Mario & Luigi – Dream Team

Mario & Luigi – Dream Team, known in Europe and Australia as Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros., is a 2013 role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the fourth installment in the Mario & Luigi series, a part of the larger Mario franchise. The game’s story follows Mario and his brother Luigi who, after being invited to Pi’illo Island for a vacation, become embroiled in a journey to retrieve a powerful artifact before Bowser and Antasma use it for evil intentions.

The gameplay takes place from a top-down perspective and has the player controlling Mario and Luigi simultaneously, solving puzzles and platformer sessions, and overcoming turn-based battles across Pi’illo Island, the game’s overworld. The player also makes use of Luigi’s dreams, called the “Dream World”, where gameplay shifts to a two-dimensional side-scrolling perspective and emphasizes using Luigi-based gimmicks to their advantage. Combat in both worlds is turn-based. The series’ final original installment, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, released in 2015 for the Nintendo 3DS.

One day, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toadsworth are invited to visit Pi’illo Island by Dr. Snoozemore, the island’s proprietor. They arrive and meet up with Broque Monsieur, who escorts them to Pi’illo Castle. Peach and Toadsworth accidentally trigger a moving platform which brings them deep into the underground ruins beneath the castle and Mario and Luigi pursue them. They reunite and discover a secret collection room with relics from the ancient Pi’illo Kingdom. Distracted, Luigi sleeps on a bed on display in the room, which opens up a portal to the Dream World.

A dark figure emerges from the portal and kidnaps Peach, and Mario chases after them. He meets Dreamy Luigi, who decides to guide Mario through the Dream World. While searching for Peach, Mario saves Prince Dreambert, who tells the two that Pi’illo Island receives its aforementioned sleep powers via the “Dream Stone” and the “Dark Stone”, both of which also have the power to grant wishes. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team features top-down role-playing gameplay similar to previous Mario & Luigi titles.

The player simultaneously controls Mario and Luigi, who are mapped to separate buttons on the Nintendo 3DS. Mario and Luigi explore the game’s setting, Pi’illo Island, in a overworld fashion, with the island’s locales acting as individual levels. The overworld contains puzzles and minigames for the player to complete, and some platforming elements that hinder progression. As the game progresses, the duo will learn some new “Bros. Attacks”, which are incorporated into solving puzzles or reaching previously inaccessible areas.