History Videogame / MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superstarsaga.png]''[[{{Tagline}} An adventure so big, you'll need both bros.!]]''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superstarsaga.png]''[[{{Tagline}} An adventure so big, you'll need both bros.!]]'']

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superstarsaga.png]]

** Later games in the series (and even the remake's Minion Quest) portray Goombas as intelligent, capable of speech, and full (if usually low-ranking) members of Bowser's army. However, Superstar Saga portrayed them as more more animalistic, essentially the attack dogs of Bowser's army, while Bowser's actual ''soldiers'' are all Koopas. They had no speaking lines and were stored in ''barrels'' on the Koopa Cruiser, with a couple practice fights early on (while the Bros were temporarily allied with Bowser) having the premise of needing to subdue a few Goombas that had gotten loose so they could be put back into storage. Minion Quest shows that this was a result of everyone underestimating their potential until they proved their worth during their search for Bowser.

%%* TropicalIslandAdventure: Oho Oasis and Gwarhar Lagoon take the Bros to a tropical island and a sandy beach.

%%* UnderTheSea: The floor of Oho Ocean.

* ProsceniumReveal: [[spoiler:After the credits, the scene pulls back and reveals the whole game was a movie seen at the Yoshi Theater.]]

* NPCRoadblock: Throughout the game, there are multiple large Koopas standing in areas just narrow enough that you can't go around them. You can't do anything with them until Mario and Luigi learn the fire dash maneuver, which allows them to ram the Koopa so hard that he gets knocked over, after which point he gets up and stands in a more convenient location.
-->"Derr...No matter what you hit me with, you can't knock me down!...I think."
** The remake adds several guards to the area where you would first meet Takoombas and Troopeas, preventing you from challenging the higher leveled enemies too early on.

** Later games in the series (and even the remake's Minion Quest) portray Goombas as intelligent, capable of speech, and full (if usually low-ranking) members of Bowser's army. However, Superstar Saga portrayed them as more more animalistic, essentially the attack dogs of Bowser's army, while Bowser's actual ''soldiers'' are all Koopas. They had no speaking lines and were stored in ''barrels'' on the Koopa Cruiser, with a couple practice fights early on (while the Bros were temporarily allied with Bowser) having the premise of needing to subdue a few Goombas that had gotten loose so they could be put back into storage.

* FingerlessGloves: Sniper Bills, one of the enemies in Bowser's Castle, wear a set of these when holding their rifle.

** In the original game, it's implied that the Koopalings and most of Bowser's army were brainwashed to serve Bowletta in the endgame. Although Fawful does brainwash the Koopalings in the ''Minion Quest'' game, [[spoiler:it's retconned when you fight them in Bowser's Castle in the remake, where they (under Captain Goomba's command) are ordered to defeat Mario by Bowser... who is just Bowletta in disguise. This also removes the scene where Bowletta calls the Koopalings as you enter the castle in the original game entirely]].
** Thanks to an in-story mixup by Captain Goomba in ''Minion Quest'', the 'Invincishroom' Mario eats in Little Fungitown is clearly a Poison Mushroom. This causes a bit of a plot hole as a result, since there's still dialogue about possibly getting sick eating things from other regions.

* TooDumbTooLive: In Teehee Valley, the bros have to guide Peach to the end of the desert safely. If she steps out of your sight, she will be kidnapped and you must save her, then start all over again. The problem is that she is just walking aimlessly, and you have to ''tell'' her where to go instead of her following common sense. If she can't defend herself, why not just stay behind the bros?

* FirstStrike: Like in the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games, jumping or hammering an enemy in the overworld lets you get the first attack in. The remake also allows the hand powers to pre-emptively attack enemies and apply StandardStatusEffects.

%%* EvilLaugh: Cackletta tends to... well, [[MeaningfulName look at her name]].
%%* EvilTastesGood: Fawful and his delicious doom mustard on victory bread.

%%* EyeAwaken: By Cackletta as she awakens as Bowletta.
%%* FaceFault: Done multiple times by Mario and Luigi, especially against the Beanbean Castle Guards.
%%* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Birdo, after falling in love with Popple (if it is the same Birdo).]]

%%* FingerlessGloves: Sniper Bills, one of the enemies in Bowser's Castle.

%%* GoldfishPoopGang: The thief Popple and his various partners.

%%* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Joke's End is cold and frozen.%%And?

%%* TropicalIslandAdventure: Oho Oasis and Gwarhar Lagoon.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superstar_saga_dx.png]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: One of the DummiedOut scenes in Starbeans Café has Wario say "Now that I’m here, this game’s finally gettin’ good!" and later "Don’t you have free drinks for celebrity guest stars in this game?".

* ContinuityNod: In Mario's slightly redesigned house is [[VideoGame/MarioKart8 a trophy]], [[VideoGame/MarioKartWii a Wii Wheel]], [[VideoGame/MarioTennis a tennis racket]], and [[VideoGame/MarioGolf a golf club]].

* BizarreBeverageUse: The Chuckolator is a creature made out of Chuckola Cola, and can change its forms to wield a sword or rifle. It is set upon Mario and Luigi to defend the Chuckola Reserve that its creator has been working on for 1,000 years. (Speaking of which, the Chuckola Reserve is later used to help [[AdiposeRex Queen Bean]] bring up the Belly Belch worm that was controlling her.

* DummiedOut: The game code contains dialog for several different characters giving you the different accessories from [[ItemCrafting mixing bean juice]]: [[VideoGame/WarioLand Wario]] for the Greed Wallet, [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] for the Power Grip, [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]] for the Great Force, [[VideoGame/StarFox Fox McCloud]] for the Bonus Ring, [[VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} Captain Olimar]] (who speaks in boxless dialogue) for the Cobalt Necktie, and the racer from [[VideoGame/{{Excite}} Excitebike]] for the Excite Spring. [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion Professor E. Gadd]] would only show up to deliver the Game Boy Horror. [[http://themushroomkingdom.net/mlss_lost.shtml TMK has the scripts for the lost cameos.]]

** The game has a number of mechanics that don't appear in future installments, namely the ability to switch leaders (in other words, make it so that Mario's following Luigi and not the other way around, for the purpose of using certain techniques), the Firebrand and Thunderhand powers (though techniques such as the Fire and Ice Flowers are usable in later games), the fact that the hammers the Mario Brothers obtains get upgraded twice over the course of the story (to break blocks they couldn't before), the fact that you can change the difficulty of the Bro Moves to make it harder or easier in exchange for altering the amount of BP it uses and its power, and the fact that it's possible for Mario and Luigi to figure out how to [[EvolvingAttack do variations of their existing Bro Attacks]].

** Bowser (and his other identities as Rookie and [[spoiler:Bowletta]]) are much shorter (he's about the same height as Mario) than the other appearances of him, which is even more obvious when his updated sprites are used in the remakes.