Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Mario & Luigi RPG in Japan) is the first game in the Mario & Luigi series. It was released in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. It was an RPG starring the famous Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi. Unlike most Mario games, Superstar Saga took place in the Beanbean Kingdom. A sequel, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, was released for the Nintendo DS in 2005. It was followed by another game for the Nintendo DS, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, in 2009.

A remake of the Mario Bros. arcade game was also included with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

Story
The Goodwill Ambassador from the Beanbean Kingdom and her assistant come to the Mushroom Kingdom to bring a gift from Queen Bean for Princess Peach. However, it turns out to be a surprise attack of magic smoke. The ambassador and her assistant are actually an evil witch named Cackletta and her crazy assistant, Fawful. Fawful uses his headgear to suck up the smoke, which engulfs Peach's voice. They escape with Peach's voice into the dark sky. Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi are at their house. Luigi is hanging up clothes when Toad walks by asking where Mario is. Luigi is too busy to help, so Toad rushes inside his house and hears Mario singing in the bathroom. He enters to find Mario taking a shower. Toad rushes out of the room in complete embarrassment, running into a wall. Mario gets out of the shower with a bath robe on, finding Toad out cold on the floor. He jumps on him to wake him up, but all he hears is Toad groaning about the Princess. Mario realizes that she is in trouble again and quickly runs outside to put his clothes on. He rushes to the castle, not realizing that he is dragging Luigi by the clothesline.

Bowser visits the castle soon after in an attempt to kidnap Princess Peach. When Mario runs in, he sees Bowser and screeches to a halt, but Luigi gets flung off and jumps on Bowser. Bowser is enraged by this and fights Mario. Toad tells Mario about Action Commands. After being defeated, Bowser stops the fight, saying that this is not the time to do so, also claiming he would have won anyway. A Toad then tells them that Peach's voice is replaced with explosive vocabulary. Bowser worries that if he kidnaps Peach now, she will wreck his castle with her voice. As a result, Bowser agrees to help Mario get back Peach's voice.

Mario and Bowser get ready to leave in the Koopa Cruiser along with Bowser's underlings as both Toadsworth and Toad bid the group farewell. As they are about to leave, Luigi comes to say his final goodbye. Bowser mistakenly thinks Luigi wants to join he and his underlings, so he takes him along. The Koopa Cruiser flies off to the Beanbean Kingdom, where Cackletta and Fawful are.

That night, while Bowser and the Mario Bros. are on deck, Luigi, as a lookout, spots something coming their way: Cackletta and Fawful. Cackletta sends Fawful in to fight them. Fawful defeats Bowser easily, but is pummeled by Mario and Luigi. Despite this loss, Fawful uses his headgear to inviolate the cruiser. Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and everyone on the Koopa Cruiser plummet down to Stardust Fields.

Mario and Luigi crash land in the Beanbean Borderlands. After a brief chat, they decide to go the building on the left. Inside, they find the Border Bros., who force them to do a jumping game called The Border Jump to pass through. They succeed and are granted the passage to go to Stardust Fields. They are also given a Map of the Beanbean Kingdom to help them on their adventure. As the brothers wander around the premises, they find Bowser stuck in a cannon. A strange flying creature named Tolstar then appears to mock Bowser. Tolstar tells the bros. to get 100 Beanbean Coins so that the incident with Bowser doesn't get heard by anyone else. Mario gives Tolstar the 100 coins he brought along, but it isn't enough to satisfy him because they are Mushroom Kingdom coins. With no choice, Mario and Luigi wander around Stardust Field to collect the 100 Beanbean coins. With the help of the Starshade Bros. along the way, they manage to get enough coins to surprise Tolstar's bribe. Instead of helping out, however, Tolstar decides to attack the brothers. The brothers pound Tolstar. Right after, however, one of the Starshade Brothers comes in and lights the fuse of the cannon Bowser is in, causing the Koopa King to shoot across the kingdom. This leaves Mario and Luigi on their own.

A while afterwards, the brothers make it to Hoohoo Village where some Beanish soldiers mistake them for foes. Tolstar flies in (injured by the bros.) to prove that they are the Mario Bros., giving the brothers safe passage to the village. After a look around, they leave to find Fawful blasting a soldier away. He mocks the brothers by throwing a rock statue in front of them, blocking their path to the Beanbean Castle. They decide to visit the Hammerhead Bros. back at the village to make Hammers for them. However, the Hammerhead Bros. cannot make hammers because the material they have is too brittle. They need a Hoohoo Stone to make strong hammers, so the brothers climb up the Hoohoo Mountain.

Midway, they confront a statue named Hoohooros that forces them to play a minigame. Once finished, Hoohooros springs to life and attacks the brothers. However, the brothers overcome Hoohooros and continue up the mountain. When the plumbers finally reach the top of the mountain, they find a Hoohoo Stone, but kick it by accident, causing it to fall off the mountain. This awakens Blablanadon, who is mad at what they did. After the Bros. explain the incident, Blablanadon apologizes and explains that he has been sitting on a strange egg for some time, which is why he had not been around for the Hoohooligans' travel problems. Suddenly, the egg hatches, revealing Dragohoho. The creature knocks Blablanadon away and fights the brothers. They defeat the monster, which transforms into Prince Peasley, the prince of the kingdom. He thanks them for freeing him of that form and, before leaving, gives them a golden rose to assure their entrance to the castle. Blablanadon flies the plumbers back to Hoohoo Village, where they meet the Hammerhead Bros. again. With the Hoohoo Stone that falls into the Hammerhead Brothers' cabin (the stone that was kicked off the mountain by the Mario Bros.), the Hammerhead Bros. are able to make them new hammers.

Using their hammers, they demolish Fawful's statue and travel down Hoohoo Mountain towards Beanbean Castle Town. Along the way, they find a cave. Inside is an old man and his beanish dog. He tells the Bros. if they want to cross through the cave, they have to play his minigame, where they ride in mine carts to collect ten jewels. Afterwards, the Mario Bros. finish their journey to Beanbean Castle Town. But they find the town in ruins, as Cackletta and Fawful have recently attacked. The brothers quickly come to Beanbean Castle and gain entry by showing Peasley's rose to the guards. Once inside, they meet up with Lady Lima, the kingdom's ambassador. They tell her what's going on, but she does not believe the story, or that they are the Mario Bros. So, she sends them down to the castle sewer to fix their leaking pipe problem. When they get all the pipes fixed, the brothers meet up with the real Lady Lima and some servants. The Bros. learn that they had fallen for one of Cackletta's schemes; The witch had been pretending to be Lady Lima the whole time, and fixing the castle's plumbing allows her to take the Beanstar. The brothers catch up with her, but it is too late - Cackletta takes the Beanstar away and sends Queen Bean to attack them. The queen is a muscular monster as a result of eating a Belly Blech Worm before-hand. Mario and Luigi topple the tyrant, and are then sent out to get the antidote for the queen - Chuckola Cola.

Later, the Mario Bros. make it to Château de Chucklehuck to find the drink. They end up in a fight with Popple the master thief, and his partner, Rookie. The villains are defeated and run off into Chucklehuck Woods. The brothers soon meet Cork and Cask, the owners of the brewery. After completing a task for the beans, they teach the brothers moves with the hammers that help them out in the Chucklehuck Woods. Using their new skills, the brothers manage to get three different kinds of Chuckola Fruit to give to Chuckleroot in order for them to proceed onward to Mother Chuckola. When they get there, they find the creator of Chuckola Cola, Bubbles. He is busy telling jokes to the Chuckola Reserve, his most precious brew of soda, while Rookie and Popple are tied up in barrels. Then, the soda transforms into the Chuckolator, which sends the thieves flying. The Chuckolator attacks the brothers, but the heroes prevail, causing the foe to revert into normal soda. Bubbles is not happy about it, creating a tremor that sends the brothers and the soda underground. Mario lands in the soda, while Luigi lands away from his brother. Eventually, he finds his way back to Mario, who is still in the barrel. Doing a barrel run on Mario, Luigi heads to the Beanbean Castle.

Back at the castle, Luigi jumps on Mario to squirt out the Chuckola Cola into Queen Bean. She spits out the Belly Blech worm, returning to normal. At that moment, Peasley comes to report to the queen about some sort of progress. It appears that Cackletta is hiding out in the Woohoo Hooniversity, so the Mario Brothers are sent there to investigate. There, they have to fight experiments, solve puzzles, and reunite each other (after they are separated) in order to unlock the Sun Door, leading to a very hi-technical room. There, Cackletta (and Fawful) are about to awaken the Beanstar using Peach Bots that are installed with Peach's voice. But when she activates them, they make a strange noise that drives the Beanstar crazy. It causes a tremor, sending the robots and itself downward. Cackletta and Fawful are confused about the incident, and the sudden appearance of the Mario Bros. did not help the situation. Luigi bashes Fawful into the ground with his hammer, leaving Cackletta to fight them alone. Her powers are great, but are no match for Mario and Luigi.

After the battle, Fawful gets back up, seeing that his mistress was at the point of dying. As a result, he uses his headgear to suck up her essence, dissolving her body. He is about to give the brothers a good thrashing, but Peasley comes and throws him out of the building. He is curious about the incident with the Peach Bots and the Beanstar, but looks as if he knew what was going on. He departs, leaving the brothers to go down to the basement. There they find Popple and Rookie with the Beanstar and fight them for it. After the battle, a Peach Bot head falls down and makes noise again, causing the Beanstar to go nuts. Mario, Luigi, Popple, and Rookie grab onto it and are eventually sent flying in different directions, as does the Beanstar itself when it breaks into four pieces. Before it does, Rookie remembers that he is really Bowser.

Mario and Luigi land at the Oho Oasis and manage to get out of there by learning the Firebrand and Thunderhand moves in the Fire and Thunder temples. Meanwhile, Fawful finds the injured Bowser lying on the ground and implants Cackletta's soul inside him. After the Mario Bros. make their way through the Oho Ocean, they meet Peasley again, saying that Princess Peach is arriving at the Beanbean International Airport, and asks that they come at once. They do, and find that Piranha Plants are everywhere on the airport. They take care of this problem quickly, and the Toad Express safely lands on the runway.

Back at the castle, the Mario Brothers find out that Peach's voice had never been stolen. It was really Birdo disguised as the princess at the time who lost her voice. Peach knew about this all along, as Peasley came and told her about Cackletta's plan beforehand. With that crisis settled, Peach decides to visit Little Fungitown, with the Mario Bros. escorting her.

They come to the only known route to Little Fungitown, Teehee Valley. There, the Princess gets captured by Gritty Goombas a few times, and is then confronted by the rock creature, Trunkle. The brothers best all of the foes and make it to Little Fungitown. There, Peach leaves the brothers to go about the town on their own. They decide to go to the arcade, where Mario plays one of the games there and wins an Invincishroom. He eats it, but ends up in the hospital, where he has contracted Bean Fever. The only cure for this disease is Crabbie Grass from Guffawha Ruins. Luigi accepts to travel to the area to find the grass, but loses his nerve when he finds out about a bone-crushing monster lives there. To try and calm himself, he goes to Psycho Kamek, who hypnotizes him into thinking that he is Mario.

With his new found courage, Luigi goes to Guffawa Ruins. After doing some puzzles and confronting the "monster," who is actually just a stone head wishing people would stop making rumors about him, Luigi finds some Crabbie Grass. He goes back to the Little Fungitown hospital, but is struck by lightning, causing him to regain his original consciousness. Luigi comes halfway to the hospital when he spots Peach in a Koopa Clown Car. Angry, Luigi tells Bowser to let her go. However, the fiend in the vehicle is not Bowser, but Cackletta, who has possessed Bowser's body to become Bowletta. She makes off with Peach in tow, and Luigi rushes into the hospital to revive Mario. Luigi tells Mario about what had just happened, and both of them quickly return to Beanbean Castle.

Back at the castle, everybody is flustered about Cackletta's surprise comeback, trying to figure out what to do next. Lady Lima comes with a message from Bowletta. The sinister fusion has requested that they get the four pieces of the broken Beanstar to her in exchange for the princess. The Mario Bros. and Prince Peasley agree to do this task (Peasley is so confident that he gives the brothers 99,999,999,999 mushroom coins if they get them all first).

So, Mario and Luigi go out to get the first Beanstar piece, which is in the S.S. Chuckola back at Teehee Valley. In the ship of skeletal crewmen, they do a barrel game and free an overweight skeleton from a crack in the wall. However, doing so causes the ship to be sent into the Oho Ocean, where it sink. The Mario Brothers follow the floating Beanstar all over the seabed, until they make it to Gwarhar Lagoon. Here, they get new abilities for their hand powers, thanks to the Jellyfish Sisters, and use them to get to the Hermie Club. They are using the Beanstar piece as the main ornament for Hermie III. The brothers eventually get the piece after battling Hermie and explaining about the crisis.

The next piece is from the fashion stylist Harhall, who gives Mario and Luigi the piece after they color fabric with design bombs. Another piece comes from Boddle after they get Neon Eggs for his Yoshi Theater sign. The bros. are able to get these neon eggs by feeding the Yoshies Bean Fruit from deep underground. The last piece is back at Chucklehuck Woods. They have to play a game in the Winkle Colosseum and surpass the Winkles. When they get to the area where the Beanstar piece had fallen, they find Popple, who had already taken it. They defeat the partner-less thief and get all the pieces of the Beanstar back.

They return to the castle with the star, where Lima has brought another message from Bowletta. She now wants them to bring the Beanstar to her at Joke's End. Prince Peasley gives them a Fake Beanstar to try and fool the villains, as well as the coins from the bet, which are really only 99 Beanbean coins. Eventually, Mario and Luigi find a thin slot near the ocean. Seeing that there is no way to get to Joke's End by underwater, Mario decides to hammer Luigi into a slot, turning him into a surfboard.

He uses Luigi to surf across the ocean all the way to Joke's End. Once there, they have to solve tricky puzzles, involving them having to split up for the most part. During their trials, the fairy-like girl named Jojora appears from time to time, just to see how they are doing. Eventually, the brothers make it to Jojora's room at the top floor, where she is having a tea party. She requests that the brothers invite one of her friends over. Her "friend" turns out to be a female snow puppet that attacks Mario and Luigi (with the help of Jojora). They defeat her, causing her to melt, leaving Jojora to flee from the scene. Soon after, Mario and Luigi find Fawful, who is waiting for them to hand over the Beanstar. Luigi approaches him, and gives him the fake one. But unlike most Mario enemies, Fawful is not fooled. He blasts Luigi and takes the real Beanstar. Luckily, Mario comes up with a plan involving the extra dress Toadsworth gave them before they went to Joke's End. Bowletta (with Peach) is complementing Fawful for seeing through that ruse, but their rejoicing is interrupted when they see Mario with another Peach. The other Peach says that the one they have is fake. Angered, Bowletta tosses the "fake" Peach overboard and takes the "real" one back to the repaired Koopa Crusier.

Back at the Cruiser, Bowletta and Fawful are celebrating their success, until Bowletta wonders why Peach is covering her mouth. She decides to scare her, revealing that she is really Luigi in disguise. Fawful chases him around, followed by Bowletta, until Luigi hits a switch, which drops a crate to block the twosome's way. With his Thunderhand powers, Luigi manages to escape the cruiser with the Beanstar. Upset at having a double failure, Bowletta decides for her and Fawful go to the Mushroom Kingdom for something.

Back at Teehee Valley, Mario, Peach, and Toadsworth are on the lookout for Luigi. Luigi crash-lands into a sand pit and sinks in. Mario manages to find him underground, but the two end up fighting Popple again. Popple is defeated, along with his new partner, Birdo. After the brothers finish the battle, they head back to the Castle Town.

Unfortunately, the brothers found that the town is under fire again It appears that Bowletta is using Bowser's Castle to attack the town. At the castle, Queen Bean explains this, and Mario and Luigi decide to help out. Lima suggests that since the castle is in the sky, they should try and find something to help them fly upwards. The brothers head back to Hoohoo Village to ask for Blablanadon's help. He accepts, and takes them up to Bowser's Castle.

At the castle, Mario and Luigi use every technique that they had learned to get past all the puzzles and enemies in the castle. On the way, they meet the dreaded Koopalings, along with the new-and-improved Fawful. After fighting the foes, they make their way to Bowletta. They fight her and supposedly win, until a countdown Bob-omb comes and takes out almost all the entire HP the brothers have. Apparently, Bowletta had been only faking her defeat and decides to do Mario and Luigi in by eating them alive. In her body, the Mario Bros. end up fighting Cackletta again, although this time in her spirit form. Mario and Luigi managed to defeat Cackletta once and for all. She spews out of Bowser's body and vanishes, never to be seen again. Bowser also returns to normal, unconscious on the floor. Peasley then comes to address the brothers, saying that he has planted a detonator in the castle, and it will explode shortly. The brothers manage to escape the castle via Blablanadon in time, but Bowser crashes into Oho Ocean, only to be rescued by Prince Peasley.

Later on, while everyone is saying their goodbyes, Peasley drops by with a huge present for the brothers. And so, the heroes go back to the Mushroom Kingdom via Peach's airplane. As Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toadsworth are laughing about the adventure, they fly over the ocean as the sun sets and get to the Mushroom Kingdom at night. Peasley's present turns out to be Bowser, who is dropped off at his other castle during the credits. The plane lands in Peach's castle, and fireworks erupt. Then, it is shown that a movie of the adventure is shown in Yoshi Theater, when the screen zooms out to show the Yoshis sitting in the theater and applauding.

Main Characters

 * Mario - The well-known hero.
 * Luigi - The not-as-famous brother of Mario.
 * Cackletta/Bowletta - The main villain.
 * Fawful - Cackletta's minion.
 * Princess Peach - The damsel-in-distress victim.
 * Popple - Secondary villain and thief.
 * Bowser/Rookie - Secondary villain who works for Popple.
 * Prince Peasley - Secondary hero.
 * Queen Bean - The Queen of the Beanbean Kingdom.

Locations
Though much of the action of this game takes place in the Beanbean Kingdom, Mario and Luigi can still venture towards several areas in the Mushroom Kingdom. All Beanbean Kingdom locations' names except for Yoshi Theater and Little Fungitown have different names for laughing in them. The following is a list of various areas they journey to throughout the course of the game:


 * Mushroom Kingdom
 * Koopa Cruiser
 * Stardust Fields
 * Hoohoo Village
 * Hoohoo Mountain
 * Beanbean Castle Town
 * Beanbean Castle
 * Chucklehuck Woods
 * Woohoo Hooniversity
 * Teehee Valley
 * Little Fungitown
 * Guffawha Ruins
 * Oho Oasis
 * Oho Ocean
 * Oho Ocean Seabed
 * Gwarhar Lagoon
 * Yoshi Theater
 * Joke's End
 * Bowser's Castle

The game also has several secret caves which can only be visited by either Mario or Luigi acting separate from the other. These areas start as 2-dimensional, side-scrolling levels in the traditional platforming style. A rare item can be obtained from a Monty Mole if the caves are completed.

Battle System
To start a battle, Mario or Luigi must touch an enemy. They can also perform a First Strike by jumping on the enemy in the over-world. This will damage the enemy before the battle starts. Since the game is an RPG, the player and enemies will take turns attacking each other. The player can use good timed attacks to deal more damage.

Stats
Each brother has their own Heart Points, Bros. Points, POW, DEF, SPEED, and STACHE points. When they finish a battle, they each gain Experience Points. With enough Experience Points, they can level-up and increase each respective statistic.


 * HP (abbreviation of Heart Points) is the amount of life Mario and Luigi has. When an enemy hits either of them, they lose HP. When their HP reaches zero, they pass out, but can be revived with a 1-Up Mushroom or 1-Up Super.
 * BP (abbreviation of Bros. Points) indicates how many times Mario and Luigi can use a Bros. Attack. Each attack uses a certain amount of BP, draining the total. BP can only be restored by using Syrup.
 * POW (abbreviation of Power) is how strong either Mario or Luigi is. The higher their POW stats are, the more damage they will perform.
 * DEF (abbreviation of Defense) is how much damage either Mario or Luigi can block from an enemy hit. The higher their DEF stats are, the less damage they will take.
 * SPEED is how fast Mario or Luigi are. The more SPEED they have, the more they can attack an enemy in a given turn.
 * STACHE is the most unique of Mario and Luigi's stats. The higher their STACHE stats are, the greater there is a chance of a Lucky, which doubles POW, lowers the prices of items brought at shops and increases the worth of items you can sell.

Moves
During battle, Mario and Luigi will have four options when it is their turn: Use a Solo Move, use a Bros. Attack, use an item, or run.

Solo Moves
During a Solo Move, Mario or Luigi will use one of their basic attacks solo. Both bros. have solo move techniques that they can use in any battle in the game. Note that all of these techniques listed below must be learned by progressing through the game except for Mario and Luigi's Jump.

Solo Techniques

 * Mario's Solo Techniques
 * Jump - Mario uses his famous jump to squash enemies.
 * Hammer - Mario can use his hammer to hit enemies.
 * Hand - Mario can use his Firebrand ability to burn enemies.


 * Luigi's Solo Techniques
 * Jump - Luigi can use his jumping ability to crush enemies.
 * Hammer - Luigi can use his hammer to hit enemies.
 * Hand - Luigi can use his Thunderhand ability to zap enemies.

Bros. Attacks
Bros. Attacks are attacks that Mario and Luigi can use in battle by working together to deliver more damage. They all use a different combination of buttons to hit.
 * Mario's Bros. Attacks
 * Splash Bros.
 * Chopper Bros.
 * Fire Bros.
 * Swing Bros. (secret)


 * Luigi's Bros. Attacks
 * Bounce Bros.
 * Knockback Bros.
 * Thunder Bros.
 * Cyclone Bros. (secret)

Items
When choosing the item icon, Mario or Luigi can use an item to recover HP or BP. Other items, such as Refreshing Herbs, can heal status effects, and red or green peppers will raise POW and gain weight or raise DEF and lose weight respectively. When one of the bros. passes out, the other bros. can use a 1-Up Mushroom or 1-Up Super the revive them. However, once an item is used, the bro's. turn is over.

Run
Mario and Luigi can both run from battle when they choose the run icon. When getting away, the player must hit either the A or B button to make a bro. run. However, if they don't do this quickly, one of the bros. will drop a large amount of coins. When both bros. have left the screen, the player will end up back in the overworld and continue their adventure. This feature works better if one of the brothers has passed out. Instead of running, the remaining brother picks him up and carries him away, halving the number of coins lost.

Avoiding Attacks
Superstar Saga allows the player to completely avoid enemy attacks. Mario and Luigi can either use their Hammer or Jump moves to avoid attacks. With their Jump move, Mario or Luigi can simply jump over the attacking enemy. When using the Hammer to avoid attacks, the player must hold Mario or Luigi's respective button (Mario is A, Luigi is B) and release just as the enemy or their weapon hits.

Mario and Luigi can also use these moves to counterattack. When they jump over an enemy, they may land on them, causing damage. Mario or Luigi can also hit enemies with their Hammer during their turn.

Out-of-Battle Techniques
Mario and Luigi can also use some techniques out of battle. Once again, all of the following techniques must be learned by progressing in the game, except for jumping.

Techniques When in the Front

 * Mario and Luigi can both jump.
 * Mario and Luigi can both whack their hammers.
 * Mario can burn things up using his Firebrand ability.
 * Luigi can zap things using his Thunderhand ability.

Techniques When in the Back

 * Mario and Luigi can both jump.
 * Mario can do a "Spin Jump," by jumping on top of Luigi and spinning through the air. This is necessary for crossing large gaps.
 * Luigi can do a "High Jump," by jumping on top of Mario and bouncing up high. This is necessary for getting higher up.
 * Mario can hit Luigi with his hammer, knocking him into the ground. Luigi can move under fences using this technique; and if he comes up under suspicious spots of ground he'll get a bean.
 * Luigi can hit Mario with his hammer, squishing him tiny. Mario can move into small openings using this technique.
 * Mario can set Luigi on fire. Luigi will panic, and start running fast. This technique can use this to knock heavy things, such as Ankoopas blocking paths.
 * Luigi can electrocute Mario. Mario and Luigi will be joined together, and they can walk side-to-side. This can be used to move the mysterious Boo statues, which disappear when anyone looks directly at them.

Enemies
The following is an alphabetical list of all 55 non-boss enemies found in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The name of each enemy, their stats, and locations found in the game are provided. Please go to the respective page of each enemy for further information.

Please note that some of these enemies are variations of a single enemy or were fought in a grouped-battle. For convenience, these variations are listed as separate enemies.

Bosses
There are 27 bosses in the game. They are listed below in chronological order.

Items
These items are used in battle or in the overworld.

Sidequests
As typical to the Mario RPG games, there are various sidequests that Mario and Luigi can complete outside the main story. These quests result in various things, from simply helping an NPC character to receiving items as awards that can be used in the main quest.


 * Near the start of the game, if a Toad is spoken to while Mario and Luigi are holding their Mushroom found nearby, he will ask for it back. If Mario and Luigi does so, the Toad reward them with a Super Mushroom.
 * Close by, there is a blue Toad that has lost an item important to him. If Mario can find it and return it to the blue Toad, he is awarded with a 1-Up Mushroom.
 * Before going to the Koopa Cruiser, a lost minion asks Mario and Luigi for directions to the ship. If given correct directions, he rewards Mario and Luigi with a 1-Up Mushroom.
 * Hundreds of beans are hidden throughout the over-world that the Mario and Luigi can dig-up and spend at the Cafe in the castle town.
 * Some caves near the Beanbean Castle Town offer a quest that references Super Mario Bros.. If Luigi or Mini Mario finishes, there is a Monty Mole who gives him a Rare Item such as a High-End Badge or the Iron Pants.
 * Mario and Luigi can find Beanlets in some parts of town. If they find them and give them back to his proprietor, he gives them a Golden Mushroom.
 * In Beanbean Castle Town there is an old Beanish citizen that asks Mario and Luigi to find ten jewels called "Beanstones". To find these, Luigi must hit Mario with the hammer to shrink him and walk around town. If tiny Mario is standing over a beanstone, a "!" appears over his head. Luigi must now dig in this spot to retrieve it. If all ten are found, the old citizen gives them a rare item, the Bros. Rock.
 * There are large Koopa Troopas in some caves of the game where Mario can use his Firebrand power to knock them over, allowing Mario and Luigi to pass. There is a Monty Mole there that gives them a special item, such as a Golden Mushroom.
 * There is a cave where Mario and Luigi's hammers can be improved by the Hammerhead Bros. In this cave, there are Thwomps who host a guessing-game. Mario and Luigi have to pay a hefty fine of 200 coins (500 for the second Thwomp game) and use their upgraded hammers to smash one out of three boulders. If they are lucky, they can find the scrolls wielding hidden Bro Moves.
 * There is an island called "Surfing Game Island" where Mario and Luigi can get free beans for accomplishing a game, in which they are given a set time to break as many balloons on their board as possible. The faster they complete the course, the more (or different) beans they will receive. To find it, enter the green pipe leading to Gwarhar Lagoon, break the black brick, and turn Luigi into a surfing board. Enter the ocean above and move 3 areas right, and two up.

References to Other Games and Other Media

 * Donkey Kong - Mario rescues Luigi at the Woohoo Hooniversity the same way as he rescued Pauline.
 * Mario Bros. - A remake of this game was included here.
 * Super Mario Bros. - The main theme of this game is often heard as tutorial music. Also, the type of block from Super Mario Bros. can be seen in Woohoo University. Finally, the Border Jump minigame uses the background with the castle and flagpole from the game.
 * Super Mario World - Bowletta uses the Koopa Clown Car in Little Fungitown. Also, the type of block from Super Mario World can be seen in Woohoo University, and the Koopalings are fought in the order in which they are fought in this game.
 * Dr. Mario - Blue, Red and Yellow Viruses are seen in Woohoo Hooniversity, and can be defeated the same way as in Dr. Mario.
 * Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - The Bean Fruit is based off of the Watermelons.
 * Yoshi's Safari - The Sniper Bills use Super Scopes to attack Mario and Luigi.
 * Super Mario Adventures - Luigi again dresses as Princess Peach like in those comics.
 * Super Mario 64 - The theme of Peach's Castle is remixed from this game, and the type of block from it can be seen in Woohoo Hooniversity.
 * Super Mario Advance - If Popple is defeated in his fourth fight, Birdo says: "You may have hurt my darling, but that is as far as you go!" as a reference to her quote in Super Mario Advance: "This is as far as you go".
 * Luigi's Mansion - Ghosts from this game appear in Starbeans Cafe, as does E. Gadd. The Luigi's Mansion theme can be heard when the ghosts arrive.
 * Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars - Geno returns as a cameo in the Star Stache Minigame. Additionally, Mario humming the Super Mario Bros. theme in the shower is first seen in Super Mario RPG, when he is showering in the Marrymore Suite.
 * Paper Mario - The type of block from this game is seen in the Woohoo Hooniversity. Also, the Hammer, Super Hammer, and Ultra Hammer return.

References in Later Games

 * Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Admiral Bobbery's final request was to have Chuckola Cola, an item found in this game. Also, after beating Chapter 7, Bowser has the option of telling Pennington that he is the Shadow Thief (which is a reference to Popple).
 * Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - Prince Peasley appears on a poster about beans in the Castle's item shop. There are also Chuckola Fruit on the poster. Fawful owns a shop where he gives out badges in return for beans.
 * Super Paper Mario - A Sammer Guy named "Mustard of Doom", which is a reference to Fawful's "mustard of your doom" line. Mustard of Doom also shouts, "MY SWORD HAS FURY!", which is a reference to Fawful's catchphrase, and lastly, this Sammer Guy speaks with grammatically incorrect English, just as Fawful does.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl - One of the names that shows up when the player chooses the random name button is "FWFUL".
 * Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story - Fawful returns as the main villain.

Trivia

 * This is Mario and Luigi's first adventure together since Super Mario World.
 * The theme when fighting Cackletta in Woohoo Hooniversity is a remix of the Koopa Baddies Arrive (theme which is also known as the Danger theme) and Cackletta Theme (the theme that plays when Cackletta is present).
 * Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga is one of the few Game Boy Advance game to make use of the rumble effect when played on the Nintendo GameCube's GBA player.
 * Mario and Luigi's M and L emblems on their hats are both black rather than the usual red and green.
 * Like the original Paper Mario, this game doesn't have "endless" play, in which players can return to playing the game after they've beaten the final boss. Instead, the game returns to the last save point players made after defeating Cackletta's Ghost if the file is selected.
 * This is the only game in the Mario and Luigi series where the tutorial music can be played in some early battles.
 * This game was featured in the Playback section of the 263rd issue of Nintendo Power.
 * This game marked the first appearance of the Koopalings in an official game since Hotel Mario, which was released in 1994.