Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

First unveiled at E3 2005, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (Beta name: Mario & Luigi 2), was a critical success from the start. Scoring highly on its reviews, the game was loved primarily for its creative, innovative gameplay carried over and revamped from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and for its great use of the "dual- screened" aspect of the Nintendo DS. Several issues people took with the game were its repetitive and seemingly level-based gameplay. One of the most liked aspects of Superstar Saga was its free-roaming overworld, something limited to Princess Peach's Castle in this game.

Part turn-based RPG, part action RPG, and part platformer, Partners in Time took the formula from Superstar Saga and revamped it to take advantage of the Nintendo DS's new features. While it made almost no attempt to utilize the touch screen (Mario must rub the dirt off of an object at one point), the game used the addition of the X and Y buttons, the extra screen, and greater graphical capabilities to pull off the sequel. Mario and Luigi find themselves forced to work together with their younger selves, referred to as Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, as they save the Mushroom Kingdom of the past from the evil Shroobs.

Story
While Mario and Luigi were still toddlers, the Mushroom Kingdom was faced with one of its greatest trials: the Shroob invasion. On a distant planet shaped and colored like a Poison Mushroom without eyes, there lived a vile and evil race of aliens known as the Shroobs. They had began searching for a planet worthy of invasion. They found Mushroom World, specifically the Mushroom Kingdom. Plans for an attack were presumably soon under way.

Baby Bowser had picked the same day the Shroobs invaded to kidnap Baby Peach. Attacking the main castle, Baby Bowser battled Baby Mario (who had come with his little brother Baby Luigi to play with Baby Peach), and was quickly defeated. However, this allowed the Shroobs to catch the distracted Toad guards unaware. Everyone was forced to flee. Young Toadsworth, Baby Bowser, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Baby Peach (in her carriage) followed Baby Bowser's assistant, Kamek, to the Koopa Cruiser that the Koopas had used to travel there. They escaped from the castle as quickly as possible.

Many years later, an adult Mario and Luigi watched with rapt attention as Professor E. Gadd revealed his latest invention, his time machine. It was such an important occasion that a Lakitu was on hand broadcasting it onto live television. E. Gadd revealed that his machine ran on the power of the mysterious Cobalt Star. The adult Princess Peach is so overjoyed by the invention that she asked to take it for a spin. Toadiko and Toadbert accompanied the princess on her journey. Despite Toadsworth's pleas, the three traveled back in time to a younger Mushroom Kingdom, when the princess and the Mario Bros. were mere youngsters.

Toadsworth promptly fainted, and a Toad asked Mario to get the Refreshroom that Toadsworth kept in his room, for it may help revive him. Finding it inside a block above Toadsworth's garden, Mario brought back the item just as a Toad doctor was diagnosing it to be the only way to bring Toadsworth back. Mario used it on the old man, who came to in time to see the return of the time machine from his hospital bed. It looked worse for wear. When it was approached, a large alien came out. Mario took it down, and everyone gathered around. E. Gadd was at a loss as to what had happened. After all, he had been more than 99% sure that Princess Peach would return all right.

Someone soon discovered a mysterious new hole out in the courtyard. E. Gadd revealed that it was a Time Hole, or a rip in the time-space continuum. It was caused by the use of the time machine. Luigi went closer to investigate, standing on the raised edge of the hole. Suddenly, Toadsworth lost his cool. Rocketing into the courtyard, still on his hospital bed, he crashed into the hole while demanding answers. However, this caused Luigi to lose his balance and fall into the hole. Mario jumped in after his brother.

When Mario popped out of the time hole, he found himself in a strange land (standing on top of Luigi). Suddenly, after Mario jumped off Luigi, a suitcase popped out of the hole and also landed on Luigi. Stuffwell, E. Gadd's seemingly sentient suitcase invention designed to assist time travelers, informed Mario that he was there to help out.

Back in the past and shortly after the babies' escape, a time machine appeared in the castle throne room. Out stepped a fully grown Princess Peach and her loyal assistants Toadiko and Toadbert. The Shroobs suddenly stopped their invasion and let their leaders, the Elder Princess Shroob and Princess Shroob confront Peach. Thinking fast, Princess Peach grabbed the Cobalt Star from its place in the time machine. As the younger shroob princess watched, Princess Peach held it above her head, and forced the star to consume the Elder Princess Shroob inside of the star, and then shattered into six pieces. However, the other shroob princess was able to capture Princess Peach. Toadiko and Toadbert ran away.

Although the Shroobs had lost their leader, Princess Shroob (the second-in-command) took command of the Shroobs and their operations and they still began their conquest of the entire Mushroom Kingdom. Toad Town fell as the Shroobs swarmed outward from Princess Peach's Castle. In a short period of time, the Mushroom Kingdom fell under complete Shroob control. It is unknown what other kingdoms, such as the Beanbean Kingdom, Sarasaland, or the Koopa Kingdom were doing at this time. Presumably, they fortified themselves or were unaware, as there is no indication that the Mushroom Kingdom received any assistance in its dark hour.

Meanwhile, time holes began appearing all over the Mushroom Kingdom. One such hole appeared just outside of Hollijolli Village. Shortly afterwards, a grown up Mario and Luigi popped out of it. A talking suitcase that E. Gadd created, named Stuffwell followed, after which the time hole disappeared. Arriving in the village, they found it devastated from the Shroob attack. After they had found the mayor, the Shroobs arrived again, abducted the mayor, and proceeded to battle Mario and Luigi. The Shroobs proved to be too powerful for Mario and Luigi to defeat alone and were defeated. However, in the Koopa Cruiser, Baby Peach was crying her eyes out because Baby Bowser did not want to stop to help the poor people being attacked. Baby Bowser, in an effort to save his ears, destroyed the Shroob UFOs around Hollijolli Village; the baby bros. then proceeded to fight the Shroobs who had battled the adult bros. and were able to defeat them. Afterwards, Mario and Luigi are brought aboard, where Toadsworth disregards their story, thinking that they were not right in the head. The heroes, both past and present, then witness what has happened to Peach's Castle. It had been turned into Shroob Castle, with a giant statue of Princess Shroob in the center.

Later, a group of Shroobs began to attack the Koopa Cruiser. Baby Bowser informed his pilots to launch the Koopa Cannon to shoot them out of the sky. Suddenly a figure appeared on the screen. Princess Shroob had launched a missile them, which took down their engine and crash-landed them into Bowser's Castle. Mario and Luigi, the only ones other than Stuffwell to not have been thrown clear by the crash, began to make their way through the castle, informed by Stuffwell that there was a time hole nearby. They found Baby Mario and Baby Luigi on the way, and took them with themselves. After they had found a mysterious sparkling shard, they, in addition to Baby Peach and young Toadsworth, all travelled through a time hole in Baby Bowser's room that led back to the present-day Princess Peach's Castle.

Once back at the present castle, Stuffwell showed Professor E. Gadd the mysterious Shard, which the professor identified as being a shard of the Cobalt Star. The Cobalt Star Shard then flew over to the defeated Junior Shrooboid, who had then reacted to the shard. The shard had then created another Time Hole, and E. Gadd sent Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi to investigate. As they entered the time hole, older Toadsworth was chasing the younger Toadsworth, who had Baby Peach in his arms.

After the heroes entered the time hole, they found themselves at Toadwood Forest. After a while, they found Toadiko, who was wrapped up in a tree's branches. She gave them some information about what happened to them in the past (although she had not explained the full details) then told them that there was a Cobalt Star Shard at the Vim Factory, where vim that had been sucked out of Toads bound to the trees of the forest was used to make fuel for Shroob UFOs. Shroob UFOs then attacked, Mario & the gang ran, and Toadiko was turned into a shroobified mushroom.

After reaching the Vim Factory, they were attacked by the L33t Hamm3r Broz., who used a suction-type tree captured Mario & Luigi, leaving the babies behind. The Hamm3r Broz. attacked, and a battle started.

After the babies had won, the helmets on the Hammer Bros. broke, and both were freed from the Shroob's control. They then gave the babies hammers & taught them how to use them. After finally rescuing Mario & Luigi, the babies set out, along with their older selves, towards the rest of the Vim Factory.

In the last room, they had found a huge shroobified Wiggler named Swiggler. Mario & Luigi watched Swiggler give the Shroob UFOS energy, but the vim holder was knocked over by a baby's hammer. This then enraged Swiggler, causing it to attack.

When the boss was defeated, another Cobalt Star Shard was found. However, Baby Bowser came in and stole both of the shards. Baby Bowser and Kamek then escaped, and the heroes went back to the present-day Princess Peach's Castle, both successful and unsuccessful.

When they return to the castle, Stuffwell informs the professor of their dilemma. He tells them that time holes have been popping up like mad and that they should find Baby Bowser (and his Cobalt Star Shards) in one of them. E. Gadd then tells them that some young fellow and Toadsworth have been squabbling and that the bros. should check it out. Out in the courtyard, Toadsworth and Toadsworth the Younger are trying to cheer up a crying Baby Peach. They do so by spinning on each others head. Luigi is impressed by this move and wants them to teach it to him and his brother. After they learn the Spin Jump technique, they use it to reach the only available time hole at the time, which is located in the second floor library. Using the spin jump, they reach the time hole which took them to Yoshi's Island of the past.

On the island, they notice that all the Yoshis have disappeared and a giant, purple and green egg shell is left on the island. They enter one of the huts where they run into Kylie Koopa, who is a reporter looking for the scoop on the mysterious egg. The babies use a spring to find all the Yoshis hiding in the attic. They are hiding from Yoob, a shroobified Yoshi who has been eating all the Yoshis. Yoshi tries to fight Yoob, but easily beaten and is eaten like the rest. Kylie tries to take some pictures and gets swallowed doing so. She is then spat out and shot into the hut that the Bros. are hiding in. After Yoob leaves, the Bros. find Kamek faced off against the giant Shroob monster. He is eaten then spat out as they both flee in different directions. Before he leaves, Kamek mutters something about needing to get Bowser a snack. The heroes then enter a hut which leads to another part of the island as they discover Yoshi Cookies. Mario leaves them alone, but Luigi decides to take them with him. He almost eats one, but then decides to give it to Baby Luigi. As the plumbers continue through Yoshi's Island, they spot Kamek again. Mario & Luigi try to get him, but he escapes and tries to burn the island in order to keep them busy. Stuffwell then learns that they can use Baby Mario's ability to spit water to extinguish the flames. The Adult and Baby Bros. use their newly learned abilities to pass through the puzzles off the island and make it to the cliff top where Baby Bowser is eating all the cookies from the island. While Kamek tells him to slow down, Mario and Luigi confront them as Baby Mario and Baby Luigi start eating the cookies. In their discussion, Bowser says that he's going to keep both the shards because Mario stole one of the shards from him and the other will be consolation. He's also going to keep all the cookies, but the babies ate them all. Bowser goes on a tantrum but Kamek says he'll take care of it as he fights the brothers. Kamek uses his magic to duplicate himself, create fire, and power himself up. He is ultimately defeated however as the brothers chase after Baby Bowser. The prince reaches a dead end and in a last resort, eats the shards (which he found to be delicious). As Mario tries to get the shards out of him, Yoob is climb up the cliff and his shot by a ray from a Shroob UFO. The ray causes him to grow and he devours Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Baby Bowser. Inside Yoob, the brothers and their smaller counterparts found themselves in the intestines of the creature. They rocketed themselves up into the stomach, where they found Yoshis and Bullies trapped. They wandered around the belly of the creature and enlist the aid of several swallowed Yoshis to push their way through the intestines of the giant. They battled their way through, encountering Dry Bones and RC Shroobers on their way.

Later on through the digestive process, they discovered that there was a factory inside Yoob turning Yoshis into strange eggs for unknown purposes. Fortunately, the babies managed to shut down the factory. Toadbert was first seen here having apparently lost his memory. The only thing he could remember was a strange drawing that he himself made but does not recall what it meant. He decided to give it to the Mario Bros. They did nothing with this drawing just yet. Farther on, they discovered the mastermind behind the egg factory, a giant egg- like monster called Sunnycide which was a parasite inside Yoob's stomach.. He threw an egg at the brothers, and who should come out but Baby Bowser! Freeing the Yoshis and enlisting their help, the brothers defeated Sunnycide. Afterwards, They escaped from Yoob out the back end. Baby Bowser coughed up the shards, and the brothers grabbed them and ran.

Back at the castle, the adult brothers once again learned a new move from the Toadsworths. Using this move, the brothers could curl themselves into a ball to roll around. Using this newfound power, the brothers solved a puzzle allowing them to access highest tower of the castle where the next time hole was located. This particular time hole left them lands them smack dead in the middle of the Gritzy Desert. Kylie Koopa returned and talked about the four pillars of the desert, saying that they had some mystical connection. The brothers found each of the huge pillars, all of which resembled Dry Bones, and activated them. Suddenly, beams of light shot out of each statue's eyes, connecting with each other. The connection caused a secret entrance to the Koopaseum to be access able. The brothers then sneaked into the arena.

Within the arena, Princess Shroob was hosting a celebration about the conquest of the kingdom. Princess Peach is revealed, strapped to a platform. The platform is lowered towards a large warp pipe, from which comes none other than Petey Piranha, who gobbled her up! The brothers stand in shock, and Kylie Koopa is taken away by Shroobs. The brothers sneak through the Koopaseum in search of Petey, but unfortunately accidentally end up onstage. Petey was gone, but Princess Shroob was still onstage. She called upon Shrooboid Brat, who attacked the brothers and entertained the crowd at the same time. The brothers, however, defeat the Brat, angering Princess Shroob. With the assistance of her lackeys, she breaks the floor under them, sending them to the caverns below.

In the Gritzy Caves, the adult bros. are knocked unconscious by the fall. Baby Mario then hits Luigi with his hammer, which awakens him and he scares the babies, who start to cry. Mario is awoken by the babies crying and confronts Luigi. Then they decide not to turn on themselves and continue on through the caverns, where the are constantly attacked by Dark Boos, Snifaros, Elite Boom Guys and Bob-ombs. After a while they see Kylie Koopa tied by a rope hanging down towards Petey's open mouth. Some Shroobs were also there ready to begin the execution. Kylie pleads for the Mario Bros. to rescue her, saying that she was the one who told them about the secret entrance. But as Mario and Luigi couldn't reach her, they could do nothing but watch in horror as one of the Shroobs grabbed an axe from its body and cut the rope. Kylie Koopa (who was still tied by rope) was eaten by Petey Piranha! The Mario Bro. had no choice but to continue.

After hitting a coin box a couple of rooms later, the heroes are attacked by Petey Piranha, whom they battle and, after a struggle, defeat. Another cobalt Star Shard pops out of the plant, along with Kylie Koopa, who found a key in the plants belly It is unknown how Kylie was freed from the rope. Perhaps she broke free inside Petey's stomach. While talking to Kylie, she tells the bros. that she say someone in the Cobalt Star Shard. However, she and the bros. think of that being very unlikely, and continue their adventure.

A little farther ahead, the bros. enter a cell, where the find Princess Peach, whose face is covered by a Shroob mushroom. . She and Luigi both collapse and are taken back to her present day castle. Everyone gathers in the Princess’s room, where they discuss the Princess and the mushroom. Princess Peach then decides to take a nap and the bros. are shoved out of the room.

Downstairs, Mario and Luigi are taught yet more moves by the Toadsworths. After the lesson, Baby Princess Peach is swept away in a gust of wind and the bros. use their new moves to save her.

Back in the Royal Chambers, Bowser arrives again and kidnaps the Princess, yet again, but falls into a Time Hole after breaking the Bridge.

The Bros. follow and wind up at the Thwomp Volcano, which they climb to the top, battling various enemies, such as block shaped Thwomp. At the top, they learn the volcano’s close to erupting. They then meet E. Gadd’s younger self, whose present day counterpart stops the volcano from erupting, making many Thwomps angry. One of those Twomps is Mrs. Thwomp, who battles the bros but is defeated. Her husband agrees to take the bros. in the volcano, where they do various puzzles in order to get to the bottom, where they fight, and defeat, Bowser and Baby Bowser. Before they can rescue the Princess, she is sucked up by the Shroob Mothership and they follow.

Inside the heroes meet up again with Kylie Koopa, who saves them from the Shroobs and Princess Shroob, who had been disguised as Princess Peach and takes them into a room to try and solve the secret of the Shroobs. However they are ejected and find them selves in Toad Town, where everyone has been run out except for two elderly Toads.

The four bros. escape the Shroob infested town and find a pipe that takes them to Star Hill, where they are attacked by the Commander Shroob, his Support Shroobs, and Shroob-omb. Once defeated, the four heroes head up and the Cobalt Star creates a path so they can get to the Star Shrine, where another Cobalt Star shard is.

To get to the Shrine a gate must determine if the heroes have pure hearts. Mario and the babies do but Luigi isn't. So, they are put through a trial to prove that Luigi has a Pure Heart. Once it’s done they gain access to the Star Shrine.

In the Shrine, they meet up with Toadbert and Kylie Koopa who reveal how to clean Toadbert's picture. It turns out that another Princess Shroob is on the picture but before the drawing is explained, Mario and Co. are attacked by the Elder Shrooboid and Toadbert and Kylie become Shroob Mushrooms. The four Mario bros. fight the Elder Shrooboid. Although the Shrooboid was much more powerful than the Junior Shrooboid, they were able to defeat it.

They then return to the Castle, and are told to go to the Shroob Castle in the past, which they do. There they fight Princess Shroob. After defeating her, Princess Peach shows them the last piece of the cobalt star but does not let them put it in with the other pieces. However, Baby Bowser comes in and takes the final piece, and he connects it to the other pieces, causing Elder Princess Shroob to appear. He is transformed into a mushroom as well. Peach reveals that she trapped Elder Princess Shroob inside the cobalt star and the final piece had freed her. After that, the bros fight the mighty Elder Princess Shroob. After beating her, she turns into a dark mushroom. As the brothers try to figure out what to do with the mushroom that was Baby Bowser, the babies play around with it and Baby Luigi gets hurt, crying on it and restoring Baby Bowser to his true form. Realizing the Shroobs' weakness, the gang gets Professor E. Gadd to spray a similar liquid all throughout the time, causing all victims of the Shroobs to turn back to normal and ridding the presence of the Shroobs in the process.

The Brothers soon return to Peach's Castle where they find Bowser lying on the carpet, completely knocked out. As the brothers wonder what to do with the behemoth reptile, the mushroom that was Elder Princess Shroob hovers into Bowser's mouth, who weakly eats it and turns into Shrowser, a form of Bowser possessed by Elder Princess Shroob. He is relentless, but the brothers use his attacks against him and defeat the manipulating form of Elder Princess Shroob. Afterwards, Toadsworth the Younger, Baby Peach, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi all use the repaired time machine to travel back to their own time.

Playable Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Baby Mario
 * Baby Luigi

Supporting Characters

 * Toadsworth
 * Peach
 * Professor Elvin Gadd
 * Kylie Koopa
 * Princess Shroob
 * Baby Bowser
 * Young Toadsworth
 * Toadbert
 * Bowser
 * Toad
 * Yoshi
 * Elder Princess Shroob
 * Kamek
 * Young Elvin Gadd
 * Fawful
 * Toadiko

Bosses

 * Baby Bowser
 * Junior Shrooboid
 * L33t Hamm3r Broz.
 * Swiggler
 * Kamek
 * Sunnycide
 * Shrooboid Brat
 * Petey Piranha
 * Mrs. Thwomp
 * Bowser & Baby Bowser
 * Commander Shroob, Support Shroobs, & Shroob-omb
 * Elder Shrooboid
 * Princess Shroob
 * Elder Princess Shroob
 * Elder Princess Shroob (Super Form)
 * Shrowser

Enemies

 * Blazing Shroob
 * Bob-omb
 * Boo
 * Boo Guy
 * Boom Guy
 * Bully
 * Coconutter
 * Dark Boo
 * Dr. Shroob
 * Dry Bones
 * Elasto-Piranha
 * Elite Boom Guy
 * Fly Guy
 * Ghoul Guy
 * Gnarantula
 * Gold Koopeleon
 * Goomba
 * Guardian Shroob
 * Handfake
 * Koopeleon
 * Lakitufo
 * Lethal Bob-omb
 * Love Bubble
 * Pidgit
 * Piranha Planet
 * Pokey
 * RC Shroober
 * Red Coconutter
 * Shroid
 * Shrooba Diver
 * Shrooblet
 * Shroob Rex
 * Shroobsworth
 * Skellokey
 * Snifaro
 * Snoozorb
 * Soul Bubble
 * Spiny Shroopa
 * Tanoomba
 * Tashrooba
 * Thwack
 * Thwack Totem
 * Wonder Thwack

References to Other Games

 * Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island- This game features the return of Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Baby Bowser. Also the player can travel to Yoshi's Island.
 * Super Mario 64- The music that plays within Peach's Castle is a remix of the it's tune here.
 * Luigi's Mansion- Professor E Gadd moves the Boo Woods as a young man where he is later found by Luigi, foreshadowing the events of the game.
 * Super Mario Sunshine- Shine Sprites return.
 * Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga- Fawful runs Fawful's Bean 'n' Badge

References in Later Games

 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl- A Shroob appears as a sticker. Also, one of the CDs is called Gritzy Desert, a direct reference to this game. The music is also the same as the area.
 * Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story- Three Shroobs appear as optional bosses. Junior Shrooboids, Commander Shroobs, Elder Princess Shroob and Princess Shroob cameos in the background of that stage.

Beta Elements

 * For a list of this game beta elements, see here.

Trivia

 * Although he is called King Bowser in the earlier Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, the younger Bowser's title in this game is "prince."
 * A picture of Prince Peasley appears in the Shroom Shop on a poster about beans.
 * In the North American version of the game, most of the enemies have higher stats than in other releases.
 * This is the only Mario & Luigi game where Fawful is not a major character.
 * Like its predecessor, this is one of the few Mario games to have been released in North America before Japan.
 * Strangely, Yoshis from Yoshi's Island don't seem to recognize Baby Mario, Luigi, or Bowser, despite the fact that the game takes place after the events of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
 * The English and Spanish names of this game are puns on the title of the short story compilation Partners in Crime.
 * The Gritzy Desert level of the game bears a storyline like that of the novel The Time Machine. Despite the Koopaseum being a colosseum, the time traveler visits a place via his time machine, in a desert, and the building is also dome shaped. He then later has to enter an underground set of caves later on in the same place. This is possibly a mere coincidence, however the plot line in the game is similar, as the heroes visit a desert via time travel, enter a dome like building, and visit a underground set of caves.
 * This is the only game where the player can listen to the Princess Peach's castle theme whenever they want. In Superstar Saga, the player can only listen it in the beginning and the middle when Princess Peach's airplane lands. In Bowser's Inside Story, it is only in the beginning and at the end.