First, if you wait in this incredibly long line to play the demo—which is also available on the eShop—you’re probably doing it for the swag. Otherwise, uh… just go to the eShop and try it out there without the wait.
The swag for this title is a bouncy ball—a decent size, actually—branded with the game’s title. If you flew to get to the event, you may have to deflate it for the airplane.
Anyway, about the game! It’s weird. And that’s putting it lightly.
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team features a cast of familiar faces, all working together to defeat enemies… much as you’d expect. It may be familiar territory, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. In the game, Mario enters the brain of sleeping Luigi, working with the imaginary Luigi, called Dreamy Luigi.
Dreamy Luigi is the support figure for Mario, who fights enemies alone—and the attacks call down Luigi avatars, Luigi shockwaves, and so forth. Dreamy Luigi can also, er, possess certain objects in the environment—like a tree, where the branches become Luigi’s moustache. You can pull on these by tugging the sleeping Luigi’s moustache in the lower screen, to do things like slingshot Mario in the upper screen.
There are a number of other features that are best left explored and learned on your own, but it’s a solid enough demo and we were glad to see it featured at PAX Prime… even if you can get it in the eShop in minutes instead of waiting for hours. The lineup was very long today, and didn’t seem to lessen even at the end of the day—so if you want swag, go ahead and wait, but otherwise save yourself the trouble and use the time to play something else. Maybe try this out when you get back to the hotel!
