Review: Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros.

With all the Nintendo bashing I’ve had to do in the past couple of months – Project Zero, Mario Tennis and more – it was great to end the year on a high note: Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros.

A mixture of the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario RPG franchises, Paper Jam Bros. has taken a page from JJ Abrams’ book when it comes to the new Star Wars film. That is, take all the good bits of some releases and mash them all together to make something new. The result is a charming, nostalgia-filled romp on the 3DS.

Paper Jam Bros. takes place in the Mario & Luigi universe after it’s been injected with the characters from Paper Mario. Everyone’s seemingly along for the ride – Mario, Toad(s), Peach, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Goombas… you get it. After getting the obvious out of the way – oh my god, there are two Princess Peaches and one of them is two-dimensional (!) – you’re thrown into the all too familiar story of save the Princess, save the Kingdom. Oh, and collect about a zillion Paper Toads along the way.

No, seriously. About. A. Zillion.

The timed-hit mechanic of Mario & Luigi remains in play, and Paper Mario adds timed Trio Attacks and the ability to copy himself to the mix. Each brother has a dedicated button – so Mario will forever be A, Luigi B and Paper Mario Y. It takes a couple rounds to get back into the groove, timing button presses just right in solo and in group attacks. Combat’s never that hard – and you’ll gain healing items faster than you could ever hope to blow through them – but it is nevertheless enjoyable. The one-button-to-brother functionality remains the same outside of combat as well – each button will allow for a jump or a hammer, depending on what you’ve active

New, mech-like Papercraft battles are also present. In them, the brothers Mario ride atop a huge paper Mario and square off against huge paper baddies. Those engagements are refreshing in that they play out far differently than usual battles; you really feel like you’re in command of a large, lumbering beast. Weirdly, you’re required to occasionally charge up your papercraft work through a timed rhythm game that seems to have been forcefully added to keep with the timed-hit scheme of regular battles. It wasn’t necessary.

Of course, amiibo figures are also supported, but once again, you really need to decide if it’s all worth it. I opted to delete my Mario Super Smash Bros. save data to use Paper Jam Bros. functionality, and immediately regretted it. Figures unlock cards, which unlock perks… or, instead, you can trade in cards for extra consumables. Since combat’s fairly Mickey Mouse, don’t even worry about it. Equally as ignorable are myriad in-game tutorials — they at least poke fun at their very nature in this go.

All up, there’s not much more to it all. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. will take you countless hours to get through, but its handheld nature means a couple minutes here and there will keep it all from becoming a chose. Unlike most Nintendo releases of late, this one doesn’t feel phoned in. Go and give it a try.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. was reviewed using a promotional cartridge on 3DS, as provided by the publisher.