Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

[Kincyr]

So, a gameplay note that, while it may be spoiler-ish, I feel is necessary because the game's instruction on this is really obtuse and this is the only time something like this occurs:

• For Swing Bros., you have to HOLD, not tap, the A button on that first bit. This is the only move that requires you to hold a button.

Today's video is what makes me grateful for the remake, because I probably would've done the same thing in the original. The remake actually gives you clear written instructions on how each Bros. Attack works that you can resort to at any time, so you're not a loss when it comes time to execute the moves.

I feel that it's necessary. I've had all the other Advance moves unlocked for 15 years and I unlocked the Advance version of Swing Bros. last week

[Sebby19]

Oh no, please don't use the Mush Badge. Its absolutely busted, and breaks the game's balance wide open. It's generally agreed upon in the community that using it is cheating.
Your POW level is already obscene enough. You honestly don't need the help.

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, the Exite Spring is given by a bunch of Exite Bike bikers the come rolling through the coffee shop. And the Great Force comes from Link, obviously.

I'll do my little writeup on Swing Bros. tomorrow.

[Ashan]

It's pretty shocking that the mush badge being broken wasn't caught before release. Like, I'd figure any programmer who had to come up with the formula for damage calculation would immediately max out all the numbers to make sure it's balanced reasonably, but I guess they just didn't? It's also possible they did figure that out but left it in on purpose thinking few enough people would realize the abuse trick that it didn't matter, then that decision was changed in later releases.

[BurntTenda]

One thing I've always wondered is if Golden Mushrooms add to the Mush Badge's effect?

[Sebby19]

No.

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

One thing I find funny about raocow giving the POW increasing drink to Mario is that, while Mario does have innately higher POW, in terms of bonuses Luigi has actually been ahead of Mario for awhile now, and giving Mario that drink merely evened things out. I also found it kind of funny that raocow seems to have mistook E. Gadd giving the Excite Spring as him naming the drink. And then he never checked that section of equipment so he could realize his mistake.

Also, wow, that Mush Badge sure is powerful. I remember seeing another let's play of this game where the player both talked about and demonstrated how powerful it was, but I clearly forgot how much of a difference it can make. Even now it increased Mario's damage by 20 after equipping it, and it's not even close to its full potential.

Anyway, here's raocow's bonus stat allocations.

The first number is the total increase, the first set of brackets show level up bonuses, and the second set of brackets show bonuses from drinks.
Mario
HP +14 (+3 +2 +2 +3) (+4)
BP +3 (+2 +1)
POW +34 (+2 +1 +1 +1 +3 +2 +2 +4 +1 +3 +3 +4 +3) (+4)
DEF +8 (+2 +2) (+4)
SPEED +3 (+3)
STACHE +12 (+2 +2 +4 +4)

Luigi
HP +5 (+5)
BP +4 (+2 +2)
POW +34 (+1 +3 +1 +1 +4 +3 +1 +2 +2 +1 +2 +3 +2 +2 +2 +3 +1)
DEF +6 (+2 +4)
SPEED +7 (+4 +3)
STACHE +7 (+1 +2) (+4)

[Chirei]

Oh no, please don't use the Mush Badge. Its absolutely busted, and breaks the game's balance wide open. It's generally agreed upon in the community that using it is cheating.

Isn't this guiding the LP again???

And iv'e never heard anyone call the mush badge outright cheating wtf. Might as well say 50% of the weapons in symphony of the night are cheating because of how op they are compared to the shoddy game balance

One thing I've always wondered is if Golden Mushrooms add to the Mush Badge's effect?

For some reason, 1ups nor the golden mushroom count.

[ano0maly]

I think Mush Badge would work out fine if he sees the high damage from it, sees that he doesn't need to invest as much in POW, and therefore uses points elsewhere. There's not much point of raising attack when you know you're reliably taking out normal enemies in one or two hits usually.

[MonkeyShrapnel]

To be fair, you're not gonna be even close to maxing out your mushrooms without grinding,
plus you can just max out all your stats with bean drinks too.
They weren't exactly designing this game with a tight leash on balance.

That being said...

Don't open this if you haven't seen the final boss already btw.

[Piesonscreations]

raocow will stop at nothing in his POW quest. Until he defeats an enemy so hard that the sorrounding ones die from the sheer impact, he shall move forward with the might of a god.

[xnamkcor]

Are there DS emulators that allow you to map a button press to a touchscreen input?

Maybe that's overcomplicated and just asking for issues, I don't know

Sounds like it's time for my quasianual mention of XPadder.

[Sebby19]

Oh no, please don't use the Mush Badge. Its absolutely busted, and breaks the game's balance wide open. It's generally agreed upon in the community that using it is cheating.

Isn't this guiding the LP again???

Yeah, sure, just ignore that Rwars said it first.

Anyways, how to use the new Bros. Attack you won yesterday:
Swing Bros.

-Type: Jump
-Base Damage: x5.76 (Luigi)
-BP Cost: 6(Mode 1+2), 4(Mode 3)
-Button Sequence: A[hold & release] - B
-Learn Advanced! version at: 10 successful uses
-Description: Mario swings Luigi round and round, getting faster as time goes by. A crosshair appears and cycles through enemies. Once ready, Mario flings Luigi at the chosen target, who flying kicks them straight in the face.
-Learned at: Secret Scroll 1
*Allows you to switch target mid attack. But you'll do less damage if you change your mind

So at a whopping X5.76 attack multiplier, this is the most powerful attack you have in the game (ignoring mush badge abuse). You can only get this much if you 1)Hit your original target, 2)Release when the crosshair is small, and 3)Release at max speed (there are 3 levels). And ofcourse, if you land Luigi's action command.

[Chirei]

Yeah, sure, just ignore that Rwars said it first.

Blivsey already made a counterpoint to them, and i'm a little flabbergasted that one would go so far as to call it outright cheating.

Perhaps that latter half is on me, but that's very strong terminology to use for something that you don't actually have to glitch or hack the game to use, and something that raocow deduced on his own how to use. Not trying to nitpick grammar, but I don't want anyone implying raocow is a cheater because he stumbled upon something that was basically there in plain sight.

[Sebby19]

I might as well mention how many times you need to successfully use Bros. Attacks to learn their Advanced! version:
-Splash Bros. = 20
-Bounce Bros.= 8
-Chopper Bros.= 32
-Knockback Bros.=43
-Swing Bros. = 10
So when people say you don't need to grind in this game, that is true, if they are talking about exp or coins, or items. But if you want the above Advanced attacks, you need to use them a lot. That is why I was pushing for their regular use so much, so we could see them. But at this point in the game, I doubt it.

[Blivsey]

But at this point in the game, I doubt it.

You always sound so profoundly disappointed

Well now no matter what you fools do you can't stop rao from becoming the destroyer of worlds, so it's a moot point! All hail the glass cannon archetype, the only archetype I love more than the ones focused on crits. (Yes I put lots of points into Stache, what of it)

In any case, my real opinion is that no one really has the right to complain about raocow, uh, being smart and taking advantage of the game mechanics that are presented to him. It's part of the video game, you can't just tell him "stop playing well". That doesn't make even a small amount of sense.

ANYWAY, I'm probably better at today's minigame than I am at the main game. It is my JAM and I love it so much. I played it so much when I was a kid.

[Sebby19]

I'd rather watch him destroy the world with fancy acrobatics, than simple jumps and hammer swings. I want SPECTACLE, not just sheer power.

Maybe a good compromise would be to take the Mush badge off for boss battles. I'm legitimately worried raocow will kill bosses too quickly, and we miss 75% of what they can do.

[Chirei]

I'd rather watch him destroy the world with fancy acrobatics, than simple jumps and hammer swings. I want SPECTACLE, not just sheer power.

I think this is the wrong LPer to watch if that's what you're looking for in games

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

I was a bit worried that raocow was going to struggle with that minigame after seeing how he was playing at the start. Fortunately he seems to have caught on to things fairly quickly. Not quick enough to succeed on his first try, but two attempts isn't too bad.

Anyway, looks like raocow equipped the Great Force, and... well, RIP anyone who dares to stand in his way. Not that I'm complaining. As I've said before, there are other let's plays of this game out there, including some that don't use the Great Force or Mush Badges, so if anyone out there wants to see the game played differently I would suggest they watch one of those, or just play the game themself. As for raocow, if he wants to steamroll everything, I'm all for it.

Anyway, here's raocow's bonus stat allocations.

The first number is the total increase, the first set of brackets show level up bonuses, and the second set of brackets show bonuses from drinks.
Mario
HP +14 (+3 +2 +2 +3) (+4)
BP +3 (+2 +1)
POW +34 (+2 +1 +1 +1 +3 +2 +2 +4 +1 +3 +3 +4 +3) (+4)
DEF +8 (+2 +2) (+4)
SPEED +3 (+3)
STACHE +12 (+2 +2 +4 +4)

Luigi
HP +5 (+5)
BP +4 (+2 +2)
POW +34 (+1 +3 +1 +1 +4 +3 +1 +2 +2 +1 +2 +3 +2 +2 +2 +3 +1)
DEF +6 (+2 +4)
SPEED +7 (+4 +3)
STACHE +12 (+1 +2 +5) (+4)

[ano0maly]

Can't wait for the video where he gets game over from two hits a screen away from the save book and have to do everything over

[Ashan]

It wasn't until my most recent playthrough of this game (like a couple years ago) that I finally figured out that the Malibut is a sleeping octopus. I always saw it as some weird clam with gross nonspecific squishy parts coming out all over, and even now I kinda have to remind myself it's an octopus. It's not even an issue with the GBA's resolution cause I still think it looks like that in the remake. It's just a weird mashup of shapes that my head has a hard time recognizing as what it's supposed to be.

[SAJewers]

I'd rather watch him destroy the world with fancy acrobatics, than simple jumps and hammer swings. I want SPECTACLE, not just sheer power.

Maybe a good compromise would be to take the Mush badge off for boss battles. I'm legitimately worried raocow will kill bosses too quickly, and we miss 75% of what they can do.

Unfortunately, it's apparent raocow much prefers to play a "out DPS everything" approach, so I doubt that.

It's his playthrough, and if he wants to play that way, then that's on him.

[SirChasm]

I think the general fear is that there's going to come a time where seeing gigantic numbers stops being exciting. The DPS strategy works, and is functional, but also takes a lot away from what makes this game stand out compared to other RPGs in terms of gameplay. Without the need to use dodges, or learn proper command prompts, it's might not feel much different than watching your sword-wielding hero slay whoever they're dealing with by just mashing through the menu to earn EXP and move on.

Maybe it's just the sense of "can he do it" that people look for in a Let's Play that's lacking, but I guess there could potentially be a boss that gives us that thrill instead.

[Leet]

I'm personally looking forward to

cackletta's ghost killing him on her first attack when he has 1 hp

Also yeah Malibut always looked like a weird shoe-shaped thing to me. :B

[Donut]

In all honesty, I kind of agree with Sebby in terms of how I, personally, play my RPGs. But if I wanted to see how I would play this game, I'd just dig out my GBA cartridge and play it myself. Losing out on how the enemies act is made up for by how hilariously well raocow's power play is working.

[MonkeyShrapnel]

I'd rather watch him destroy the world with fancy acrobatics, than simple jumps and hammer swings. I want SPECTACLE, not just sheer power.

Maybe a good compromise would be to take the Mush badge off for boss battles. I'm legitimately worried raocow will kill bosses too quickly, and we miss 75% of what they can do.

Unfortunately, it's apparent raocow much prefers to play a "out DPS everything" approach, so I doubt that.

It's his playthrough, and if he wants to play that way, then that's on him.

The irony of raocow not wanting to do platforming stuff is pretty funny actually.

I just hope he doesn't regret it, the game is pretty generous mostly,
but there are a few lategame bosses that might stomp his glass cannon build.