Earlier this month, Mario fans were treated to the first new Mario & Luigi game in nine years, minus the two remakes in 2017 and 2018. While Brothership is an enjoyable experience, earning a decent score of 77 on Metacritic, we can’t help but want a remake of Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time instead. With the Nintendo Switch 2 on the horizon and the recent release of Brothership, there’s no better time for it.
Partners in Time is the second entry in the spin-off RPG line of Mario games, and it has the third-highest Metacritic score in the series with 86. You might wonder why, even though it’s one of the best DS games, we’re after a remake of that instead of the two adventures with the highest ratings. The reason is simple: Superstar Saga and Bowser’s Inside Story already have remakes, being among the best 3DS games you can play.
For those unfamiliar with Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, It’s an AplhaDream-developed game from 2005, though its European and Australasian release came in 2006, and it follows the Italian plumber brothers as they travel in time between the past and future of the Mushroom Kingdom. As always, it involves Mario and Luigi looking for Princess Peach because no matter how many Mario characters there are, it’s always her that’s in a pinch.
You also get to play as Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, which is beyond adorable; that alone is reason enough for the game to get a remake for the Nintendo Switch 2. While the most recent entry is an enjoyable experience, it does achieve the same heights as the rest of the series, having the second lowest Metacritic rating, just one point ahead of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
Still, we gave it an 8/10 in our Mario & Luigi: Brothership review, explaining that it “has all the hallmarks of a great RPG.” This spin-off series has what it takes to be among the best Switch RPGs, especially if Partners in Time gets a remake. At the moment, this is just a dream, but Nintendo does like to drop a cheeky remake here and there, releasing several this year alone with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Princess Peach Showtime.
If you want something you can play right now, you can’t go wrong with the Mario Party games, though we’re also partial to the Sonic games and Crash Bandicoot games if you fancy something a bit different.