#and Bowser gets involved because...reasons

[egg-emperor]

Do you have examples of eggman being gay in the games ???

Yeah I've posted them a bunch of times but now is another good time to bring them back in the tags, now that the long awaited rise of gay Eggman in fandom is finally happening. So while I could link the old post I'll do it again

There's actually a good amount of things in games, tie-ins, and spin offs that serve as reasonable basis to have the headcanon, which can't be said for most other sexuality hcs- the most solid ones are ones that have at least something in the media to point to

Earliest example is Sonic Adventure, where he has a hallway full of these statues of the torsos of the toned muscular male form in interesting poses. Better yet, they're located in HOT Shelter lol

This doesn't have any heterosexual explanation because Eggman is known for either completely replacing existing statues with statues of himself or defacing and slapping his face onto others.

When he completely makes them himself/replaces them entirely like the former, he also always gives them his accurate body shape, he embraces his fat and doesn't depict himself as buff. The only time this doesn't apply is when they're already existing statues he has defaced

Either way, the way these don't have his face or share absolutely any of his visage, especially when his logo and face is already all over the rest of the Egg Carrier too- including around the very area of the statues, tells us he really just wanted these statues of men that aren't himself... 🤨🏳️‍🌈

There's also this beautiful art from Sonic Channel which is ran by Sonic Team/Sega Japan as the actual creators and owners of the character, depicting him doing something you could just as easily see him doing at a pride parade, if he weren't preferably chilling in the comfort of his own luxurious pool room instead

Of course people who get real defensive and mad at rainbows being gay say "omg it's nooot you don't own rainbows waaa" but Sega of Japan are VERY vocal supporters of Tokyo rainbow pride and LGBT acceptance and support and not just in June for points. It wouldn't be far fetched for Sonic Team JP to do a nod towards it. But regardless of intention, I think lounging back shirtless with a giant rainbow shaved ice is pretty gay lol

And while they're spin offs and involve Mario/Nintendo so they can't be canon to the main games, he's also very gay in the Olympics too and they count as examples of him being gay in at least some kind of games too XD

Really just getting outright flirty with the men very blatantly

Him saying someone else has dashingly good looks alongside himself is especially gay and significant, coming from his extremely egotistical ass that would usually never say someone else looks good in any capacity. He could've just said only himself in his true self centered fashion

Agreeing to go on a literal sightseeing date with Bowser, saying it's a worthy way to spend his time, and strolling along happily with him

So yeah there were always signs and things that could be used as pretty solid basis for it. I honestly feel game Eggman had way more of a reasonable basis for it than jimbotnik for a long time since 1998 with Adventure, since Stobotnik honestly seemed pretty one sided for a while to me

I'm glad the movies are making more people start to consider gay Eggman but now all I wanna ask is for y'all to see how game Eggman was doing it long before it was recognized and considered cool! XD

[mrs-luigi-vargas]

got vaguely inspired tonight w/ a new fic idea and unfortunately for me I cannot put Bowser and Mario (and Peach) in the same room getting along without some sort of crisis happening, for some reason

[chaotic-deity]

I get that some people don't like to ship Peach and Bowser for obvious reasons, but hating ANY ship that involves Bowser simply because he's a villain? c'mon now live a little

[drops-of-moonlights]

I want for all my Mario stuff to have an unique look, my own take on them. So I've been slowly redesigning the cast to fit that! I still have plenty of characters to go but for now, I wanna post the ones I have done. Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Junior, Peach, Daisy, Wario and Waluigi! Design tibdits below:

For the Bros. I wanted for them to still have the same base but play around with it a bit more - Luigi patches up his overalls, Mario just lets them rip, different tops to better showcase personality with Mario using button-ups and Luigi sweaters, different boots for the same reason, and also adding a bit more scruff on them both to age them up a bit since for my take they're in their early 30's, taking place after what one would consider "game canon". They also both wear a pin/badge that shows who they're romantically involved with! (Mario with a Bowser badge, Luigi with one of Daisy's brooches)

Bowser's just wearing what I always draw him in lol - combat pants and boots with a light tanktop alongside his usual cuffs. Junior's outfit is inspired by his Wonder transformation because it's cool as hell and it fits my Junior who's a teenager (around 14). Royal Bowser and Junior are his "diplomatic meeting" outfits, a kamishimo for Bowser and a regular hakama and haori for Junior, based off Bowser's Kingdom in Odyssey being so Japanese-inspired (though the headdress and horn decor is original, and has a gem cut to look like fire.

Peach and Daisy don't change all that much, with Peach I mainly took a bit from her movie design, made the crown bigger and more ornate and changed her brooch for a heart shape that mimics a peach for themeing. she's also fuller-figured because the idea of Peach being peach-shaped is cute and also both Bowser and Mario have a Type™ so it would be neat for her to fit it too lol. Daisy I just made her wear a pantsuit because a) I like pantsuits b) it creates a greater contrast between her and Peach. I also made it more flowery to fit her decór more. Like with the Koopa royals they also get a more casual/adventure-ready set, based on different outfits from Odyssey (Peach) and Mario Kart Tour (Daisy).

Finally for this batch, the wahs! Who won't take much long to elaborate on - I fused Wario's normal outfit with his WarioWare look and Waluigi got something that would match it, though I was inspired by this pic by Fumihide Aoki, Waluigi's creator, that is insanely good.

[cclowneryy]

Laughing Jack Headcanons 🎪🩸

.𖥔 ݁ ˖༘⋆𐦍⊹₊ ⋆｡˚ ✩₊˚.⋆☾��⁺₊✧

(Credit to @/ sillyhoneybear2)

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜

⛧ Laughing Jack can hide in mirrors and can pop up inside of them. He usually does this if someone is being vain and wants to taunt them to hopefully make them insecure not only about themselves but how they perceive their reality. This is also his favorite method as it’s usually easier for him to manipulate people into doing his favors.

⛧ Laughing Jack can get very, very obsessed with someone if they treated him right and who he considers a “friend.” He also has extremely bad abandonment issues but just kills people because he is afraid that they’ll either leave him or that he doesn’t see them as “worthy.”

⛧ LJ has two different dimensions that he holds and likes to refer to them as his “kingdoms.” One of them is his usually abandoned carnival purgatory where he keeps his zombie minions where he resurrects when he kills them and sends his victims he’s trying to kill to push them further into insanity. His other one is a very colorful carnival with a hotel that the people he took can stay. It’s very, very rare that he does this but it’s usually people who are in danger and needs a safe place to be in and who Jack deeply cares for. (If you want to think what it could look like just think of Bowser’s carnival from 3d world lol.)

⛧ Laughing Jack would definitely tease you about your height, a lot. He would rest his elbow on your head and pretend that you are an arm chair. He would sarcastically ask where you are even though you are literally right in front of him.

⛧ He is very protective. If anyone even tries to lay a finger on you, he would teleport in front of the attacker and would mess them up badly.

⛧ Laughing Jack has hemomancy or the ability to control or manipulate blood. He does this to his proxies or slaves or if he needs an advantage in a fight or in one of his killing sessions. It does make sense considering how he can orchestrate his dead minions.

⛧ When Laughing Jack gets angry, he has the ability to grow taller and his eyes will turn pitch black with “cracks” coming from his under eyes

⛧ Laughing Jack has made a “child’s-like” storybook based on his origin story about his relationship with Isaac and how he felt during his 13 years of being trapped in his own box.

⛧ He also has really horrendous claustrophobia. He hates being in tight spaces or small rooms because it reminds him of his imprisonment in his box.

⛧ His favorite flowers are Angel’s Trumpets because they remind him of well, himself. Laughing Jack was technically an angel created in heaven and he is now considered “deadly” just like angel’s trumpets. In fact, he would use these flowers to make his candies poisonous by picking the petals and rinsing them with water creating a liquid.

⛧ He can show his reflections in mirrors and can be seen on digital cameras but for some reason he won’t appear in polaroid pictures. This is just a weird case even Laughing Jack couldn’t really explain why or how.

⛧ Laughing Jack has always wanted to have his own bakery. He has thought of killing children to make his desserts and what not but he also has thought about just opening up a regular bakery with no killing involved.

⛧ Laughing Jack in a way does have frost powers. The only thing relating to that he can do is drop the current temperature to freezing in a small area where his victim lays.

⛧ Laughing Jack would get off-guard and even get flattered if you compliment his appearance. So if you’re in a situation where he could kill you, just say he looks very handsome and he’ll be in his thoughts, giving you sometime to literally run.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜ 🎪🩸

[crusherthedoctor]

My hot take: Eggman doesn't get enough appreciation and he doesn't need to be something else to be good

What did you expect | Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

Calling Eggman underappreciated might sound bizarre on the surface, because how could one say that, right? He has plenty of fans. He gets loads of fanart. He's widely recognized as an iconic video game villain. Why would anyone claim that?

But when you stop to pay close attention, it's true. It's no secret that Sonic fans who frequently toss him aside in favor of other, "cooler" villains are all too common, even nowadays. It's no secret that fans of other IPs tend to look down on him, believing that this chicken-legged individual doesn't deserve to be in the same pantheon as the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf. It's no secret that fans like to paint him as something he's not out of the belief that it's the only way to flesh him out, and that he's one-dimensional as he is, even though they're perfectly fine with the villains who take his spotlight being one-dimensional for real. It's no secret that even those officially involved with the franchise seem to disregard him, given how many times he was upstaged in increasingly humiliating ways, and the way it's been brought back with a vengeance thanks to IDW and Frontiers.

Yet, even among fans who seemingly accept him as his real unrepentant self, there's sometimes an air of... patronization surrounding his discussion. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into certain phrasing, but when he's referred to as just a cackling baddie, or saying stuff like "after so many serious stories with epic god monsters, it's back to the good old simple days where it's just silly Eggman and his dumb plans"... you get the impression that he's not genuinely respected or seen as a credible and formidable antagonist. And for what? Because he loses to the hero? So do most villains. Because he has a goofy side? Other villains across fiction have that as well, some of them being praised specifically for it, so I don't understand why it's a bad thing here. Because the Time Eater had a so-so boss fight? As if the other 3D Super Sonic fights were much better.

The strange thing about fandom hijinks are their tendency to create opposite problems at the same time. In this case, while a lot has rightly been said about layered characters being simplified one way or the other by fans who aren't willing to see the full picture, things tend to go very differently when the character doesn't behave in an "obviously" layered manner. For all the internet's obsession with analyzing every angle of a character down to the bone, they swiftly throw that out the window when it's a wholly villain or a wholly good guy. Suddenly, what's there is never enough, they have to insert their own narratives that make no sense for the character in question, and it's welcomed with open arms instead of discouraged for missing the officially established layers. So you have Eggman being secretly good deep down, and caring about Maria for some reason, while Sonic is IDW's questionable idea of flawed even though he already had flaws to work with. Meet characters halfway they say, except for these ones apparently, becuse what canonical depth could they have amirite.

But anyway, I would never seriously say that I'm the only person on the planet who understands the ins and outs with Eggman's character, as that would be a very egotistical and Ken Penders-sounding thing to say lol. I'm just a fan who wants to do him justice with my fics, nothing more. But it really does feel next to impossible to find fans who are on the same wavelength in regards to him, because the amount of times where he's been misused or reduced to Sonic's frenemy is truly exasperating. You could argue that for basically any Sonic character at this point, but this has been going on a lot longer with Eggman than it has for probably any other cast member, with the possible exception of Amy, and even then, the issue surrounding her these days is completely different.

[skratchytheclown]

Homemade Tier list Yeah!

For no reason in particular I decided to create a tier list based- on how much I like my characters and how well I think I have used them in the blog so far. This is just for the characters that you can ask questions to, so uh, sorry Gary fans.

By the way, the order of characters in each tier has no meaning. The only thing that means anything is which tier each character is in.

(my reasonings for each placement is down below)

MT: I just like this guy. He's the one who has changed the most throughout the years, and I'm pretty satisfied with what we have now. He can be a genuine threat to some people, and just a jerk to others. Also, he was used a lot in the blog. ...mostly because of asks.

Stewart: Poor guy has been through a lot, but he also doesn't really seem all that bothered. I think the contrast he has with his siblings was a good idea. I think things would have been a lot different if Stewart was not "the only normal one".

Iggy: He hasn't actually shown up much in the blog, but I enjoy drawing him whenever he does. Also, he seems to have gained quite a few fans just by showing up like... once or twice. I still remember that one time when a bunch of people decided to ask him stuff (and also pull his hair and rip him in half and set him on a Spanish donkey, but let's just ignore that.)

Dieter: The fact that he is even here was the cause of a specific series of events, and that's just really funny to me.

-

Ludwig: The guy has it all; cool design, more complex personality, a whole storyline involving him, and interesting-ish relationships with other characters. I just like the characters in the higher tier more. It's really more of a personal opinion thing rather than based-on anything specific.

Roy: He's up here because he is probably my favorite Koopaling. Also, the dynamics he has with the Broodals are fun, and have potential to be something even more interesting. Unfortunately, I haven't used him that much yet.

Lemmy: Also just one of my favorite Koopalings. Also this placement is just to prove to you guys that I don't dislike Lemmy despite killing him a lot for jokes. He probably has went through the most non-cannon pain. Besides that, I like the improvement in personality he had. he used to be more 1-dimensional.

Wendy: It's nice that I was able to find some kind of role for her in the blog. Like Roy, she has developed some interesting relationships with the Broodals, especially Emar.

Hariet: She was in the same storyline as Ludwig, and while the storyline could have definitely been improved upon, I still think I did a pretty good job on it. It was the biggest project on this blog. (She gets bonus points for being the most unsettling of the Broodals)

-

Junior: I like Bowser Jr. as a character, and I have some interesting plans for him on the blog. Just haven't really done much with him yet.

Larry: Pretty much in the same boat as Junior.

Silvea: She's just pure potential. She did have a whole storyline dedicated to her, but I ended up taking a risk with it and... didn't like how it turned out. Sorry, Silv.

Emar: I actually really like Emar! I just feel like I haven't really been doing him justice on the blog. I don't like the fact that he seems "babied" too much. I realized I may have written him to be too "cutesy". Ew.

-

Morton: Sorry, Morton! I haven't really used him at all on the blog. He's also probably my least favorite Koopaling, but that's only because I like the others more, not because I dislike Morton. I think Morton is a nice fellow.

Bowser: I really like Bowser as a character, but he just doesn't play much of a role in the blog at all. Maybe even to the point where people have forgotten that you can ask Bowser things! I'll have to do something with him later, but it might take me a while.

Skratchy: No reason. This one was just put on here as a joke.

[legobiwan]

do you have any thoughts on powerups/how the bros use them?

You have no idea what you have just unleashed, anon. :D I am super into world-building and lore when it comes to Mario stuff, so here's a random list of ideas that may or may not bear fruit for anyone who reads this. (Also, part of this is me sketching out concepts for solus creatura, so I thank my followers in advance for their patience here).

The vegetable/fruit/foliage powerups are naturally occurring. The Mushroom Kingdom has the most fertile conditions for these plants to grow, although other kingdoms have done a decent enough job of genetically engineering their own powerup plants.

This makes the powerups an integral part of the Mushroom Kingdom economy, and one of the reasons they're able to survive so long without any real standing army or defense system outside of Mario and Luigi. It's also one of the reasons they get invaded so often.

The Darklands, centuries before Bowser's reign, used to also cultivate powerups. They were overfarmed by a corrupt agricultural council, however, and in combination with a once-in-a-lifetime drought, the vast majority of their land and crop was ruined.

Luckily for the Darklands, their native species is capable of fire and they still retain a strong tradition of magical culture through the Magikoopas (although this was briefly wiped out during Bowser's father's reign, as he thought the Magikoopas were planning a coup. They, in fact, were, but for good reasons).

Now, the Mushroom Kingdom is wary of magic, due their own history and complicated relationship with the Darklands (this may be in part linked to an old civil war that caused the split between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Darklands). Their species is also just not that magically adept (something having to do with Toad physiognomy?) The powerups are a decent compromise - they afford magic-like abilities without rendering their user permanently superpowered.

There was some contention in the royal court when Mario and Luigi first arrived in terms of allowing them access to the powerups. Ultimately, it was decided the safety of the kingdom would supersede any worries about abuse of power. (This being said, Peach had to argue long and hard for this).

Mario and Luigi receive a monthly allotment of powerups and if they find any "in the wild," they're supposed to record each instance. Neither brother bothers with this and every month they get a nasty letter from Porcina in accounting, which has led to a years-long feud between her and Mario. Luigi has learned the better way to circumvent the system is bribery by brownie. It usually, although not always, works.

The non-vegetative powerups are created in Mushroom Kingdom labs. Because the Mushroom Kingdom is like a Times Square Station for warp-pipe travel, the dimensional crossroads makes it easier to cross-pollinate powerups with characteristics of other species and lands (cats, penguins, etc.)

Back in the day, E. Gadd was involved with a lot of this research, but ultimately left to pursue his own interests in the paranormal. It's also rumored that he and the governing scientific committee at the time had a spat about the limits of experimental ethics.

When Mario and Luigi are first introduced to the powerups, they think this is the coolest thing in the world. They have powers, which was an impossibility back in New York.

It takes them a while to get the hang of using the powerups. Mario set fire to a Mushroom Kingdom stable one time. Luigi crash landed into someone's wedding as a kitsune. The citizens, by and large, were relatively forgiving of these incidents, although it did make for a wild few days in the press.

At first, Mario and Luigi both love the fireball ability. That is, until the events of Super Paper Mario, after which they go a solid few months without coming NEAR a fireflower. Mario can't help flashback to that terrible moment in Merlon's house while Luigi experiences the oddest phantom pains if he as much holds a fireflower, although he can't say why exactly. (Mario, of course, has no idea Luigi was boxed and bombed twice by Dimentio).

Luigi loves flying and may steal a few extra Tanooki leaves to go out and experiment with aeronautics/aviation concepts in the dead of the night. This, subconsciously, directly influences his Brobot designs in his time as Mr. L.

Mario's favorite powerup is the classic mushroom. Finally, he gets to be as tall or taller than his younger brother.

They both think the Invincibility Star is incredible until they're faced with a situation in which the invincibility wears off at a dangerous moment, which almost turned fatal for Mario. It's a sobering moment, and brothers learn the lesson that no one is invincible forever.

The Mushroom Kingdom allows Mario and Luigi to use the powerups under the assumption that the "magic," as it were, never lasts. What they don't know, however, is that Luigi has a strange penchant for magic, which is why on more than one occasion, the effects of the powerups take longer to wear off on him. (One day, Luigi shows up to meet his brother looking a little...furrier than usual. "You look hairy, bro," Mario says, furrowing his brow. "I'm Italian." Mario rolls his eyes at his brother's quip. "Not that Italian. What, did you forget to shave again?" Luigi just shrugs, not wanting to admit this isn't the first time he's woken up with more hair than he's used to).

They tease each other mercilessly when they are introduced to some of the animalistic powerups. Luigi puts a litter box in his brother's room and buys him a collar with the name tag, "Fluffy." Mario cooks Luigi fish for five days straight after the penguin incident. He also starts singing the "Walk Like a Penguin" jingle every time his brother comes into the room.

[duckapus]

Marggy Childhood Friends AU

So I finally came up with enough details to make a proper au out of my icon pic.

To begin at the beginning, Meggy ends up as one of the hundreds of babies that present-day Bowser and Kamek kidnapped while looking for the Star Children in Yoshi's Island DS. And, despite not being one of the Star Children (because I didn't change the lineup), she manages to be an extra sixth escaped yoshi-riding baby because she's Meggy. Of course, she's a tiny gooey baby squid the whole time but she's already got that Spletzer Family Ink Production so she can still shoot at her enemies. Also she's in a little bucket the whole time and it's both funny and adorable.

Anyway, after all that she's brought back home to her parents by one of the storks, and you wouldn't think anything would come of that but a few months later her dad gets a massive business opportunity in the Mushroom Kingdom and they move to Toad Town right next door to the Mario family, and she turns out to get along so well with their twin baby boys you'd almost think they already knew each other from somewhere.

From then on the three of them are practically joined at the hip (though it obviously takes a few years for Meggy to actually have hips), to the point where you'd think they were triplets instead of twins and a close friend. The Bros are even there on that fateful day when Meggy saw One-Shot Wren in person and fell in love with Turf War.

And then they're fourteen, and the Great Mushroom War is starting up, and the Marios are moving to Brooklyn because they remember the Shroob invasion and they just know their boys are going to get caught up in this if they stay, and the Spletzers are going back to Inkopolis both for that same reason and so Meggy can pursue her Inksports Career. The three of them stay in touch afterwards and meet up as much as they can, of course, but it just isn't the same.

And then, years later, when they're in their 20's and the Bros are getting their new plumbing business off the ground and Meggy's scouting for a profreshional Splatoon, they find out that Bowser and Peach's parents are dead, and Bowser's kidnapped Peach and is turning Toads into bricks, and, completely separately, they drop everything and go back to the Mushroom Kingdom, because Peach is their friend and that's their home. They run into each-other in the first fortress and it's like they were never apart.

Anyway, after they beat Bowser they decide to actually move back to the Kingdom together and become Peach's semi-official bodyguards in case Bowser tries something again, because he was kinda-sorta their friend too back then and they know how stubborn he can be. Thankfully they're not giving up on their dreams, since Mario Bros Plumbing is still new enough that they can set it up pretty much anywhere and Inkopolis Plaza is just a pipe away.

And from there we get "The Mario Series But Meggy Is Also There," up until the end of Super Mario 64 when the pods drop, where it's now "SMG4 Except The Game Adaptations Happen In Order And Are Somewhat More Accurate And There's A Lot More Of Them (And Meggy's There From The Start)." Also, the canon Splatoon plotlines happen, but Meggy doesn't actually get involved in this AU so it's just background flavor.

As you can imagine Meggy being around so much earlier has significant consequences, the big one being that since she's around to be a good influence Mario stops being a complete jerkass waaaayyyy sooner, which keeps his relationships with Peach and... really everyone besides Luigi from falling apart. Except Toad. The vast majority of Toad's issues have surprisingly little to do with classic era Mario.

(Of course, this presents a bit of a problem since I still want to do at least a version of the Anime Arc so Meggy can get her transformation trauma, but this version of Peach wouldn't do That and the greater adherence to Mario Canon means Francis still lives in the Bitlands and has completely the wrong personality for leading a crime syndicate.)

[bikwin5]

brothership review

Earlier this year I made a post about pooling money to rent a billboard to tell Nintendo to bring back the Mario & Luigi series, in jest of certain fandom activities. What I didn't know at the time is that my prayers were being answered in a brand new title made by Acquire, known for titles like Way of the Samurai and Octopath Traveler, that I haven't played. But I did play this one because I'll suck up most things that have Mario on them like the foolish Nintendrone I am. The end result of this 44-hour experience left me with a lot of thoughts to type on posts.

This post is spoiler-free up to a certain point

^^^ THESE ARE THE "BROS" INCASE YOU FORGOT WHAT THEY LOOKED LIKE

I will preface this by saying I am in fact a Mario RPGhead and have played all the past M&L titles. I didn't play the two remakes but I have completed everything up to and including Paper Jam. I even replayed the two DS games earlier this year just for fun, which is what led me to making that billboard post.

Brothership is a RPG staring Mario & Luigi the famous brothers that you know and love so much. What's different this time is that usually these games' sequels introduce new concepts by throwing another playable character in the mix (Babies, Bowser, many Luigis, Paper Mario). Brothership takes a different approach by keeping only Mario & Luigi playable and shifting the change to the setting instead. This has its good and bad parts.

Without trying to be the type of review that's just a whole summary I will briefly explain what happens: Mario and Luigi get isekai'd to another world, they split apart but then Mario finds Luigi on a big boat-like structure known as Shipshape Island, and with the help of spark plug people they sail around the oceans to unite the broken world of Concordia, finding islands and connecting them to Shipshape. This remains pretty straightforward for most of the game. The beginning cutscene was also strangely similar to a scene from The Super Mario Bros. Movie but thankfully there are no further parallels apart from this coincidence.

The gameplay structure has Mario and Luigi sail the ocean by choosing a current on the map, finding islands on the telescope, and then going to the island and connecting it. Islands can then be revisited easily, and residents from that island appear on Shipshape. Islands often need to be revisited for story or sidequest reasons. There is some more to it, but I think this general gameplay loop is actually pretty fun. Making the world a series of islands felt like a good idea that keeps things fresh for the M&L series. Areas in the past games weren't exactly densely interconnected so I feel like this is a good way to structure the world. Partners in Time in particular might as well have been a series of islands. The environments feel very fresh for the series as well, as I felt as though the past couple of games felt particularly derivative with reusing the same few biomes to explore. Brothership will have you bouncing on flowers, climbing skyscrapers and sometimes going to jail.

Overworld exploration in Brothership has me feeling a bit mixed. In past games you controlled Mario & Luigi, and maybe some other people. In this one you mainly control Mario while Luigi sort of has control but is mainly driven by AI. He is now unethical and must be decommissioned. If you are a big M&Lhead like me you WILL have a difficult time adjusting to this. Trying to make Luigi jump yourself will result him in getting stuck on things. To give Luigi a more unique role there is a "Luigi Logic" mechanic, which consists of watching him do funny things in cutscenes, or putting him in situations apart from Mario. The puzzles that involve this are pretty decent, making good use of the bros' moves as well as their environment, but I can't help but wish I still had proper control of both bros. Does having an AI-controlled partner make this game similar to the famous Dreamcast title Floigan Bros? No, because you can't put Luigi in a VMU and trade him with others' Luigis, but I wish you could.

While Brothership does a decent job at making Luigi's AI not get stuck everywhere, this approach lacks a sort of elegance that the past titles had. In the older games the control scheme was simple: A is for Mario, B for Luigi, and the other buttons are either for other characters or menu-related actions. Brothership takes a completely illogical approach to controls. A is Mario, B is Luigi but L is also for Luigi. X and Y are for hammers in the overworld but not in battle. Luigi uses A in battle menus but B to attack. L for for Luigi but R is for sidequest lists. The right stick selects Bros moves in the overworld -- This one might be a welcome change, as having to swap actions is a frequent criticism of the games, but I never really minded it before. It's sort of a mess and it will take you a while to get the controls right, especially if you have existing muscle memory. At the very least Brothership stews in its own juices long enough that you won't be trying to press L to cancel by the end.

The fighting aspect of Brothership is where a lot of the praise goes, and I have my own compliments and grievances with it. Fighting with only Mario and Luigi keeps things simple enough again, and I don't mind it. You have jump, hammer, bros attacks, and items at your disposal. A new mechanic introduced some hours in is BATTLE PLUGS which are equivalent to badges or cards or whatever the previous games had. These are actually very fun to use when you get into them and I found myself using them way more than I expected, as it feels like they really want you to be using them, especially late game. Equipped battle plugs have a special effect that gets used a number of times, then after they take turns to recharge. This makes their use decently strategic as you have to consider not only what plugs to use but when. Overall a nice addition and I hope the next game has something like this going forward.

If there's anything to complain about the turn-based combat it's the "fluff," something that is not unique to fighting or even this game as a whole but rather most games that have come out in the past 10 years. Brothership LOVES flashy animations, even for regular attacks, which makes the pace of battles go by much slower than they need to. Combine this with enemies that often appear in large groups later in the game as well as loading times and you get a turn-based battle system where nothing is terribly wrong with it, but you can't help but wish things were done with faster. Late-game enemies also spend a lot longer attacking, with attacks that don't necessarily feel more difficult to avoid but they get multitudes of attempts. If there's one bit of excessive animation in battles I do like it's the Luigi Logic segments for bosses, which are more sparse than previous titles. These involve a small cutscene and some timed button presses to deal extra damage to a boss and make it vulnerable, usually with very amusing results. One last thing regarding animations is that Bros attacks could still stand to be shorter, especially ones like Clockout Blow, but I do respect the elaborate finishing animations they put on them, even the older returning ones.

In terms of difficulty... This game has hands, surprisingly enough, and not just the ones that the bros put their gloves on. It takes a while for the game to get difficult but I found myself game overing multiple times in the last couple stretches of the adventure. The first game over was on a tiny island with a surprisingly difficult fight with enemies like 5 levels above me. Brothership is less willing to hold back like other Mario RPGs, it will sometimes throw out OHKO attacks, huge groups of enemies, or remove one of the bros from play. I found myself digging into my stash of mushrooms and nuts fairly often. Despite this there are some forgiving elements, as the game keeps a lot of the battle functions introduced in the 3DS titles -- Fleeing from battles is free, you can retry any battle and the bros no longer avoid attacks slower when one is downed. I was not a big fan of these assistive mechanics but I think complaining about them is reserved for another time. I was pleasantly surprised by the difficulty overall.

The graphical style of Brothership is probably the one aspect of the game that most have no qualms with, including myself. We knew that the Bros look great in 3D as seen in segments from the 3DS titles but we always wondered what a full game would look like until now. M&L Brothership takes the best aspects of the series' style and translates it to current-gen hardware beautifully. Whether it be the character animations or environments, there is always something lovely to look at, if at the expense of frame rate in the overworld sometimes. I especially enjoy the liberal use of squash and stretch so if Mario gets in a battle encounter mid-jump he looks all long and funny.

The music, on the other hand, pissed me off at first. I get it, Yoko Shimomura was probably busy with Mario + Rabbids 2 and now KH4 but I still miss her. Being a composer who has to fill in for her of all people must be a very harrowing experience. I knew she wasn't involved because of the trailer music but throughout the early hours of the game I was like AHHHHH!!! THIS MUSIC IS TOO HAPPY AND BOMBASTIC!!! ITS MADE MES MAD!!!! But then I got over it at some point. The battle theme and Shipshape Island are two of the best songs and also the ones you've been hearing the most, so they got that right. Twistee Island's song in particular made me mad at first because it seemed too happy for a jungle island but it became one of my favourite tracks by the end of the game. If I do have a complaint about the music it would be there could stand to be more battle tracks, one particular point in the story would have been a great time to trigger a more serious general battle theme.

The story of this game is OK I guess. I can't be expecting too much from the narrative of a Mario RPG but it's nice there was a story at all. Having it take place in a different world definitely gave the writers their chance to do whatever they liked, and they sure gave it a lot, as there is quite a bit of dialogue in the game, probably too much. Without spoiling too much I would say I liked most of the story other than some particularly strange end game developments (scroll all the way to the bottom to learn more)

Even though I am a defender of The Origami King and similar related games damn was it refreshing to have a Mario RPG with characters in it again. The early hours in particular introduce you to a LOT of new characters, maybe even too many, but it slows down later and takes time to develop them further. Are Brothership's original characters particularly deep and engaging? Not really but it's a Mario game after all. For what it's worth I do like most of the new characters on a surface level, and what they did with some returning characters was neat too. Princess Peach looks super cute in this particular game's style. Technikki if you are reading this please DM me.

Ultmately the biggest problem of Brothership, and the one that people bring up most, is its length and pacing. "Pacing" is difficult to describe in gaming terms, a 40 hour game can feel like the perfect length or far too long, but Brothership lands somewhere in the middle of that. It feels like a substantial adventure but it also felt like a good number of hours could have been cut out, whether it be redundant sidequests or needless revisiting of past islands. The early hours in particular feel like they hand out new mechanics to you way too slow. I thought this game would be tedious in the same sense as Dream Team with its tutorials but funny enough tutorials take a backseat in favor of... more stuff I guess. I think like 25% of this game's content could have been cut out and it would have felt so much better. Keep in mind my 44-hour playtime included a lot of side stuff but not all of it. Brothership is the gift that keeps on giving, on multiple occasions you think you're going to beat the game in your current session but it just won't stop.

OVERALL... This is not the pinnacle Mario & Luigi game. Brothership is good and worth playing but not the best. I admittedly looked at the IGN review that everyone was complaining about and while I don't agree with everything in it, most of the flaws mentioned are prevalent in the game, although it may have bothered me less than others. You can take my opinion with a grain of salt because I really like Mario. I don't like to think of number scores too much but at the time of this writing it sits at a 78 on Metacritic and yeah, this is a 78 kind of game. Maybe 76. It's good enough to get that green number but it doesn't quite feel as exceptional as the high bar some past Mario RPGs have set. I do think this is a game worth playing overall if you love BROS

THIS IS THE END OF THE NORMAL REVIEW. THESE ARE THE ANTI-SPOILER BROS. DO NOT SCROLL PAST THE BROS IF YOU DO NOT WANT BROTHERSHIP ENDGAME SPOILERS

WHY THE FUCK DOES THE EGG HATCH INTO A CLOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last hours of Brothership are probably the period I felt most polarized by the game. Not only was it extending itself by another 6 hours or so but they also had the nerve to be like, here's a weird fucking guy who likes being reclusive and nothing else, also Zokket was not a real person but Cozette was being brainwashed so it doesn't really matter. Zokket could have been a real guy who died and Cozette could have spawned immediately after and the story would not have been affected.

My first thought after the world changed was like oh neat, they are doing some Dungeon Meshi shit, I like that. But then realizing I had to go around past islands collecting stuff arbitrarily felt like an endeavor. I guess the point is to recap all the characters and their captial b Bonds they had throughout the story but it feels like we saw enough of them already. This whole section I felt like "shiddd i guess i gotta get it over with" but at least it was neat that they put the effort into making every single island be affected by the Glohm with different dialogue.

I still think Reclusa is a fucking weird villain because like, what about him is even remotely reclusive. I get he has like the severed cords on his head to represent that but for a guy who hates talking to people he won't shut up and even goes out of his way to talk to you multiple points during the few hours he's even relevant. His army in the far-too-long-final-dungeon the Soli-tree isn't reflective of this reclusiveness at all, save for the Seedlusa enemies that don't attack unless you leave them by themselves, I thought that was actually really neat.

If I have something positive to say about the last hours of Brothership it's that it really reinforces the Brotherness of Mario & Luigi. Brotherly love? Fraternity? IDK but for a game called Brothership it did feel like this game didn't have enough Brotherness as past titles. The last hours really did reinforce that Mario & Luigi are awesome bros and they support each other and that's cool. If I had to rank the games by Brotherness I would put this under Superstar Saga and Dream Team but above the rest. Speaking of Bros I also really liked the Mushroom Kingdom segment right before the final battle, that was neat as hell and something I would not have expected from a Mario game.

The final battle was actually a little easier than I expected as I had more trouble with Zokket and Glohm Bowser, but it was pretty good. It definitely did some neat stuff that you wouldn't be able to do in a 2D game. I really liked the ending when the Bros crushed Reclusa's skull violently with hammers.

Why am I dedicating multiple paragraphs to this endgame section alone? I guess because these last hours gave me some of the strongest reactions out of the whole game, positive and negative, except for the cutscene when Bowser first attacks Zokket's fortress, that was badass. Also no one wants to talk about this part of the game yet because of spoilers so I had to dump my thoughts here while they're fresh. Most of the people I know who have played this still haven't finished it yet because they're slow as fuck and would rather play dog shit like Persona 5 Royal. Sorry for cussing a lot at the end. You should play Brothership or don't if you want to.

[darkwingsnark]

Koopa Valley AU

Just had a sudden thought. So you know how there are flower shop aus for Bowuigi? I thought of something like essentially a set up like Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley where maybe somebody the bros had rescued had died and in their will gave his farm to the bros.

Mario, of course, isn't exactly into it because of not really having the time for farming. Luigi, however, has always enjoyed gardening and thinks that retiring would be relaxing. The old man was a koopa that lives maybe on the borders of the kingdoms, maybe even IN the Koopa Kingdom. Either way, Luigi moves in and Bowser of course gets wind about a Mario Brother moving in on his turf. Bowser goes there at first and is ready to wreck havoc, get answers. Finding out the reasoning doesn't exactly make Bowser any less suspicious. But it's enough to give him pause. After all, the place was a koopa property. He'll have his people look into it, keep a word out for anything suspicious. he will NOT let them try and play some ploy for Mario. Guy sucks at scheming anyway! Why would he just leave his weak defenseless bro out in HIS territory?? Makes no sense!

Well time goes on, and word has been that Luigi has become more settled in the small town in that part of the area. People seem to absolutely love him. Not a single bad word, and his spies can't see him doing anything suspicious. Just him and his ghost dog... living on a farm. Again, what the heck? So are you to tell me the guy just upped and everything just because an old koopa asked him to look after the place? Just like that? It's so... thoughtful, disgustingly so. I think what would make the AU work would be if around that area there has already been problems. Maybe farmers in that area had already been struggling? Even with being so far from the volcano, not enough sun? Or, because they're so far away from volcanic activity koopa crop can't thrive there. Luigi, however, has been using his time to experiment. See what from both kingdoms works. And he's starting to thrive, actually doing REALLY well? It's Bowser who has the idea of taking a gamble. On one hand it gives him an excuse to personally check in on things, and two, it might actually be useful. Bowser makes an agreement to personally fund Luigi's farm, in exchange to it going towards the people in the outskirts of his kingdom. He will give money, he will send workers. Give Luigi more land, whatever is needed. And Luigi, instead of feeling intimidated by the prospects of being under Bowser's control, as the king expects some hesitancy, cause duh-- instead Luigi surprises him by his eagerness and jumps at the offer. He not only gets to help in a way he usually doesn't feel, but not having to struggle with money would also be a bonus. After all, his experiments have quickly been depleting his funds. And thus, a partnership is born. That of course isn't the end. As Luigi becomes even more a part of the village and its surrounding area, Luigi becomes more involved in the community aspect. He starts finding himself partaking and learning about Koopa holidays and their cultures. And Luigi writes letters to the king giving updates. Not something Bowser asked of him, as he planned on having his own men report everything. But Bowser ends up going from amused by the friendly non-professional aspect of how Luigi writes, to full on getting eager for the updates. And eventually a time comes when Luigi ends up inviting Bowser to one of the festivals. After all, the king should see the fruits of their shared labor. ['That's a joke, Bowser. Heh. Cause we've been growing fruits and veggies. Get it?'] And that becomes a thing. Bowser gets invited more and more, and he comes to actually think of the weird little noodle human as a friend.

Of course eventually it can lead to more, but that’s what I was thinking for a potential setup. What do you guys think? Again, same as the Doctor AU stuff, I don’t personally have time outside of maybe doing some pics. [Too busy with Melodies in Motion.] But throwing this out into the universe anyway.

[egg-emperor]

Does Eggman go after big burly men/monsters because he enjoys the thrill of making them submit or is it possible that in very rare instances he's fine with temporarily letting someone else be in control long as his own pleasure comes first?

I like to imagine it's both. For just big burly men in general, I imagine he was "fascinated" like all his life but didn't want to outright admit it to himself for a while besides his statues on the Egg Carrier but he could create various, still very gay, excuses for having them lol. But he'd finally get experience with big strong guys for real like Zavok (or Bowser but non canon) and he wouldn't be able to deny it any longer when he just has to jump on that 👀

As for the monsters, it started as just loving the thrill of making them submit for sure, since he primarily gets involved with them for his plans, feeling they'll be useful. Then through it he realizes he's really into the process of making them submit and serve and not just in his typical desire for control and domination way, he realizes it's a full on kink and it goes to very interesting places

The best example is Eggman with the Deadly Six in Lost World, ESPECIALLY Zavok. He had way too much fun bringing them to their knees in submission and was clearly really getting his kicks out of the sadistic aspect of the pain too. He's so playing up the master and slave dynamic here and Zavok doesn't understand that even if he only sarcastically calls him master, he's setting up the perfect opportunity for him to put him in his place and enjoy it

Making him bow at his feet, wagging his finger at him. Yeahhh 🥴

And the way he finds even the smallest reasons to punish them (though it's due to his very high standards too of course) and takes every opportunity to force them to obey with the conch

And the prequel comic made it even more blatantly kinky it was gold

Like hello he literally steps on him and tilts his chin with the conch shajgsnjgksng god me next pls

It's literally canon that he's into it in some form, I don't even have to exaggerate, I mean look at that sadistic smile on his face the two times he does it

The second smirk being quick and sneaky because he wants to appear serious and threatening yet smiles for a split second like he just can't contain himself hehe I love it

All I'm doing is speculating that he gets another kind of excitement from it too lol

And Zavok being a muscle monster dude and how he repeatedly goes after monsters and his hall of muscular guy statues in Hot Shelter, it all checks out. Zavok was the jackpot and best of both in one for him

While the rest doesn't have such confirmation lol, I like to think he discovered he also very secretly likes to be on the receiving end. Typically he'll stay dominant through it first, being the one to order and control them. I can see him always starting with a more dominant power bottom position, where he's still in control and likes to use it in a way to demean them some more, by treating them as not just a tool for his plans but also his personal pleasure

But there'll be temptation to be a little more submissive and when he finally is, he looks at it as being the one being serviced, it's for his own pleasure that comes first rather than what they get. It makes a lot of sense for him to want to just take, in fact it makes a lot of sense for him to not give at all. He has a great case for being a total pillow princess with his entire personality so viewing it through that lense, there is kinda official stuff to support it and it's just *gestures to his entire character* XD

When he is practically just giving himself to them, he constantly has this inner conflict of "why am I letting this happen, if this got out it'd ruin my image" but he likes it too much. It feels nice to just give up control for a little while, relax and have fun. And to feel like the one that's the full center of attention and priority as he lets them work on pleasing him, as it's still always in pursuit of his own pleasure and always his only priority, of course! He'll make sure they still know he's the real dominant one in control after and just enjoy it for now ;)

[silly-inky]

Canonically Junior is like 13 but technically what I've got going on is an AU so I've aged him down along with the Koopalings because I can.

When Junior is 3 the Koopalings are ranging from 5-8 in age, the reason why they were allowed to be part of so many of Bowser's schemes is because he is incapable of saying no to them when they give him puppydog eyes, which is what they did whenever they wanted to get involved. Bowser always made sure they were fine after tho and usually sent Kamek to babysit them when they were involved

Ah alright, I'd like to think that Mario and Luigi obviously went easier on the kids and tried their best to handle it without physical violence on their end

(I'm answering what asks I have left in my inbox for now)

[drones-of-innocence]

👓🐬?

From this ask game:

👓 What helps you focus when you write?

This is a difficult question for me to answer because I have no methods 🥸 I'll try any kind of gimmick I find to focus better, but ultimately my mildly ADHD ass will distract myself no matter what even if I'm doing something I enjoy. I have to be in the correct mood to write, and being in the correct mood usually involves immersing myself in music (solid but doesn't always work), staying up very late (unhealthy to do repeatedly), or the once-in-a-blue-moon type of moment where my muse possesses me and I manage to write unhindered by anything. The only time I can reliably write is when I am facing a pressing deadline for something very important that I am procrastinating on 😅

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Any character that I have no deep or sincere interest in is very difficult for me to write. Also, any character that is a lot smarter than me. A specific example of the first point is Bowser; he's cool, and I've finally managed to include him in an effective way in my most recent fic, but he's largely absent from everything else that I write except in passing mention. I don't choose my brain's selection of blorbos, so I just simply don't find Bowser (or even villain archetypes in general) very compelling except in a few circumstances. Bowser is necessary to Mario's story though, so that's why I've buckled down to characterize him recently. As for a second example of a character I think is smarter than me, probably Pauline. I really want to explore her actually (and I have an idea for a Rosalina/Pauline fic) but I am a little intimidated by how intelligent I perceive her to be.

(For some reason this doesn't apply to Rosalina, who I portray as super wise. I think it's because I can write wisdom in terms of big picture patterns which is what matters to her, if that makes sense. But Pauline comes across to me as someone who really gets into the weeds and specifics of everything which is what I have always struggled with.)

Thank you so much for the ask!

[useless19]

What about that proper escape attempt made between days 1 and 7 ?

For the first few days, Luigi doesn't make an attempt. He wants a chance to scout opportunities and take his time figuring out a plan (which he's only willing to do because he knows he's not in physical danger right now). Then he sneaks out in the evening on Day 4, after Junior's gone to bed, since that's usually when he gets some time alone.

He escapes from the castle by the simple method of walking out the front doors. There are some Koopa Troopas on guard and Luigi horribly fails his deception roll to convince them that he's allowed outside. However, Koopas aren't always the brightest sparks and they fail their insight checks even worse. They "uncover" the fact that Luigi must be sneaking out to go get a surprise for Bowser and let him go. The only worry is that they offer to come with him to help, but Luigi manages to do better at insisting that they have to stay on duty.

There's a pipe nexus in the surrounding castle town (much more spread out than Toad Town due to the shifting volcanic nature of the land). Luigi decides that it's lower risk to hop to another place within Bowser's Kingdom and going from there to the Mushroom Kingdom, so he makes his way to a different pipe. He manages to avoid all attention by taking off his hat; no one recognises him without it (he's honestly a bit miffed over that). Intra-kingdom pipes aren't regulated anywhere near as much as inter-kingdom ones.

In the next nexus, the pipe to the Mushroom Kingdom is blocked off. Warning tape and traffic cones and tools are lying around it, so Luigi figures he's gotten unlucky and this one's currently under repair. The Mushroom Kingdom pipe in the next town's nexus has an 'out of order' sign hung up on it. Luigi tries it anyway, only to discover that it's blocked from the Mushroom Kingdom side. He might be good at fixing pipes, but he doesn't have any tools and fixing a pipe from the inside is a nightmare; you usually want at least one other person with you and ideally another person on the outside on either end too.

(Luigi probably doesn't figure this out, but the Mushroom Kingdom is on high alert at the moment and their default defensive measures involve blocking access from Bowser's Kingdom, since he's usually the problem.)

A bit dispirited, but still determined, Luigi sets off on foot. By this time it's dark and, despite his adventures, Luigi hasn't learnt how to navigate by the stars (nighttime's for sleeping!). He heads towards a bit of greenery, reasoning that Bowser's Kingdom is mostly volcanic rock and scorched earth, so anywhere with trees is somewhere else, and eventually finds a forest. Nothing tries to kill him immediately and the water is actual real water, not poison sludge, so he goes in. After a while of bumping into trees and tripping over bushes in the dark, Luigi finds somewhere to sleep and settles down for the night.

Morning breaks, Luigi wakes. He realises the flaw in his plans: he didn't bring any food. But forests normally have fruits and stuff, right? If he wanders long enough he'll find something.

Just as he comes across some promising looking trees, his vision blacks out and magic yanks his stomach sideways. He blinks golden stars out of his eyes and finds himself back in the dining hall. He feels awful (he doesn't know if the magicks were worse for him being so far away or if it's because he was hungry) and almost throws up. He doesn't get much time to recover before Bowser pushes him into his chair and growls at him that he shouldn't have run away.

Luigi is both too busy feeling sorry for himself and constantly pestered by Junior that day to notice much else. Junior's on the clingy side because he's not all that used to people up and vanishing so silently, usually there's a big rescue or everyone in the castle is doing some prep work for an invasion, or something like that.

Bowser doesn't really care overall. He expected this and he doesn't care about Luigi at this point. He's more annoyed because Junior's upset than anything else.

(Much, much later, Luigi will actually look over a map and figure out where he ended up. He managed to go in the complete wrong direction and was puttering around in a forest belonging to a kingdom on the other side of Bowser's Kingdom from the Mushroom Kingdom. It would've been a whole adventure getting out of that mess, no doubt.)

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

I hope Princess Peach Showtime sells well.

Not only because it could lead to Peach getting her own spin-off series of games rather than just a one-off (something that I think is long overdue), but it could also lead to Nintendo having more faith that Mario's female leads can carry games by themselves, which in that case...

Here's my idea for a Rosalina game.

Feel free to steal this random Nintendo employee who might be reading this:

1 - The Genre

If this game were to ever happen, I'd want it to stand out from Super Mario games so it wouldn't seem redundant, so it would not be a platformer. It wouldn't be a sports game, minigame collection, or puzzle game either. It would be a subgenre that the Mario franchise has yet to dip its toes into.

I want Rosalina's solo game to be a Space Action RPG that emphasizes real time combat.

Not turn-based, like Paper Mario or Mario and Luigi, etc. I imagine it would play a lot like Kingdom Hearts, just swap out a keyblade for Rosalina's wand:

She could shoot beams of light at enemies for long range attacks, levitate them with her wand only to slam them on the ground, create a comet shower to rain down on enemies, manipulate gravity to deflect their attacks or slow their attacks down, briefly create a force field around herself to shield herself from an attack, emit extremely bright light from her wand to temporarily blind enemies to stun them, use her Grand Star final smash as a spell, maybe for some attacks she just outright uses her wand like a sword, etc. There are so many spells they could either make up or take from her previous appearances that she could use for her moveset. She wouldn't even have to be limited to using her wand! She could do the spin from Galaxy/her spin from 3D World as an close range attack, teleport to short distances away to dodge an enemy, fly, briefly become intangible, etc. Reminder, she has already been shown to be able to do most this stuff anyway!

Of course she wouldn't have all these abilities at the start, she'd unlock different spells and abilities throughout the game as you gain more exp by defeating enemies.

The main collectible and currency of the game would, of course, be Star Bits. The can be used to buy items (healing items, alternate costumes, etc) or to...actually I'll mention the other function later. Star Bits can be found lying around on every planet (as can other various items that can help you during gameplay) and be gained by defeating enemies.

Each level would be a different planet, and the Comet Observatory would act as the hub world as it did in Super Mario Galaxy, and would be used to travel to each planet. Perhaps there could be minigames between each planet where you fly through space controlling the Comet Observatory whilst collecting Star Bits along the way? Eh, I'm not sure. It sounds fun but maybe it'd be simpler to just travel to planets like how Mario did in Galaxy.

I imagine each planet would have a certain number of missions to complete on it before you can move to the next planet. Maybe their could be side-missions too, but they wouldn't be compulsory unless you want to 100% the game. At the end of each mission, you have the choice to return to the hub world (for a reason I'll explain later) or to just move on to the next mission. If you do choose to return to the hub world before you completed every mission on that planet, you can continue from where you left off later and would not have to re-do any missions you had completed on that particular planet so far. What would each mission involve? Well...

2 - The Premise

I think Ubisoft owns Cursa but they would be the perfect antagonist for Rosalina. Mario has Bowser, Luigi has King Boo, Wario has Captain Syrup, Peach now has Grape, so why not let Rosalina have her own nemesis? I know Cursa seemingly died at the end of Sparks of Hope but Cursa is literally made of a fragment The MegaBug so perhaps the same thing has happened again, a fragment of Cursa survived and mutates into a new form. I'm also aware Sparks of Hope isn't canon and likely takes place in a different universe than the one the mainline Mario games take place, but Cursa is a mutant cosmic entity, it wouldn't be so hard to believe it could travel to different universes. Cursa would still remember the events of Sparks of Hope, and seek revenge on Rosalina and rid the universe of all lumas. She would create a new army (of both her own creation and possessed aliens) she would send to capture all lumas.

If Cursa is the villain, the game starts with her making a direct attack on the Comet Observatory. Cursa attempts to possess Rosalina again, but Rosalina reacts quickly and creates a force field to protect herself. Cursa then orders her army to go after the lumas. Realising there's no time to fight each army member one-on-one, Rosalina gets in front of the lumas, briefly puts down her shield, and readies her wand to unleash a huge blast of light and energy to blast most of the army off into space. But Cursa strikes her just as she does so, and the clash causes a bigger, more unstable blast, that sends both Cursa, her army and the lumas away. Rosalina is left injured and soon passes out.

Cursa and her army would survive the blast and still be out there, in search of lumas.

Either do that or just have some new bad guy (preferably one who uses dark magic/symbolises dark matter to contrast Rosalina's star/light aesthetic) kidnap lumas. I don't really care what their name would be, but for the sake of this post let's call them...Void (placeholders don't have to be creative, shush). I'm gonna refer to Void with he/him pronouns but I don't have any specific gender in mind for Void. Void could be female, or genderless, etc.

As for Void's plan, maybe he could plan to absorb half of the lumas for energy so he'd become powerful enough to destroy the universe (except for the rest of the captured lumas), and then would force the other half to transform into whatever he wants (essentially, his plan is to remake the universe so he can rule it). He too would have an army, but of his own creation. Rosalina, naturally, would be the one to stop him given that it's basically her duty, not only because she's the mother of the lumas but also because she's the protector of the cosmos.

If Void is the villain, he (along with his army) would attack the Comet Observatory in the beginning instead. Void would not have to power to possess people, but he can absorb the energy of others. Void would go for the lumas first but Rosalina, in an attempt to protect the lumas, gets in the way and creates a force field around both her and the lumas. Void relentlessly attacks the force field in an attempt to break it, but it's no use. Despite this, Rosalina can tell Void won't give up, so she teleports outside the force field and the two battle, meanwhile Void's army attempt to break down the force field. It doesn't break but as the battle continues it does start to weaken. An unstable blast is caused in a similar way it's caused with Cursa; Rosalina readies a blast of light and energy (since it's one-on-one this one isn't as big), Void also tries to hit her but with a blast of darkness instead of light (something like a shadow blast), and when the attacks clash it sends the lumas and the army flying.

Rosalina and Void are left alone. Rosalina's tired but not severely injured. She's concerned about the lumas but Void, enraged by what has just occurred, manages to catch her off guard due to her fatigue and grabs hold of her to absorb her energy. This leaves Rosalina weakened and she passes out. Void leaves to search for his army and lumas.

The opening would be the in-universe justification as to why she lacks certain abilities (like the spin, teleportation, etc) at the start of the game (I imagine she'd be able to levitate herself and other people or objects, but that's it).

I don't have an entire story planned out, but basically Rosalina will eventually regain consciousness, manage to track down whoever the villain is (it's her job to watch over the cosmos, and with the Comet Observatory this is not a difficult task) and follows them in their search for lumas. She'll regain her energy (and hence the rest of her powers) as the game progresses. She loves the lumas dearly, and won't give up until she's saved every single one!

On each planet, some lumas are on the run from the army, and some have already been captured are guarded by the army, waiting for Cursa/Void to arrive so they can hand them over. Captured lumas are kept frozen in ice crystals found all over each planet in the game.

This is where those missions come in. For most missions, the objective is to save a specified amount of captured lumas, but some missions might be "Defeat [X] amount of enemies" or "Collect [X] Star Bits" or "Find/Go to [X]", etc. Side-missions could be escort missions where you help escort a citizen of that planet get to where they want to go safely whilst protecting them from enemies, or finding a stolen item and returning it to an NPC you've interacted with.

3 - The Hero(es)

The only playable character is Rosalina BUT you can have two lumas in your party as partner characters at a time (they're kind of like Rosalina's Donald and Goofy), and they'd work similarly to how Sparks of Hope handles the Sparks. The lumas would float beside Rosalina at all times during gameplay like the one in Mario Kart Wii.

After completing each world (or at least the first 10), one luma can be added to your party once you've saved them.

Polari is the first saved luma that can join your party, then a Yellow Luma, Red Luma, Green Luma, Blue Luma, Pink Luma, Hungry Luma, Lumalee, Comet Tico, and finally Lubba.

Some lumas have abilities they perform themselves , and some simply have effects on gameplay but don't do anything during battle. So for example:

(Abilities)

Polari can periodically turn into a small black hole that sucks in enemies.

Yellow Luma transforms into a Launch Star that Rosalina can use to launch herself further away than teleporting would, and can be used as a method of attack to dash through enemies with.

Blue Luma can transform into a small ice comet that will freeze enemies temporarily if they make contact with it.

Lumalee can grab items (except for star bits) from afar without Rosalina having to do it.

Hungry Luma can collect star bits from afar without Rosalina having to do it.

(Effects)

If Red Luma is in your party Rosalina will take less damage from attacks.

If Green Luma is in your party the duration of time Rosalina's force field can stay up during gameplay is extended.

If Pink Luma is in your party Rosalina will regain some of her HP when her health falls below 20% her total HP (but only 3 times per mission).

If Comet Tico is in your party the Cosmic Spirit, a clone that can help Rosalina in battle, will appear when her health falls below 20%.

If Lubba is in your party, the power of Rosalina's attacks is increased.

All lumas can be flung at enemies like Rosalina does with Luma in Smash, although here the power of this move depends on each individual luma's size.

You would only be able to swap out party members in the hub world, which is why there's an option to go back there at the end of each mission. Lumas can level up either by gaining exp whilst accompanying Rosalina in battle or by being fed star bits (see? I didn't forget about the other function!)

(Bonus) - Alternate Costumes?

I mentioned earlier that perhaps star bits could be used to buy alternate costumes. They could just be for aesthetic purposes, but I think it would be cool if each costume altered Rosalina's moveset.

Some costumes I have in mind are:

Cosmic Spirit

In this form, in addition to her usual moveset Rosalina can possess enemies, and maybe even the lumas so you can play as them. However, she is slower and cannot teleport.

Guitarist Rosalina

In this costume, in addition to her usual moveset, she can produce shockwaves when she strums her guitar as an attack, swing her guitar at enemies (like an axe), and moves at a faster speed, but she takes more damage than usual from attacks and cannot do her spin. Although I'd replace the guitar in the picture with the one she has in artwork for 3D World's soundtrack.

Young Rosalina

This costume would majorly alter Rosalina's moveset, so no using her wand, no teleporting, no flying, and her spin is weaker. It would essentially be a hard mode. I imagine her moveset in this costume would be more hand-to-hand combat focused. Perhaps she'd jump on some enemies as a nod to Super Mario games, maybe she could throw starbits as an attack, etc.

I'd rather Rosalina not use power-ups on this adventure (to keep this game distinct from other games in the Mario franchise), so no Fire Rosalina, Cat Rosalina, etc.

Some other costumes could be Rosalina Halloween, Rosalina Aurora...basically her Mario Kart Tour costumes other than the power-ups. They'd definitely just be for aesthetic purposes though, no affects on gameplay.

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And that's all I got!

TLDR, Nintendo should make "Kingdom Hearts but it stars (ha) Rosalina".