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Hello everyone! I have been lurking on the forums here for a few months and was recently inspired to make an account. I decided to start off my first ever screenshot Let's Play with one of my favourite Gameboy Advance games. Superstar Saga is an action RPG, with a focus on the action. Unlike in typical RPGs where player input is limited to selecting a target to attack and with what, Superstar Saga involves you in the action by having you execute well timed button presses during a fight to get maximum damage. This results in the game being much more immersive than a typical RPG. I am going to be explaining the mechanics in more detail as they appear. [spoiler=Chapter 1: The Journey of Mario and Mr. Green Part 1] I always like to take a moment to look at the title screen and main menus in games. I love the record book motif of the game files. Peach's Castle. This can only end well... Oh. I was expecting Bowser to show up. I guess that gifts are always- Of course. It is literally impossible for good things to happen to Peach. Even the other kingdoms are out to get her. The "obvious main villain" alarms are going off like no tomorrow. Peach gets some fart gas blown in her face and knocked out. The cameraman goes on a drug trip and starts seeing psychedelic colours. Strangely, the dastardly duo do not kidnap her. Why even bother knocking her out if you are just going to leave her here? The villains egress to the witch shaped....thing in the sky. Where is Mario when you need him? Well, Luigi is here I guess. He seems a bit busy with the laundry though. The castle is clearly visible in the background, so why can't we see the ominous cloud of death? A Toad hustles into the scene because of bad stuff happening. Finding Luigi to be of no help, he runs into the bros' house (that I totally did not forget to screenshot) to search for Mario. Fun fact: I did not know you controlled Toad in this scene when I first played and ended up waiting for like 5 minutes before I realized I had to move. Some of the details of the Casa Mario. Does everyone have a such a large picture of peach? Uhm Toad that is the bathroom maybe you shouldn't- Toad catches a glimpse of the Italian Stallion and decides that bashing his head into the dresser is the best way to deal with it. Mario gives him the standard treatment to get him to reveal some important information. Mario dashes off and gets dressed (which I totally didn't forget to screenshot) and drags Loogi off to the start of the adventure! The Bros. arrive at the castle and catch Bowser from behind. It's fine because he is probably up to no good anyways. The first fight begins! A typical fight screen. The bottom left corner has some information about Mario's status. The top number next to the heart is HP, and the bottom number next to the red and green pill are Bros points, which will be discussed later. The only attack Mario knows right now is jump (figures). This is were the action element of "action RPG" comes into play. If you press the A button just before Mario lands on the head of an enemy (see screenshot 3) he successfully completes the jump and does full damage. if you do not, he sort of just falls onto Bowser for less damage. Another crucial part of battle is dodging. You can press A to make Mario jump over Bowser's flames at the right time to avoid damage. You can even use this to counterattack some enemies! After a few more attacks, Bowser goes down. Mario reigns supreme! Suuuuuuuure you would have. The plot gets explained. Although the bad guys did not kidnap the princess in full, they did manage to steal her voice. That must have been what the fart gas was for. No wonder her new speech is so....explosive. Mario is called to action. Bowser agrees to help out as well, but only to his own ends. RIP. Mario messes around in a plaza for a while, gathering items and helping out the toads. I totally did not whiff the jump in screenshot 6 four times. Refusing to return the mushroom that is on the ledge (screenshot 7) lets you keep the mushroom (you spiteful ass) but if you say you will return it you get to keep it AND a super mushroom. He went thatta way. Luigi sure is happy to see Mario head off... The save screen. The area you are in, coin and game time counter, and level indicator are nice touches. As is the stamp to let you know when saving is complete. Sup Toadsworth. Thanks for the allowance money. Luigi is kind of a coward and thus is going to stay at home. He still loves Mario though, so he is going to tip his hat to him. Sick turnout Bowser. Your baddies must be too scared of Mario to get near him. That, or they have an incompetent leader... Luigi joins the cause! Despite his best efforts at being a coward, Luigi is snatched up and tossed headfirst into adventure! Mario and Luigi are now officially a team! They always stand in a line, and either brother can be in front. Notice how Mario's icons at the top right are always red and Luigi's are green. The buttons they use are different depending on who is in front, but the colours are the same. The inside of the suitcase, along with the items and equip screen. Pants will always have effects on health and defense. Other equipable accessories will have effects on different statistics. Finally, the moment you've been waiting for! Base stats! The stats are broken down as follows: HP - Health. Self explanatory. BP - Bros. Points. Will explain later. POW - Power. Affects how strong all your attacks are. DEF - Defense. Affects how well you can take a hit. SPEED - Affects the order of turns. Whoever has the highest speed moves first, followed by the second highest, etc. After the last person goes the cycle repeats. STACHE - How groomed, elegant, and shiny your mustache is. Affects Lucky hits (criticals are different) and store prices. EXP - How much EXP you have. NEXT - How much EXP it will take to get you to level up. Right off the bat, Mario is a little bit stronger and significantly faster than Luigi is. He also has a slightly more well trimmed stache. Luigi has higher health and defense, so is more tanky than his brother. Also of note here is that Mario needs less exp to level up than Luigi does. Perhaps because all his previous adventures have left him so experienced? This is all for now, but I will hopefully upload the rest of this part either tonight or tomorrow. Comments and feedback are welcome!