Topic: Should I give Superstar Saga or Bowser’s Inside Story

I want to give one of the Mario and Luigi remakes to my friend, but I’m not sure which one. I think Bowser’s Inside Story is a slightly better game than Superstar Saga, but you can play already Bowser’s Inside Story on a 3DS without the remake. What do you all think I should do?

NOTE: my friend’s only experience with the series is Dream Team.

Superstar Saga. It incorporates many of the elements that made it the best that its later games missed out on, including humor, original characters, new kingdom to visit (though I like the Mushroom Kingdom), a battle system that isn't overly gimmicky, and a true focus on the bros that shows their true spirit between each other.

Partners in Time disappointed me quite much, but both Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story are awesome. I had a great time playing both and they tried different things. Superstar Saga is hilarious and Bowser's Inside Story is so much more fun than Partners in Time. I haven't played Dream Team nor Paper Jam.

@FlimFlam good luck finding an inside story cartridge. Those things are expensive.

@FlimFlam @Rocketjay8 Bowser's Inside Story will be released for 3DS in January.

@BlueOcean January? Huh, I thought it would release next year October.

@Rocketjay8 Yep, for people that haven't played it on DS I'd say it's a must on 3DS.

@StephenYap3 That's true. Superstar Saga had the best writing. I'm not sure that it had better battles than Bowser's Inside Story, but it had better dungeons and overworld gameplay. I think I'm leaning toward Superstar Saga now.

@Rocketjay8 Bowser's Inside Story DS isn't that expensive on eBay. I found the cartridge for around $13.

@BlueOcean Yeah, I know I'm asking early. I just had the idea recently and thought I'd ask now so that I can keep a lookout for special deals.

@FlimFlam You can't go wrong with Superstar Saga or Bowser's Inside Story.

@BlueOcean Very true! Both are classics and among my favorite Mario RPGs.

@FlimFlam The reason I enjoyed the battle system in Superstar Saga more than Bowser's Inside Story was mainly because the dual screen setup made for a lot distractions on my end. It may serve as a way to shake things up with enemy attacks, but for the most part, there was very little in the way to know what the enemy will do and who the enemy will attack (or in Bowser's case, which part of his body the enemy will go after, which is particularly annoying). Superstar Saga kept all the action on one screen and even with that, the enemies still proved to be just as challenging without going "hey, I'm over here! I'm over here!" for one bit. Another problem I had with the battle system is that while Bowser was meant to be what he is, he felt way too overpowered throughout the game to the point that you've literally beaten the game once he reaches Level 30 because by that point, you can just sit on the final boss and not worry about thing. As for the Mario Bros, while being consistent does have its benefits, it makes them rather generic in many traits and abilities since they all share the exact same attacks and have zero unique traits to them to make them standout from each other, thus rendering the strategy in the game moot in favor of endlessly spamming the strongest attack until the boss dies, not to mention that their Special Attacks felt too gimmicky to use compared to the simplistic but satisfying Bros Attacks from Superstar Saga.

That said, I don't think Bowser's Inside Story is in anyway an overly bad game at the end of the day, but as someone whose expectations rose to the heavens after being amazed by Superstar Saga (but disappointed with Partners in Time), Bowser's Inside Story ended up being more of a "mixed bag" kind of game for me.

@StephenYap3 You bring up a lot of good points. I remember loving BIS, but SS definitely receives more universal acclaim. I don’t think I’ve ever come across someone who didn’t like SS. I think I’ll get my friend SS.

@FlimFlam Good idea, it's also the first one in the series. If he loves it he can skip Partners in Time LOL and go directly to Bowser's Inside Story.

@BlueOcean Lol, I still enjoyed the battles in Partners in Time, but pretty much everything else was subpar. At least it had E. Gadd.

Glad to know that both of these are highly recommended! I've been debating about picking both of these up in the next few months. I'm relatively new to the RPG side of Mario even though I've been playing the platformers for years. Are there any M&L titles that I should pass up? I've always understood that Partners In Time is a bit iffy....

@Tyranexx Dream Team was also good. I'm playing through Paper Jam now. I didn't like it at first, but it's really grown on me (Dream Team and Paper Jam aren't as good as SS or BIS though).

I not very far into Super Mario RPG, but everything I've played so far has been excellent.

The first two Paper Marios are my favorite Mario RPGS with PM: The Thousand Year Door being my favorite game of all time. Super Paper Mario is a platformer oddly enough. The gameplay is kind of slow, but the writing is good. Sticker Star is bad all around. Color Splash fixed some of the issues with Sticker Star, but I still didn't like the gameplay.

I agree with everything except for the fact that I haven't played a few games but I agree with the ranking in general so @Tyranexx just trust him. Paper Mario and The Thousand-year Door are the best Paper Mario games indeed, the second is one of my favourite games. Superstar Saga is hilarious and solid and Bowser's Inside Story I remember having a lot of fun, especially compared to Partners in Time. Super Paper Mario is a mixed bag, it features a great definition of love and a clever description of trolls, the writing is great, the gameplay is slow. Sticker Star and Colour Splash are mediocre. Super Mario RPG is very old-school.

I played Partners in Time when it was released for DS, I just remember that it was boring, that's all I remember... I don't even remember it has E. Gadd.

Hah, good to know! I finished Super Mario RPG earlier this year and am now in the middle of Color Splash since I already received it as a gift a couple years back. While I'm enjoying the presentation, plot/writing, and Thing cards, I agree that the combat is pretty meh. I've been told to pretty much avoid Sticker Star. XD I do intend to play the older Paper Mario games at some point (barring the 3DS game).

...It might be a bit before I get to the two 3DS remakes since I have a lot of backlogged RPGs already, but I definitely intend to pick them up now!

Both are fantastic and funny RPGs. I'd give SS to your friend since that's where the series started.

@BlueOcean You, my friend, have excellent taste

And thank you, @StephenYap3, @Rocketjay8, and @KryptoniteKrunch for your help. I appreciate it.