maybe I'd feel differently if I played it as a kid when I was less skilled.
Fuck, I'd even defend the final boss. That's right, I even like the final boss, sue me.
Maybe I should've made a different thread for this cause it's kinda off topic, but PIT is a game I feel very positively towards and I've been wanting a place to express that.
