Mario & Luigi: Double Dimensions

Mario & Luigi: Double Dimensions (also known as Mario & Luigi RPG 5: Paper Mario Splash in Japan and North Korea) is a title for the Nintendo 3DS, developed by AlphaDream in collaboration with Intelligent Systems. The plot of the game revolves around Mario and Luigi teaming up with their Paper- cutouts in order to prevent an evil tribe of aliens called the Comsluns from taking over the Mushroom Kingdom. It is the fifth title in the Mario & Luigi series and the Paper Mario series. AlphaDream and Intelligent Systems had started development in late 2014 and the E3 trailer was shown in 2015, and the game released in Spring 2016.

Story
In the opening, dark objects are fired at the earth from the very far space, these objects seem to be Fire Flower like objects. Those things are called the Comsluns, they're are a tribe of aliens that have disappeared in space a very long time ago. The leader of these mysterious aliens is the evil unpredictable Comslunitior. He is sending all of his minions to attack many kingdoms and take dominate them. His first target is the Mushroom Galaxy. We then see a small shinny book floating in Space, it gets shot by a cannon and falls to the Mushroom Galaxy.

Meanwhile in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, Luigi and Toadbert are looking for decorations in the attic for a party in Peach's Castle. They soon find a hole above a bookcase and Luigi investigates. Suddenly, Toadbert gets chased by a Scardey Rat, which entered the room through the hole, and leads it to Luigi, who starts to fight it. Suddenly being braver than usual. Winning the battle the Scardey Rat explodes and the bros celebrate the victory. But they are interrupted by a loud noise outside the castle. Mario looks outside and sees the same shinny book from the opening cutscene. It opens up and then tons of Paper cut-outs shoot from the book.

Meanwhile at Bowser's Castle, Bowser meets Paper Bowser, who, after some disagreements, team up together and agree to kidnap Peach and Paper Peach. Bowser Jr. also meets his paper counterpart, Paper Bowser Jr. and, unlike their fathers, the two become friends. Additionally, Kamek, Paper Kamek and Paper Kammy Koopa meet and shortly begin to insult each other, which continues throughout the game.

Back at Peach's Castle, we see Peach and Toadsworth having a conversation with Paper Luigi, who they think is the real Luigi. Mario, Luigi and Toadbert show up, and Paper Luigi freaks out when he sees Luigi, they do a little bit of a mirror dance to see if they're each other, which the other characters applaud to. Paper Peach then walks in and introduces herself to the others. Mario, Luigi and Paper Luigi agree to help Paper Peach find her servants and calm them down.

Mario and Luigi find the Paper people hiding in the castle. Afterwards, they explain that more of them were confronted by Goombas, however, a few were able to escape. The brothers go to the castle's workshop and discover a Bandit fighting two Toads and four Brocks, he is holding a bag and he dashes through them, Mario and Luigi tell them that they will use the two the Bandit left behind. While trying to leave the castle, they find Daisy and Toadette, who shows them two miniature papercrafts resembling Mario and Luigi. They then give the brothers a Copy Block.

At Toad Town, Mario and Luigi are greeted by two Goombas from the paper world, which they battle and crumple. After the bros defeat the two Paper Goombas, allowing the bros to access Goomie Farms where they are eventually cornered by a group of Comsluns, who defeat the Mario Bros. Paper Luigi decides to take them on himself but they pull out a space ship which charges up a lazar and kills Paper Luigi in the process. Shortly afterwards, Paper Mario arrives to defeat the Comsluns and save Mario and Luigi. After the battle, Paper Mario revives Paper Luigi with a 1-UP Mushroom and they reunite at last. While Mario and Luigi unite with Paper Mario, and the newly-formed trio set off to find the Paper people.

Soon after the meeting, the trio hear a big bang at Peach's Castle and see Bowser and Paper Bowser invading the castle, only to be stopped by a large line of Alien Space Ships, attacking the castle, however inside the castle we see Bowser and Paper Bowser punching and breathing fire on the aliens and heading into the throne room of the castle.

The Bowsers then arrive and return to their castle, calling Goomboss to attack the trio and slow their pursuit. After the group defeat Goomboss and he runs off, they eventually reach the exit of the farms and enter Clock-Head City, where we see a strange, purple house. The trio walk over to it Mario knocks on the door, no one answers, Mario knocks again and again, no one answers. Paper Mario tries to say something, but before he can, Mario knocks once again. Merlon opens the door slamming it into Luigi and Paper Luigi. He notices them and apologizes for slamming the door on them, they walk into the house. Toadley is inside, focusing on his crystal ball. Merlon and the Trio look in as well, and we see the Bowsers and their minions having a party, Bowser and Paper Bowser arrive on the stage and tell their crew members what they will do with Mario and the crew once they are finished for good. However the castle starts shaking and then a huge bang is heard, then the vision goes black.

So after the visit to the purple house, the trio head to Bomkahi Desert a place where Bob-omb Buddies live, work and play in. In the Dunes, the trio spot Bowser Castle, their progress is put to a halt by Petey Piranha and Paper Petey Piranha after climbing some quicksand. The trio regroup and find three hammers, which they learn how to use progressing through the area and they learn how to preform the Trio Hammer and eventually reach the top of the quicksand stream again, this time crossing a bridge leading towards Bowser's Castle. However, Mummipokey stops them knocks them into the grotto. They decide to look around to see if there's any way out of the grotto. Reaching another village; Mario, Luigi and Paper Mario find a a page, Paper Luigi takes a closer look and ends up getting sucked inside it.

He ends up in a Pyramid, where wanders around the rooms in the pyramid. He reunites with Jerry, who is scared and has no idea where he even is. Paper Luigi decides to bring him back to the real world. Jerry meets Mario, Luigi and Paper Mario and he tells them that he's going to ride in Paper Luigi's hat for the time being so they collect the comic book and store it in their inventory. The trio head back to the bridge to battle Mummipokey, who which they defeat and progress through the desert, in which they reach Bowser's Castle.

Gameplay
The overall gameplay is mostly similar to the previous Mario & Luigi games, though with the addition of a new party member alongside Mario and Luigi, Paper Mario. Players control Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario simultaneously (Paper Mario using Y). Because the player now has two characters following after Mario, all three characters can be made to jump simultaneously with the X button, which also causes the three to flutter in the air briefly when held. By continuing to hold the button after jumping simultaneously, players can charge up a dash. All three characters also possess hammers. By using all three hammers in quick succession (A, B and than Y), the trio will unleash a Trio Hammer, or powerful shockwave, that can destroy large blocks. Other moves include the Trio Drill, a reworked version of the Drill Bros; the Trio Glider, that acts like Mario's Paper Airplane from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and the Trio Grab, which can reach far distanced things and throw them.

Paper Luigi travels trough different Pages in order to rescue his old partners from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and try to place different pieces of the Paper World back into it's original location. Players control him and his partners by using the X and R buttons.

Battle System
In battle, players control all three members of the group. Paper Mario, in a first for the series, fights alongside but independently from Mario and Luigi, unlike the Baby Bros. in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the only other instalment to feature characters fighting alongside the Mario Bros. This allows the trio to take three actions in one turn. While Mario and Luigi control similarly to the way they did in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Paper Mario's abilities set him apart from the other two. Paper Mario is able to create copies of himself as a battle command, which increase the damage he can do in his attacks: He can land as many jumps as he has copies, and when he uses his hammer, the copies will split and target all enemies on the field. Paper Mario loses a copy for each hit he takes, but can replenish them on his turn before using another battle command. His jump dodge allows him to flutter, letting him briefly stay in the air longer than Mario and Luigi can. Players are able to use Bros. Attacks with Mario and Luigi, working like they did in previous games. In addition, a new variation of special attacks called Trio Attacks can be performed with Paper Mario. These attacks will have all three members attack enemies with a giant cardboard hammer to paperize them before executing the attacks.

Paper World Battles
Battles take place on a stage. In addition to the traditional turn-based combat, the characters on-stage interact with the scenery: sometimes the background will fall, damaging all characters on stage and possibly making them Dizzy, the audience helps Paper Luigi gain Star Power and also may throw items on stage or attack Paper Luigi and his partners and lastly, some bosses even use the audience to their advantage.

Every time Paper Luigi wins a battle, he will earn Star Points. When it gets up to 100, the player can choose whether to upgrade Paper Luigi's Heart Points, Flower Points or Badge Points. Upgrading HP or FP will increase the upgraded stat by 5 and choosing BP will raise Paper Luigi's BP by 3.