5 Things You Should Know About 'Mario & Luigi Paper Jam'

Mario and Luigi’s newest adventure is now available for the Nintendo 3DS! Mario & Luigi Paper Jam combines the action of a Mario & Luigi game with the adorable 2D characters of Paper Jam to make a fantastically fun title.

Here are a few things you should know about Mario & Luigi Paper Jam before you pick it up for that new 3DS you gave the kids for the holidays.

There’s more than one Mario in this game. That’s right, there are two Marios, two Toads (actually a lot more than two), and two Princesses who get kidnapped by TWO Bowsers. The 3D brothers of Mario & Luigi team up with the 2D Paper Mario in your party, using their special moves together for some creative and powerful moves on all the enemies you’d expect to see in a Mario game.

It’s an action game AND an RPG. Gather your Mario party, buy and equip items, use mushrooms in battle, and scroll through dialogue boxes—that’s right, all of your favorite RPG elements are there. But the game also puts Mario and Luigi’s jumping skills to the test in both combat and as you navigate the world. Timing is everything in battle, so you can score even bigger hits by actively taking part in a fight.

But it’s a light RPG. If you or the kids are hardcore role-playing game fans and you’re looking for something more substantial, wait for the new Fire Emblem game in February, or switch to the Wii U for the gorgeous Xenoblade Chronicles X.

You don’t need a New Nintendo 3DS to play it. Mario & Luigi Paper Jam is available for all systems in the 3DS family. If you’re looking to take advantage of its amiibo features, however, you’ll have to pick up a Nintendo NFC Reader/Writer. The amiibo benefits are completely optional, though, and you don’t need them to beat the game.

But it’s a great game to get for a new 3DS system. If Santa brought someone in the house a new 3DS or 2DS, this is a fun game to get a new player excited about. The easy-to-follow story is lighthearted and full of humor. And if younger players are having trouble with the timing in the battles, there’s an “assist” mode to help them out. If you’ve been looking for an RPG-style game to get your kids hooked on the genre, team up with Mario and Luigi.

Mario & Luigi Paper Jam is now available for the 3DS family of systems for a retail price of $39.99.

GeekMom received a promotional copy for review purposes.

Top image courtesy © Nintendo