Another 3DS game for me to buy and leave in the shrink wrap because there's like 5 great games already ahead of it in the queue, hop-rah!

What about people who were disappointed with the previous two Mario and Luigi games...?

@Mop it up
Probably not like this one either, I think it's more of the same, just in 3 dizzles. Also I was reading this one can be super hand-holdy and it's constantly telling you where to go and how to solve each puzzle (that was in the Kotaku review), that really frustrates me how Nintendo games in general seem to get more and more hand-holdy with each passing year.

I love these games though, just purely for the humor and the whimsy.

@deathly_hallows Bowser's Inside Story is the same way, it has that stupid round yellow thing that follows you everywhere and tells you how to do everything. That thing is in that picture up there, so it makes sense that it's going to be doing the same thing in the new game.

I picked this up today, and while I haven't played much yet, I like what I have played. I really like the visual style -- the characters still use sprites, which I didn't realize -- which is why the style is still very much in keeping with the previous games. Gameplay seems very similar to past games as well. I know Chris Kohler's review over at Wired complained a bit about it being same-y, but after being pretty dissatisfied with how Sticker Star turned out, I'm excited to have a more traditional Mario RPG game. (And Mario & Luigi is my favorite of the various Mario RPG series anyway.)

Also, how come no one has mentioned that there's a demo?! I gotta check this out!

@Mop it up

I didn't know there was one! Good to know! Thanks for the tip!

@Mop it up

I didn't notice until last night. I played through the demo and really enjoyed it. While I was planning on holding off on the full-game, I might be downloading it very soon...

I've played the first couple hours. I've really enjoyed it so far. Almost all the tutorials can be skipped, so it hasn't got nearly as bogged down by them as I worried it might. I'm looking forward to playing more.

I'm playing the demo tonight. Seems like good fun. Fairly typical gameplay for the series so far, but that is definitely a good thing. Can't wait to clear off my gaming plate a little bit so I can get the game and really dig into it!

i bought this game on a whim lastnight. i had that free $30 from buying fire emblem and SMT4 and I loved previous games in this series. i barely played the game, though. I played enough to be disappointed by one thing that will be hard to get over, and it is marios movement in the world. Anyone else notice how weird it looks to move with the circle pad and mario have 8- direction movement? What makes it worse is that he doesnt animate between the directions, he will just instantly go from one direction to the next and it looks so very weird... ugh.. I will get over it i guess.

That is not a big deal. I am looking forward to playing through the game though.

I played for nearly five hours straight. Needless to say, I am loving this game.
That said, it does start off slowly, and it can get a little wordy (thank goodness for the ability to skip tutorials). It picks up though, and the M&L charm is still intact.
I chuckled out loud during the first dream sequence when Mario hugs Luigi and the real, snoozing Luigi on the touch screen has a sleepy, joyous laugh. Too charming.

@Scrawnton
I don't think he only has eight direction movement. They just created sixteen directions for the hand-drawn sprites to face so it might be playing tricks on you. Mario and Luigi still move according to your analogue input.

I just want to add that I always appreciate hand-drawn sprites. I'd love if a traditional Mario game looked like this game's 2D sections.

I've played a little over 4 hours and I'm still really enjoying the game.

@ploot
Yeah, that one was amusing.

@Scrawnton @ploot I don't think it's full analog, but it is 16-direction for sure. I'm pretty okay with it, because I'd rather have 16-directional movement and these gorgeous sprites than some weird polygonal thing. This is a very good looking game.

Also, I'm so glad that this game still keeps its original art style. The NSMB games are kind of bland, and almost every other Mario game's promotional art and character models (pretty much since Mario 64, I think) look the same. M&L has always had a funny, weird style for the two title characters, which of course goes along with the game's humor and their gibberish speak, and I love that they haven't been forced to change it to the cookie cutter usual style of Mario.

I'm now 10 hours in and entered Wakeport, and am just addicted. Finding the beans, buying badges, rescuing pillow-peeps... Good times.

I also played my first giant battle a while back and it was really neat! I hope there are more down the road. The polygon version of giant Luigi looks great, too!

@rebonack
I totally agree about the art style, this game looks fantastic (and I've only played the demo).

NSMB is looking really bland to me these days, they've lost the whimsy somehow, and the awful music may be a part of creating that whole "stale" feel. BTW I still love NSMB for the gameplay, NSMB2 was may GOTY last year I put probably 100 hrs. into it, just not a fan of the style, it's a bit lifeless.

@Scrawnton I noticed the same thing, the way Mario and Luigi move in the world looks very unnatural in this game.

On that end, something about the whole art style just seems very off. I just don't think sprites look good in a 3D world, but it isn't only that; the 3D environments themselves seem off, and has too much of that unnatural sheen of most Mario games these days. Maybe I'll get used to it, but from playing the demo the visuals were definitely disappointing.

@rebonack
You're right, it's 16-directional. I hardly noticed.

@Mop it up
Wow, really? I actually think they make great use of the 3D. Looks like a Mario and Luigi game in 3D.

@ploot Sure, but stereoscopic 3D has nothing to do with the art style.

@Mop it up
Ah, I suppose I misread what you said. Although, proper use of stereoscopic 3D can indeed be artful (I know that's not what you were talking about).

Regardless, the game is great. It's just a little too dang wordy (a modern Nintendo staple it seems).