Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is a bit of an oddball. Honestly, if you grew up with a Nintendo DS in 2005, you probably remember the box art more than the actual mechanics. It’s the middle child. It sits right between the cult-classic Superstar Saga and the commercially massive Bowser’s Inside Story. But here's the thing: it’s significantly darker, weirder, and more frustrating than either of them.
You’ve got time travel. You’ve got purple aliens called Shroobs that basically commit planetary genocide. And you have the babies.
Managing four characters at once is a lot. Most people remember the game as being "the one where you control Baby Mario and Baby Luigi," but that's a surface-level take. The game actually pushes the DS hardware in ways that felt revolutionary at the time, even if the execution was sometimes clunky. It forced you to use all four face buttons—A, B, X, and Y—each tied to a specific brother. It's a rhythm game disguised as an RPG. If your timing is off, you're dead.
The Shroob Invasion: Why This Isn't a Typical Mario Story
Nintendo usually plays it safe with the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser kidnaps Peach, Mario eats a mushroom, the day is saved. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time threw that script in the trash. The Shroobs aren't just "bad guys"; they are an invasive species that literally consumes the life force of the world. Seeing Toad Town in ruins within the first hour of a Mario game was a massive tone shift for the mid-2000s.
Princess Shroob is genuinely terrifying. She doesn't have the bumbling charm of Bowser. She’s cold. She speaks in an unintelligible alien tongue that the game doesn't bother to translate, which makes the threat feel more "other." The stakes feel higher because you’re seeing the past version of the world being actively destroyed. You aren't just saving a Princess; you're trying to prevent a timeline from being erased.
The game uses "Time Holes" to jump between the present and the past. Unlike Chrono Trigger, which has a complex web of cause and effect, Partners in Time is pretty linear. You go to a location in the past, fix the immediate problem, and move on. Some critics at the time, including those at IGN and GameSpot, pointed out that this linearity felt like a step back from the open-world feel of the Beanbean Kingdom in the first game. They weren't entirely wrong. It feels like a series of levels rather than a cohesive world.
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Controlling Four Brothers: The X and Y Factor
The combat is where things get polarizing. In Superstar Saga, you just had Mario and Luigi. Simple. In Partners in Time, the babies ride on the adults' backs.
When they’re together, you have to hit the "adult" button and then the "baby" button to maximize damage. It’s a lot to keep track of. But when you split them up? That’s when the real chaos starts. Some puzzles require the babies to crawl through small gaps while the adults trigger switches in a different part of the map. It’s a clever use of the DS dual screens. You’re literally looking at two different locations at once.
Wait, let's talk about the Bros. Items.
Unlike the other games in the series, there are no "Bros. Points" (MP) here. Instead, you buy items. You want to do a Shell attack? You need to have a Green Shell in your inventory. This changed the economy of the game. You weren't managing mana; you were managing a grocery list. If you ran out of items during a boss fight, you were basically relegated to basic jumps. It made the game harder. Way harder.
The Difficulty Spike Nobody Warned You About
If you ask any long-term fan about the boss fights in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, they’ll probably mention the HP pools. The bosses in this game are tanks. They take forever to die.
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Take Sunnycide, the boss inside Yoob’s belly. It’s a massive, egg-shaped monster. You can’t just jump on it. You have to flip it over by hitting eggs, then attack its heart, then rinse and repeat. If you don't have the rhythm down for the Bros. Items, these fights can drag on for twenty or thirty minutes. It’s an endurance test.
AlphaDream, the developers (who sadly went bankrupt in 2019), were clearly experimenting. They wanted to see how much the player could handle. Sometimes it works beautifully. The feeling of landing a perfect 20-hit combo with a Pocket Chomp is incredibly satisfying. Other times, like when you miss a dodge because the screen transition was slightly off, it’s infuriating.
Why the Graphics Still Hold Up Today
Even in 2026, the sprite work in Partners in Time looks fantastic. There’s a "squash and stretch" quality to the animations that 3D models just can't replicate. Mario and Luigi’s personalities shine through their movement. Luigi is constantly shivering; Mario is always leading the way. Even the babies have distinct personalities—Baby Mario is brave to the point of being reckless, and Baby Luigi is... well, he’s a Luigi.
The dual-screen layout was used for more than just puzzles. During battle, flying enemies would often fly up to the top screen. You had to track their movement across both displays to time your hammers correctly. It was one of the few games that actually justified the "DS" in the name.
Misconceptions About the "Missing" Remake
One of the biggest heartbreaks for fans was the 3DS era. Nintendo remade Superstar Saga and Bowser’s Inside Story, but they completely skipped Partners in Time.
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Why?
Some speculate it was because of the dual-screen reliance. Porting a game that uses both screens simultaneously to a single-screen focused layout is a nightmare. Others think the sales numbers just weren't there. Whatever the reason, Partners in Time remains trapped on the original DS hardware (and the Wii U Virtual Console, if you still have one of those). This has turned it into a bit of a collector's item.
How to Actually Play It in 2026
If you're looking to revisit this game, you've got a few options, but none of them are perfect.
- Original Hardware: Playing on a DS Lite or a DSi is still the best way. The buttons feel right, and the screen gap is exactly what the developers intended.
- The 3DS: It’s backwards compatible, but the resolution scaling makes the beautiful pixel art look a bit blurry.
- Wii U: If you bought it before the eShop closed, the "DS on your TV" experience is okay, but splitting your eyes between the GamePad and the TV is a literal headache.
- Emulation: It’s tricky. Because the game uses both screens so heavily, you need a vertical monitor setup to really get the vibe right.
Honestly, just find a physical cartridge. They aren't as expensive as some other retro games yet, mostly because people keep obsessing over the sequels.
Actionable Steps for New Players
If you’re picking this up for the first time, don't go in expecting a cakewalk. It’s the "Dark Souls" of Mario RPGs, and I say that only half-jokingly.
- Stock up on Cannonballs and Ice Flowers. The Shroobs are weak to ice, and the Cannonball item is your best bet for dealing massive damage to bosses.
- Master the "Baby Jump." In combat, if you time the baby's jump right before the adult's, you get a massive height boost. It’s essential for dodging certain ground-pound attacks.
- Don't ignore the badges. Badges can change your stats significantly. Look for the "Ulti-Free" badge later in the game—it lets you use Bros. Items for free, which completely breaks the game in the best way possible.
- Pay attention to the top screen. Even when it’s not your turn, enemies in the background or on the upper screen are telegraphing their next move.
- Prepare for the end-game. The final boss has multiple phases and a lot of HP. If you haven't mastered the 4-button timing by the time you reach Shroob Castle, go back and practice on some lower-level enemies in the desert.
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time isn't a perfect game. It's experimental, it's difficult, and it's occasionally tedious. But it has a soul. It took risks with the Mario brand that we rarely see today. It’s a reminder of a time when handheld gaming was a place for weird, bold ideas. If you can handle the steep difficulty curve, it’s one of the most rewarding RPGs in Nintendo’s catalog.