Dreamteam is my second favorite M&L game. (Behind bowser's inside story, which remains as my favorite game of all time. Mostly because of nostalgia) I always heard people complain about how the artstyle wasn't as good with the previous game's, which I disagree with, I absolutely love the blend of traditional 2d and 3d graphics, it's so charming!
BIS and DT are my two favorite also. I'm playing through paper jam right now for the first time and kinda just wanting to just finish it so I can go play dream team again. I have only played the 3ds version of BIS so I'm looking forward to playing the original ds version one of these days.
@@Stargazing_night_sky It is most certainly not for me. Like not even close. The 2D toon style is just infinitely more expressive, charming, and well-animated, especially after it was perfected in Bowser’s Inside Story.
1:00:40 that surprises me. There are several normal enemies you're encouraged to taunt ball. There's an impromptu tutorial on them for the first background enemy you come across in Mt. Pajamaja
I completely forgot the taunt ball existed when playing through the game; so when I got to Dreamy Bowser, I simply brute forced my way through the mooks with Bomb Derby and Zee Egg. I think at most, Bowser added like 4 more turns to my fight from the healing; so it wasn't too bad. I also surprisingly had no issues with the motion controls so I thoroughly enjoyed the Zee Keeper and Giant Bowser fights. Because of this, as well as being older and smarter thus knowing how to video game, I enjoyed Dream Team even more than BIS; I never realized how much slower jumps are in DT though.
For me Dream team is the one Mario & Luigi game where I was able to get to final rank by the end of the main game just by battling every enemy without having to grind at all.
I will die on the hill of this being the most charming Mario and Luigi game. People who say the sprites are less expressive than the GBA/DS ones must be blind because have you *seen* the Luigi thinking animation? And the cute animations they do after they perform successful attacks… I love it! If you watch the Luiginoids you can see many of them have unique animations too! The game may have pacing issues, but I simply see that as an opportunity to enjoy the charming visuals more. Also seeing how much Luigi adores his brother… it warms my heart. And hot take, I think the final boss music is better than BiS’s. The background for the fight really makes the music seem right at home.
Someone oughta give this game the Paper Mario 64 treatment and make a mod for it where it’s designed with veteran players in mind; completely forgoing tutorials, making boss fights longer by increasing the numbers, making some puzzles harder, and possibly adding a “cutscene fast-forward” button like Paper Jam & the other RPG remakes did, along with some other changes.
6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2
wait, is there a paper mario mod like this? tell me the name please!
Paper Jam may have a lot of issues, but when it comes to tutorials, they were MASSIVELY improved, in that they are very minimal and are almost entirely optional.
I definitely fall into the camp of absolutely adoring this game. It's my favorite in the series. I never really found the battle pace slow oddly enough. The giant battles are some of the most fun I've had in a Mario game...aside from the forced motion controls. Also goodness, the music in Dream Team is fantastic. Almost every song on the soundtrack is a certified banger.
Absolutely underrated youtuber. Been watching like 90% of your recent stuff and its been up there with the other nintendo reviewers. Dunno why you aren't getting traction, but best of luck!
First time i saw the taunt ball used in the final fight. Back in my playthrough years ago i didn't had problems with that attack, so i'm really surprised to see that phase of attack. Also, thanks, i wanted to replay this game again, but all that time you know will be spent in tutorials and long battle phases, this video was a blessing.
This was my first Mario & Luigi game and the first ever proper RPG game I had ever played. So this game means a lot to me. It was so cool to go on such a grand and lengthy adventure across reality and dreams. Therefore I have INCREDIBLY STRONG bias towards this game and will NEVER stop singing its praises. Yes, it has flaws, but my bias decrees that I ignore them. Since it was my first game, I had no idea how to play, so the tutorials didn't bother me in the slightest. Even on replays, I'm not really phased by them. (Then again replays are pretty spread out, so it's a nice refresher.) And honestly, with how long this game is, I kinda felt... underwhelmed by the other games in the series by comparison. I remember finally getting to play Bowser's Inside Story, the one everyone raved about, and making it to the final boss and thinking, "Wait, that's it? We're already here? It felt so short!" And I don't know, maybe it's the aforementioned bias talking, but I didn't find BIS *more* fun than Dream Team. Pretty equal, actually. But nostalgia broke the tie in Dream Team's favor.
I share the exact same opinion as you! I got this game back in 2013 when I was 7, and it is one of my favorite childhood games, and by extention, one of my favorite games ever. Yes, as I grew older, I can't deny that it has problems, and objectively, Bowser's Inside Story is the better game because of Dream Team's said problems, but... Damn it, I can't help but love this game to pieces! It is my favorite M&L game out of all of them, and I'm pretty sure it'll remain that way until I die!
Yeah except for the length, dram team is the exception, not the rule. The Mario RPGs were always supposed to be gateway RPGs and I felt that dream team’s absurd length was kinda boring, especially when the later half is redeploying ares you’ve already visited throughout the game.
And now that I think about it, the same could also be said for the Luiginary Stack's ball formation, since they learn the bouncy ball move before Dreamy Luigi comes up with the idea for this formation. (I think. It's been YEARS since I've played this game, and just today I've started a new save on Hard Mode for the sake of replaying it, but I believe that's the order you learn those two moves in. Please correct me if it's the other way around!)
Dream Team is my 2nd favorite Mario and Luigi game, and i never really minded its length, pacing, and tutorials, cuz everything else is done so well to me, the battles are so fun and improves from BIS, the ost is amazing, the graphics works best for DT than the remakes and paper jam, and i love its hard mode, i homestly think people blows its flaws way out if proportion
Oof, I felt that bit about the final boss. I never knew about the taunt balls being the intended strategy. Every time I've fought this boss, I used this strategy: go in with a few time stop charges, destroy the arms, stop time, spam the strongest bros. moves in the game. It always felt a bit cheap defeating him that way, but I was technically still using the tools the game provided me with. I feel like this would be my second-favorite game in the series if not for the tutorials. I truly feel like I could never find the time to replay it thanks to those.
Really enjoyed the in-depth review and how things were covered that I don't often see adressed elsewhere. I also see you're doing the other Mario RPGs too, subbed. I felt the part on Dream Bowser's healing so bad, with this series I like to do challenge runs where I'm intentionally underleveled or use weak equipment and I ran into the issue where Bowser would outheal my damage because he does it so often. I even had him re-start the heal process IN THE SAME TURN where he left the backgroujd after I got rid of his minions.
I always loved dream team, it was my first Mario and Luigi game, and ngl Even though the giant bosses were a pain everything else was enjoyable and fun to play, and i can't wait to see how you feel about this game, also it has a really stellar ost.
@@zetaabsbs2329 they could have made them optional! It’s a handheld game, you are supposed to be able to play the games EVERYWHERE! But if there’s not a lot of space (Car, train ride, airplane) you aren’t able to play this game
I had no idea you could use taunt balls on the final boss untill now either... Dream Team WOULD be my favorite Mario and Luigi game if it wasn't for how slow it feels. Even walking in the overworld feels slower then the older games. Not to mention the tutorials...
59:17 This is the same magic that Peach and Starlow use to weaken Bowser at the start of Bowser's Inside Story. Makes you wonder why they don't use it as often.
Always great to open TH-cam to find a new retrospective from you, and one on the Mario and Luigi series to boot. I definitely have a middling opinion of the game. It's super fun and well made but has serious pacing issues and severely bloated. But the core combat and exploration is solid. The tutorials though...oh God, the tutorials. Why? Seriously though, your channel deserves so much more exposure. These videos are so well made. I freaking love watching these, several times each.
I'm glad that you brought up the move where Dreamy Bowser can heal being a problem. I remember chipping away at that fight for hours as a teen, only because of that healing move, but I felt alone because I never heard anyone else having a problem with it. Good to know I wasn't alone.
I'm so glad someone else finally put it into words. Back when I first played this, I was going through the worse period of my life where my depression became crippling to the point where it became hard to enjoy recreational hobbies. I thought it was just me and my depression that made this game feel "off". Now, I finally got closure. Thank you.
It's not that it's never explained; It's that there's nothing indicating you have to use it in the final boss because the game didn't do anything to set it up.
Just found this video, looks great! I know what I’ll be watching for the next hour. Your channel is very underrated, keep it up, you deserve so much more support.
Wow, the only complaints I actually agree with are the overturorializarion and... um... no, that's about it. The battle system is great, the many different dream works gives the game an identity, I just don't get your side on some of this stuff
The battle systems are generally good with some flaws, but you seem to have not understood his criticism; The problem with the many different works is that the game basically just spreads itself too thin, leading to most of the works (especially the stack additions) just being used once or twice before being immediately thrown aside.
Played this game as a kid back in 2013 and fell in love with it... BUT OH MAN, THE TUTORIALS I was discouraged to played previous M&L games since I thought all of them had that same problem lmao
The craziest thing for me about this game is just how passionate of a fan base it has. In every video about it, the comments are always riddled with people singing its praises and I rarely see anyone say negative things about it, even if the video covering it sees it a bad light. Also, every single comment saying that dream team is underrated just make me angry. This game is perhaps the most loved after bowser’s inside story, how can it be underrated?
I reached Rainbow Rank by the Pillodum boss fight. Here's what I did: - I had Quick Level, +1 Pow every level up and +2 Gear Slots - I had EXP Gloves, and EXP shoes on Mario. If I defeated an enemy by jumping or a special attack, I got 20% more EXP. - I saved the game everytime I saw a gold Beanie. If it escaped, I can just reload the game to fight it again. I'd get around 5500 EXP everytime I fought one. - I battled every single enemy from start to finish and then some. It was a really effective system and I leveled up really quickly. I made it to Level 46 before reaching Dreamy Bowser (I also did this on Hard Mode.)
17:09 I thought of another way this could be improved. By simply tapping X, that will do the Spin Drill move, which travels a fixed distance in a straight line. Fast, but not flexible. Holding X will allow a Spin Jump, which moves slower, but keeps going for about 3 seconds or until you let go of X. EDIT: I also thought of something: some games that focus on Touch Screen gameplay map movement to the face buttons as well as the D-pad. Why couldn’t they do something similar for the dream worlds? If the game is set to Left-handed mode, why not allow movement with Y and A while still allowing the left and down directions to control Mario and Luigi?
you didn't mentionned the Expert Challenges at all i guess you weren't interested in it imo, having an objective for almost every battle makes them more interesting
As a kid I had an absolute BLAST with Bowsers Inside Story and when I saw Dream Team was launching and that I has gotten a 3DS a year prior I immediately asked for it and luckily it was Mario and now GTA so my grandma got it for me DAY ONE and I remember having an absolute blast with it too, however I’ve replayed Bowsers Inside Story several times, I never replayed this one. I’ve been watching these videos on the playlist and haven’t thought to comment now but thank you for these comprehensive videos these are genuinely awesome!
I had to drop that game around the beach section, it was such a slog, the pacing is wierd and the tutorials are still not skipable or able to reread at a later point. Just, felt more like work than fun.
tbh id rank dreamteam as 3rd place as the lack of content outside of the main story of partners in time keeps me from being interested in coming back like dream team does, though on a side note, you know its sad when dream team is legitemalty one of the only good mario rpgs that came out in the 2010s
The attacks Dreamy Bowser has are fun to dodge, but that damn healing sequence is the worst thing about it because it just drags the fight on longer than it should. It's also ridiculous how Bowser was able to one-shot Mario and Luigi when Antasma was helping him, while Bowser got defeated when he was using the most powerful artifact in the Mario franchise. I also don't like how they didn't include Antasma in the final fight in some way because I didn't like how he died by becoming fat and then exploding. It's also ridiculous how the dreamy Bowser fight began by having Peach and Starlow shoot a pink laser that they never use or bring up again.
If you don't mind me asking, what were the music tracks you didn't find as good with this one? (Also great video! Just found your channel and watched the whole M&L series up to this point - not enough people do videos on the series I feel, good stuff!!)
I never even knew you could use the Taunt Ball in the final boss, and I've beaten this game twice already. I'm replaying the game right now and this is VERY useful info for the final fight. Especially since I'm playing hard mode.
First game in the series I ever played, and I loved it Never understood why people hated it so much, especially when paper jam fucking blows. Anyways great video(s)!
I don’t think you get the main theme of Bros Moves in the over world. For every set of actions you can take you see more of how Mario and Luigi interact with each other and with the world. Jumping is the simplest with the only difference being that Mario is ahead of Luigi, with the hammers they simply swing their hammers at what’s ahead of them with Mario being ahead of Luigi which shows his tendencies in these games to not think and be clumsy (although a better example would be their hammer moves from superstar saga in which you can see during their bros attacks that Mario doesn’t hold back and leans his hammer back further when hitting Luigi which squishes him into the ground while Luigi does hold back and only leans his hammer halfway only squishing Mario into Mini Mario), the third set is of them climbing into the other’s shoulders with Mario being braver and standing on Luigi’s shoulder while Luigi only accepts a piggy back ride. The last one is the outlier as there’s no personality as they just roll into a ball with no unique characteristics being shown (that I can recall). What they should do is add in another ability for the ball like using it to quickly roll around and add in some personality with how each brother starts probably with Luigi starting the bounce by jumping onto Mario and Mario quickly pulling Luigi towards him to start a fast roll. Combining these different sets would result in them simply doing entirely different things which wouldn’t make sense with the theme that Bros moves have. Getting rid of more Luiginary objects and of stances for the Luiginary stack would also go against the game’s themes and break immersion. You are in a dream and dreams don’t stay the same you can’t just sleep in different places at different times and expect a low amount of differences. The only change these should have is to limit the tutorials to the first Luiginary object ending with it telling you to simply try touching Luigi when you see more and one for each stance for the stack. Dreams are crazy and having that craziness be taken away with someone explaining everything about it to you doesn’t help the game and that’s the only issue I have with it.
You've probably already gotten the game, but in case you haven't, New Super Luigi U is actually very challenging, creative, and fun. Especially when compared to New Super Mario Bros U.
Whenever I entered the Dream World, I’d equip Mario with Bros Boots as soon as I got them and spam Luiginary Ball on every enemy encounter I came across (I’m the type of player who goes for every encounter). The boots let me recover 1 BP for each enemy defeated, so once I learned that little exploit it was pretty trivial to keep Mario’s BP topped at no expense of Syrups and the regular battles done in a relatively quick fashion in the Dream World
Dream Team was my first Mario & Luigi game, and I generally think it's quite a bit of fun. Sure, some of the minigames are crap, and the Dreamy Luigi battles can be overly-challenging at times, but overall it's more fun than frustrating. I don't think I was aware of the first three games before Dream Team, with me only playing Bowser's Inside Story 3D in the past few years, so...I had no real expectations, outside of loving Super Paper Mario and finding the first two PM games to be generally-mediocre - though that's a different series, so eh. I went into Dream Team blind, and I enjoyed it.
Honestly dream team would raise an entire letter grade if you could speed up cutscenes and skip tutorials like in paper jam (Not sure how i would fix the slow battles problem, but a good start would be either raising the animation speed or damage for standard attacks)
Another thing you can do with the final boss’s heal move is to use the see egg bros move on the enemies, if you do it well enough it will take them all out at once
You dont HAVE to use the Taunt Ball for the final fight. The Zee Egg bros attack is very good at attacking every enemy at once. You can also use the time freeze badge to make the battle pretty much free, however I wouldn’t recommend that, it makes the fight WAY too easy
I honestly think you were overly harsh on this game. Sure I understand the tutorial issues who couldn’t? But all things considered it is my favorite in the series I never understood the big whoop about BIS it was good but I wouldn’t even say it’s better than PIT. The issues you experienced sounds more like a skill issue,I’m left handed too and I never really struggled with anything in this game. Welp it’s your opinion
This is coming from a MLDT fanboy, but I don’t feel the luiginary works deserve blame. I’m a lefty as well, but it’s not like your writing or doing anything on the touch screen that requires precision. I don’t think I ever used a stylus with them. Just use your right finger or something. Way more enjoyable
I remember in my first playthrough, I reached the part where you flip gravity and was confused where the tutorial was, not realizing how many tutorials were in the game
It's weird that they have Luiginary forms being BOTH the big luigi swam AND the luigi background element touch screen possession thing because you think it'd be one or the other
Ngl I had a really easy time with the dreamkeeper big boss fight like I might be a little better than most at understanding how motion controls work but even the X fight which is like after end game material only took 2 attempts
Currently also playing through the Mario and Luigi Series, and agreed with nearly everything in the video. It is definitely the most bipolar game of the series up to this point. I wanted to love the game as it shows promise but the glaring issues hold it back. Currently started playing Paper Jam so hopefully that one is better. Ps: The time stop badge combo in this game is BUSTED. I used two in a row to just bully dreamy bowser.
Dream team will always be my favorite. The thing that puts it above inside for me is the music and the map. The map for inside story was.. to me so boring and plain. I hated the dry start area, the beach, and the forest. The cave area, beach, and castles were cool, but I see the lesser areas as more impactful compared to the better areas. The music too is just way better in dream team. Victory in the dream world, for example is just.. it encapsulates the dream feel so well as it builds up. Try, try again has an intensity I adore, and the final antasma battle, being my favorite track is like some of the best music from all the games. Another thing I wanted to add was the battle system and how I feel it is the best. The best, highest set of situations that make the normal battles the best is running the game on its “hard mode” while ONLY focusing your level up points in stache. It makes the game so much more intense as you get hit so much harder, and can’t rely on bros moves. Another good thing is if you fight every enemy everytime you go into a new screen that you haven’t discovered before. You will ALWAYS reach rainbow rank before the antasma fight, allowing you to open up the best gear for you. The combination of hard mode, the item limits, and only focusing on your stache points makes the game so much better, and if you go for the “BIG LUCKY” bonus equip when ranking up, it makes those now common lucky hits do sooo much damage, combining that with the triple jump boots or hammer, the normal moves are what I usually go to. It’s amazing
Dream Team was my intro to Mario & Luigi as a whole, and while I look so fondly over the game, it is my least favorite so far. I still need to give Partners In Time and Paper Jam a fair shake before I can say that conclusively, but even after playing Brothership, Dream Team still ranks below that. Brothership is fantastic tho, I love it a lot.
Dream Team shines in its music!!! So many memorable and great tracks, I’d find it hard to argue against anyone who calls it the best in the series. Solid throughout!!!
My favorite part is how he unironically switches from complaining about never being tutorialized about that, to IMMEDIATELY complaining about "hand-holding". Instead of constant complaining, he should simply realize that boomers and children comprehend differently so the "target audience" will more easily see how mechanics balance and check each other where he sees a "needlessly difficult obstacle". Those children have zero issue discussing the challenge at school and concluding a new tool must be used rather than brute-forcing it.
Question. Is your opening for this series inspired by the King's Quest V opening? I'd really like to know. It sounds and looks so much like it I have to believe that it's intentional. Really brings back the nostalgia. Would love if you could comment and answer this briefly. Thanks.
Actually, that's entirely a coincidence. I've never played any of the King's Quest games, but I did check out that opening, and I can definitely see where you're coming from.
I’ve got to disagree with your opinion on common battles. Even playing on hard mode I enjoyed the enemy attacks and used normal moves every time on normal encounters. The giant battles sucked, though.
It's really unfortunate that you didn't like this game all that much because I honestly think that a lot of the stuff you were particularly bothered by did not get to me at all during my big playthrough. I get your criticism, but at the same time i don't really agree with you. It was always fun to get into combat and I enjoy the battles a lot enough to clear out enemies and do the X Boss challenges. But that's fine. You have a certain experience that you want from M&L that I differ from and that's okay. It's just a bummer that this game didn't do much for you
This is gonna sound crazy to some but I love Dream Team more than Bowser's inside story. Dont worry I like BIS, its number three on the list with Brothership being number 2
I have a very big bias towards this game since it was my first ever introduction to the M&L franchise as well as my first ever RPG. Sure the game can be super long, and compared to older M&L games that I have never played, it could be subjectively worse in some areas (TUTORIALS). The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful, the melodies get stuck in my head, there was so much variety and M&L humor. I recall 8 year old me struggling to solve the puzzles or learning how to master the combat system (super flushed out), having to watch zackscottgame's playthrough whenever I got stuck. Oh the memories. This game will always have a place in my heart. I'd also like to mention the dream world rotate your 3ds and use the stylus boss battles. THAT WAS THE SHIT!
Dream Team might have more content compared to Superstar Saga and Partners in Time, but those games are much more enjoyable. The game has some positives, but also a lot of negatives.
It’s pretty clear I missed out by not playing dream team. But I just couldn’t get past how much I disliked the new art style, for me the art was perfected with inside story.
Dreamteam is my second favorite M&L game. (Behind bowser's inside story, which remains as my favorite game of all time. Mostly because of nostalgia) I always heard people complain about how the artstyle wasn't as good with the previous game's, which I disagree with, I absolutely love the blend of traditional 2d and 3d graphics, it's so charming!
I think the aesthetic of the 3d models in this game is unmatched. at least it is for me personally
BIS and DT are my two favorite also. I'm playing through paper jam right now for the first time and kinda just wanting to just finish it so I can go play dream team again. I have only played the 3ds version of BIS so I'm looking forward to playing the original ds version one of these days.
@@Stargazing_night_sky It is most certainly not for me. Like not even close. The 2D toon style is just infinitely more expressive, charming, and well-animated, especially after it was perfected in Bowser’s Inside Story.
@@20000dino that's fair. I love how pretty much all the games look so
@@Stargazing_night_skysorry to ruin it but the characters are 2D sprites (and in a funny way the paper characters from paper jam are 3D models😂)
1:00:40 that surprises me. There are several normal enemies you're encouraged to taunt ball. There's an impromptu tutorial on them for the first background enemy you come across in Mt. Pajamaja
Same, everytime I saw a background enemy after that I made sure to throw one. Mostly to get extra experience
The name pajamaja goes crazy if you know spanish
16:47 Bro casually prediciting the future.
In the M&L Brothership trailer, you can see that the X and Y bottoms on the switch are used for hammers!
my perfectionist ass cant unsee that the layout of the buttons its the xbox not the nintendo one 💀💀
Ironically enough I used a taunt ball just about every time an enemy was in the background, but didn’t even think of trying one on Dreamy Bowser
I completely forgot the taunt ball existed when playing through the game; so when I got to Dreamy Bowser, I simply brute forced my way through the mooks with Bomb Derby and Zee Egg. I think at most, Bowser added like 4 more turns to my fight from the healing; so it wasn't too bad.
I also surprisingly had no issues with the motion controls so I thoroughly enjoyed the Zee Keeper and Giant Bowser fights. Because of this, as well as being older and smarter thus knowing how to video game, I enjoyed Dream Team even more than BIS; I never realized how much slower jumps are in DT though.
YOU CAN TAUNT BALL DREAMY BOWSER?
Nvm should've watched the full video before going to the comments
For some odd reason, I can't edt my comment
For me Dream team is the one Mario & Luigi game where I was able to get to final rank by the end of the main game just by battling every enemy without having to grind at all.
I will die on the hill of this being the most charming Mario and Luigi game. People who say the sprites are less expressive than the GBA/DS ones must be blind because have you *seen* the Luigi thinking animation? And the cute animations they do after they perform successful attacks… I love it! If you watch the Luiginoids you can see many of them have unique animations too! The game may have pacing issues, but I simply see that as an opportunity to enjoy the charming visuals more. Also seeing how much Luigi adores his brother… it warms my heart. And hot take, I think the final boss music is better than BiS’s. The background for the fight really makes the music seem right at home.
That isn't a hot take; that's just straight up the truth. Adventure's End is the GOAT.
I love all of the designs in this game, the concept team did so well i love looking back at all the dreamy stuff
"As one final gift, he creates NSMB2."
That was perfect! 😂😂😂
Someone oughta give this game the Paper Mario 64 treatment and make a mod for it where it’s designed with veteran players in mind; completely forgoing tutorials, making boss fights longer by increasing the numbers, making some puzzles harder, and possibly adding a “cutscene fast-forward” button like Paper Jam & the other RPG remakes did, along with some other changes.
wait, is there a paper mario mod like this? tell me the name please!
It’s called “Paper Mario: Master Quest” I believe.
I'd love that
Paper Jam may have a lot of issues, but when it comes to tutorials, they were MASSIVELY improved, in that they are very minimal and are almost entirely optional.
I definitely fall into the camp of absolutely adoring this game. It's my favorite in the series. I never really found the battle pace slow oddly enough. The giant battles are some of the most fun I've had in a Mario game...aside from the forced motion controls.
Also goodness, the music in Dream Team is fantastic. Almost every song on the soundtrack is a certified banger.
Man, Luigi and Kamek really love dressing up as Peach!
Cross dressing is fun, just look at Bugs Bunny
Absolutely underrated youtuber. Been watching like 90% of your recent stuff and its been up there with the other nintendo reviewers. Dunno why you aren't getting traction, but best of luck!
True
First time i saw the taunt ball used in the final fight. Back in my playthrough years ago i didn't had problems with that attack, so i'm really surprised to see that phase of attack.
Also, thanks, i wanted to replay this game again, but all that time you know will be spent in tutorials and long battle phases, this video was a blessing.
I'm amazed y'all didn't even try once to READ what Taunt Balls do.
This was my first Mario & Luigi game and the first ever proper RPG game I had ever played. So this game means a lot to me. It was so cool to go on such a grand and lengthy adventure across reality and dreams. Therefore I have INCREDIBLY STRONG bias towards this game and will NEVER stop singing its praises. Yes, it has flaws, but my bias decrees that I ignore them. Since it was my first game, I had no idea how to play, so the tutorials didn't bother me in the slightest. Even on replays, I'm not really phased by them. (Then again replays are pretty spread out, so it's a nice refresher.) And honestly, with how long this game is, I kinda felt... underwhelmed by the other games in the series by comparison. I remember finally getting to play Bowser's Inside Story, the one everyone raved about, and making it to the final boss and thinking, "Wait, that's it? We're already here? It felt so short!" And I don't know, maybe it's the aforementioned bias talking, but I didn't find BIS *more* fun than Dream Team. Pretty equal, actually. But nostalgia broke the tie in Dream Team's favor.
I share the exact same opinion as you! I got this game back in 2013 when I was 7, and it is one of my favorite childhood games, and by extention, one of my favorite games ever. Yes, as I grew older, I can't deny that it has problems, and objectively, Bowser's Inside Story is the better game because of Dream Team's said problems, but... Damn it, I can't help but love this game to pieces! It is my favorite M&L game out of all of them, and I'm pretty sure it'll remain that way until I die!
Yeah except for the length, dram team is the exception, not the rule. The Mario RPGs were always supposed to be gateway RPGs and I felt that dream team’s absurd length was kinda boring, especially when the later half is redeploying ares you’ve already visited throughout the game.
What Is It with people playing dream team as a kid and forgetting about the issues? So it's really a mediocre game under the hood then, i get it now
I'm pretty sure Luigi got inspiration for the Luiginary cone from learning the spin jump move on Mount Pajamaja
And now that I think about it, the same could also be said for the Luiginary Stack's ball formation, since they learn the bouncy ball move before Dreamy Luigi comes up with the idea for this formation. (I think. It's been YEARS since I've played this game, and just today I've started a new save on Hard Mode for the sake of replaying it, but I believe that's the order you learn those two moves in. Please correct me if it's the other way around!)
@@Poyomini Yeah it’s the same but in reverse for the ball, they’re inspired by a battle move
Dream Team is my 2nd favorite Mario and Luigi game, and i never really minded its length, pacing, and tutorials, cuz everything else is done so well to me, the battles are so fun and improves from BIS, the ost is amazing, the graphics works best for DT than the remakes and paper jam, and i love its hard mode, i homestly think people blows its flaws way out if proportion
It's crazy how X and Y are now going to be default hammers in Mario and Luigi Brotherhood, good call in your suggestion!
Oof, I felt that bit about the final boss. I never knew about the taunt balls being the intended strategy. Every time I've fought this boss, I used this strategy: go in with a few time stop charges, destroy the arms, stop time, spam the strongest bros. moves in the game. It always felt a bit cheap defeating him that way, but I was technically still using the tools the game provided me with. I feel like this would be my second-favorite game in the series if not for the tutorials. I truly feel like I could never find the time to replay it thanks to those.
Really enjoyed the in-depth review and how things were covered that I don't often see adressed elsewhere. I also see you're doing the other Mario RPGs too, subbed.
I felt the part on Dream Bowser's healing so bad, with this series I like to do challenge runs where I'm intentionally underleveled or use weak equipment and I ran into the issue where Bowser would outheal my damage because he does it so often. I even had him re-start the heal process IN THE SAME TURN where he left the backgroujd after I got rid of his minions.
I always loved dream team, it was my first Mario and Luigi game, and ngl Even though the giant bosses were a pain everything else was enjoyable and fun to play, and i can't wait to see how you feel about this game, also it has a really stellar ost.
The only reason Giant battles really were a pain, is the fact, that they force you to use those stupid motion controls 🤬
@@SonicGamerLP i never understood the hate for motion controls, even as a kid, they felt pretty ok to me...
@@zetaabsbs2329 they could have made them optional! It’s a handheld game, you are supposed to be able to play the games EVERYWHERE! But if there’s not a lot of space (Car, train ride, airplane) you aren’t able to play this game
@@zetaabsbs2329the gyro controls aren’t always responsive, causing the final strike to fail and having to make the battle take longer.
I had no idea you could use taunt balls on the final boss untill now either...
Dream Team WOULD be my favorite Mario and Luigi game if it wasn't for how slow it feels. Even walking in the overworld feels slower then the older games. Not to mention the tutorials...
19:30 Love the irony of a game about Luigi, in his own year, punishing someone for being lefthanded!
Honestly one of if not the best game I've ever played
59:17 This is the same magic that Peach and Starlow use to weaken Bowser at the start of Bowser's Inside Story. Makes you wonder why they don't use it as often.
Always great to open TH-cam to find a new retrospective from you, and one on the Mario and Luigi series to boot.
I definitely have a middling opinion of the game. It's super fun and well made but has serious pacing issues and severely bloated. But the core combat and exploration is solid. The tutorials though...oh God, the tutorials. Why?
Seriously though, your channel deserves so much more exposure. These videos are so well made. I freaking love watching these, several times each.
I'm glad that you brought up the move where Dreamy Bowser can heal being a problem. I remember chipping away at that fight for hours as a teen, only because of that healing move, but I felt alone because I never heard anyone else having a problem with it. Good to know I wasn't alone.
I'm so glad someone else finally put it into words. Back when I first played this, I was going through the worse period of my life where my depression became crippling to the point where it became hard to enjoy recreational hobbies.
I thought it was just me and my depression that made this game feel "off". Now, I finally got closure. Thank you.
Can't relate to the whole taunt ball thing, I'd say they explain it perfectly fine
It's not that it's never explained; It's that there's nothing indicating you have to use it in the final boss because the game didn't do anything to set it up.
Just found this video, looks great!
I know what I’ll be watching for the next hour.
Your channel is very underrated, keep it up, you deserve so much more support.
Wow, the only complaints I actually agree with are the overturorializarion and... um... no, that's about it. The battle system is great, the many different dream works gives the game an identity, I just don't get your side on some of this stuff
The battle systems are generally good with some flaws, but you seem to have not understood his criticism; The problem with the many different works is that the game basically just spreads itself too thin, leading to most of the works (especially the stack additions) just being used once or twice before being immediately thrown aside.
Played this game as a kid back in 2013 and fell in love with it... BUT OH MAN, THE TUTORIALS
I was discouraged to played previous M&L games since I thought all of them had that same problem lmao
The craziest thing for me about this game is just how passionate of a fan base it has. In every video about it, the comments are always riddled with people singing its praises and I rarely see anyone say negative things about it, even if the video covering it sees it a bad light. Also, every single comment saying that dream team is underrated just make me angry. This game is perhaps the most loved after bowser’s inside story, how can it be underrated?
I reached Rainbow Rank by the Pillodum boss fight. Here's what I did:
- I had Quick Level, +1 Pow every level up and +2 Gear Slots
- I had EXP Gloves, and EXP shoes on Mario. If I defeated an enemy by jumping or a special attack, I got 20% more EXP.
- I saved the game everytime I saw a gold Beanie. If it escaped, I can just reload the game to fight it again. I'd get around 5500 EXP everytime I fought one.
- I battled every single enemy from start to finish and then some.
It was a really effective system and I leveled up really quickly. I made it to Level 46 before reaching Dreamy Bowser (I also did this on Hard Mode.)
17:09 I thought of another way this could be improved. By simply tapping X, that will do the Spin Drill move, which travels a fixed distance in a straight line. Fast, but not flexible. Holding X will allow a Spin Jump, which moves slower, but keeps going for about 3 seconds or until you let go of X.
EDIT: I also thought of something: some games that focus on Touch Screen gameplay map movement to the face buttons as well as the D-pad. Why couldn’t they do something similar for the dream worlds? If the game is set to Left-handed mode, why not allow movement with Y and A while still allowing the left and down directions to control Mario and Luigi?
The boss fights in this game are amazing IMO. I had a blast with this game when I was a young lad.
you didn't mentionned the Expert Challenges at all
i guess you weren't interested in it
imo, having an objective for almost every battle makes them more interesting
"IVE GOT LOVE HANDELS!!!!"
i had to stop playing to swach that one up. it took me off gaurd
17:00 how do we tell him
As a kid I had an absolute BLAST with Bowsers Inside Story and when I saw Dream Team was launching and that I has gotten a 3DS a year prior I immediately asked for it and luckily it was Mario and now GTA so my grandma got it for me DAY ONE and I remember having an absolute blast with it too, however I’ve replayed Bowsers Inside Story several times, I never replayed this one. I’ve been watching these videos on the playlist and haven’t thought to comment now but thank you for these comprehensive videos these are genuinely awesome!
I had to drop that game around the beach section, it was such a slog, the pacing is wierd and the tutorials are still not skipable or able to reread at a later point.
Just, felt more like work than fun.
I'm left handed too so I understand your pain especially with the timed challenges with the luiginary clock or whatever it's called.
Pretty sure that Pi'illo is pronounced like "Pillow"
tbh id rank dreamteam as 3rd place as the lack of content outside of the main story of partners in time keeps me from being interested in coming back like dream team does, though on a side note, you know its sad when dream team is legitemalty one of the only good mario rpgs that came out in the 2010s
It was the last one to have original characters, until Brothership came out
16:51 funny…
You predicted Brothership
One of the best titles on all of youtube, it's a shame the algorithm doesn't push this more
The attacks Dreamy Bowser has are fun to dodge, but that damn healing sequence is the worst thing about it because it just drags the fight on longer than it should. It's also ridiculous how Bowser was able to one-shot Mario and Luigi when Antasma was helping him, while Bowser got defeated when he was using the most powerful artifact in the Mario franchise.
I also don't like how they didn't include Antasma in the final fight in some way because I didn't like how he died by becoming fat and then exploding.
It's also ridiculous how the dreamy Bowser fight began by having Peach and Starlow shoot a pink laser that they never use or bring up again.
If you don't mind me asking, what were the music tracks you didn't find as good with this one? (Also great video! Just found your channel and watched the whole M&L series up to this point - not enough people do videos on the series I feel, good stuff!!)
I played this game 9 times before beating the final boss
I never even knew you could use the Taunt Ball in the final boss, and I've beaten this game twice already.
I'm replaying the game right now and this is VERY useful info for the final fight. Especially since I'm playing hard mode.
First game in the series I ever played, and I loved it
Never understood why people hated it so much, especially when paper jam fucking blows.
Anyways great video(s)!
Just because Paper Jam is the weakest doesn't mean Dream Team is any less tedious.
I don’t think you get the main theme of Bros Moves in the over world. For every set of actions you can take you see more of how Mario and Luigi interact with each other and with the world. Jumping is the simplest with the only difference being that Mario is ahead of Luigi, with the hammers they simply swing their hammers at what’s ahead of them with Mario being ahead of Luigi which shows his tendencies in these games to not think and be clumsy (although a better example would be their hammer moves from superstar saga in which you can see during their bros attacks that Mario doesn’t hold back and leans his hammer back further when hitting Luigi which squishes him into the ground while Luigi does hold back and only leans his hammer halfway only squishing Mario into Mini Mario), the third set is of them climbing into the other’s shoulders with Mario being braver and standing on Luigi’s shoulder while Luigi only accepts a piggy back ride. The last one is the outlier as there’s no personality as they just roll into a ball with no unique characteristics being shown (that I can recall). What they should do is add in another ability for the ball like using it to quickly roll around and add in some personality with how each brother starts probably with Luigi starting the bounce by jumping onto Mario and Mario quickly pulling Luigi towards him to start a fast roll. Combining these different sets would result in them simply doing entirely different things which wouldn’t make sense with the theme that Bros moves have. Getting rid of more Luiginary objects and of stances for the Luiginary stack would also go against the game’s themes and break immersion. You are in a dream and dreams don’t stay the same you can’t just sleep in different places at different times and expect a low amount of differences. The only change these should have is to limit the tutorials to the first Luiginary object ending with it telling you to simply try touching Luigi when you see more and one for each stance for the stack. Dreams are crazy and having that craziness be taken away with someone explaining everything about it to you doesn’t help the game and that’s the only issue I have with it.
You've probably already gotten the game, but in case you haven't, New Super Luigi U is actually very challenging, creative, and fun. Especially when compared to New Super Mario Bros U.
Whenever I entered the Dream World, I’d equip Mario with Bros Boots as soon as I got them and spam Luiginary Ball on every enemy encounter I came across (I’m the type of player who goes for every encounter). The boots let me recover 1 BP for each enemy defeated, so once I learned that little exploit it was pretty trivial to keep Mario’s BP topped at no expense of Syrups and the regular battles done in a relatively quick fashion in the Dream World
Dream Team was my first Mario & Luigi game, and I generally think it's quite a bit of fun. Sure, some of the minigames are crap, and the Dreamy Luigi battles can be overly-challenging at times, but overall it's more fun than frustrating.
I don't think I was aware of the first three games before Dream Team, with me only playing Bowser's Inside Story 3D in the past few years, so...I had no real expectations, outside of loving Super Paper Mario and finding the first two PM games to be generally-mediocre - though that's a different series, so eh. I went into Dream Team blind, and I enjoyed it.
Maybe it is just Nostalgia, this was my very first rpg. One of my first games ever. I just love the ambience the jokes the music. Good game.
yeah its great
Honestly dream team would raise an entire letter grade if you could speed up cutscenes and skip tutorials like in paper jam
(Not sure how i would fix the slow battles problem, but a good start would be either raising the animation speed or damage for standard attacks)
Another thing you can do with the final boss’s heal move is to use the see egg bros move on the enemies, if you do it well enough it will take them all out at once
Ngl I never had any issues with the motion controls for the Zeekeeper
Mates change to hammers was actually used
You dont HAVE to use the Taunt Ball for the final fight. The Zee Egg bros attack is very good at attacking every enemy at once. You can also use the time freeze badge to make the battle pretty much free, however I wouldn’t recommend that, it makes the fight WAY too easy
17:00 Using the Xbox button layout instead of the nintendo one is giving me crazy OCD problems
I honestly think you were overly harsh on this game. Sure I understand the tutorial issues who couldn’t? But all things considered it is my favorite in the series I never understood the big whoop about BIS it was good but I wouldn’t even say it’s better than PIT. The issues you experienced sounds more like a skill issue,I’m left handed too and I never really struggled with anything in this game. Welp it’s your opinion
1:01:40 the dream stone and the star rod are both extremely busted with bowser
This is coming from a MLDT fanboy, but I don’t feel the luiginary works deserve blame. I’m a lefty as well, but it’s not like your writing or doing anything on the touch screen that requires precision. I don’t think I ever used a stylus with them. Just use your right finger or something. Way more enjoyable
I remember in my first playthrough, I reached the part where you flip gravity and was confused where the tutorial was, not realizing how many tutorials were in the game
It's weird that they have Luiginary forms being BOTH the big luigi swam AND the luigi background element touch screen possession thing because you think it'd be one or the other
While I agree that the game starts off really slow, once it gets going, it's really good
Ngl I had a really easy time with the dreamkeeper big boss fight like I might be a little better than most at understanding how motion controls work but even the X fight which is like after end game material only took 2 attempts
Currently also playing through the Mario and Luigi Series, and agreed with nearly everything in the video. It is definitely the most bipolar game of the series up to this point. I wanted to love the game as it shows promise but the glaring issues hold it back. Currently started playing Paper Jam so hopefully that one is better.
Ps: The time stop badge combo in this game is BUSTED. I used two in a row to just bully dreamy bowser.
Dream team will always be my favorite. The thing that puts it above inside for me is the music and the map. The map for inside story was.. to me so boring and plain. I hated the dry start area, the beach, and the forest. The cave area, beach, and castles were cool, but I see the lesser areas as more impactful compared to the better areas. The music too is just way better in dream team. Victory in the dream world, for example is just.. it encapsulates the dream feel so well as it builds up. Try, try again has an intensity I adore, and the final antasma battle, being my favorite track is like some of the best music from all the games.
Another thing I wanted to add was the battle system and how I feel it is the best. The best, highest set of situations that make the normal battles the best is running the game on its “hard mode” while ONLY focusing your level up points in stache. It makes the game so much more intense as you get hit so much harder, and can’t rely on bros moves. Another good thing is if you fight every enemy everytime you go into a new screen that you haven’t discovered before. You will ALWAYS reach rainbow rank before the antasma fight, allowing you to open up the best gear for you. The combination of hard mode, the item limits, and only focusing on your stache points makes the game so much better, and if you go for the “BIG LUCKY” bonus equip when ranking up, it makes those now common lucky hits do sooo much damage, combining that with the triple jump boots or hammer, the normal moves are what I usually go to. It’s amazing
same the dreamy idea was so good too i think it's the best out of the games
Dream Team was my intro to Mario & Luigi as a whole, and while I look so fondly over the game, it is my least favorite so far. I still need to give Partners In Time and Paper Jam a fair shake before I can say that conclusively, but even after playing Brothership, Dream Team still ranks below that.
Brothership is fantastic tho, I love it a lot.
Dream Team shines in its music!!! So many memorable and great tracks, I’d find it hard to argue against anyone who calls it the best in the series. Solid throughout!!!
you sound just like antdude it's crazy
19:03 hold on. I know for certain the game asks your dominant hand when you start a new game.
Is that not actually handled well for lefties?
That only changes giant battles. It's handled perfectly there, but the dominant hand choice doesn't affect anything else.
@@ScionVyse oh, that's a shame
The intro reminds me of an old helmsdeep campaign setting from 3E but I can't remember the name of it.
I've only ever finished this game once. Every time i tried to play it without fail, I'd feel sleepy and stop playing to take a nap. Ironic.
You don't need to play the first Luigi's Mansion to play Dark Moon.
Keep it up! Can you do retrospective on Pokémon?
hang on i never used the taunt ball on the final boss...
My favorite part is how he unironically switches from complaining about never being tutorialized about that, to IMMEDIATELY complaining about "hand-holding".
Instead of constant complaining, he should simply realize that boomers and children comprehend differently so the "target audience" will more easily see how mechanics balance and check each other where he sees a "needlessly difficult obstacle". Those children have zero issue discussing the challenge at school and concluding a new tool must be used rather than brute-forcing it.
@@Kaleki935. I think you're missing the point of his complaints.
Question. Is your opening for this series inspired by the King's Quest V opening? I'd really like to know. It sounds and looks so much like it I have to believe that it's intentional. Really brings back the nostalgia. Would love if you could comment and answer this briefly. Thanks.
Actually, that's entirely a coincidence. I've never played any of the King's Quest games, but I did check out that opening, and I can definitely see where you're coming from.
@@ScionVysenice. That's awesome. Thank you for responding to my question. I wasn't even sure if you would ever see it. Truly appreciate that!
What killed this game for me was all the tutorials even all the way of to the end game
I never really had a problem with the speed of the combat. It is slower than the other games but I really don’t think it’s that bad at all
I’ve got to disagree with your opinion on common battles. Even playing on hard mode I enjoyed the enemy attacks and used normal moves every time on normal encounters. The giant battles sucked, though.
should have said “snoozer looser” rather than snoozefest
What is the music that plays at the end of your videos?
I wrote that! I made it specifically for my videos' end screens. I also wrote the music in my intro title card as well!
It's really unfortunate that you didn't like this game all that much because I honestly think that a lot of the stuff you were particularly bothered by did not get to me at all during my big playthrough. I get your criticism, but at the same time i don't really agree with you. It was always fun to get into combat and I enjoy the battles a lot enough to clear out enemies and do the X Boss challenges. But that's fine. You have a certain experience that you want from M&L that I differ from and that's okay. It's just a bummer that this game didn't do much for you
This is gonna sound crazy to some but
I love Dream Team more than Bowser's inside story. Dont worry I like BIS, its number three on the list with Brothership being number 2
i always felt this was the game wherre alphadreams ran out of ideas. it was just a less intresting retread of bowser's inside story.
Really enjoyed the MSGV gag lol
Your idea of a control scheme is oddly very similar to what they decided to do for Brothership.
Starting from Dream Team the ost become more Kingdom Hearts than Mario Luigi
Well, tell me who's the literal composer for the series.
Zeekeeper fight is a skill issue
I have a very big bias towards this game since it was my first ever introduction to the M&L franchise as well as my first ever RPG. Sure the game can be super long, and compared to older M&L games that I have never played, it could be subjectively worse in some areas (TUTORIALS). The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful, the melodies get stuck in my head, there was so much variety and M&L humor. I recall 8 year old me struggling to solve the puzzles or learning how to master the combat system (super flushed out), having to watch zackscottgame's playthrough whenever I got stuck. Oh the memories. This game will always have a place in my heart. I'd also like to mention the dream world rotate your 3ds and use the stylus boss battles. THAT WAS THE SHIT!
i didnt even notice the tutorials
Left handed shout out!
Im a lefty too!
Lore of Sleeper Hit, or Snoozefest? | Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Retrospective momentum 100
This game is underrated and overhated way too many people look at the negatives and see this as a bad game. This is better than pit. Fight me
Easy there, tiger. We all got our faves
Dream Team might have more content compared to Superstar Saga and Partners in Time, but those games are much more enjoyable. The game has some positives, but also a lot of negatives.
@@boo_guy deam team is better than pit
@@3dsfan2002 Okay, explain why.
@@boo_guy graphics, art style, the idea of going inside dreams and giant battles
It’s pretty clear I missed out by not playing dream team.
But I just couldn’t get past how much I disliked the new art style, for me the art was perfected with inside story.
luigi stan luigi stan luigi stan i gonna give you luigi luigi wink wink
im luigi you are luigi i am diagnosed luigi