When you’re sailing the Brrrning Sea (third area) in Mario & Luigi: Brothership, you’ll come across Compac Islet on the far east side of the area. On it, you’re presented with a puzzle involving sliding ice blocks. ?Here’s how to solve all three.

The sliding block puzzle on ice sheets has been around for a very long time in video games, so it’s no surprise that it makes an appearance here. If you’re not very good at these sorts of things (or just can’t be bothered), I’m sure t??he history behind this type of puzzle isn’t very comforting, so instead I’ll just tell you how to do them.

How to solve Compac Islet puzzle #1

The first puzzle in on Compac Islet in Mario & Luigi: Brothership is reasonably simple, but it’s easy to move the wron??g block and wind up stuck. You first want to go around to the far side of the blocks to the top-left of the islet. This will be easier to explain with pictures, but here are the steps.

• Move the offset top-left block right.
• Move the block below it down.
• At the end of the bottom corridor, shift the block right.
• Move the block obstructing the path to the guy to the left.

Not too difficult, but following the picture will probably be e??asier. When you reach the dude, he’ll give you a Stache Bean D?X, which will improve a brother’s Stache stat by +3. You’ll then be able to take on additional challenges.

How to solve Compac Islet puzzle #2

The next puzzle on Compac Islet is a bit trickier and involves some non-conventional moving. The goal is to break the two boxes trapped within the blocks. The first bloc?k is pretty easy. Here are the steps.

• Hit the top-left offset block down.
• Hit the block next to you to the right.

That’s it for the first box. You can then head Sout??h, squeeze between the two blocks and get to the box to smash it. Now comes th?e tricky part.

• Hit the block that is two blocks up from where the box is (fourth from the bottom) to the right.
• Shimmy in behind the block at the bottom of the formation and hit it downward.
• Hit the block next to it to the right.
• Scooch into the narrow opening created and knock that block left.

Okay, now things get a bit easier b?ecause you’re essentially just zig-zagging up toward the second ?block.

• Hit the block above you up.
• Hit the block beside you to the left.
• Hit the block above you up.
• Hit the block beside you to the left.

Done. You can grab the goodies in the box. Then, ?it’s on to the next (and final) puzzle. 

How to solve Compac Islet puzzle #3

The last puzzle on Compac Islet is almost insultingly easy ??????????????????????????compared to the last one. There are more boxes but fewer steps and less chances to screw up. In fact, I can do t?his in one image and a few steps.

• Move the top, protruding block to whichever lateral direction you feel like. Just not down.
• Slip into the narrow gap at the bottom of the corridor and move the bottom block down.
• Move the block next to you left.
• Slip in and break the first box. Proceed to the end of the corridor. Go up into the gap and hit the left block left.
• Hit the block above that upwards, then break the box.
• Move the block to the right towards the right and break the last box.

See? E??asy. And it doesn’t get any harder than that because that’s the last of them. Return to Ship?shape and continue with your quest.

The post All ice bloc??k puzzle solutions for Compac Islet in Mario and Luigi: Brothership appeared first on Destructoid.

Out of all the announcements from the latest Xbox Games Showcase, the one that most piqued my curiosity was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the debut title from Sandfall Interactive. It being a new turn-based RPG was enough to catch my interest, and additional details about its reactive combat have confirmed you not only time button presses to execute your attacks, but also to dodge and parry enemy attacks. This singular detail has only made me more excited for the game since it's very reminiscent of one of my favourite RPG series, Mario & Luigi.

In a June 10 Xbox Wire blog post, Sandfall explained how its team are fans of not only turn-based RPGs, but action games and Souls-likes. As such, they "wanted to create so?mething unique that combines the depth of a turn-based game with the thrill of executing a dodge or a perfect parry." So, by memorising an enemy's patterns, you can dodge, parry, or jump over their attacks in order to land a co?unter and deal further damage.

While Sandfall may have drawn inspiration from games like Dark Souls, this take on turn-based combat is practically identical to the way fights play out in the Mario & Luigi games. Other Mario RPGs, like Paper Mario and Super Mario RPG, had timed button presses (or action commands) for performing attacks and guarding as well, but Mario & Luigi allowed the brothers to use their jumping and hammer skills fo??r both dodging and counterattacking, meaning skilled players could make i??t through fights unscathed.

It's a little thing, but it's one of the reasons why I enjoyed the combat in the Mario & Luigi games, and why it's sad that the series has gone dormant. After 2015's Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, developer Alpha Dream worked on two remakes of previous entries that unfortunately didn't sell particularly well, with sales for the Bowser's Inside Story remake reportedly being so poor that, ac??cord?ing to former Game Informer editor Imran Khan, Nintendo canned other 3DS projects as a result. Less than a year after that game's release, Alpha Dream filed for bankruptcy and shut down in October 2019, and there's no sign of the Mario & Luigi series continuing.

The recent Paper Mario and Super Mario RPG remakes give me hope that Mario & Luigi will make a return. If not, Expedition 33 looks like it could be the perfect substitute, though it's obviously offering a different style and tone to the Italian plumber's more comedic adventures. The blog post also mentions a free-aim system that lets you target specific weak points, "offering you a substantial advantage against the hardest foes or flying enemies." Combined with how each party member has a unique playstyle and mechanic, along with customisable skill trees, it sounds like there'll be a lot of complexities to Expedition 33's combat compared to the more simple battles of Mario & Luigi.

Set in a world where a being called the Paintress is killing people of a certain age every year by painting a number on her Monolith, Expedition 33 sees the titular team embark on a mission to destroy the Paintress before they succumb to her curse. It launches in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC??.

The post Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s reactive turn-based combat might make it the ideal Mario & Luigi replacement appeared first on Destructoid.

Company closes its doors after 19 years

Mario & Luigi developer AlphaDream has filed for bankruptcy. The news broke yesterday from a Japanese financial report on Yahoo News. It seems th??e mounting debt the studio had was too much and has forced the developer to close. As of March 2018, the company had amassed around $4.3 million in debt, which is what contributed to the recent filing.

Founded in 2000, the company is closing its doors after 19 years in the industry. While the company did produce a few games before the Mario & Luigi series (some licensed games and Japan only releases), its turn with Nintendo is what put the company on the map. I remember how much of a surprise Superstar Saga was in 2003 for me. I had definitely enjoyed Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, but I didn't expect a GBA RPG to be so in-??depth and funny.

It's a sad day for ??f??ans, but hopefully, the devs will go on to something better.

AlphaDream, developers of the Mario & Luigi series, file for bankruptcy [GoNintendo]

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This one's for little brothers everywhere

In case you've been living under a rock for the past year, Nintendo has been running a fun promotion throughout 2013: the Year of Luigi. The goal is simple -- to celebrate the part of the Mario duo that is often d?escribed as "The Lesser Brother," and to honor his contribution to Nintendo his?tory.

The concept is largely supported by Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, who constantly delivered Luigi-centric news throughout the year and had some fond things to say about him. To make things even more interesting, Iwata officially extended the Year of Luigi into 2014 on December ?18th, 2013. Let us remember this, our first year of Lu??igi.

Merchandise

Merch Rules Everything Around Me (M.R.E.A.M.). At least, in Nintendo's world it does, since there were a ton of new products launched in 2013. Although a chunk of it was only available ??in Japan, there were a fair amount of celebratory items that fans could pick up. First off, Japan offered a Year of Luigi soundtrack that featured songs from Luigi's Mansion and Dream Team.

North American Club Nintendo members had a chance to win a special Year of Luigi pin, and Europe and Australia got an offer for a Year of Luigi coin. There were a bunch of other extras like Luigi poster sets and 3DS bags. At the end of the 2013, Club Nintendo offered a Luigi statue for 1500 coins.

Luigi also got a special Dream Team 3DS XL!

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon [review]

Fans waited years for a follow-up to Luigi's Mansion, a cult favorite that was released on the GameCube in 2001. They got it this year with Dark Moon on the 3DS. It wa??s pretty much everything fans wanted and then some, offering up a killer campaign with just the right amount of collectibles, a??nd a 3D setting that actually augmented the experience.

The real showstopper here was the multiplayer, which could even be shared with other players who didn't own the game. The setup was simple -- using a variety of settings, you and up to three other players scoured floor upon floor of the "Scarescraper," which was randomly generated each playthrough. I lost over a hundred hours this year due to the multiplayer alone, and it's as close as we're going to get to a true co-op Ghostbusters experience.

New Super Luigi U [review]

The Wii U had a strong launch game in New Super Mario Bros. U, but it didn't really blow me away like New Super Luigi U did. The level designs were well crafted, and Luigi's new physics were tweaked just enough to work well with the new strict time limits. As a speedrunning fan, I found myself constantly replaying Luigi U ??;to go for the best times and full-clear records.

Another genius addition was the introduction of a playable Nabbit. As an invincible character that could only meet his demise by way of pitfalls, many hardcore gamers simply shrugged him off as "cheating." But it seems as if they were missing the point of the character, as it was a brand new way for non-gamers to really get into Mario for the first time.

If this story about a young blind girl finally being able to play games with he??r family due to Na??bbit doesn't warm your heart, I don't know what will.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team [review]

The Mario & Luigi series is beloved by its fans. When people point out that Nintendo doesn't experiment with anything too out there, they're forgetting games like Dream Team. Framed inside Luigi's messed-up little head, it features tons of crazy concepts, like a giant Lu??igi stomping about, Luigi armies, or a Luigi ball that Mario rolls o?n.

Dream Team might not have resonated with everyone out there, but c'mon guys -- Kaiju Luigi!

Super Mario 3D World (Luigi Bros.) [review]

3D World can't be considered a full-on "Luigi" game, but it had tons of direct references to the green man. The most on-the-nose addition was probably the inclusion of Luigi Bros., an official ROM hack of sorts that retooled the original Mario Bros. game with a green coat of paint. It was a nice extra, and unlocked automatically for fans who had played New Super Luigi U (cross promotion!).

Also, many levels feature "Luigi Sightings," where you can find tiny 8-bit sprites that reference the Year ??of Luigi.

Dr. Luigi [review]

If you've been itching for a new Dr. Mario game for a while now, the latest iteration in the series may be your huckleberry. It not only includes the original "two pill" formula, but it also has the updated "Operation L"-style mode and a particularly enjoyable Wii U GamePad? feature, where you control pills with the stylus.

This is a sub-franchise that could spill over in the years to come, now that the "Dr." floodgates are open for Luigi. We could see more pronounced costumes in the future (a Dr. costume that throws L-pills in Smash Bros. ?;for instance), and possibly a hostile takeover of the franchise all together. To kick things off, Luigi is standing on a "Year of Luigi" platform while throwing pills. It's a cute way to end the first year -- and just in time, as it released on December 31st, 2013 in the US.

The little things

Some Luigi celebrations weren't as major as a product launch or a game. The Miiverse got it's own Year of Luigi community, where people could draw and celebrate him. Many official Nintendo employee Miis were wearing Luigi-themed garb in 2013, and Swapnote got a special Luigi background. Then you have the Wii U Summer Tour, which in many areas specifically highlighted Luigi-centric games, that special Luigi flavored train in Chicago, and those crazy Luigi parkour and Harlem Shake videos.

All in all, it's been a pretty banner year for Luigi. Honestly, I'd go so far as to say it's the biggest celebration Nintendo has ever had for a certain character or IP, and it even tops the Zelda 25th anniversary. I can only hope that 2014 brings us more su?rprises, and Nintendo holds more fun events in the future for their franchises.

In this, our second Year of Luigi.

The post The Year of Luigi 2013: A Retrospective appeared first on Destructoid.

Special branded 3DS with the game pre-installed

A Target ad has let slip an upcoming Mario & Luigi: Dream Team 3DS XL bundle coming out just in time for Christmas. The bundle will go for $199.99, includes a black and silver colored system with special branding of the hero plumbers, and Dream Team pre-installed.

Previously the themed bundle was revealed by ??a Walmart employee that found it just waiting in the stock room. Now it looks like this bundle is definitely happening, and will be on sale start?ing December 2.

It's not the really cool Mario & Luigi: Dream Team 3DS XL Japan got, but still a good bundle.

Mario & Luigi-T??hemed 3DS XL Spotted in Upcoming T?arget Ad [Game Trailers]

The post Looks like there’s a Mario and Luigi 3DS XL bundle coming appeared first on Destructoid.

IGN spoke to Nintendo and AlphaDream about Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi

Of the two Mario RPG sub-series, Mario & Luigi is much closer in tone and spirit to Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo. That's because M&L developer AlphaDream consists of former Square employees who worked on the plumber's first role-playi??ng adventure.

To commemorate the release of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, IGN interviewed key Nintendo and AlphaDream members on the series' development history. Yoshihiko Maekawa, Super Mario RPG co-director and Dream Team co-producer, explained how Nintendo gave AlphaDream permission to inject Luigi with an original personality for the first M&L. He also addressed fans' desire to see Mallow and Geno return in a future M&L installment -- Geno made a super brief cameo in Superstar Saga, if you recall.

The big element that Super Mario RPG was known for and saw further evolution in the M&L series was the innovative timing-based battle system. "That was very much inspi??red by a children's toy that was available in Japan at the time," Maekawa recalled. "It was like a large laptop with these buttons that would play music. You had to press the buttons with good timing to the music. It was that idea, having gameplay built around timing button presses, that in??spired me to hybridize these two genres of game, to get a little bit of action and RPG into the same game."

Be sure to read t??he full interview at the link below.

Where Ma?rio & Luigi: Dream Team and Super Mario RPG Collide [IGN]

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Sleep is for the weak

It's hard not to love the Mario & Luigi series. A simple set of role-playing games that have, over the course of its installments, given us some of the best new characters in the Mario universe, it's a light and often quite funny franchise. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is the fourth in the set, and it retains much of what makes the? series so difficult to dislike. 

That said, Dream Team is perhaps the most formulaic game in the series to date, despite the addition of a new "Dream World" and the changes it brings to the battle system. After following the wonderful Bowser's Inside Story, this latest?? chapter is a les?s surprising, less amusing, altogether less endearing prospect than previous entries in the series. 

That d?oesn't mean it's bad, though. After all, it's following some damn fine performances. 

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS)
Developer: Alphadream
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: August 11, 2013 (NA), July 13, 2013 (EU)
MSRP: $39.99

Dream Team takes us to Pi'illo Island, a resort destination where sun, sand, sea, and absolutely no sex of any kind are always on the agenda. Mario and Luigi are escorting Princess Peach on a royal visit, but it's not long before evil?? threatens the land. The big bad this time is Antasma, the Bat King, sealed away in a land of dreams and ready to have his revenge. Of course, Peach is prime k??idnapping material, and it's up to the Mario Bros. to save the day. 

An altogether slower game than its predecessors, Dream Team suffers from a predictable and routine plot, a supporting cast of mostly forgettable characters, and an excessive amount of tutorials that halt the flow of the game as far as ten hours into it. Antasma makes for a sadly charmless antagonist d??espite his fantastic visual design, especially compared to Fawful (who doesn't get to be the big bad). Things get more fun when Bowser shows up, because Bowser is always entertaining, but h?e's not in it enough to really keep the story hopping. The comedy upon which previous entries have been built relies this time on repetition of tired stereotypes and some rather lackluster slapstick. There's just nothing worth raising a smile about this time. 

Roughly half the game takes place in the "real" world of Pi'illo Island, playing out almost exactly like the last three games. A turn-based system which uses timed button presses to increase the effectiveness of attacks of counter enemy assaults, the Mario Bros. have their usual boots, hammers, and cooperative Bros. Attacks with which to fight back enemies both exotic and familiar. It's as satisfying as ever to time attacks just right to earn "Excellent" ratings, though it see?ms to ??have been made easier than before. Hammer attacks don't require their timing to be as precise anymore, while countering is telegraphed more clearly by most enemies. 

The other half of the game takes place in the slightly more interesting Dream World, which replaces the isometric overworld with a sidescrolling one and introduces a range of new abilities. In Dream Team, Mario enters Luigi's brain while he sleeps, and works with his imagined avatar, Dreamy Luigi. In battle, Mario alone faces large groups of enemies, while Dreamy Luigi acts as support. When Ma??rio bounces on enemy heads, he calls down a rain of Luigis, and if he uses the hammer, a line of Luigis send a shockwave across the battlefield. Unique Bros. Attacks also feature, which are built around collecting large amounts of Luigis with screen tilts or timed jumps, before using the giant green mass to hammer into the sea of opponents. 

Outside of battle, Dreamy Luigi is used to "possess" certain environmental o??bjects, known as Luiginary Works. When Dreamy Luigi is inside one of these Works, they can be manipulated by poking around the real Luigi's sleeping face as represented on the lower touch screen. For instance, the first Work is a Luigi-shaped plant with big, mustache-shaped leaves. By tugging on the real Luigi's mustache, you can yank these leaves toward Mario and use them as slingshots, flinging him to higher places. Another Work places Dreamy Luigi in a big whirlwind, which blows background objects into the foreground if you tickle Luigi's nose until his sneezes.

These new gimmicks are fun to use, though everything is mapped out plainly enough to?? where no real thought is needed. You ?can see quite clearly what needs to be done in each screen, and the rest is all going through the motions to get it done. Naturally, most new powers come with a tutorial or patronizing explanation, even if it's bloody obvious how a new Luiginary Work ... works. 

It also feels like much more could have been done to make the Dream World more than just an excuse to slightly tweak the battle system. The promise of entering Luigi's subconscious is never really capitalized on, while Dreamy Luigi himself might as well be the?? real one for all the difference he makes to the actual plot. The stage was set for the series to get really wild with its ideas and give us some really silly moments, but apparently dreams are as humdrum as reality in this world. I will admit, howe?ver, that riding on a column made of thousands of Luigis has a certain wrinkle of amusement to it. 

With the series moving to the 3DS, a new art style is in place to capitalize on the added depth of perspective. Mario, Luigi and all the support characters still retain a two dimensional sprite-based look, but the environments are now fully three dimensional, as well as loaded with busy visuals that float in the foreground and background. The result is somewhat jarring, the flat characters looking out of place in the world around them, though the 3D effects are quite impressive during battle, especially boss fights which often use the added perspective ??to make fights feel more engrossing and interesting. 

The soundtrack is really quite superb this time around, the boss music pr??oviding a highlight. Each area has a distinct and pleasant tune, though the game does suffer from a lot of repetition, and even the bes?t tunes will get tiresome before the experience is concluded. 

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team had a damn tough act to follow, coming off the back of Bowser's Inside Story. The last game mixed up the gimmicks, and raised the humor to such a degree that playing it was an utter joy. The new Dream World fails to provide the same sort of intrigue that Bowser's innards had, while the storyline and supporting characters just a??ren't very compelling.

With its weaker writing, less compelling action, and many moments where the game just drags its heels, Dream Team manages to retain a basic level of enjoyment that just c??omes natural to this series, while sadly representing a noticeable step down in quality. 

The post Review: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team appeared first on Destructoid.

Nintendo on top? In other news, grass is green and folks need oxygen to breathe

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team sold nearly 100,000 copies in its opening week, according to data obtained by market research firm Media Create. The Nintendo 3DS role-playing game topped Japanese software charts, dethroning last week's best-seller, Pikmin 3, which came in at number three. The Wii U strategy title followed up its 92,000 unit debut by finding its way to an additional 28,000 ho?mes.

On the hardware side of things, as if there were any doubt, the 3DS is still king in Japan. Nintendo shifted over 57,000 portables on the week. In comparison, the PlayStation Vita and Wii U each moved around 14,000 devices. Trailing in last was th??e Xbox 360, selling exactly 420 units. There's a joke? in there somewhere.

マリオ＆ルイージRPG4 ドリームアドベンチャー 10万本，ダンボール戦機W 超カスタム 2万7000本の ゲームソフト週間販売ランキング [4Gamer]

The post Mario & Luigi: Dream Team debuts atop Japanese charts appeared first on Destructoid.

SO MUCH WEEGEE

[Update: Feel free to check out th??e amazing commercial for the game below.]

If you've ever wanted to hear someone go for the record for saying "Luigi" the most times in a game trailer, this new Japanese Dream Team video is for you. Although voiced entirely in Japanese, most people will be able to pick up the g?ist of some of the concepts introduced in the trailer, like timing based combat, and various platforming mechanics.

You'll also get to see hardcore Katamari-style Luigi ball action among some other surprises. This game looks so out there, and I really hope it delivers. ??Stay tuned later this year for a verdict, as multiple Destructoid editors will be checking it out!

The post Mario & Luigi: Dream Team dreams up new Japanese trailer appeared first on Destructoid.

You have a 3DS, right?

After seeing games like Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, it's easy to sympathize with frustrated Nintendo fans who would like nothing more than the company to avoid what they perceive to be "playing it safe." I mean, seriously -- take one look at this trailer. Tell me it's not love at first sight. Perso??nality is ?just oozing out of this fourth installment in the series.

It's an exciting time to be a 3DS owner, that's for sure. Having traditionally preferred the Paper Mario series to Mario & Luigi, it looks like developer AlphaDream has finally won me over. "L??evel up and wear new gear"? D?on't mind if I do!

The post Mario & Luigi: Dream Team looks SO good! appeared first on Destructoid.

Have a mess of hi-res assets

Oh man, this is simply delicious.

Look at all this wonderful art for the upcoming 3DS RPG, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. The M&L games have always had a very distinctive style compared to the mainline series, but the use of blue outlines instead of the traditional black -- along with some rather unconve??ntional coloring -- lends a dream-like quality to these images.

Below you'll find art for many major characters, such the Pi'illo Folk as ??well as the main villain, the ghostly bat king Antasma. There are also a couple collages of in-game screens to pore over. I wish the graphics looked more like the source art!

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team will be out in the US on August 11, but you lucky Europeans will get your slightly renamed Dream Team Bros. fix on July 12.

Mario & L??uigi: Dream Team New Details, Screens & Art [All Games Beta]

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Mean and green

I'd happily take the whole thing. All of it. The upcoming special Luigi 3DS XL (which Hamza says looks like a pattern for panties) comes to Japan on July 18, and it will come bundled with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and a 4GB SD? card. That's a pretty attractive offer, panty pattern or no.

Nintendo Ja??pan says that this will be priced at 22,800 yen, which comes out to about $225 after conversion. Given that the current price for a Japanese 3DS XL is about $200, it seems they're paying just a tad bit more for the game.

The post JP Luigi 3DS XL bundled with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team appeared first on Destructoid.

Fourth entry in M&L RPG series

The "Ear of Luigi" continues!

This summer, a new entry in the Mario & Luigi RPG series will head towards the 3DS. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team will put the green second banana into the limelight, as Mario will be invading his brother's subconscious for their latest adventure. Luigi will have super dream powers in his head, but while he slumbers in the real world, you can mess with his face a la Super Mario 64.

Go Weegee!

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